Sophomore Signature Courses
Flexible Core 200 Courses Designed with Sophomores’ Unique Needs in Mind
- Meet Peers, Build Friendships
Connect with classmates who are at your stage, facing the same big questions, and ready to explore answers together. - Get Early Career Preparation
Get insider access to career-focused events and tailored opportunities that set you ahead on your journey. - Rely on Personalized Mentorship
Get one-on-one support from professors and advisors ready to guide your next steps and future plans.
Love, Sex, and Intimate Relationships with Professor Katherine Stavrianopoulos
- CSL 250-02, Flexible Core Level 200 – Individual & Society
- Tuesday/Thursday 10:50am-12:05pm, In Person
- Registration Code: 36734 (section is full)
Ever wonder why some relationships feel magical while others crash and burn? This course dives into the fascinating world of human connection that shapes our lives. Together we will explore the science behind attraction, the psychology of love, and the complexities of attachment that drive our closest relationships. Through cutting-edge research, engaging real world case studies and thoughtful reflection, you will gain insights into what brings people together, keeps them connected, and sometimes pulls them apart. The concepts and critical thinking skills developed throughout this course will provide you with valuable perspectives on human behavior applicable across many disciplines.
Interpreting Objects, Text and Culture with Professor Mark McBeth
- ENG 225-01, Flexible Core Level 200 – Individual & Society
- Monday/Wednesday 10:50am-12:05pm, In Person
- Registration Code: 36711
This course teaches students to identify, analyze, and deconstruct the messages and meanings behind everything they see, hear, read, and experience. Furthermore, it argues that, as responsible consumers and creators of culture, it is imperative that they understand, interpret, and critically engage with those messages, including those with which they may disagree. Utilizing a variety of theories and methods, this course enables students not only to understand how the texts and objects they come into contact with (such as advertisements, television shows, newspaper articles, blog sites, clothing, electronic devices, etc.) shape society, but also how, as responsible members of society, they can participate and intervene in this process. Through this analytical work, they will come to understand the impacts such messages have on society as a whole as well as the individuals who inhabit it.
Sex and Culture with Professor Tomoki Fukui
- ANT 210-03, Flexible Core Level 200 – Individual & Society
- Monday/Wednesday 4:30-5:45pm, In Person
- Registration Code: 36260
Sex and Culture explores the cultural construction of human sexuality from the framework of the individual in society. Students will examine the social learning of sexual behaviors, beliefs and practices. Analytic focus will include how culturally prescribed gender roles for men and women inform notions of right and wrong. Specific topics may include institutionalized gender inequality, marriage and the family, homophobia and other issues involved in the relationship between sex and culture. All topics will be considered from a historical and cross-cultural perspective. The course draws on anthropological approaches to connecting the “micro” and the “macro” of power dynamics. It will emphasize in particular critical analyses of the relationships between gender, sex, sexuality, and power developed by Black feminists, Indigenous feminists, and anthropologists of color. Together, we will explore what defines gender and its impacts in the world; how people from different social locations theorize gender; and how gender is connected to systems of oppression and exploitation.
Technology and Culture with Professors Bibi Calderaro & Samantha Galarza
- ISP 255-01, Flexible Core Level 200 – Scientific World
- Thursday 8:00-10:40am, In Person
- Registration Code: 37125 (section is nearly full)
What is technology and can it be separated from being human? Many people claim humans have used technology for over 100,000 years to shape our world, and in turn we have been shaped by the technologies we have chosen, developed, and come to rely upon, from the flint and the ax, to the jet plane and the cell-phone, and beyond. Drawing on texts from the sciences, the humanities, and the social sciences, this interdisciplinary course will explore and examine the various ways technology and technological progress have molded our culture, our way of thinking, and our imagination--in other words, how we navigate our world and the many ways we experience ourselves. We will reflect on readings and discussions to re-evaluate how our patterns of behavior may be shaped by the ease of an app, the comfort of data, and the feeling of connection to something bigger. Do we install Instagram and tailor it to our needs, or does it install itself in our lives, and adapt to us? How quickly can an individual’s habits be influenced by technology without the individual being aware? Does technology replace human connection, or enhance it? How does our use of technology implicate us in both just and unjust causes?