Courses
The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the Student Link for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.
The listing below reflects the Hub units fulfilled by courses in the 2019/2020 academic year.
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- All Departments
- BU Hub
- College of Arts & Sciences: African American Studies
- College of Arts & Sciences: African Studies/East African Languages: Kiswahili (Swahili)
- College of Arts & Sciences: African Studies/East, West & South African Languages: Amharic, Igbo, isiZulu
- College of Arts & Sciences: African Studies/South African Languages: isiXhosa
- College of Arts & Sciences: African Studies/West African Languages: Akan Twi, Wolof
- College of Arts & Sciences: African Studies/West African Languages: Hausa
- College of Arts & Sciences: American Studies
- College of Arts & Sciences: Anthropology
- College of Arts & Sciences: Arabic/Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- College of Arts & Sciences: Archaeology
- College of Arts & Sciences: Astronomy
- College of Arts & Sciences: Biology
- College of Arts & Sciences: Chemistry
- College of Arts & Sciences: Chinese: Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- College of Arts & Sciences: Cinema & Media Studies
- College of Arts & Sciences: Classical Studies, incl. Classical Civilization & Tradition (in English), Ancient Greek, and Latin
- College of Arts & Sciences: Classical Studies: Modern Greek
- College of Arts & Sciences: Comparative Literature
- College of Arts & Sciences: Computer Science
- College of Arts & Sciences: Core Curriculum
- College of Arts & Sciences: Earth & Environment
- College of Arts & Sciences: Economics
- College of Arts & Sciences: English
- College of Arts & Sciences: French/Language, Literature, Linguistics, Culture (including courses in English)
- College of Arts & Sciences: German/Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- College of Arts & Sciences: Hebrew/Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- College of Arts & Sciences: Hindi-Urdu/Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- College of Arts & Sciences: History
- College of Arts & Sciences: History of Art & Architecture
- College of Arts & Sciences: International Relations
- College of Arts & Sciences: Italian/Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- College of Arts & Sciences: Japanese/Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- College of Arts & Sciences: Korean/Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- College of Arts & Sciences: Linguistics
- College of Arts & Sciences: Mathematics & Statistics
- College of Arts & Sciences: Natural Sciences
- College of Arts & Sciences: Neuroscience
- College of Arts & Sciences: Persian (Farsi): Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- College of Arts & Sciences: Philosophy
- College of Arts & Sciences: Physics
- College of Arts & Sciences: Political Science
- College of Arts & Sciences: Portuguese/Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- College of Arts & Sciences: Psychological & Brain Sciences
- College of Arts & Sciences: Religion
- College of Arts & Sciences: Russian/Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- College of Arts & Sciences: Sociology
- College of Arts & Sciences: Spanish/Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- College of Arts & Sciences: Turkish/Language, Literature, Culture (including courses in English)
- College of Arts & Sciences: Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies
- College of Arts & Sciences: Writing
- College of Communication
- College of Engineering
- College of Fine Arts
- College of General Studies
- College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College
- Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
- Kilachand Honors College
- Metropolitan College
- Questrom School of Business
- School of Hospitality Administration
- School of Public Health
- Wheelock College of Education & Human Development
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HUB CC 282: Cocurricular: Public Health Education and Identity with the Boston Student Community
Students explore the relationship between global and community public health issues by facilitating public health lessons for youth in Boston Area Health Education Center programs. Students enhance their understanding of how their identities impact their work, how they perceive global health challenges, and how communities interact with the world at large. Students must take KHC HC 302 as a corequisite for HUB CC 282. Effective Fall 2018, this Hub cocurricular fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: The Individual in Community. -
HUB FY 101: Cocurricular: The First Year Experience
Through discussions, activities, and field trips, students investigate the social, academic, and cultural dimensions of student life at BU. Students join a small community of peers who serve as conversation partners as together they learn how to leverage BU's resources to create a richer and fuller college experience. Students explore personal values and goals and how they interact with their communities of choice at BU. Effective Fall 2019, this Hub cocurricular fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: The Individual in Community. -
HUB XC 433: Cross-College Challenge (XCC) Projects
The Cross-College Challenge (XCC) is a unique project-based learning experience in which interdisciplinary student teams from across BU's undergraduate colleges tackle real-world problems and develop marketable leadership, team work, and communication skills. Students from any major collaborate with both on and off campus sponsors exposing students to current challenges impacting BU and the City of Boston in areas such as arts management, technology, entrepreneurship, environmental justice, and beyond. This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Teamwork/Collaboration, Creativity/Innovation, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Research and Information Literacy. -
KHC AH 101: (MIS)REPRESENTING HISTORY IN ART
An examination of the ways that historical events have been depicted by artists from antiquity to the present, with an emphasis on the intentional misrepresentation of events ("fake news") to serve the needs of the artists' patrons, usually ruling elites. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness. -
KHC AH 102: First Person, Singular: Representing the Self, Then and Insta-Now
Is the act of self-representation mere extroversion and exhibitionism with filters applied? Or perhaps when we represent ourselves we are aiming to reach for a deeper truth, somehow hidden below the surface of skin and bone? How does the project of self-portraiture reveal and make sense of societal strictures, differences of identity, race, gender and sexual orientation? This course investigates the human drive for representing the self through a thematic approach, highlighting select moments throughout history, starting with Early Modern Europe. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy. -
KHC AM 101: Whose Schools: Power, Equality and Public Education
How can we fulfill Thomas Jefferson's promise for public schools "which shall reach every description of our citizens?" The course examines significant eras, debates, and struggles for equality in U.S. education, with a particular focus on current policies in Boston. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, The Individual in Community, Research and Information Literacy. -
KHC AN 102: The Lives of Others: The Power, Politics, and Ethics of Storytelling
This course delves into the ethical and political dimensions of storytelling, explores various cultural and historical forms of storytelling, and examines the deployment of storytelling in applied contexts such as narrative medicine. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Teamwork/Collaboration. -
KHC AN 103: Animals among Humans
This course, "Animals among Humans," complements a hitherto existing course, KHC AN 101, Human among Animals." Comparing and contrasting humans and (other) animals, It explores the relations between them, with emphasis on the experiences of the nonhuman animals themselves. [The other course, Humans among Animals, also explores human-animal comparisons, contrasts, and interactions, but it does so with emphasis on the experiences of the humans involved.] Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Critical Thinking. -
KHC AS 101: The Pluto Saga: Interactions Between Science, Society, Art and Religion
The change in Pluto's status as a planet generated controversies within the non-science community that far exceeded those among astronomers. This seminar explores the science behind the decision and the varied roles of evidence in reaching conclusions. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry II, Quantitative Reasoning II, Critical Thinking. -
KHC AS 102: Energy: The history of a concept
Traces the development of the concept of energy from the 17th century till today. Explores how the concept of energy and the conservation of energy are central to our current understanding of the physical and biological worlds and the universe. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Scientific Inquiry I. -
KHC BI 101: Climate Change Biology in Massachusetts: What Would Henry Say?
This course will place Thoreau and Walden within the context of modern climate change biology research. Students will read Walden concurrently with papers on climate change and recent books to appreciate how Thoreau anticipated many modern climate change issues. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Quantitative Reasoning I, Critical Thinking. -
KHC BI 104: Conflict and Cooperation
What binds human and non-human societies together, and what pulls them apart, over the short (historical) and long (evolutionary) terms? This course draws on approaches from the natural and social sciences to address this question. Students will study the biology of social behavior and the puzzle of how cooperation can evolve even though most animals are selfish; employ game theory to predict when individuals, groups, and nations should cooperate and when they should not; and apply insights from sociology and psychology to contemporary social issues including partisanship and environmentalism. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Social Inquiry I. -
KHC CH 140: The Material World
Discussion of how matter (gas, liquid, solid) is cycled within the earth's systems in the context of human use of the earth's resources and contemporary concerns about sustainability e.g. ozone layer, rare-earth elements, hydrocarbon combustion, potable water, plastic recycling. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Ethical Reasoning, Critical Thinking. -
KHC EC 103: Housing Policy: An Economic Perspective
This course introduces students to economic analysis through the study of housing policy. The course covers both microeconomic issues related to housing affordability and macroeconomic issues related to the stabilization of the housing market and the Great Recession. Throughout, the course will teach students economic principles and how use data to assess economic arguments. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Quantitative Reasoning II, Research and Information Literacy. -
KHC EH 103: Race in America: Understanding the Present by Exploring the Past
Course explores how contemporary racial crises have surprising histories and deep roots in America's cultural imagination. Slave owning in New England? "Black Lives Matter" and 100-year old Confederate memorials? Books, movies, TV drama, journalism today and their urgent historical background. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy. -
KHC EK 103: Mechanics on the Charles River Esplanade
An introduction to mechanics, the science of motion, using examples visible on the Charles River Esplanade. Introduction to the concept of force, and to the concepts of mass, momentum, and energy, and their conservation. Students will learn to apply these conservation laws together with dimensional analysis, scaling, and order of magnitude estimation, to a variety of physical systems in and around the Charles River Esplanade. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Scientific Inquiry I, Quantitative Reasoning I. -
KHC EN 102: The Ancient Quarrel in Our Time: Fiction & Philosophy Since 1945
The "ancient quarrel" between literature and philosophy. Ancient works by Sophocles, Plato, Aristotle; existentialist writing by Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, De Beauvoir, Ellison; contemporaries such as Sontag, Robinson, Coetzee. What good is art and narrative? What are their powers, limits, dangers? Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Critical Thinking. -
KHC EN 103: Poetry as Activism
Do artists have a responsibility to bear witness to their times? This course explores the work of contemporary poets who directly engage the current moment, who show us that art can function as political action. Among the controversial topics that these authors draw attention to and comment on are racial injustice, mass incarceration, war, LGBTQ rights, immigration policy, and environmental devastation. Through our course texts and students' own poems, we will consider the ethics of appropriation and representation, as well as the use of personal experience and found documents in poetry. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, The Individual in Community, Creativity/Innovation. -
KHC EN 104: Writing Lives: The Craft and Forms of Literary Biography
Literary writers craft characters. Many were characters as well--in their own lifetime and after their deaths. In this course, we explore the character of the writer as portrayed in multiple genres including fiction, essay, biography, autobiography, obituaries, and docudramas. We ask how does our perception of an artist change over time? How might literary biography serve as a lens to discuss changing conceptions of creativity, trends in historiography, and the development of literary canons? Our four case studies focus on Emily Dickinson, Louisa May Alcott, Toni Morrison, and Sylvia Plath. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Research and Information Literacy, Creativity/Innovation. -
KHC FT 102: UnAmerican Cinema
This course seeks to understand American film history in light of one set of events: the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings on communism in the film industry and the resulting industry blacklist. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy.
