Current Students

Note: Students will work in the dirt at the JGHC community garden located at the USF Botanical Gardens, and alongside other community organizations. 

“The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.” – Alfred Austin  

The great challenge of our time is to build and nurture sustainable communities. Gardening is an act of compassion — for oneself, their community members, and ecological partners. Planting and growing food and flowers and knowing how to responsibility consume them can promote the health and wellbeing of all our community members — whether in the JGHC, USF, or our surrounding areas.  

Students will learn valuable skills they can take with them beyond the classroom, including how they can create third spaces through community gardening, have control over the nutrient density of your food, reduce waste through composting, increase physical activity through gardening maintenance, improve mental health and promote relaxation, and promote community wellness through education. In this experiential learning class, they will gain the tools to contribute to a stronger community food system, connect with others through community gardening, and their required 75 hours of community service to fulfill one experiential learning requirement.

Honors Choir provides Honors students with the opportunity to participate in a choral music ensemble. This course may contribute to completion of one experiential learning requirement in the Judy Genshaft Honors College. The Honors Choir is open to all Honors students. No audition or prior experience is required. 

The Contemporary Music Ensemble exists to be a welcoming, creative, collaborative, and non-competitive musical space for Honors students. Our primary focus will be on the preparation and performance of the popular music of the last 75 years. Through our musical selections and performances, we also aim to reflect the diverse community of the Honors College and to celebrate the uniqueness of this community among the college and the larger university. The CME will perform at least once per semester and may be engaged in support of the Honors Choir or other ensembles. 

A permit is required to register; request a permit for Honors Contemporary Music Ensemble. 

What does it mean to really listen to music? If we choose familiar music, are we consciously and actively listening? Does music we love influence our whole being? What about music that is new to us: how do we know if we are deeply listening and fully integrating what we are hearing? How might these factors influence our connection between our whole self and what we are listening to?

This course is about examining and reshaping the way we listen and respond to sounds, including music, as we move from background listening to a deeper, more active experience achieved through embodied listening. Using the principles of the Alexander technique, an educational method grounded in the understanding that any division of mind and body is artificial and not productive, we will experiment with the mind-body connection to explore how music grabs our attention, stirs emotion, and even challenges us when it feels strange or unfamiliar. We will dive into new sound worlds — like contemporary classical, free jazz, and electronic music — and also reflect on how we listen to the music we already love. We will investigate different listening approaches: listening without judgment, noticing our assumptions, and broadening our engagement. Weekly sound journals, activity-based class participation, reflective essays, and a guided class listening experience each student creates comprise the majority of assignments. 

What elements are lost or made more digestible?

In this course, students will explore classic fairy tales in their original forms, examining the cultural values, themes, and darker elements often lost through adaptation. Through close readings of tales and Disney films, seminar-style discussions, and a collaboration with the library's Special Collections, students will investigate the history and evolution of the fairy tale tradition and the process of "Disneyfication." The course culminates in two projects: an exhibit at Special Collections, as well as a creative piece in which students write both an original-style fairy tale and a Disney-inspired adaptation, applying their understanding of how stories change across time, cultures, and audiences. 

Writing in your future career will rarely happen in isolation. Whether you are developing a business proposal, communicating health information, presenting research, or working with AI, what and how you write will be shaped by your audience, purpose, background, workplace, technologies, genres, expectations, goals, and other human and nonhuman actors. In this course, you’ll learn to recognize how these different forces work together and how you can make strategic choices within them. 

You’ll choose a professional, academic, or public issue that matters to you and use it as the focus of your work throughout the course. In this course, you’ll investigate real communication situations, conduct research, and create projects designed for actual audiences and purposes. We’ll also explore how generative AI and emerging technologies are changing communication in fields such as business, health sciences, and other professions. By the end of the course, you’ll have practical strategies for analyzing unfamiliar communication situations, adapting to different audiences, and making informed writing decisions that you can carry into your future career. 

The history of popular music is often presented as a sequence of innovations and events. The aim of this course, in contrast, is to study popular music in the United States in order to understand significant social, economic, and cultural transformations during the past century. We will trace important developments in technology, business, social life, and popular culture through American popular music. Simultaneously, we will discuss how popular music has reflected shifting attitudes about race, region, gender, and class. Particular attention will be devoted to the role that popular music played in the forging of a mass culture that Americans, regardless of class, region, race, and gender, participated in. 

Additionally, we will explore how artists have borrowed and stolen from each other. We will connect how western genres — country, jazz, blues, hip-hop, rock-and-roll, and techno, so rooted in Black traditions — came to be understood as white art forms. We will discuss a broad historical overview of appropriations/cultural colonialism throughout the last 150 years. 

Shakespeare observed that "all the world's a stage." Have you considered how we embody and put into action how we perform our various ideologies, identities, and cultures? This course focuses on our individual and collective performances in the secular, sacred, and quotidian realms. Drawing from performance studies, communication theory, anthropology, sociology, and other fields, this course invites students to view all human interaction as a kind of performance and to consider their varying significances.

What happens when the taken-for-granted becomes our focus? In this course, performances will serve as both objects of study and methods of inquiry to illuminate what we consider to be the everyday. The view of life as theater is an ancient and enduring metaphor for human reality. In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in the perspective of life as theater and in performance-centered approaches to communication and culture. This course will draw attention to the relationship between everyday life and traditional aesthetic performance. We will explore how communication in everyday life may be understood using performance as a metaphor and method of study. We will also look at how aesthetic performances are informed by everyday experiences. We will discuss culture as a continuous performance, from the ordinary speech of an individual to the elaborate practices of groups and organizations. We will seek to uncover how our various performances — traditional, everyday, sacred, and secular — construct and maintain culture. 

• Discourses of globalization
• Immigration and labor relations
• The body and technology
• Real and virtual identities
• Time travel and memory
• Gender and race in a “possible futures” scenario 

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Recognize important texts and films and understand why they are relevant in their representation of possible futures.
• Express analytically (in oral and written form) their ideas about the material.
• Identify and explain the main characteristics of these texts and films and analyze how do they relate to each other and to a particular cultural context. 

Comics and graphic novels are one of the most popular forms of storytelling today. Their mixture of art and writing can transport readers to visually fascinating worlds and make intimate connections to a wide range of characters from superheroes to alien creatures. Comics are also an invaluable way to speak about our real world, giving us insights into the lives of others. In Art and The Refugee Experience, we will be looking at comics about asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants to better understand these ongoing world crises. 

This course is broken down into two major foci, the first being research-based writing about the refugee experience. As a class, we will read comics such as "Safe Area Gorazde" by Joes Sacco and "Rolling Blackouts" by Sarah Glidden in order to develop complex ideas and responses about these pressing issues. What does the refugee journey across the Mediterranean look like? What is the daily experience of living in a refugee camp? We will work together to answer questions like these and brainstorm possible solutions. Second, we will learn the artistic skills and techniques that comic creators use to tell their stories, with the ultimate goal of each student making their own short comic! Don't worry, no prior art skills are necessary, and you will not be graded on your artistic proficiency. As we work to create our own comics, we will investigate how images and visuals can capture aspects of our lives that otherwise might have been missed. Finally, this course will include interviews with artists, guest lectures from journalists, and discussions with writers who have first had experience working with refugees. There will also be out-of-class opportunities to engage with USF's Contemporary Art Museum. 

In this discussion-based course, we will examine what it means to read with care and attention in an era when artificial intelligence and digital media shape how we consume information. Through close engagement with fiction, we will practice deep reading as a way of cultivating empathy, sharpening critical thinking, and strengthening our ability to communicate thoughtfully. Together, we will consider how stories illuminate the complexity of human experience and why they matter in a world increasingly mediated by algorithms and AI-generated text. 

A central aim of the course is to rediscover the art of reading at a time when quick skimming and surface-level engagement dominate. Students will immerse themselves in a range of fictional narratives, learning to connect stories to their own lives while reflecting on the broader cultural significance of reading in the digital age. 

Over the semester, students will submit two five-page response papers, each offering personal reflection and analysis of works discussed in class. These assignments will provide opportunities to practice deep interpretation and to explore the value of human insight in contrast to machine-driven processing of text. 

Three decades since its original publication, Chuck Palahniuk's "Fight Club" continues to attract new readers and media attention. In addition to its film adaptation, Palahniuk has more recently released two sequels as graphic novels ("Fight Club 2" and "Fight Club 3"), as well as a prequel short story and vast interview commentary. In this class, we consume all of the "Fight Club" universe's source material, along with Palahniuk's related interviews and the academic articles of selected commentators on the book. We focus on how Palahniuk articulates a perceived lack of purpose and meaning in modern constructions of masculinity and the dark and dangerous paths this lack opens up. We cautiously look towards his diagnosis of this predicament in search of healthier ways to become fully and vividly human. Students should be prepared for disturbing material that is frequently offensive. Classes consist of seminar-style close readings and discussions of primary sources. There is little to no classical lecturing. Evaluation methods are almost entirely writing and participation, with no tests. 

Movies provide a window into society, our lives, our history, and perhaps most importantly — our dreams. This course is designed to provide students with a greater insight and appreciation for this unique art form. Over the course of the semester, students will be exposed to some of our most beloved films and the men and women who defined the medium — from Humphrey Bogart to Steve McQueen; from Katherine Hepburn to Faye Dunaway; from John Huston to Sidney Lumet. Students will watch some classic films such as "Casablanca," "Duck Soup," "The Verdict," "The Best Years of Our Lives," "Chinatown," and "Lion In Winter," among many others including, yes, a James Bond film.

Indeed, this course will be fun, but it will also impose demands upon the student. This course is not for students who simply think they will be watching movies. This course will also expect students to demonstrate a high standard of creative writing and critical thinking skills. It will also involve active class participation in discussing each film's strengths and weaknesses. 

The "10,000-Hour Rule" is a scientific theory that says one needs 10,000 hours of experience with their skill to perfect their craft to be considered an expert. This rule and the importance of practice is a factor in most examples of how creatives become experts at their craft. This course will focus on the power of passion, perseverance, self-exploration, discovery, and how setting goals in conjunction with organization can lead to a fruitful life and career. At the heart of this course are cutting-edge scientific discoveries about how to foster passion and perseverance for long-term goals. We will focus on the scientific work of Angela Duckworth and author Malcolm Gladwell's observations on why successful people are successful. 

It is becoming increasingly difficult to escape the alarming and dystopian news, media, and narratives that the Earth is being destroyed and the world is ending. These messages can, understandably, lead to feelings of anxiety and helplessness in the face of problems outside of our control. But what if I told you there was an alternative, or dare I say 'punk,' way to view the climate change problem we have found ourselves in? For a message rooted in care for each other, the other, and the planet and imagining a more sustainable future — join us as we explore the radically hopeful world of Solarpunk. In this seminar style course, we will experience the power of art while we read, watch, create, and enjoy Solarpunk media to reveal the stories of nature, community, and empathy we need to save the world. Love the planet, love each other, love yourself! 

This course explores the dynamic role of clothing and fashion in shaping political, cultural, and personal identity. From revolutionary dress to oppressive uniforms, anti-colonial textiles to queer expression, fashion has long functioned as a battleground for power, resistance, and self-definition. This interdisciplinary course draws on history, sociology, gender and postcolonial studies, and visual culture to examine how garments mediate power structures, articulate rebellion, and define inclusion or exclusion in societies across time. 

“You can kiss your family and friends goodbye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach; because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.” – Frederick Buechner, author and theologian 

Cartography is the study and practice of map-making, and Narrative Cartography invites students to map the stories of their lives. Through reading, writing, and multilayered forms of journeying, students will tell stories that matter to them, from the mundane to the profound. This practice-oriented course leverages written narrative to visit personal places seldom explored, such as the meaning in and of our names; how and why we hold the political values that we do; the stories that our bodies tell; death, dying, and remembrance; our personal foodways; and what it means to celebrate our failures, among other concerns. At its most expansive, this course is a foray into our shared humanity and recognition of the universal in the particular. 

What if everyday materials like paper, clay, fabric, and found objects could come to life and tell stories that make people think, feel, and see the world differently? In Stop-Motion Animation, you’ll discover the exciting world of animation filmmaking and visual storytelling by transforming materials, objects, and creative ideas into original animated films that explore social issues, community experiences, and personal stories. You’ll gain hands-on experience in pre-production, production, and post-production, developing skills in story development, character and set design, stop-motion techniques, cinematography, sound design, and video editing. Through creative projects and collaboration, you’ll experiment with movement, timing, composition, and sound while strengthening your critical thinking, creative problem-solving, and communication skills, and you’ll learn how to submit your work to film festivals. Your final animation may also be selected for display on Honors College screens, in the Honors newsletter, or at an Honors art festival, giving you the opportunity to share your creativity with a broader audience. The course is taught by Tamara Nemirovsky, an award-winning filmmaker and educator whose internationally recognized work uses animation and storytelling to explore meaningful human, social, public health, and environmental issues. 

Bring materials to life. Tell stories. Share your vision. 

A writing- and discussion-based course, this class examines autoethnography as a powerful method of storytelling and meaning-making from the margins. Rooted in the belief that personal experience is a legitimate and transformative form of knowledge, autoethnography allows writers to connect individual stories to larger social, political, and historical forces. Students will explore how lived experience becomes theory by engaging with first-person narratives, cultural memory, and storytelling across diverse communities. Together, we will consider how marginalized voices use story to challenge dominant narratives, reclaim voice, and imagine new possibilities for belonging and connection. 

The course invites students on a journey of self-discovery as they experiment with writing fragments, memory work, and cultural reflection. Through collaborative discussions and readings, students will learn how personal narratives illuminate broader social structures while also opening space for meaning, healing, and imagination. The semester culminates in students creating their own autoethnographic projects: unique stories that reflect their identities, experiences, and critical engagement with the world around them. By the end, students will leave with a deeper understanding of how their voices matter and how storytelling can be a powerful tool for connection and transformation. 

“Sustainable Futures” is one of three core commitments that drives the Judy Genshaft Honors College and reflects its interdisciplinary spirit. In a world of existential threats, building a path to a sustainable future is necessary for the JGHC “Healthy Humanity” and “Engaged Citizenship” core commitments to flourish. This course, while grounded in the study of sustainability, introduces systems thinking as an intellectual approach to understanding the complexity of sustainability, defining its problem(s), and assessing possible solutions.

One of the greatest sustainability challenges is integrating sustainable solutions into the myriad cultures in cities, counties, states, nations, and the world — no small feat! To help understand the humanities and cultural aspects of sustainability, this course also covers topics such as utopian thought, greenwashing, the attention economy, agnotology (the study of ignorance), change management, the impact of artificial intelligence on sustainability, and the human need for legacy. Since our digital world is becoming ever more video-centric, each student will create a 10-minute video essay as their final project, addressing an aspect of sustainability relevant to their passion(s) and/or desired field of employment. To ensure this course is accessible to the widest range of students, no experience in sustainability, systems thinking, or video essay creation is required. All disciplines are welcome! 

We define plant diversity using human standards – the field of systematics and taxonomy shows us that we go through this effort for our own benefit and focuses on economically valuable plants and their relatives. Careful attention to plants and our long-term interactions with them reveals that plants are doing more than providing oxygen, nutrients, or medically useful compounds – these activities are embedded in broader processes knitting together landforms, habitats, and communities. Understanding modern plants and their expansive linkages to natural processes gives us a vantage point to consider how plants shape our world and how our efforts to document and catalog them reveals the historic and human dimensions of science. To help expand our understanding of and experiences with plants, this class will include hands-on experiences with the USF Herbarium, as well as off-site field excursions to the USF Forest Preserve and the USF Botanical Gardens. 

A factory is a scientific instrument that has to pay for itself. Every material choice, process window, sensor loop, energy load, and quality gate in a working industrial plant is an argument about physics, chemistry, biology, and information. From planning to production, the question is whether that argument still holds when the line is running. In this course you will learn to read an industrial enterprise the way a scientist reads an experiment: what is being transformed, under what constraints, with what measurement, and at what point the system fails. For engineers, this is a synthesis of your disciplinary curriculum in a professional context. For non-engineers, this provides you with insight into industry practices relevant to your specific career aspiration. The course is designed to break down barriers among the natural sciences, engineering, and the industrial systems that put scientific knowledge to work, helping students become better interdisciplinary scholars.

In 2003, heat waves killed more than 70,000 people in western Europe, while an earthquake in Iran killed 23,000 people. In 2004, nearly a quarter of a million people were killed around the boundaries of the Indian Ocean due to a huge earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia. In 2005, the U.S. experienced its costliest natural disaster, as Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. In 2011, Japan experienced an earthquake and tsunami similar to the 2004 Indonesia event. Despite Japan’s long experience with such events, its economy was devastated. In the last five years unprecedented wildfires have devastated parts of California, Australia, Canada, and the Amazon rain forest, while the recent COVID-19 pandemic killed millions of people.

Despite their obvious differences, the events described above have several common causes. This class will discuss the background science behind these disasters, look at associated costs and mitigation strategies, and attempt to answer the following question: if we know so much about the science behind these events, why do they continue to afflict human society and impose ever-increasing costs? The course will provide a basic understanding of Earth and environmental sciences with a focus on natural hazards, and discuss ways society can improve its responses to natural and human-caused hazards to reduce fatalities and costs. For non-science majors, it will also provide an introduction to the scientific method and quantitative analysis.

Physics is the science of matter, energy, motion, and forces — the very essence of the world around us. It’s not just about equations and theories; it’s about understanding the fascinating phenomena that shape our everyday lives. In this exciting new course, we will explore one intriguing question every week. Some questions will be simple, others more challenging — but all of them will spark curiosity and inspire discovery. 

Have you ever wondered... 

• What helps a unicyclist keep their balance?
• Why seatbelts and airbags are lifesaving in car accidents?
• Why the pitch of an ambulance siren changes as it zooms by?
• Why we feel weightless on rides like the “Tower of Terror?”
• Why sunsets are red?
• Why walking on ice feels so tricky?
• How vision correction works or why mixing cyan and yellow paint makes green?
• If it’s possible to make things levitate or walk on water?
• What creates rainbows or how CT scans and MRIs work to reveal the inner workings of our bodies?
• How something as seemingly dangerous as radioactivity finds essential applications in medicine?
• Why everything — from machines to our own bodies — needs regular maintenance? 

This course is designed to make physics relatable, exciting, and fun. There are no prerequisites in math or physics — we will learn and grow together as we delve into these fascinating questions and more. Join us for a journey of discovery where the wonders of physics meet the marvels of everyday life. Let’s uncover the extraordinary in the ordinary! 

You may think the answer to the question, "What is the environment?", is simple, but this seminar style course will critically explore the way the social construction of the environment has changed through history and how our conception of what the environment is affects how we treat it and what we determine is acceptable. In this course, we will take a global and local perspective on how the environment is perceived around the world, what we are doing about solving the many environmental problems globally, and how a shift in perspective can spark change. 

This interdisciplinary course will combine the newest understandings of evolutionary biology, neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy to synthesize novel discussions around the neurobiology of free will. From questions of grit and self-discipline to mental illness and self-destructive patterns, we will explore the current science surrounding the idea that we are the deciders of our own fates, willfully and thoughtfully in control of our own thoughts and behaviors. 

This course invites students to explore the body as a powerful intersection of trauma, identity, and belonging. By weaving together neuroscience, philosophy, and cultural theory, we will examine how the body carries the weight of traumatic experience, how it tells stories of self, and how it is shaped by the communities and cultures that surround it. What does it mean to carry trauma across borders — both physical and metaphorical? How do migration, technology, and shifting social landscapes reshape the relationship between the body, memory, and place?   

Through a range of texts — from trauma theory and clinical practice to postcolonial thought and Western philosophy — students will engage with thinkers like Frantz Fanon, Gloria Anzaldúa, and others who explore the complex interplay between embodiment and cultural critique. The course will challenge students to think critically about how bodies marked by displacement, violence, or difference are perceived, contained, or resisted in dominant narratives. Students will learn to hold together multiple ways of knowing: the neurological, the narrative, and the political — asking what an Honors-level exploration of the body owes to each.   

This is a course that asks students to think deeply, critically, and creatively about the body as both a lived experience and a site of meaning. 

Note: This course may include up to three one-time off-site visits to community-based learning sites and museum exhibits related to course content. 

This course examines the meaning, foundations, and evolution of international security by connecting major theories in political science and international relations with the historical events and crises that have shaped the modern international system. It asks what makes states and societies secure, what produces insecurity and instability, and how scholars have sought to explain war, peace, conflict, and cooperation. 

The course begins by introducing students to the major concepts and theoretical approaches used to study international security. Students will examine how perspectives such as realism, liberalism, and constructivism interpret questions of power, conflict, cooperation, and the behavior of states. Particular attention will also be given to concepts such as the balance of power, deterrence, alliances, security dilemmas, and collective security. 

The second part of the course moves from theory to practice by examining major historical and contemporary cases. Students will explore how international security has been strengthened or weakened through events such as World War II, the Cold War, the War on Terror, the Arab Spring, and other major conflicts and geopolitical transformations. These cases will allow students to assess how well different theories explain real-world security challenges. 

Key themes include: 

• War and peace
• Balance of power and great-power competition
• Deterrence and military strategy
• Alliances and collective security
• Security dilemmas
• Terrorism and non-state actors
• Civil conflict and political instability
• International institutions and cooperation 

By combining theoretical frameworks with historical and contemporary case studies, this course provides students with both a conceptual and practical understanding of international security and equips them to analyze why conflicts emerge, how security is maintained or undermined, and how states respond to an increasingly complex international environment. 

• Biology of sleep and circadian rhythms
• Sleep across the lifespan
• Sleep disorders
• Short- and long-term health consequences of sleep deprivation and circadian rhythm disruption

When asked about the future of Black Americans and the future of America, James Baldwin remarked that the two were "insoluble." White Americans, Baldwin argued, would largely determine the country's future to the extent that they could confront the historical and existential origins of American distinctions between Black and white. Failing this task would inevitably lead to "a breaking point" in which the country's race relations would erupt into violence. America's only options for sustainable futures all required a searching, honest appraisal of the relationship between Black and white identities — identities Baldwin saw as interdependent.  

This course investigates Baldwin's diagnosis of the unsustainable American racial system, as well as his various prescriptions for treatment. We sift through Baldwin's letters, essays, and interviews to draw out his positions on racial identity, the existential insecurity that perpetuates the American racial system, and what it will take to overcome this insecurity. Additionally, the course examines Baldwin's commitment to optimism and criticisms of pessimism, his views on gay and straight identities, and his relationships with other intellectuals and activists of the civil rights era. We compare Baldwin's views with studies from history and the social sciences on the origins and development of Western racial distinctions, showing how many waves of immigrants often did not become white until generations after their original migration and that the cost of becoming white often involved taking up an antagonistic relationship towards Black Americans. 

Classes consist of seminar-style close readings and discussions of primary sources. There is little to no classical lecturing. Evaluation methods are almost entirely writing and participation, with no tests. 

The Psychology of Being Human is an interdisciplinary Honors seminar that explores how identity, emotion, shame, resilience, and developmental transitions shape the ways we think, relate, and make decisions in emerging adulthood. Drawing from contemporary psychology and counseling-informed frameworks, the course invites students to examine what it means to live with authenticity, agency, and self-compassion in a world shaped by achievement, comparison, and uncertainty. 

Using “The Gifts of Imperfection” by Brené Brown and “The Defining Decade” by Meg Jay, students engage with research-based insights on emotional life, identity formation, relationships, work, and values. Through discussion, reflective writing, and applied exercises, students connect psychological theory to lived experience while developing greater self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and intentional decision-making. This course is designed to help Honors students think critically, live thoughtfully, and engage more fully with the human experience.

Social movements have long been considered a major driver of political, social, economic, or cultural change. In the U.S., from the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, to the Tea Party, the Occupy Wall Street Movement, or BlackLivesMatter, social mobilizations have been central in shaping society. Recently, social movements have also “gone global.” From the anti-World Trade Organization protests in Seattle to the Arab Spring, anti-austerity protests, or Occupy Wall Street, social movements have been important actors on the world stage.  

This class has three main goals. First, it is designed to provide you with an overview of the study of social movements; second, it aims to familiarize you with several traditional movements (e.g.  MLK’s Poor Peoples Movement, anti-colonial movements, labor or women movement, etc.). Lastly, throughout the semester you are asked to follow, research, and report on a particular social movement or social movement organization of your choice.  

Overall, this class will equip you with a solid understanding of how scholars have approached movements to understand their emergence, impact, and decline. Moreover, you will gain an overview of central mobilizations and movements and become a “specialist” on a particular social movement organization of your choosing. 

This course examines popular culture as a potential site of resistance that contributes to social change. Looking at contemporary popular culture and the worldwide push against global neoliberalism in comparative perspective with culture and social movements of the past, this course examines how power and resistance operate in society. In varying ways, these cultural products force new perspectives and call for new ways of being through the creation of what Kenneth Burke referred to as "alternate ethical universes," further functioning as "equipment for living." We will explore relevant debates — historical and contemporary — concerning the impact of popular culture on social change. There is a focus on social media, humor, art (both "mundane" and "fine"), music, comics, gaming, television and film, and fandoms as sites of resistance. The approach to this course is theoretical, practical, and transnational. It draws from sociology, communication, critical theory, cultural studies, postcolonialism, and other related fields. 

This course introduces students to key sociological concepts and their relevance for understanding and explaining major issues in both culture and social change. It aims to define and interrogate fundamental concepts in sociology and cultural studies, while also illustrating these through timely and topical social issues of global scope in the news. While it addresses globalization, it puts this in historical perspective and relates it to enduring ideas in sociological analysis.

How do people define health or illness? These concepts have much importance to us personally, but they also carry social meaning tied to individuals’ status and behavior as well as the attitudes toward them from fellow citizens. Similarly, medicine is more than a science, it is also a social institution that is built on human relationships and fulfills important societal needs. This discussion-based course will explore illness subjectivity, social and cultural determinants of health, doctor-patient interaction, stigmatization of chronic and mental illness, and the development of a new vision of health as an all-encompassing wellness phenomenon. In the end, we might find that good health is much more than our own need or interest, it’s a profoundly social experience rooted in specific cultural and temporal frameworks.

“Communism," "fascism," "socialism," "nationalism," "patriotism," "democracy," and "capitalism" are terms that are bandied about with some abandon. Everyone seems to have a vague notion of what they mean, but we often use them in incoherent and even contradictory ways. These concepts and terms become increasingly important during election cycles that seem to be lasting longer and becoming more polarizing and vitriolic. In this course, we will attempt to come to grips with some of the most important "isms" of contemporary politics by examining both their theoretical, historical, and cultural foundations, but also how they have evolved and changed in different social, political, and economic environments.

What is human trafficking and why, despite widespread attention and efforts, is it continuing to expand around the globe? In this class, we will examine the legal history of human trafficking both domestically and on a global scale. We will look at the ways efforts to combat trafficking are impacted by popular culture, films such as "Taken," and well-intentioned outreach, and we will ask why we fetishize both innocence and sex with targeted imagery while often ignoring the lived realities of trafficking survivors. In examining the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) and its reauthorizations/amendments, students will learn about the steps the United States is taking to combat human trafficking and consider ways the TVPA could be strengthened, particularly to address the needs of trafficking survivors after the initial rush of rescue and prosecution. Finally, we will work with community partners to discover what we can do to be a part of the solution.

This discussion-based course relies on reading assignments, documentary film viewing, as well as lecture to inform collaborative conversations about human trafficking and its connection to the global economy as we wrestle with questions about our own complicity in a system that supports modern-day slavery.

The influence of sports on world politics is a compelling subject that reveals how athletic events and figures can transcend national boundaries and impact global diplomatic landscapes. From the Cold War-era Olympic Games to the politically charged 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and the 2024 Olympics, sports have often served as a platform for political statements and conflicts. The 1980 and 1984 Olympic boycotts, for instance, highlighted how international sporting events can become arenas for ideological confrontations between superpowers. Similarly, the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa, which symbolized the end of apartheid, or Magic Johnson revealing his HIV diagnosis demonstrated how sports can play a pivotal role in national reconciliation and global perceptions of political progress.  

Moreover, sports diplomacy has become an increasingly significant tool in international relations, where nations use athletic events to foster goodwill and forge strategic alliances. The "ping-pong diplomacy" of the 1970s, which led to improved relations between the United States and China, exemplifies how sports can facilitate diplomatic breakthroughs. As global mega-events like the Olympics and the World Cup continue to grow in prominence, they offer both opportunities and challenges for nations to navigate their political interests on a world stage.  

This course will explore these dynamic interactions between sports and politics, examining case studies and theories to understand how athletic achievements and controversies influence global political strategies and international relations.

What is disability? Have you ever wondered how you developed your understanding of it?

By examining the ways that public policy and popular media portray disability and disabled people, this course will explore how society treats and communicates about disability and the disabled body. In this course, we will examine the way culture influences us through a variety of mediums, including shows, music, stories, public policy, and even video games. These examples, supported by themes presented in scholarship and everyday life, will help us reflect on our own perception of disability. We’ll also unpack the role that technology plays in this process, as well as its capacity to both enhance and detract from a productive/healthy discussion about the topic. 

Welcome to Food is Power: Understanding Food Systems! This course invites students to explore the profound impact of food on lives, communities, and the world. Food is more than just sustenance; it tells a story‚ a narrative of culture, history, and connection. Every meal shared and every ingredient used carries with it traditions, innovations, and challenges that shape the fabric of society.

Throughout the semester, we will engage with the complexities of food systems, examining the intricate processes of production, distribution, and consumption, as well as their effects on health, the environment, and social equity. The course centers on the concept of food sovereignty, emphasizing food's transformative potential to foster justice, resilience, and empowerment within communities. What makes this course unique is its grounding in both theory and practice. Classroom discussions and projects will be enriched by opportunities to engage with local community leaders, farmers, and organizations at the forefront of food systems change. These partnerships will provide students with real-world insights and inspire them to think critically about their role in fostering equitable and sustainable food systems.

Students are encouraged to bring their curiosity, experiences, and passions to the course. Together, the class will explore critical questions: How can food systems be reimagined to better serve everyone? What does it mean to be an active food citizen? How can cultural preservation be balanced with innovation and sustainability?

This course is permitted for students who have been accepted to the 2027 Germany Beyond the Classroom study abroad program.

This class is in preparation of the study abroad trip to Germany in May of 2027. The aim of the course is to familiarize students with German history, culture, politics, and life. After a first set of readings that compares contemporary Germany to the US, the seminar is structured historically, working our way from medieval times to present day Germany. We spend extra time on the Nazi-period and the Holocaust (including a visit to the Florida Holocaust Museum). We will have one main book that covers Germany’s historical development, as well as several works that cover particular periods and themes such as the Holocaust and Germany unification. We also do some basic German language training.

A core part of this class is our participation in the OneUSF Undergraduate Research Conference. In small groups — and with the support from the faculty and the class as a whole — students will be working on a topic of their interest related to Germany. Past themes included comparing environmental policies, German Film, German fairytales, and many more. To prepare and support students, a USF Librarian will be visiting us in class. 

Note: Students are also required to enroll in IDS 4957 during the Maymester session, which is part of the summer 2027 semester. You will be notified in the spring by your program lead regarding IDS 4957 registration details.

*This course is cross-listed with IDH 4200-023: Germany Beyond the Classroom with Peter Funke. 

Unprecedented technological change is the backdrop for your journey into the realm of applied AI ethics. This course equips you with a core practical ethics framework to navigate today's most urgent AI dilemmas. Through critical thinking, interactive dialogue, and guided scenarios you will apply a variety of established "ethical lenses" to gain a working understanding of how these foundations relate to the current AI context.

This is neither a technical coding course nor abstract philosophy. You will build a personalized AI Ethics Portfolio from current AI events. Your own in-class analysis comes first, then you augment it by interrogating two different AI systems before reaching your own human recommendation. Because the portfolio is built in class each week, consistent participation is essential. Over the semester, your reflections record how your judgment develops and become the evidence for your capstone presentation. Selected case scenarios will deepen your understanding of rapidly developing issues such as AI trust and responsibility, algorithmic error and manipulation, data privacy and surveillance, high-stakes decision systems in domains such as healthcare, workplace transformation, and emerging governance structures. Throughout, you will analyze the ethical issues raised by current events, institutional policies, and emerging legal regulation. By course end, you will be equipped not only with frameworks and tools, but also with a clearer sense of the role you will have in shaping AI's transformative impact on society. 

Your major may teach you what you need to know to enter your profession, but this course will challenge you to think about who you will be and how you will lead once you get there! Great leadership requires more than expertise, authority, or the ability to achieve results — it requires understanding the people affected by the decisions we make. Whether you become a doctor or nurse who treats patients, an engineer who designs solutions, an entrepreneur building an empire, a manager leading a team of individual contributors, or even if you aspire to work in business, law, education, or technology, you will undoubtedly encounter situations in which technical knowledge alone cannot tell you what to do. That’s where concepts such as “the human factor,” practical wisdom, and healthy humanity come into play.

Through an interdisciplinary approach, we will examine social responsibility, empathy in leadership, and the competing responsibilities that leaders and professionals have to their employees, colleagues, clients/customers, patients, organizations, and society. Through research, case studies, lively discussion, reflection and guest perspectives, students will tackle questions that rarely have simple answers: When does empathy lead to better decisions? How do we balance compassion with accountability? What happens when professional, financial, scientific, or organizational goals conflict with what seems socially or ethically responsible? What do you do when there is no obvious right answer?

Students will learn from an experienced instructor (and guest lecturers) with decades of professional leadership, corporate, and lived experience and by the end of the course, will have acquired invaluable working knowledge and practical skills in the following areas:

• Empathetic leadership
• Ethical reasoning
• Critical thinking
• Professional /business communication
• Conflict resolution
• Responsible decision-making

Corporate personhood is the legal notion that a corporation, separately from its associated human beings, has at least some of the legal rights and responsibilities enjoyed by natural persons. While controversial, corporate personhood is well established in U.S. legal history and is based upon practice and theory with complex and ancient philosophical roots. In this course, we will examine the nature of corporate personhood not only in the modern legal sense of a Limited Liability Corporation, but also with respect to institutions, communities, and government bodies. To what extent does any institution constitute a person? What characteristics of personhood meaningfully attach to that institution? Does this personhood have moral or social ramifications beyond the legal realm?

How should human beings relate to the natural world? Do we have moral obligations toward non-human animals and other parts of nature? And what do we owe to other human beings, including future generations, with respect to the environment? This course will examine such questions in light of some current and classical ethical theories: considering what those theories suggest regarding the extent and nature of our environmental obligations. While we will pay some attention to these questions in a general philosophical sense, in this course we will focus on specific topics of interest as chosen by the students. We will emphasize interdisciplinary scholarship and how technology, politics, cultural, and social concerns impact on our understanding of the environment and of our ability to negotiate appropriate relationships to and with our environment. 

This course delves into the complex ethical issues that come up when we look at death, dying, and the afterlife through the lens of various spiritual and religious traditions, with a focus on how these perspectives contribute to the broader concept of fostering a healthy humanity. Students will explore how different faiths and spiritual beliefs shape end-of-life choices, influence the grieving process, and frame views on the afterlife — all while considering the ways these perspectives support both individual and collective well-being. Key topics such as medical assistance in dying, euthanasia, funeral rites, and the allocation of healthcare resources, will be examined on the basis of how they are shaped by religious and spiritual values.   

Through thought-provoking readings and media, philosophical debates, and case studies from religious studies, bioethics, and cultural anthropology, students will gain a deeper understanding of how various religious traditions address mortality as part of holistic well-being. The course will involve plenty of active and written discussions, encouraging students to reflect on how the material has shifted or deepened their ethical views on death, dying, and spirituality. By the end of the course, students will be equipped to critically navigate complex ethical questions around death and to better understand how spiritual and religious frameworks shape both personal and societal approaches to end-of-life care and the pursuit of a "good death."

Note: For the first week of registration, the course is restricted to 7-Year BS/MD students, and a permit is required.

This seminar in biomedical ethics will allow students to explore a range of real-world issues encountered in medical practice. While examining the facts of cases, students will be challenged to consider the cultural, emotional, political, and spiritual perspectives of patients, caregivers, and other stakeholders who find themselves in complex medical situations. Students will attend class ready to engage with readings through class discussions and reflective writing. Students will research an area of ethics that interests them and present their findings to the class at the end of the semester. 

"Pilgrimage of Purpose" invites students on an intellectual and reflective journey to explore pilgrimage, not only as a physical act but as a metaphor for the search for meaning and purpose in life. Drawing from existential psychology, philosophy, and diverse faith and cultural traditions, the course examines how pilgrimage — along with the broader framework of the hero’s journey — has long served as a path to self-discovery, healing, and connection to something greater than oneself. Students will engage with scholarship on purpose formation in emerging adulthood and consider how understanding one’s personal values and mission contributes to well-being, resilience, and life satisfaction. Case studies via guest speakers will include Indigenous North American traditions, the Camino de Santiago, Hajj, and sacred journeys along the River Ganges, among others, offering insight into the shared human experience of purposeful travel and transformation. 

Through cultural immersion experiences in the Tampa Bay area, guest speakers, reflective journaling, and collaborative discussion, students will deepen their understanding of how personal growth intersects with community and global engagement. Weekly reflections will integrate research on mental health and purpose development with lived experience, encouraging students to consider how their unique path can contribute to a more compassionate and just society. By examining the communal aspects of pilgrimage and participating in experiential learning, students will be empowered to think critically about their roles as engaged citizens and future leaders, and specifically how their own understanding of purpose can foster connection, dialogue, and service in both college and professional life.

What can a potato, a T-shirt, or a song tell us about connections between places around the world?

In this course, we will trace the “taut ropes” linking people, places, environments, economies, and struggles that may seem far apart. The phrase comes from feminist writer Audre Lorde, who used it to describe her encounter with Indigenous Arctic poet Antonina Kymytval’ — a connection across striking differences in language, culture, and place. We will use the “taut rope” as a method for tracing connections without assuming that connected places are the same. A potato on your dinner plate, for example, can lead us to farms, labor systems, trade routes, colonial histories, migration, and environmental change. We will explore how these forces shape particular places and affect people differently through gender, race, sexuality, class, and colonial power. 

Throughout the semester, you will develop your own “taut rope” to uncover the histories behind an everyday object. Using GIS mapping, archival research, visual and cultural analysis, and digital tools, you will work backward and across borders to uncover the relationships behind everyday life. You will map relationships, investigate archives, analyze art and cultural materials, and conduct collaborative research while exploring questions of labor, care, power, the environment, resistance, and solidarity through feminist, Indigenous, decolonial, postcolonial, and transnational approaches. 

No prior experience with GIS or specialized research methods is required. This hands-on, research-based course will leave you with practical tools for researching across borders, reading cultural objects as evidence, using digital maps to tell stories, and seeing how seemingly separate places are part of larger histories. 

How do societies respond when water becomes scarce, landscapes change, or environmental hazards threaten communities?

This interdisciplinary Honors course explores the long history of human adaptation to environmental variability through the combined perspectives of archaeology, environmental archaeology, disaster studies, and environmental science. Drawing on evidence from ancient and modern societies, students will examine how changes in climate, vegetation, and hydrological systems have shaped settlement, economic activity, and social resilience across centuries and millennia. A central theme of the course is water: its availability, management, and role in sustaining communities. Through case studies from around the world, students will investigate how societies developed strategies to secure, distribute, conserve, and control water resources under changing environmental conditions. Particular attention will be given to periods of prolonged drought, shifting river systems, and other challenges that affected the long-term habitability of regions and influenced human decision-making. 

The course also focuses on natural hazards, disaster preparedness, and community resilience. Students will examine how societies have confronted floods, storms, droughts, wildfires, and other disruptive events, comparing evidence from the archaeological record with contemporary approaches to risk assessment, emergency planning, disaster response, and recovery. By analyzing both successful and unsuccessful responses to environmental challenges, students will gain a deeper understanding of vulnerability, adaptation, and resilience. Students will be introduced to archaeological, geological, ecological, and paleoenvironmental evidence used to reconstruct past environments and track long-term changes in water availability and human land use. Designed for students from all disciplines, the course encourages critical thinking about the relationship between people and their environments, the management of essential resources, and the importance of disaster prevention and preparedness. Ultimately, students will gain a deeper appreciation of the role of water, environmental stewardship, and resilience in sustaining communities in an increasingly unknown world. 

"Sounding Indigenous Worlds" explores how Indigenous peoples use sound, music, voice, movement, and listening to understand, represent, and sustain relationships with human and more-than-human worlds. Rather than treating Indigenous music as a collection of traditional forms or artifacts, the course approaches sound as a living practice through which communities articulate relationships to land, ancestry, spirituality, memory, identity, and sovereignty. 

Drawing from Indigenous communities across North America and beyond, we will dive into diverse sonic practices including song, chant, drumming, dance, ceremony, storytelling, environmental sound, contemporary popular music, protest, and digital media. We will consider how Indigenous sound worlds have been shaped by colonialism, displacement, cultural suppression, religious conversion, and cultural revitalization, while also exploring the ways Indigenous artists and communities use sound to assert presence, continuity, resistance, and futurity. 

Particular attention will be given to Indigenous concepts of listening and relationality, challenging Western distinctions between music, nature, ritual, and everyday life. Through close listening, ethnographic case studies, historical materials, and contemporary recordings and performances, we will learn to ask not only what Indigenous music sounds like, but also who is listening, what relationships are being enacted through sound, and what worlds become audible through Indigenous ways of knowing. 

The course ultimately treats sound as a site of Indigenous knowledge and sovereignty: a means of remembering the past, inhabiting the present, communicating across human and nonhuman realms, and imagining Indigenous futures.

This course examines the political, social, and strategic transformation of the Middle East from the independence era of the 1940s to the Third Persian Gulf War of 2026. It provides students with a historical journey through more than eight decades of conflict, state-building, revolution, ideological competition, and foreign intervention that have shaped the modern Middle East. Beginning with the decline of European colonial rule and the emergence of newly independent states following World War II, the course traces the major turning points that transformed the region. Students will examine the Arab-Israeli wars, the rise of Arab nationalism, military coups and authoritarian governments, the Iranian Revolution, the Iran-Iraq War, the Persian Gulf wars, the Arab Spring, the rise and decline of ISIS, and the conflicts and geopolitical transformations that have shaped the Middle East in the twenty-first century. 

Beyond examining what happened, the course asks why the Middle East has experienced repeated periods of instability and conflict. Students will explore the deeper political, economic, social, and international forces behind these developments and consider how domestic challenges have interacted with regional rivalries and foreign involvement. 

Key themes include: 

• State-building and political instability
• Sectarianism and identity politics
• Authoritarianism and democratization
• Economic development and resource politics
• Nationalism and political Islam
• Foreign intervention and great-power competition
• Regional rivalries and interstate conflict 

By combining historical analysis with contemporary case studies, this course seeks to help students understand how the modern Middle East came to be, why many of its most persistent political and security challenges emerged, and how the legacies of the past continue to shape the region today. 

Why is this industrial plant here, and not somewhere else? That is a geographic question before it is a business question. From a wafer fab in Tainan, a shipyard on Tampa Bay, to an auto line in Ohio. Or a chemical works on the Gulf to a tooling house in Nagoya, and a logistics node in Savannah. These are all answers to the same set of constraints: transportation ports and chokepoints, power and water, allied supply, permitting, labor, and the politics of who is allowed to make what. 

This Geographical Perspectives seminar follows industrial production across the map, with particular attention to the United States and to the Pax Silica economies: Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, and India, all of whose firms now sit inside American supply chains. We will compare how different regions design, staff, finance, supply, automate, permit, and lead manufacturing enterprises, and you will test those comparisons against Tampa Bay: MacDill and the combatant commands, Port Tampa Bay, the I-4 industrial corridor, and the Space Coast. 

Whether you study healthcare, engineering, or business, you will complete this course being able to explain — in writing and to a professional audience — why a given product is made where it is made, what would have to change for it to be made here, and what that geography costs in environment, capital, labor, and strategic risk. 

Storytelling is at the heart of all human expression and organizing. This course explores storytelling as a fundamental communicative behavior through studying storytelling traditions across the world. Students will examine how these traditions emerged and how they shaped cultures through a range of mediums including oral tradition and digital media. Subjects of study include myth, epic, folktale, theatre, the novel, news, and modern media. Students will create a portfolio of work including weekly analysis, creative story projects, and an auto-ethnographical final project. This course asks students to create their own stories, examine their own narrative histories, and cultivate their role as active perceivers of the stories around them.

This class will examine cultures, societies, and development in Sub-Saharan Africa, within historical and contemporary contexts. It will be a broad interdisciplinary introduction to the study of this part of the African continent. Africa’s history, politics, cultures, and societies are rich, diverse, and complex, yet generalizations and negative stereotypes about Africa by the media, academics, and policymakers are common (apocalyptic scenarios of civil war, poverty, famine, diseases such as AIDS and failed states, for example). Using selected case studies, we will explore political, economic, and socio-cultural characteristics of both modern and traditional Africa and, through critical evaluation of course materials, obtain a more balanced portrayal of the continent and its development.

Human development is about ameliorating human life in contrast to the popular belief that development is solely about economic growth. It focuses on people and expanding opportunities and choices they can access. This course will provide an interdisciplinary approach to examining human development patterns and the relationship between people and planet Earth in the age of Anthropocene using the human development index (HDI). In short, HDI is a measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, education or skill set, and having a decent standard of living. 

We will look into countries that best create conditions for people to thrive in. What country is the most developed country in the world, hence most desirable to live in and why? This will be a seminar-style course using interactive content and following trends worldwide. Together we will read short analyses, watch movies, and have panel and working group discussions, uncovering the root causes of inequality, social injustice, short life expectancy, and lack of opportunities for people. By doing so, we will work towards the final course assignment, a project proposing potential solutions for the topics discussed. 

In 1994, the SisterSong organization coined the term “reproductive justice.” Now, over thirty years later, we are still striving towards applying this term. This course guides students through a global survey of rights and resistance movements as they pertain to reproductive justice. In this course, students will learn how to apply a reproductive justice lens to different social conditions. Students will examine a variety of cultural contexts that impact populations across the world to understand the global pursuit of reproductive justice. Students will participate in community engagement, create art projects, write autoethnography, and craft a research project to demonstrate course learnings. 

Popular music, which began in the 1950s in the United States and England, has in the 21st century transcended borders to take the world by storm. Generally defined as music produced for the masses by the music industry with catchy tunes, instrumentation, rhythm, and lyrics compared to art and folk music, the universal appeal of pop music can be deemed simply by looking at its worldwide audiences in today’s sonic market. However, despite its widespread appeal and a global fan base, popular music as an ambivalent “category-defying genre” does not limit itself to one style of entertainment and escapism as some might suggest. Instead, it has provided artists and the masses with an active space to protest and articulate modes of resistance in forging counter-hegemonic narratives of the world. 

Taking a relatively new area of academic interest called “popular music studies,” which is predominantly marked for its inclusivity, interdisciplinary inquiry, experiential interactions, and critical thinking, this course will examine the role of popular music in negotiating, consolidating, and contesting structures of power between communities, cultures, and individuals. As such, our studies will cover musics from the U.S., East Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia by grounding them within socio-political realities through readings on critical theory, cultural studies, ethnomusicology, nationalism, place, ethnicity, gender studies, and queer studies.

This course is designed as a comparative presentation of current issues across international healthcare systems with a focus on South Africa, Italy, Japan, and France. Emphasis is on discussing diverse areas of health and is appropriate for students of any major interested in healthcare delivery, personal health, or health education. We will discuss and debate:

• Healthcare delivery systems
• Medical malpractice
• Physical/mental health
• Physician-assisted suicide
• The opioid crisis
• Women’s reproductive health
• Medical devices
• Healthcare disparities in the United States and abroad

This is a hands-on class, and students will be actively engaged and working in teams to complete a project. Although health and healthcare in other countries might seem far removed from our daily concerns in the United States, many nations face issues of uneven access, constrained resources, and a focus on improving the efficiency of services. Understanding how different nations confront issues of universal coverage, access, equity, and quality will enhance students’ ability to develop new ideas and approaches for addressing these challenges in the United States. Students will be introduced to community partners of USF's Area Health Education Center for project ideas. 

This course explores the works of William Shakespeare in their historic, political, social, and technological context. We will examine Shakespeare’s dramatic influence on history and culture along with the political, social, and cultural forces most influential to his own work. Students will engage a range of topics, including: 

• The performance of Shakespearian plays and poetry,
• The history of their performance,
• Their political relevance and importance,
• The philosophical and political movements and events that influenced his works and reception; and
• The political and philosophical movements that were influenced by his works. 

Population movement and displacement has been an increasingly powerful phenomenon in our global age. This course considers the experiences of immigrants, refugees, and exiles from the perspective of human rights theory. The aim of this course is to instigate critical thinking of the complexity of their experiences, which is critical for an informed debate. We begin our conversations by examining the state as a moral agent and state boundaries’ function of inclusion/exclusion. We will examine the causes and consequences of displacement. Why do people migrate across international borders? How do we understand the politics of immigration and the policies that let some people in, but keep others out? We will also spend considerable time learning about immigrants' process of integration and “learning” their new home. We will look at socioeconomic integration and consider broader questions of belonging and membership. 

In this class, we will engage with various learning materials — including documentaries — to learn about and reflect on various human experiences in relation to migration. You will also reflect on a story of migration within your surroundings and compose a migration narrative and create an interactive, multimedia ‘story map.’ In addition, we will explore the immense power of food as a vehicle for cultural preservation and expression and work together on a collaborative project compiling a cookbook, where you can share authentic narratives, anecdotes, and recipes of dishes that remind you of home.

This course investigates the relationship between language, culture, and meaning, offering an interdisciplinary perspective that integrates international studies, linguistics, anthropology, and psychology. Through documentary films, ethnographic case studies, and real-world examples of international service, students will explore how language both shapes and reflects cultural identity, values, and social structures. A key component of the course is the use of films created by native filmmakers, showcasing original languages and storytelling traditions to provide a firsthand account of cultural immersion and meaning-making. 

By examining linguistic frameworks in diverse societies, students will gain insight into how language influences perception, decision-making, and social cohesion. This exploration extends to the bio-psycho-social dimensions of language, including how different cultures conceptualize intimacy, aging, mental health, and well-being. Through the lens of applied linguistics and cultural anthropology, students will analyze how communication practices impact personal and collective notions of purpose, resilience, and belonging in an interconnected world. 

One of the central themes of the course is how linguistic relativity — the idea that the structure of a language affects cognition — shapes human interactions with the environment, sustainability efforts, and social adaptation. By examining indigenous languages, multilingual societies, and linguistic preservation efforts, students will assess how language influences environmental stewardship, policy-making, and cultural survival in an era of globalization. Case studies will span communities in the Americas and the Pacific Islands, multilingual societies in Africa, Asia, and Europe, as well as linguistic diversity in the Middle East. 

These case studies will highlight the intersection of language with social identity, migration, regional policies, and ecological knowledge systems. Students will also explore modern challenges such as work-life balance in global contexts, linguistic barriers in healthcare, and the effects of digital communication on cultural preservation. By the end of the course, students will develop a deep appreciation for the ways language and culture shape human experience, but also cultivate critical thinking, cross-cultural communication skills, and a global perspective essential for engaging in an increasingly interconnected world.

This interdisciplinary course will explore global demographics related to religion with particular attention to the "Nones" — the religiously unaffiliated. As Samuel L. Perry (2024) writes, "Science can help us understand how religion works because it helps us understand how we humans work, both as individuals and in groups." We will compare and contrast trends in the U.S. with global trends, discuss types of "Nones," and try to understand why "religion" does not go away.  In addition to seminar discussions, you will use a variety of research tools and methods to engage in your own research project to collect data and present your findings.

This course covers a cross-cultural analysis of the lived experiences of women and their struggle for power and gender justice in the developing world. We will be examining current events, debates, and scholarly works mainly from the Global South to gain a non-Western perspective on the political, historical, cultural, geographical, social, educational, economical challenges and achievements that have shaped gender politics. Topics to be covered include, but are not limited to:  

• Social movements
• Cultural relativism
• Feminism(s)
• Neoliberalism
• Globalization
• Human rights discourses 

“Poison is in everything, and nothing is without poison. The dosage makes it either a poison or a remedy” - Paracelsus, physician, alchemist, philosopher 

This course will survey the relationship between a variety of mind-altering substances and cultural processes. We discuss the physiological and psychological effects of these substances — ranging from alcohol and caffeine to LSD and ecstasy — and ask why different drugs are sanctioned and prohibited by different societies. We explore the history of mind-altering substance use and the relationship with such phenomena as health, poverty, religion, popular media, inter-generational conflict, and politics. Students will explore the evolution of substance use from their indigenous roots to the modern global pharmaceutical industry.

Topics will include, but are not limited to:

• Bioethics and the medicalization of drugs
• Discourse and debate around medical vs. holistic, healing vs. harming, mind-controlling vs. mind-altering, recreation vs. addiction
• Legal sanctions and countercultures
• Global trade of sugar, coffee, and nicotine
• The rise of popular pharmaceutical products

Through discussion, we will apply a variety of theoretical perspectives toward a more holistic understanding of how medicine and drugs, drug use, and addiction are conceptualized, constituted, materialized, and commodified through social and cultural norms and practices. Students will complete a generative solution-focused research project exploring how these tensions shape the way we experience our own individual and collective health and wellbeing.

Healthcare has for centuries been a major concern of societies around the globe. From the rituals of ancient Mesopotamia, the medical texts of ancient Egypt, the insights on Roman medicine provided by Pompeii and the epidemics and pandemics that have been recorded since the Middle Ages to the beginnings of scientific medicine, the history of health provides an exciting perspective with lessons valid even today. As humans change the environment ever more and reach unprecedented demographic levels, old and new foes return: diseases previously considered defeated adapt and (re-)emerge, creating widespread disruption. Using a scientific approach within archaeology and history, the course will present an innovative and up-to-date history of the world focusing on health. A transdisciplinary deep history and evolutionary approach towards pathogens will be emphasized. Upon completion of the course, students in any discipline will be better equipped to understand and contend with new health challenges.

This section of Geographical Perspectives is permitted for students accepted into the 2027 Physician Observation study abroad program.  

Students will prepare for this unique experiential learning opportunity using purpose-driven course readings, research-based best practices, and primary source materials. Students will develop a deeper understanding of both the humanistic and practical aspects of hospital observations in another linguistic and cultural environment. While we will center Portugal and the National Healthcare System as sites of inquiry, students will also turn inward, recognizing that their stories, lived experiences, purpose, and perspectives influence how they perceive the world. The course, therefore, is an exploration of Portugal and students' place in it. Following a semester of classroom inquiry, students will travel to Lisbon, Portugal to observe physicians in local hospitals from June 4-18, 2027. 

Note: Students are also required to enroll in IDS 4957 during the Maymester session, which is part of the summer 2027 semester. You will be notified in the spring by your program lead regarding IDS 4957 registration details. 

This course is permitted for students who have been accepted to the 2027 Copenhagen Beyond the Classroom study abroad program. 

Copenhagen Beyond the Classroom: The World’s Most Sustainable City will take Honors students on an immersive exploration around the city of Copenhagen, Denmark. Copenhagen is often rated as the most sustainable city in the world, but it didn’t achieve this by accident. So, let’s discover the city, learn how it became a global leader in sustainability, and use its success as a road map for our future! 

The course will focus on the social, political, economic, technological, and ecological choices that the engaged citizens of Copenhagen have enacted over the past thirty years to shape their city. 

• What lessons can we extract to create a sustainable Tampa Bay by 2050?
• What does a sustainable culture look like? What kinds of policies created the best results?
• What market forces and incentives made capitalism work in their favor instead of against them?
• How does sustainability impact the food you eat, the way you move around the city, the types of media you create, the art you enjoy, and the communities you build? 

We will immerse ourselves in sustainability and come out the other side changed, ready to plant the seeds of their success in our own fertile soil. Join us on this nourishing adventure beyond the classroom. 

Note: Students are also required to enroll in IDS 4957 during the Maymester session, which is part of the summer 2027 semester. You will be notified in the spring by your program lead regarding IDS 4957 registration details. 

This course is permitted for students who have been accepted to the 2027 Germany Beyond the Classroom study abroad program. 

This class is in preparation of our trip to Germany in May of 2027. The aim is to familiarize students with German history, culture, politics, and life. After a first set of readings that compares contemporary Germany to the US, the seminar is structured historically, working our way from medieval times to present-day Germany. We spend extra time on the Nazi-period and the Holocaust (including a visit to the Florida Holocaust Museum). We will have one main book that covers Germany’s historical development as well as several works that cover particular periods and themes such as the Holocaust and Germany unification. We also do some basic German language training. A core part of this class is our participation in the OneUSF Undergraduate Research Conference. In small groups and with the support from the faculty and the class as a whole, students will be working on a topic of their interest related to Germany. Past themes include comparing the environmental policies, German Film, German fairytales, and many more. To prepare and support you, a USF Librarian will be visiting us in class.

Note: Students are also required to enroll in IDS 4957 during the Maymester session, which is part of the summer 2027 semester. You will be notified in the spring by your program lead regarding IDS 4957 registration details. 

*This course is cross-listed with IDH 3400-014: Germany Beyond the Classroom with Peter Funke. 

This course is permitted for students who have been accepted to the 2027 Hawaii Beyond the Classroom study away program. 

This interdisciplinary Honors Study Away course explores Hawaiʻi through the interconnected lenses of culture, history, sustainability, tourism, environment, and place. During the semester, students move beyond popular images of Hawaiʻi to examine the complex forces that have shaped the islands, including Native Hawaiian history and culture, colonization, relationships with the ʻāina (land), language and cultural revitalization, traditional foodways and ethnobotany, environmental change, tourism, and contemporary movements for cultural and ecological stewardship. Through readings, films, discussions, guest speakers, research, and experiential activities, students consider how history, culture, environment, and tourism intersect in one of the world's most iconic and complex destinations. 

This course is permitted for students who have been accepted to the 2027 South Korea Beyond the Classroom study abroad program. 
 
This course introduces students to the rich history and dynamic culture of Korea, preparing them to navigate cultural differences with curiosity, respect, and openness. We will begin by building a historical and cultural foundation through which we can explore the many facets of Korean identity. Students will engage with an interdisciplinary range of topics, including language, cuisine, traditions, Hallyu (the Korean Wave), business practices, health, social norms, media, and more. Students will engage in active learning and discussion through experiential activities such as group projects, media analysis, guest speakers, and interactive cultural exercises. Students will also participate in a Virtual Global Exchange (VGE) with Yonsei University students through a pen pal program, creating opportunities for an authentic and meaningful cross-cultural dialogue. By the end of the course, students will not only deepen their understanding of Korea, but also develop skills for engaging across cultures, using Korea as a lens for broader global connection. Active participation, consistent attendance, and involvement in both in-class and select out-of-class activities will be required. 

Note: Students are also required to enroll in IDS 4957 during the Maymester session, which is part of the summer 2027 semester. You will be notified in the spring by your program lead regarding IDS 4957 registration details. 

Why do so many medical innovations fail to make a difference? It's rarely due to a lack of intelligence. Medical technologies fail because founders misunderstand clinical context, overlook human factors, underestimate regulatory requirements, or build technology without validating market demand. 

This course trains you to design technological solutions with users, systems, and constraints in mind. Over the semester, you will identify a meaningful medical problem, analyze its root causes, and design human-centered solutions grounded in real clinical workflow. You will evaluate clinical and economic burden, test your assumptions, and develop a venture-ready strategy. By the end of the course, you will deliver a formal startup pitch to a panel of clinicians and industry professionals. 

You will learn how to: 

• Diagnose root causes of medical system failures
• Apply human-centered design principles to healthcare innovation
• Translate clinical needs into differentiated solution architectures
• Evaluate competitive, regulatory, and reimbursement landscapes
• Design sustainable business models for medical technologies
• Communicate technical and economic value clearly and persuasively 

These competencies align with nationally recognized career readiness skills, including critical thinking, communication, collaboration, technology literacy, leadership, and professional responsibility. Whether you pursue entrepreneurship, industry R&D, consulting, graduate research, or clinical innovation, the ability to transform complex medical problems into viable, human-centered ventures will distinguish you. 

What does it actually take to turn an idea into something real? Many of us have ideas for a podcast, book, business, event, creative project, community initiative, or something entirely new, but figuring out where to begin can be the hardest part. This is a hands-on course about moving from “I have an idea” to “I made this happen.” 

Throughout the semester, students will learn by doing. We will explore how to develop an idea, find an audience, tell its story, build a recognizable identity, work within a budget, reach out to collaborators, promote a project, respond when things do not go according to plan, and ultimately put something into the world. We will learn from real examples, guest speakers, and people who have built projects of their own.  

Together with the instructor, a local TEDx coordinator, students will analyze selected TED and TEDx talks as case studies in how ideas are developed, communicated, and translated into impact. Students will choose something they genuinely want to create and use the semester to develop it from its earliest stages toward a real launch. No business background is required. Just bring an idea, curiosity, and a willingness to start.

This course explores the evolving intersection of food, culinary creativity, and generative AI through an interdisciplinary and experiential approach. Students will examine how AI can support culinary ideation and recipe development for diverse dietary needs and preferences while critically evaluating the accuracy, practicality, creativity, and broader implications of AI-generated culinary content. 

Through a combination of research, discussion, collaborative activities, and hands-on culinary experiences, students will experiment with AI-generated ideas and apply human knowledge, judgment, and creativity to evaluate and refine them. The course encourages students to consider both the opportunities and limitations of artificial intelligence in gastronomy and culminates in a collaborative project that integrates technology, culinary exploration, and critical reflection. 

You belong to a generation of students uniquely positioned to think about the future of the university. Your schooling was disrupted by a global pandemic, and you are among the first generation of university students to encounter generative AI as a normal part of academic life. You have experienced firsthand both the possibilities of new technologies and the ways they can reshape how we learn, relate, think, and create. This capstone asks you to draw on that experience while engaging philosophical questions about what education is ultimately for. What does it mean to learn in a way that respects and develops the human person? What kinds of educational practices cultivate agency, relationship, intellectual growth, and a meaningful encounter with the world? And as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly embedded in education, what should universities preserve, recover, or deliberately redesign? Should there be places where it is not? Where? Why?  

The course proceeds in three parts:

1. In Encounter the Human, we explore five dimensions of dignified learning — Dignity, Embodiment, Love, Transcendence, and Agency — through philosophical texts, discussion, reflection, and examination of your own educational experience.
2. In Design for the Human, we translate those ideas into a shared set of Dignified Learning Design Principles, asking what concrete features of courses, assignments, technologies, spaces, and educational practices support or undermine human formation.
3. Finally, in Build for the Human, you will work in small teams to design, test, critique, and refine practical tools that educators can use to create more dignified learning environments. 

This is not a hypothetical design exercise. The course is a collaborative effort with the DELTA Project at the University of Notre Dame, a major grant-funded initiative examining technology, ethics, and human formation. The strongest work produced in the course will contribute to a broader "Dignified Learning Toolkit" designed for educators beyond USF. As a result, the aim of the capstone is not simply to study the future of higher education. It will give you a hand in shaping it. 

"Develop your senses — especially learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.” - Leonardo da Vinci, Renaissance artist  

The Tampa Museum of Art's (TMA) Artful Connections Program is an art-viewing and discussion program that focuses on fostering emotional wellness, community engagement, self-expression, and self-reflection. Artful Connections encourages participants to look deeper into the Tampa Museum of Art’s exhibitions, make personal connections with the artwork, and gain new perspectives. The program strives to create a welcoming environment for all participants. Diverse audiences find the Artful Connections Program to be beneficial. Such participants have included veterans, active-duty military, adults in substance use recovery and behavioral health care, LGBTQ+ support groups, assisted living facilities, and memory care facilities. The Artful Connections Program offers multiple participation formats, including in-person and virtual options. In tandem with the TMA Artful Connections program, the Judy Genshaft Honors College offers a capstone course onsite at the museum.  

The goal of the course is twofold: 

1. Train students to facilitate therapeutic art tours with Artful Connections patrons.
2. Conduct original, community-based participatory research on behalf of the Connections program, most notably creating research-informed activities for use during tours. 

During the semester, students will learn proven strategies to facilitate therapeutic engagement with art. In doing so, they will practice observation, deep listening, and critical thinking to aid in the facilitation process. At the end of the term, students facilitate tours with friends and family as well as present their final research poster to our museum partners.  

Note: Class meetings will take place entirely off-campus at the Tampa Museum of Art on Thursdays from 1-3:45 p.m., so please allow time to travel back and forth when you are planning your schedule. While transportation is not provided, parking is validated. 

Want to use computer animation to create visual messages that can make a difference in people’s lives? In Public Health in Motion, you’ll explore how motion graphics (computer animation) can transform real public health issues into engaging Public Service Announcements (PSAs) that capture attention and inspire positive action. You’ll learn principles of design, animation, pre-attentive attributes, visual communication, audiovisual storytelling, and message development, gaining the skills to make complex information clear, memorable, and compelling. Through hands-on, project-based work in collaboration with USF’s College of Public Health, you’ll bring your ideas to life using Adobe Illustrator and Adobe After Effects while developing your own animated public health message. No previous animation experience required.

Create. Animate. Communicate. Inspire change.

The course is taught by Tamara Nemirovsky, an award-winning filmmaker and educator whose internationally recognized work uses animation and storytelling to explore meaningful human, social, public health, and environmental issues.

• "Bartleby the Scrivener" by Herman Melville,
• "The Secret Sharer" by Joseph Conrad,
• Chinua Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart,"
• "The Red Convertible" by Louise Erdrich,
• "The Paper Menagerie" by Ken Liu; and
• "The Garden Party" by Katherine Mansfield.

• "The Great Gatsby" (adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel),
• "Death of a Salesman" (adapted from Arthur Miller’s play),
• "Gandhi" (directed by Richard Attenborough),
• "Bicycle Thieves" (directed by Vittorio De Sica); and
• "The Song of Sparrows" (directed by Majid Majidi).

Countries in transition from an authoritarian regime to democracy, or from war to peace, often face multiple transitions and different challenges — for instance, the challenge of overcoming past abuses of human rights such as political executions, ethnic cleansing, mass murder, or genocide. Such societies at times reach for transitional justice mechanisms to redress past atrocities and human rights violations. Transitional Justice (TJ) mechanisms consist of judicial and non-judicial measures, including truth-seeking mechanisms, reparation programs, and institutional reforms. This complex set of measures, if applied in countries in transition, can offer reconciliatory elements for grieving and often divided societies on their path to democracy and global trends.  

This course will offer an exploration of TJ mechanisms using real-life experiences. Yet, together we will reach even further and look into our own society and the communities we live in. What can we learn from the societies in transition? Can we apply such measures and experiences in our own society and communities? In this course, students will practice how to bridge the gap between academic concepts and real-life in a complex environment using conflict prevention and TJ tools. Through a series of thematic sessions, case studies, and student-led workshops, students will learn how to obtain input for project ideas they wish to investigate.

What ethical and legal obligations do hospitals have to patients? What challenges and issues arise while conducting healthcare quality projects? How are quality of care and cost of delivery related?

Using literature (Foucault's “The Birth of the Clinic,” Gawande's “Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance,” and others) and film (“The English Surgeon,” “Malice,” and others), this course purposes to instill the knowledge of community needs through cultural enlightenment, interdisciplinary practices, and real-life experience. This course will primarily focus on clinical outcomes and process change, and it emphasizes analysis of the patient care process to identify specific interventions. Students will learn to incorporate the research process as they conduct an actual healthcare outcomes study utilizing a quantitative research approach. Students will be prepared to present findings and practical applications to hospital administrators.  

Designed for students interested in interprofessional healthcare delivery, this course seeks to assist students with developing competencies expected of professional programs. Additional topics include an overview of accreditation standards, licensure agencies, reimbursement systems, legal/ethical issues, healthcare computerization, documentation, quality, compliance, regulatory requirements, and HIPPA compliance.

This class is designed to give students an enhanced understanding of world events and civic institutions that influence their lives. Students will emerge from this class with a better grasp of the news of the day and the confidence to be able to articulate its importance on their journey to becoming a more engaged citizen. To that end, students will be required to read the online editions of Tampa Bay Times, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, as well as follow other information platforms such as NPR, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and other outlets. This course will include a weekly news quiz. Students will also participate in weekly team presentations exploring in-depth some aspect of current news events or civic institutions.  

It is said journalism often represents the first draft of history. And thus, the goals of this class are twofold. First students will become better informed and thus more aware of the stories that help form their world view. Second, students will gain a keener understanding of the journalistic challenges associated with news gathering. Lastly, this is Capstone course, and, therefore, students will be required to submit a paper at the end of the semester.