Q&A: CGS’s new minor in Interdisciplinary Studies
This spring, the College of General Studies announced its first minor in Interdisciplinary Studies. The program is open to all BU students, whether they’re CGS students who want to expand the problem-solving skills they’ve developed in their freshmen and sophomore years, or undergraduates from any other school at BU looking to build a foundation in […]
Students present undergraduate research projects
The Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching & Learning offers undergraduates an opportunity to partner with College of General Studies faculty on research projects. During the Undergraduate Research Forum on Feb. 4, seven students presented their research to Mike Gould, the donor that made that work possible. Gould said to the students, he “wants people to grow and thought this would be an opportunity to challenge yourself.”
Seeing Possibility and Hope in America’s Past
How do postmodern authors like Thomas Pynchon engage with the American past in literature? It’s a question that Christopher K. Coffman contends with in a new book of literary criticism, Rewriting Early America: The Prenational Past in Postmodern Literature.
From Cinderella to Kafka: The Scholarly Musings of Sidney Fein
The character of Sidney Fein came to Professor of Humanities Robert Wexelblatt after he read a book of French critical theory that left him with “an impression of parasitism and arrogance” on the part of the scholars. He processed his reaction in the form of a satirical essay evaluating the career of a fictional thinker, writer, and teacher: Sidney Fein.
A Look at Undergraduate Research: A Philosopher-Director from Hollywood’s Golden Age
King Vidor directed some of the boundary-breaking films of the Golden Age of Hollywood. College of General Studies Associate Professor of Humanities Kevin Stoehr is writing a book on King Vidor with some research assistance from Luke Bonzani (CGS’18, COM’20, CAS’20).
CGS Hosts London Conference on Writing and the Nation
On June 30, 2018, an interdisciplinary group of scholars convened in London for an international conference on “Writing, the State, and the Rise of Neo-Nationalism: Historical Contexts and Contemporary Concerns.”
Using Service Learning to Connect Students to Communities
CGS Lecturer of Humanities Sheila Cordner has been partnering with the Boston University Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) to develop resources that will help faculty integrate service learning into their classes—particularly Boston University Hub-approved classes that fulfill the Individual in Community requirement.
Alum Melds Philosophy with Science Fiction in The Measurements of Decay
When K.K. Edin (CGS’13, CAS’16, GRS’16) was a 20 year-old undergraduate at Boston University, he was working through the ideas in Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy. As he wrestled with the political and the social implications of Descartes’ work, Edin began writing the novel that would become The Measurements of Decay.
Deepening Students’ Connection to the Humanities Through Service Learning
On a snowy day in Boston last winter, a group of Boston University College of General Studies (CGS) students bundled into their winter coats and trekked to Quincy to volunteer for the Prison Book Program, an organization with a simple purpose—sending books to incarcerated people. In CGS Lecturer of Humanities Sheila Cordner’s classes, service learning is woven into the curriculum as an assignment.