Departmental Advisors
Director, MUSE (My "U" Signature Experience)
Karen Paisley
Departmental Notes

For course descriptions and pre-requisite information click on the subject column next to the appropriate catalog number.


Diet Trends - Sorting Facts from Fiction: This one-credit course will explore dietary trends highlighted in mainstream media and support the students’ abilities to discern evidence-based practices from enticing but often unfounded nutrition practices. While the media has promoted popular health fads for over one hundred years, social media has amplified these messages exponentially in the past decade. This course will examine the allure of these dietary practices; students will also understand the societal influences that generate the strong appeal of food trends not experienced by many other cultures. Finally, by understanding our societal relationship with food, students will begin to contemplate their approach to eating and health-related behaviors.
  • Class Number: 16264
  • Instructor: WOODRUFF, KARY
  • Component: Seminar
  • Type: In Person
  • Units: 1.0
  • Requisites: Yes
  • Wait List: Yes
  • Fees: $10.59
  • Seats Available: 11

Diet Trends - Sorting Facts from Fiction: This one-credit course will explore dietary trends highlighted in mainstream media and support the students’ abilities to discern evidence-based practices from enticing but often unfounded nutrition practices. While the media has promoted popular health fads for over one hundred years, social media has amplified these messages exponentially in the past decade. This course will examine the allure of these dietary practices; students will also understand the societal influences that generate the strong appeal of food trends not experienced by many other cultures. Finally, by understanding our societal relationship with food, students will begin to contemplate their approach to eating and health-related behaviors.

Impact of Infectious Diseases on Culture, Society and Health: This course will explore the impact of infectious microbial diseases on human behavior, society, politics, and health. Using scientific, philosophical, and historic perspectives, students in the course will examine the cause and effect of infectious diseases and develop an understanding of how diseases have impacted or been affected by migration, climate change, vaccines, research, diagnostics, politics, and behavior. Each week students will discuss a disease that has significantly shaped human life to understand how humans have dealt with past epidemics and how that has caused social, ethical, and political disruptions and lead to changes in lifestyle and public health measures. Students will also examine attempts to identify and control sources of infections and the measures needed to ensure that past mistakes are not repeated for similar situations in the future.
  • Class Number: 17793
  • Instructor: Phadnis, Naina
  • Component: Seminar
  • Type: In Person
  • Units: 1.0
  • Requisites: Yes
  • Wait List: Yes
  • Seats Available: 6

Impact of Infectious Diseases on Culture, Society and Health: This course will explore the impact of infectious microbial diseases on human behavior, society, politics, and health. Using scientific, philosophical, and historic perspectives, students in the course will examine the cause and effect of infectious diseases and develop an understanding of how diseases have impacted or been affected by migration, climate change, vaccines, research, diagnostics, politics, and behavior. Each week students will discuss a disease that has significantly shaped human life to understand how humans have dealt with past epidemics and how that has caused social, ethical, and political disruptions and lead to changes in lifestyle and public health measures. Students will also examine attempts to identify and control sources of infections and the measures needed to ensure that past mistakes are not repeated for similar situations in the future.

MUSE 1850 - 008 How to Have Hard Conversations


How to Have Hard Conversations: In a world with so many diverse people, systems, and perspectives, disagreement and conflict are inevitable. While these can be uncomfortable, they don’t have to be a “bad” thing. Learning how to thoughtfully engage in difficult conversations is a skill that will serve you in all facets of life – personal and professional. In this seminar, we will unpack what actually makes conversations difficult or topics taboo (including the role of the media), engage in self-awareness/authenticity activities, and experiment with different tactics for navigating hard conversations. This seminar will be highly interactive, so please come willing to participate!

MUSE 1850 - 008 How to Have Hard Conversations

  • Class Number: 16268
  • Instructor: PAISLEY, KAREN
  • Component: Seminar
  • Type: In Person
  • Units: 1.0
  • Requisites: Yes
  • Wait List: Yes
  • Seats Available: 2

How to Have Hard Conversations: In a world with so many diverse people, systems, and perspectives, disagreement and conflict are inevitable. While these can be uncomfortable, they don’t have to be a “bad” thing. Learning how to thoughtfully engage in difficult conversations is a skill that will serve you in all facets of life – personal and professional. In this seminar, we will unpack what actually makes conversations difficult or topics taboo (including the role of the media), engage in self-awareness/authenticity activities, and experiment with different tactics for navigating hard conversations. This seminar will be highly interactive, so please come willing to participate!

MUSE 1850 - 010 Queer Belonging


Queer Belonging: In this seminar we will explore what it means to belong as queer people. What does it mean for us to belong in our bodies, in our communities, in our families, and in our friend groups? What about in institutions such as history, media, healthcare, and schools? But more than that, what does it even mean to belong, and how might we queer (the verb) belonging in ways that just might open up more interesting, affirming, dare I say euphoric, possibilities for belonging? We will spend our time together intentionally building and nurturing space(s) for our own queer belonging and interrogating what this means for us. We will draw from various queer "texts" ranging from young adult fiction, to film, to art, to music, to historical accounts, to academic research to critically analyze the ways the possibilities for belonging have been structured and presented to us, so that we can make more informed choices foodabout our own attempts at queer belonging. Finally, it is essential to know that this won't work unless we are attentive to the multiplicities of our identities so an emphasis on race, class, gender, ability, age, citizenship, and religion will run through the entire semester.

MUSE 1850 - 010 Queer Belonging

  • Class Number: 17796
  • Instructor: HACKFORD-PEER, KIM
  • Component: Seminar
  • Type: In Person
  • Units: 1.0
  • Requisites: Yes
  • Wait List: Yes
  • Seats Available: 9

Queer Belonging: In this seminar we will explore what it means to belong as queer people. What does it mean for us to belong in our bodies, in our communities, in our families, and in our friend groups? What about in institutions such as history, media, healthcare, and schools? But more than that, what does it even mean to belong, and how might we queer (the verb) belonging in ways that just might open up more interesting, affirming, dare I say euphoric, possibilities for belonging? We will spend our time together intentionally building and nurturing space(s) for our own queer belonging and interrogating what this means for us. We will draw from various queer "texts" ranging from young adult fiction, to film, to art, to music, to historical accounts, to academic research to critically analyze the ways the possibilities for belonging have been structured and presented to us, so that we can make more informed choices foodabout our own attempts at queer belonging. Finally, it is essential to know that this won't work unless we are attentive to the multiplicities of our identities so an emphasis on race, class, gender, ability, age, citizenship, and religion will run through the entire semester.

MUSE 1850 - 011 Adventure, Crisis & Leadership


Adventure, Crisis, and Leadership: Søren Kierkegaard wrote “to venture causes anxiety, but not to venture is to lose one’s self [. . .] and to venture in the highest is precisely to be conscious of one’s self.” In pursuit of self-knowledge and knowledge of the world, this course will investigate the practice of adventure as it plays out on raging rivers and high mountains as well as in the boardroom and the classroom. Readings, film, and case studies will inform our intellectual journey as we consider what it means to engage risk—as many effective leaders do—by courting adventure in strategic and creative ways. Along the way, we will also study how leaders manage the crises that emerge as the adventure of life unfolds.

MUSE 1850 - 011 Adventure, Crisis & Leadership

  • Class Number: 17797
  • Instructor: PHILLIPS, AARON
  • Component: Seminar
  • Type: In Person
  • Units: 1.0
  • Requisites: Yes
  • Wait List: Yes
  • Seats Available: 9

Adventure, Crisis, and Leadership: Søren Kierkegaard wrote “to venture causes anxiety, but not to venture is to lose one’s self [. . .] and to venture in the highest is precisely to be conscious of one’s self.” In pursuit of self-knowledge and knowledge of the world, this course will investigate the practice of adventure as it plays out on raging rivers and high mountains as well as in the boardroom and the classroom. Readings, film, and case studies will inform our intellectual journey as we consider what it means to engage risk—as many effective leaders do—by courting adventure in strategic and creative ways. Along the way, we will also study how leaders manage the crises that emerge as the adventure of life unfolds.