2026 Summer Session Courses

Instructor: Erzsébet Regan
Designations: MNS
Prerequisite: CHEM 111
Schedule: M/W/F 10:00-11:50 am

This course serves as an introduction to major concepts in the fields of molecular and cellular biology: the relationships between structure and function, information flow from genes to cell behavior, energy transformation in cells, genetic inheritance and evolution, and the molecular systems that control cell behavior. Topics include molecular and cellular structure, bioenergetics, cell division and growth, gene expression, gene inheritance, and molecular genetics. Pre/co-requisite: CHEM 11200.

Instructor: Changzhi Ma
Designations: QL; MNS
Schedule: T/W/Th 7:00-8:20 pm

This course introduces the key ideas of statistical reasoning used in the natural and social sciences. Students will learn how to organize, summarize, and analyze data to draw meaningful, evidence-based conclusions. Major topics include data visualization, correlation, and regression, descriptive measures, probability, sampling distributions, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing. The focus is on understanding and interpreting results, not just on doing calculations. Students will use statistical software to explore real data and learn how statistics help us make sense of the world. By the end of the course, students will be able to approach quantitative questions with confidence, use data to support conclusions, and communicate findings clearly and effectively.

Instructor: Alicia Brazeau
Designations: W; AH
Schedule: T/Th 6:30-8:00 pm

How do habits, spaces, beliefs, and technologies shape what it means to be a writer? Maya Angelou wrote in the mornings. Steven King assigned himself the task of completing six pages every day. Haruki Murakami committed to swimming and running before starting work. Even more recently, writers like Vauhini Vara have investigated how AI technologies could shape their process. In this course, we will explore how a range of writers and scholars have practiced and conceptualized the work of writing. We will also experiment with adopting and evaluating these habits, routines, and strategies for ourselves. Course assignments and projects will prompt students to explore their own writing process, and to consider what it means to be a writer in a changing technological context.

Instructor: Drew Pasteur
Designations: QL; MNS
Schedule: M/T/Th 10:00-11:20 am

This is a survey course that explores a broad spectrum of mathematical topics; examples include the search for good voting systems, the development of efficient routes for providing urban services, and the search for fair procedures to resolve conflict. The emphasis is on observing the many practical uses of mathematics in modern society and not on mastering advanced mathematical techniques. This course does not satisfy the prerequisites for further Mathematics courses, nor does it count toward a major or minor. Mathematics majors and minors may take the course only if they have permission of the chair.

Instructor: Elizabeth Schiltz
Designations: AH
Schedule: Tu/F 12:00-1:20 pm or 1:00-2:30 pm

Albert Camus asserted that it was through playing soccer that he learned all that he knew “about morality and the obligations of men.” This seminar explores and critically evaluates the nature and value of bodily practices in general, and of sports in particular. What is it to play a sport? Do such practices lead to a useful kind of knowledge – and, if so, what kind, and how? What are teams, and how should we think about the roles of fans, referees, and luck? What is sportsmanship, and why should we care about it?

Instructor: Jeffrey Lantis
Designations: GE; HHS
Schedule: M/W/F 1:00-2:20 pm

This interactive class examines international cooperation and conflict in outer space as a new frontier for global politics. This course has no prerequisites and is designed to offer a fascinating, thought-provoking, and fun exploration of the politics of outer space. We will discuss many contemporary space issues and debates, including prospects for colonizing Mars, mining the Moon, placing weapons in space, planning for NASA while managing the growing influence of companies in space like SpaceX, preventing satellite collisions in orbit, and even protecting the Earth against space-based threats (planetary defense). To understand these themes, the class will employ a mix of digital tools, exercises, theories, guest speakers, real-world case studies, and science fiction illustrations and films. Finally, we also adopt a problem-solving approach to use international relations theories to study rising tensions between space powers and propose new global norms for space security and sustainability.

Instructor: Aída Díaz de León
Schedule: M/W/F 9:30-11:30 am

Oral-aural instruction and practice with grammar, reading, and some writing. Emphasis on practical everyday language for direct communication. Instruction focuses on the cultural meaning of language.

Instructor: Osmer Balam
Prerequisite: SPAN 10100
Schedule: M/W/F 10:00 am-12:00 pm

Additional oral-aural instruction and continued practice with grammar, reading, and writing. Further emphasis on practical everyday language for communication. Instruction focuses on the cultural meaning of language.

**This is an in-person course

Instructor: Matt Mariola
Designations: MNS
Schedule: Tu/W/Th 6:00-8:00 pm

Did you know that we can grow food while helping to slow climate change? The answer lies in the soil. Sustainable agriculture is focused on implementing more natural, less harmful farming practices that sequester carbon and build soil fertility and plant resilience while maintaining crop production. This course introduces students to a set of sustainable agriculture practices and investigates their scientific basis. Students will learn techniques by practicing them in the campus Learning Garden and visiting local gardening and farming sites.

Instructor: Tracy Cosgriff
Designations: AH
Schedule: T/Th 10:00 am-12:00 pm

The Renaissance is a history of cities and the societies they supported. This course surveys the cities that formed the fabric of early modern culture from the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries. From courts to republics, to colonial and imperial capitals, we will consider how art, architecture, and urban design supported the diverse social phenomena of the Renaissance world: domestic, political, commercial, and religious. These contexts are explored through case studies like Florence, Rome, and Venice, as well as Paris, Prague, and London; we also consider non-Western examples, including Tenochtitlan, Istanbul, and Isfahan. Using online archives and reconstructions to examine these historical environs, the class introduces a variety of digital tools and culminates in student-led projects using ArcGIS.

Instructor: Daimys Garcia
Designations: PPRE; AH
Schedule: M/W/F 11:00 am-12:30 pm

This course explores the many worlds built by Black and Latinx writers through speculative fiction, including science fiction, fantasy, and horror. We will discuss and write about texts through which writers thread stories of life and living on their own terms. We will examine histories of resistance to hegemonic understandings of race, gender, sexuality, and ethnicity, while charting the alternative epistemological and ontological possibilities these writers offer. Readings are drawn from anthologies such as: Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements; New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color; Latinx Rising: An Anthology of Latinx Science Fiction and Fantasy; and A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope. We will also watch Sinners & La Llorona.

Instructor: Grit Herzmann
Designations: HSS; MNS
Prerequisite: NEUR-10000, PSYC-10000, permission of instructor is granted if any 100-level course on campus has been completed
Schedule: T/Th 12:00-2:00 pm

The course will introduce students to neurodiversity, the idea that neurological differences, whether arising from developmental (e.g., Dyslexia, ADHD, Autism) or mental causes (e.g., Schizophrenia, Biopolar, Major Depressive Disorder), should be accepted and valued as natural variations to human brain and behavior. Students will learn about underlying psychological theory and neuroscience mechanisms, including neuroanatomy.

Instructor: Karen Haely
Designations: AH; SJ; GE
Schedule: Tu/Th 5:30-7:30 pm

This course examines critical ethical issues in business contexts, recognizing that modern businesses operate globally across diverse cultural and economic systems. We will consider when and how ethical values matter in business, what characteristic dilemmas arise, and what various ethical theories have to say about these challenges. Guided by multiple ethical perspectives, we will examine issues related to production and marketing; consumer relations; workers and workplace conditions; corporate social responsibility; international business practices; environmental impact; and social justice concerns including inequality, labor rights, and corporate accountability across different global contexts.

Instructor: Michele Leiby
Designations: R/SJ; HSS; GE; PPRE
Schedule: M/T/W/Th 9:00-10:20 am

This course takes a critical look at the facts and fictions surrounding Latin American migration to the U.S. Starting in Latin America, we’ll learn about the factors that push people to flee their homes and resettle in the U.S. Next, we’ll consider how migrants move through the Central American isthmus and Mexico, and how Mexican migration policy affects their movement. We’ll then explore what the Mexico-U.S. border looks like and both governments’ policies to address border and human security. Finally, we’ll examine in-depth the policies and practices that affect Latin American immigrants in the U.S. interior. Throughout the course, we’ll consider a variety of sources (texts, podcasts, videos), but will privilege migrants’ own stories whenever possible.

Instructor: Terry Reeder
Designations: R/SJ; AH
Schedule: M/W/F 7:00-8:30 pm

We will develop an ethical tool box for reflection, critical thinking, and decision making on bioethical dilemmas that intersect with religious thoughts and actions. Each week will center on a case study involving religion and bioethics including abortion, scarce medical resources, assisted reproduction, alternative medicine, CRISPR, vaccinations, research with vulnerable populations (including animals), and more.