Below are the WAYS 101 Seminars that will be offered in Fall 2025.
Modern apes exhibit behaviors that anthropologists have described as cultural. For this reason, Dr. Louis Leakey questioned whether we can include apes as human. This course will explore the arguments for creating the “boundaries”, if any, that may separate humans from other living primates, particularly the apes, in respect to the anthropological definitions of culture, language and what being human is. The insights from the studies of nonhuman primates in the wild or in captivity will inform our arguments and enlighten the origins of human evolutionary behavior.
Do you feel like 2020 was basically the apocalypse? In this class, we will learn about how to prevent a zoonotic disease like COVID-19 from creating another “apocalypse” in the future. First, we will look at how human impacts on the environment and broken food systems lead to the emergence and spread of zoonotic diseases. Next, we will develop a powerful arsenal of critical thinking skills and use them to develop new, creative solutions that will help your generation prevent the end of the world from ever happening.
Dogs and wolves are often compared. You may hear that dogs are just like wolves. Are dogs wolves? The social structure and other behaviors of wolves have often been used to explain dog behavior. Dogs are often said to just be domesticated wolves but what does that mean? In this course we will develop critical thinking skills and use these skills to explore similarities and differences between dogs and wolves. We will investigate their development, behavior and cognitive abilities and questions such as: Did dogs really domesticate themselves? Do dogs really have more sophisticated socio-cognitive skills than that of wolves?
Socrates’ last words were about it. Queen Victoria was obsessed with it. Charles Darwin and Louis Pasteur made their scientific breakthroughs using it. Catholic popes, African shamans, Chinese philosophers, and Muslim mystics praised it. But, only recently has the chicken become humanity’s most important single source of protein. This course will explore the fascinating saga of the modern chicken and the wicked problems which arose because of its domestication. We will develop critical thinking skills to tackle such moral quandaries as the commercialized meat industry, humanity’s role as a preserver of other species, and the emergence of zoonotic diseases, like avian influenza.
In this course we will explore the importance of understanding our purpose in life as a precursor to unleashing our highest potential. We can’t reach our full potential unless we know our purpose. Am I destined for mediocrity if I don't know my purpose? We will critically explore these life issues and how they relate to business concepts. Critical thinking is the ability to think reflectively and independently in order to make thoughtful decisions and thus avoid future problems that can result from your actions. We will learn to identify problems and use applied critical thinking skills to solve them, including blowing up the business, asking the 5 whys and the 7 so what’s, exploring the 80/20 rule, and more.
How would you go about restoring a democracy after it has been destroyed? In 403 BCE, after nine months of brutal persecution by a small group of Spartan-supported tyrants, democracy was restored in Athens, Greece. But she was in tatters – defenseless, broke, and torn apart by factionalism. In this class you and your classmates will serve in democratically selected positions of power, recreating the political landscape of late 5th Century BC Athens. Your mission will be to rebuild Athens – to help determine how she rules herself, how she engages with her neighbors and competitors, and ultimately to help determine what her legacy will be.
This course introduces students to the history of the theory and practice of fascism on a global scale. We examine the origins of fascism in fin-de-siècle Europe, its proliferation during the 1920s and 1930s, as well as its unfolding in the Americas and other parts of the world. We will examine the history of fascist ideas and structures in Italy, Germany, and the United States in more detail. Moving beyond the Hollywood cliché of fascism, as a sensationalized and transhistorical metaphor for “evil,” we will explore the specific conditions that incubated past forms of fascism.
Dreams have fascinated humanity for centuries, serving as interpretation of our life, and prophecy. This is a critical thinking course based on the phenomenon of dreaming from three key perspectives—anthropological, mythical, and biological—offering a comprehensive understanding of why we dream and what dreams reveal about human nature. Through the lens of anthropology, we will examine theories from Freud, Jung, and modern cognitive science. From a mythical and cultural perspective, we will analyze dream symbolism across different civilizations, from ancient dream oracles to shamanic visions and religious revelations. On the biological level, we will explore the neuroscience of sleep and dreaming, including REM cycles, brain activity during dreams, and the evolutionary function of dreaming. What does modern science reveal about why we dream, and how does it connect to memory, creativity, and consciousness?
Infographics, hashtags, memes, online trolling, and our elections. This course will focus on how we get and vet our information online. We will explore social and cultural contexts of new media and emergent digital writing technologies and provide a space to analyze and research across social media contexts and platforms. Students will look at multimodal compositions from across the internet, examine not only instances and examples of new media but also the impact new media has on society and how shifting social norms influence new media.
Despite society’s efforts to conserve wildlife and their ecosystems, human activities continue to cause declines, extirpations, and extinctions in wildlife across the globe. In this class, we will investigate the causes for the massive decline of biological diversity and our attempts to counter it through international collaboration in wildlife conservation and management. We will explore the challenges that hinder our capacity to effectively conserve and manage global wildlife populations and the multitude of strategies to help reverse biodiversity loss. Our deeper understanding of the complex global issues in wildlife conservation will allow us to better understand our role as both the problem and the solution.
Buried treasure, walking the plank, and a bottle of rum: these are our stock images of piracy in the 17th and 18th centuries. But what was piracy in its Golden Age really like? What was a pirate, exactly, and why might a man – or woman – be inclined to go pirate? What were the differences between a corsair, a privateer, a freebooter, and a buccaneer? By examining contemporary writings by pirates, their victims, and enemies, we will discover answers to these questions and grapple with the devilishly wicked problem of distinguishing between the moral legitimacy of private crime versus state warfare.
Or "Why Did you Learn What You Learned in High School about Sex, Sexuality, Your Body, and Consent?" Only 24 states in the US have compulsory sex education for public schools and the range of what is taught varies widely. Sex education may cover health/biology but did you get information on same-sex relationship, HIV/AIDS and other STIs, healthy relationships, and the importance of consent? Who teaches us what about sex and when and why? How would you teach it? Some topics may be triggering to some students but we will work together to make the classroom as safe and brave as possible.
Calling all film fans! Have you ever been curious about how and why the soundtracks of films can stir up different emotional results in the audience? Have you ever wondered how texture or rhythm can immerse you in the world on screen? In a world filled with movies, video games, and TikToks the intricate relationship between sound and image is all around us. Learn to explore and analyze the relationship of sound/image through film, art, and media. Through research of concepts and the creation your own audio/visual works, you will express your understanding of sound and image in our world. No prior musical or video-editing experience necessary!
Is tech’s rapid transformation of our world sacrificing our connection to nature? This course explores the social and cultural implications of technological advancements, and their dynamic relationship with nature. From smartphones to renewable energy, we'll examine how technology has both enhanced and challenged our connection to the environment. We'll also delve into mind-bending concepts like whether technology has a life of its own and the paradoxical relationship between tech’s responsibility for the climate crisis and its role in solving it. Join the debates on whether technology has replaced nature, if they can coexist in harmony, and what our technological future might hold.
From the Odyssey to Star Wars, myths are stories which guide us through life. But these stories constantly evolve, as new societies adapt them to their concerns. This course explores how and why myths arise and change, from the ancient to the modern world.