Campus Conversation on Undergraduate Education

Spring 2016 Grand Challenge Experience Courses

Course Offerings by Grand Challenge Pathway

Health & Wellness
Inequality & Cultural Awareness
Sustainability, Energy & the Environment

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Health & Wellness: What makes a person healthy and well?

GCL 125 Interdisciplinary Approaches to Life Science (multi-section first-year course)

GCL 125b IALS: IT’S TOXIC! (Life Sciences), Samantha Frost, MW 1-2:20PM

This course will teach students how exposure to chemicals from the environment in everyday life affects health and well-being.  The course will examine the ways that endocrine disruptors like phthalates can enter the body, mimic hormones in the body, and thereby generate physiological and behavioral anomalies that cause health problems. As a first-year course structured around the idea of experiential learning, students will undertake reading and discussion amplified by hands-on field trips, in-class projects, investigations about personal lived environments, and group research projects.

GLC 125c IALS: THE MOLECULAR ME (Life Sciences), Jeff Moore, TR 2-3:20PM

This course will give students personal and practical experience investigating root causes of human health and diseases. Topics will be selected to better understand the President’s new initiative on Precision Medicine. Examples will demonstrate the connection between observable traits and human genomic variations. Students will gain experience in visualizing and interpreting the molecular consequences of genomic variation, and be able to relate their findings to the science and technology of personalized medicine.

GCL 125d IALS: EXPERIENTIAL ANATOMY (Life Sciences), Rebecca Nettl-Fiol, MW 3-4:20PM

Students will be engaged in learning about the human body and how it moves, using traditional scientific methods, along with personal explorations in the classroom through guided movement experiences and working with partners.  The course takes a holistic approach, delving into various body-mind practices as a lens for learning human anatomy. Quizzes on anatomical structures and movement analysis will be partnered with a personal, experiential research project. The course includes guests from the fields of yoga, physical therapy, and massage therapy, as well as a field trip to the dance neuroscience lab.

GCL 188 Interdisciplinary Approaches to Health and Society (Literature) (multi-section first-year course)

GCL 188a IAHSL: DOCTORS AND PATIENTS (Literature), Stephanie Hilger, TR 3:30-4:50PM

The struggle with disease and the related search for a cure has occupied human consciousness throughout time and remains at the forefront of popular awareness, especially in current debates about healthcare. Through the study of literature and other cultural documents, this course explores the centrality of the doctor-patient relationship. Students will watch television shows (such as Grey’s Anatomy and House) and read short stories and novels with the goal of critically analyzing the communication between doctor and patient, noting positive and negative aspects and providing suggestions for improvement. Students will also create fictional case studies of patients with specific diseases, presenting the “standard of care” depending on the historical and cultural context, and analyze the rhetorical strategies of commercials by pharmaceutical companies.

GCL 188b IAHSL: GLOBAL Epidemics (Literature), Ramón Soto-Crespo, TR 3:00-4:50PM (Second 8-week.)

Ebola, HIV, zombies, and vampires! All share a common lineage in that they've been imagined as viruses that spread around the globe. Looking at popular novels, comic books, documentaries, and films about global epidemics is, thus, a way of thinking about health and wellness as a world phenomenon. As a plus, students will connect their learning on the spread of viral disease worldwide, inside and outside fiction, to an archive of materials assembled by the University Library.

GCL 186 Interdisciplinary Approaches to Health and Society (Social Science) (multi-section first-year course)

GCL 186c IAHSS: SEX ED PANIC! (Social Science), Chantal Nadeau, TR 4-5:20PM

This course introduces the relationships between education, sex, and the culture of panic. Specifically the course addresses sex from legal, cultural, and ethical dimensions. One of the goals of the course is to give students social-scientific tools to analyze and challenge the ways in which public discussions about sexuality elicit emotions such as fear and panic resulting in an array of public and political responses. Working with case studies, students will learn to engage and evaluate the information that circulates about sexuality and its impact on educating informed citizens. Their class materials and activities will enable them to analyze a range of contemporary debates: gender identification, media censorship, sex education and abstinence policies, and college campaigns on sexual assaults such as “It’s on Us.”

Inequality & Cultural Understanding:  
Is our world getting less fair? What can we do about it?

GCL 137a DOCUMENTING INEQUALITY (Art), Terri Weissman, TR 2-3:20PM

Through the study of documentary film, photography and other kinds of socially conscious art, this course explores how economic and social inequality affects the lives of children and minors in the U.S. Students will watch and critique documentaries made by artists and filmmakers in the areas of Education, Housing, and Law Enforcement; they will go behind the scenes at the Krannert Art Museum in order to investigate the museum's documentary holdings; and they will make their own documentary projects. Final projects will be exhibited in the Krannert Art Museum at the end of the semester.

GCL 137a DOCUMENTING INEQUALITY (Art), Ryan Griffis, TR 2-3:20PM

Through the study of documentary film, photography and other kinds of socially conscious art, this course explores how economic and social inequality affects the lives of children and minors in the U.S. Students will watch and critique documentaries made by artists and filmmakers in the areas of Education, Housing, and Law Enforcement; they will go behind the scenes at the Krannert Art Museum in order to investigate the museum's documentary holdings; and they will make their own documentary projects. Final projects will be exhibited in the Krannert Art Museum at the end of the semester.

GCL 145 Interdisciplinary Approaches to Social Justice (Art) (multi-section first-year course)

GCL 145 IASJA: BLACK MUSIC AND SOCIAL JUSTICE (Art/US Minority Cultures), John Paul Meyers, MW 2-3:20PM This course explores how African American musicians have used music to accomplish political tasks, including raising awareness, creating a sense of community, and directly lobbying for political and social change. Moving chronologically from music in Abolition to the Black Lives Matter campaign, we will critically examine the successes and failures of these movements and the ways in which they deployed music. An important part of the course will be engaging with a contemporary movement for social justice, either as scholar-observers or as participants. 

GCL 147 Interdisciplinary Approaches to Social Justice (Social Science) (multi-section first-year course)

GCL 147b IASJS: RACE AND THE CITY (Social Science/US Minority Cultures), Ken Salo, TR 3:30-4:50PM

Through studying state led spatial or urban planning policies, projects and practices we will explore how cities, here and abroad, shape and were shaped by intersecting socio-economic inequalities of race, class and gender. Students will, in person and virtually, walk and talk with especially inner city residents to document how they challenge and sometimes change persistent political policies that racially re-segregate urban from suburban neighborhoods. Specifically, students will work with neighborhood residents to map their struggles against spatial segregation and social inequality. Final mapping projects will be shared online with residents at the end of the semester.

GCL 147c IASJS: POLICING, CULTURE & INEQUALITY (Social Science/US Minority Cultures), Jeff Martin, MW 2-3:20PM

Students in this course will study the ways police are represented in American culture, and explore how these representations reflect social reality. As an experiential course we will work with materials gathered from our cultural environment, including film, television, internet, observation, and interviews. Students will use the materials they gather to create curated multi-media collections designed to showcase the ways in which American police reflect the inequalities of the social order they uphold.

GCL 147d IASJS: SOCIAL JUSTICE AND THE MEDIA (Social Science/US Minority Cultures), Isabel Molina-Guzmán, MW 10-11:20PM

Students in this course gain critical media literacy skills through exploring contemporary social justice issues in the media ranging from Black Lives Matter to sexual assault on college campuses to immigration politics among other topics. The course applies the knowledge learned in the course to the UIUC campus through campus organizations impacted by these contemporary social justice issues. Throughout the semester students will work with these organizations to develop digital media projects that help to raise Campus awareness or work to engage students in Campus advocacy.

GCL 148 Interdisciplinary Approaches to Social Justice (Historical Perspectives) (multi-section first-year course)

GCL 148 IASJH: THE GLOBAL DIVIDE (Historical Perspectives), Emanuel Rota, TR 3:30-4:50PM

We are equal before the law, but what about the rest of our lives? Is economic inequality bad? Is international inequality more acceptable than national inequality? We will study the history of the justifications for inequality in light of what economists, sociologists and philosophers think, today, of inequality. By the end of the course, you will be able to engage the major arguments in support of inequality knowing their history, their weaknesses, and their relation to the larger historical context. We will study inequality and its justifications as some of the crucial pillars of political conflicts and we will learn how the notion of inequality changed over time. We will interview economists, sociologists and other experts to learn what the current debate is. A final undergraduate conference/debate will allow us to test the quality of our work and face the experts with informed and difficult questions.

GCL 195 Fictions of Equality (Literature) (multi-section first-year course)

GCL 195a Fictions of Equality: MARRIAGE EQUALITY (Literature), Julia Saville, TR 2-3:20PM

Through novels, poetry, memoirs, and films students will explore marriage in terms of the power dynamics that have defined marital relationships in various periods and cultures--from Jane Austen’s Britain to multicultural London, to marriage equality for gays and lesbians in the contemporary U.S. Using the library's rare books archives they will see how young couples found one another in Austen’s time and explore records of domestic violence in the Victorian era. Guest speakers on contemporary marriage equality will include a local Family Court judge. Students will use their ePortfolios to translate their archival work into a capstone research project.

GCL 195b Fictions of Equality: WHERE IS THE GOOD LIFE? (Literature), Elena Delgado, TR 11-12:20PM

Through the study of diverse texts (fiction, film, popular songs, documentaries), students in this course will explore how the concepts of “the good life” and the “American dream” are interpreted and fulfilled by different social groups and in different cultural contexts. Students will also get to explore personally, and reflect upon, evolving and persistent inequalities in our own community of C-U, including transportation and housing challenges faced by immigrants or the working poor.

Sustainability, Energy & the Environment: Can you help the future of the planet?

GCL 126 Interdisciplinary Pathways to Environmental Sustainability (Social Science) (multi-section first-year course)

GCL 126a IPESS: HUMANS AND ANIMALS (Social Science), Jane Desmond, TR 2-3:20PM

Through a critical engagement with scholarly writings and engaged participation in service learning activities in the local community, students will address the challenges of sustainability with a unique focus on human relations with non-human animals.  Specifically, we will consider the cultural distinctions between animals considered "pets" and those considered "food" animals, both in U.S. and international contexts. Students will combine hands-on experiential learning at a local animal shelter with scholarly reflection, and will conduct original problem- solving research, which will be presented in a format designed to engage a wider community outside the classroom.

GCL 126b IPESS: URBAN SUSTAINABILITY (Social Science), Dustin Allred, MW 2-3:20PM

Students will investigate how we can create healthy, safe, fair, and equitable communities without compromising the earth's limited natural resources. The course explores the concept of sustainability by addressing the tensions that exist between our built environment (our regions, cities, and homes) and the natural systems that support all life on earth. Students will learn ways to resolve global, regional, and local environmental issues by better understanding how the choices we make - where and how we choose to live - impact urban sustainability. Specific topics include responses to climate destabilization, green infrastructure and urban systems, sustainable governance, green construction and urban design, water conservation, and energy production and consumption. Class activities will include visits to green buildings and projects around town. Students will develop a sustainability assessment of their hometown neighborhood.

GCL 126d IPESS: FROM FARM TO TABLE (Social Science), Ming Kuo, TR 2-3:20PM

In this course, we follow food "from farm to table” — from its origins to our plates. We will visit places and people all along the food chain, and learn first-hand where our food comes from and the steps it goes through to be transported, processed, and marketed to consumers. With the assistance of local experts, we examine the choices all along this journey and how those choices affect people and the environment. The semester concludes with a farm-to-table meal at which students will share their visions for a sustainable and healthy local food system with farmers and other local stakeholders.

GCL 129 Sustainable Design Across the Disciplines (Art) (multi-section first-year course)

GCL 129 SDADA: SUSTAINABLE DESIGN PRACTICES IN THE PUBLIC REALM (Art/Non-Western Cultures), Amita Sinha, TR 2-3:20PM

Through case work on Indian cities and field trips to local sites, students will learn about the challenges to achieving equitable, healthy and safe public spaces. Their hands-on work in sustainable design will focus on creating low cost, environment-friendly and technologically up-to-date structures that speak to the climate and cultural concerns of particular locations. 

GCL 128 Fictions of Sustainability (Literature) (multi-section first-year course)

GCL 128a Fictions of Sustainability: FOOD, WATER, ENERGY (Literature), Jamie Jones, TR 2-3:20PM

“Sustainability” may seem like it’s all about science but as human beings, we learn to act on our environment through experiences that shape our relation to the natural world.  In this class we think about how stories help us to explore these connections to food, water, and energy.  Turning the campus into our lab and our readings into inspiration, we will source meals and embark on field trips.  We will read memorable works of literature from different parts of the world including popular dystopic fiction ("cli-fi").

GCL 128b Fictions of Sustainability: FOOD, WATER, ENERGY (Literature), Gillen D’Arcy Wood, TR 12:30-2:20PM (Second 8-week.)

“Sustainability” may seem like it’s all about science but as human beings, we learn to act on our environment through experiences that shape our relation to the natural world.  In this class we think about how stories help us to explore these connections to food, water, and energy.  Turning the campus into our lab and our readings into inspiration, we will source meals and embark on field trips.  We will read memorable works of literature from different parts of the world including popular dystopic fiction ("cli-fi").