Fall 2026
World-Class Opera. Shared Discovery. Free Community Screenings. Looking for an afternoon filled with extraordinary music, compelling stories, and friendly company? Join the Humanities Seminars Program this fall for free screenings of four legendary opera productions in the welcoming atmosphere of the Dorothy Rubel Room. Experience acclaimed performances from the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Vienna […]
The American Southwest stands at the crossroads of many of the defining cultural, environmental, and political issues of our time. This course explores how documentary filmmakers have interpreted these complex realities, using the power of nonfiction storytelling to illuminate the region’s history, communities, and contemporary challenges. Focusing primarily on documentaries produced in Tucson and across […]
Language is one of the most fascinating things we humans do. It shapes how we think, how we connect with one another, and how we imagine the world. But where did this extraordinary ability come from? And what can the earliest traces of art, planning, and social life tell us about the minds of our […]
For more than four billion years, Earth and Sun have been bound in a dynamic relationship. In our planet’s earliest era, powerful solar eruptions helped warm the young Earth and fueled the chemical reactions that shaped the atmosphere, oceans, and eventually life itself. Although the Sun has become more stable with age, it still harbors […]
Few genres have proven as enduring or adaptable as detective fiction. From its nineteenth-century origins to its contemporary reinventions, the literature of detection continues to captivate readers while constantly reshaping its own rules. This course explores both the how and the why of that evolution, tracing the genre’s development from its foundational figures to some […]
Shakespeare’s great tragedies continue to challenge readers with their psychological depth, poetic power, and enduring insight into the human condition. This seminar explores three of his masterpieces, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and King Lear, each tracing the rise and fall of a tragic hero while revealing a distinctive dramatic voice. Although these works share the broad […]
From Puritan New England to the present day, religion has been woven deeply into American public life, shaping ideas of national purpose, identity, and destiny. Yet the question of whether the United States is, or ever was, a Christian nation remains fiercely contested. This course explores that debate by examining two parallel and often tension-filled […]
How did life begin, and could it exist elsewhere in the universe? What might consciousness look like beyond Earth—and how might such possibilities reshape our understanding of what it means to be human? This course brings together astrobiology and the humanities to explore some of the most profound questions driving contemporary scientific inquiry and human […]
Since its completion in 19 BCE, the Aeneid has captivated readers with its artistic elegance, emotional depth, and thematic richness. In this course, we will follow Aeneas’ epic journey from the fallen city of Troy to Italy, where he must fulfill his destiny as the legendary founder of Rome. As we explore the twelve electrifying […]
Quantum computing, quantum supremacy, and quantum cryptography have become familiar headlines, yet the science behind these terms often remains elusive. This six-week course offers an accessible, equation-free introduction to quantum mechanics and its growing influence on technology, society, and public policy. Beginning with the early twentieth-century revolution that upended classical physics, we will examine the […]
This course invites students into the bold world of Richard Wagner (1813–1883), whose operas reshaped the course of music history. Wagner’s works broke with convention through their seamless musical flow, adventurous chromatic harmony, and visionary approach to storytelling on stage. Celebrated and controversial in equal measure, his operas left an imprint on generations of composers […]