Dean's Seminars
Dean’s Seminars provide Columbian College first-year students with focused scholarship that emphasizes lively discussions on topics relevant to the issues of our time. Sometimes edgy and always engaging, the seminars provide students one-of-a-kind opportunities that challenge the mind and often tap into emerging interests.
First-year Columbian College students can register for Dean's Seminars through the GWeb Information System.
"A memorable experience was when Professor Dane Kennedy took us to the Library of Congress for our Dean's Seminar class on empires. The maps and artifacts gave a visual history that one cannot get out of a textbook."
Albert Cramer
BA '12, History
Fall 2023 Dean's Seminars
For the dates and times that these courses meet, please review the Schedule of Classes.
- Arab Comics and Youth Culture
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- Professor E. Oraby
- ARAB 1000.10
- GPAC: Critical Thinking in the Humanities
- GPAC: Global or Cross-Cultural Perspective
Would you like to meet Arab Superheroes? To travel all the way from Beirut to Cairo to Guantanamo Bay through impactful and artful comics? Would you like to learn the skills to make your very own revolutionary comic? Or perhaps express your artistic vision through the medium of comics? This course offers an adventure into Arab popular visual culture. We will explore questions as: What makes a comic? How do Arab artists utilize comics to complicate social and political issues in their lives? How does the art of comics intersect with contemporary internet activism and social movements? What does it mean to live in the Arab world today?
The readings of the course will include Arab comics and graphic novels by artists from the gulf to the Atlantic Ocean. The topics aim to discover how contemporary Arab artists respond to social and political issues including war, feminism, gender issues, authoritarian governments, imprisonment, displacement and immigration. In addition to Arab comics, we will overview readings in contemporary comics studies. By the end of the course students will have learned how to read, interpret, and create different comic-art forms.
- Great Bromances of Arabic Literature
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- Professor J. Tobkin
- ARAB 1000.11
- GPAC: Critical Thinking in the Humanities
History is the process of reporting events about the past so that they form an interesting and meaningful story, and the telling of stories for entertainment is well attested in the Arabic language. Some of these stories are based on real people and events, and some are entirely fictional; some were told before a public or private audience many times before being recorded in writing.
Arabic texts often use the word “brotherhood” to refer to a social and emotional bond between two or more men unrelated by blood, and brotherhood is a major theme in pre-modern Arabic literature. Combine that with “romance,” in its meaning of a semi-historical tale about the extraordinary deeds of a legendary hero, and you get “bromance.” One of the bromances we will study in this class is truly the stuff of legend; the Abbasid Caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd, the vizier Jaʿfar al-Barmakī, and the poet Abū Nuwās spent only a few years together at work and play, but their era, the late 700s and early 800s, is widely considered a Golden Age of Arab-Islamic civilization, and writers throughout the centuries have celebrated and vilified this trio. The other is the story of two men who have dedicated their artistic careers to preserving underrepresented aspects of the Egyptian cultural heritage, namely the poetry, tales, and music of Upper Egypt and Lower Nubia; the members of this bromance are the poet Abdel Rahman El-Abnudi (1938-2015) and the singer Mohamed Mounir (1954-).
In this class, we will encounter Arabic historiographical writings, tales from the 1001 Nights, Arabic poetry and prose literature from various eras, as well as documentary films and music. Students will also explore other historical figures and trends tangential to the ones which are the focus of our class.
- Unreasonable Doubt: The history and politics of anti-science from the Scopes trial to today
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- Professor H. Thorp
- CHEM 1000.10
- GPAC: Critical Thinking in the Humanities
The covid pandemic has revealed more widely the methods with which forces that seek to deny science operate. Some of these events have taken the world of science by surprise, with even NIH Director Francis Collins proclaiming in response to what he could have done better on covid, "I wish we had studied more carefully the problem of hesitancy." In reality, social scientists and historians have been studying these problems for decades and predicted the denial of science that has occurred during covid and recent related episodes. Nevertheless, science curricula have not emphasized these topics in undergraduate education, leading to a generation of scientists that is unaware of the modern history of science and how it informs uptake of scientific information by the public. This course seeks to address this problem by examining the history of science and science denial through the lens of a scientist.
- Imagining Better Social Media
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- Professor D. Sude
- CCOM 1000.10
- GPAC: Critical Thinking, Quantitative Reasoning or Scientific Reasoning in the Social Sciences
What is your experience of social media? How could it be improved? This Dean’s Seminar puts you in the driver’s seat, culminating in a mock proposal to your favorite social media company as to how to improve their platform. You will look at social media through the lenses of your personal experience, academic scholarship, industry practice, and government policy. You will be encouraged to reflect on your own experience and to understand what is unique versus common about your personal experience on social media. Topics of study include entertainment, physical and mental health, social conflict, politics, misinformation, and marketing.
As a Dean’s Seminar, this seminar-style class encourages active engagement in discussion and debate about social media. Accompanying the discussion, this course asks you to write several short papers. Each paper is designed to build on the previous paper, culminating in your final proposal. You will receive plenty of feedback and opportunities to produce your best work. These papers fulfill the criteria for the GPAC “Critical Thinking” designation. Students will analyze and critique scholarly arguments and evidence; apply scholarly theories and concepts to their own experience on social media; and formulate arguments based on scholarly research.
- Art & Politics
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- Professor L. Matheny
- CAH 1000.10
- GPAC: Creative or Critical Thinking in the Arts
At the heart of this class is the deceptively simple question, “Is all art political?” From this central query, we will explore others: Can art spark political change? Does it have a moral obligation to do so? Should art provide a respite from politics? Is there a line between art and activism? Between art and propaganda? Between art and reportage?
Among the lenses through which we will study this subject are portraiture, photography, language and conceptual art, public art, craft, abstraction, government sponsorship, and museums. Using these organizing categories, we will discover how artists from the early 20th century to the present have responded to a range of issues, including war, immigration, identity politics, climate change, feminism, racism, health policy, and economic justice. Examples of topics covered include cultural policy in Nazi Germany, the use of abstract art as a strategic tool of the Cold War, artistic responses to the Vietnam War, the creation of the AIDS memorial quilt, artistic attempts to humanize the migration crisis, and visual artists’ painful and poignant grappling with the reality of police brutality. Special effort will be made to incorporate discussion of art seen in Washington.
- Modern Architecture & Design
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- Professor S. Travis
- CIAR 1000.10
- GPAC: Creative Thinking in the Arts
- GPAC: Global or Cross-Cultural Perspective
The American architect Frank Lloyd Wright once stated, “No house should ever be on a hill or on anything. It should be of the hill. Belonging to it. Hill and house should live together each the happier for the other.” Wright’s love of nature inspired a portfolio of work through a wholly original style that merged the natural and built environments. His buildings, interiors, furniture, and lighting continue to awe! This course will explore Wright and other iconic designers from the 20th and 21st Centuries through case studies, so that students master the concepts and ideas related to each.
The best way to learn about architecture is to experience the buildings firsthand; therefore, a strong component of the course is visiting modern buildings in DC such as: the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art; and the Kreeger Museum (which was once a residence for a prominent DC art collector). Other course components are interactive lectures, dynamic discussions, and documentary film clips. Ultimately, an overview of the architecture, interiors, and furniture of the most significant buildings in modernism will be explored and examined. By merging conceptual thinking, design thinking, and critical thinking in combination with history, this course will incorporate a complete exploration of modern architecture and design.
This course is a GPAC Arts in Creative Thinking and meets the Cross-Cultural Perspective attribute.
- Global Dress and Culture
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- Professor T. Wetenhall
- CTAD 1000.11
- GPAC: Creative Thinking in the Arts
- GPAC: Global or Cross-Cultural Perspective
- GPAC: Oral Communication
'Global Dress and Culture' presents dress as material and visual culture, illuminating the relationship between dress and humans as social, biological and aesthetic creatures. Students engage with 'dress' as clothing, costume, fashion, bodily modification and adornment and its 'culture’—the processes, activities and relationships of global dress-related practices, particularly its material production and uses as a symbolic system. Students learn Eicher and Evenson's culturally sensitive classification system for analyzing dress and consider how dress and textiles reflect local and global economies and trade, exhibit customs and ideologies, and how dress signifies status as a social construct. In-class sessions include:
+ learning about the primary fibers, dyestuffs, and textiles used in creating dress;
+ examining historical fragments and objects;
+ preserving and displaying dress in museums; and
+ discussing contemporary issues such as cultural appropriation and sustainability.
Directed explorations of the agency of dress in various art forms, its illustration in historical media and emerging visual technologies, and the performativity of dress as a medium of social action and expression of humankind's continuous migration, intellectual interchange, and condition form part of the discussions.
The course introduces students to renowned GW and Washington DC research centers and resources, including GW's Textile Museum, its Textile 101 Lab, Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection and the Arthur D. Jenkins Library, and other DC cultural institutions. Assignments introduce research skills and methods for the humanities and the applied science of museum studies.
'Global Dress and Culture' fulfills GPAC with CCAS: Arts, Oral Communication, Global, and Cross-Cultural perspective course attributes.
- Fashion Statements
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- Professor S. Johannesdottir
- CTAD 1000.12
- GPAC: Creative Thinking in the Arts
- GPAC: Global or Cross-Cultural Perspective
- GPAC: Oral Communication
This G-PAC course will focus on creative thinking, cross cultural perspective, and oral communication. It is designed for students who want to examine the visual narrative that is told by the clothing selected and worn both in society and as reflected in the arts, particularly costume design for film and live performance. When we dress, we send messages about who we are, where we come from, our ideology, political views, favorite music, and social status to name a few. Using primary source material (artwork, films, etc.) this class will examine the relationship between fashion and costume design through lecture, research, discussion, and creative development. Students will develop a foundational understanding of the use of clothing to provide visual narrative by exploring the questions of the global demographic, cultural, gender, societal, ethnic, and practical motivations that have influenced clothing design throughout history. The role of fashion designers on clothing trends will be explored. This historical review will be supplemented with an investigation of the effects of color, composition, cut, and silhouette to further reinforce period trends and personal aesthetic statements. The class will visit the National Museum of American History and its Conservation and Preservation department where students will be shown how clothing from previous centuries are being preserved and taken care of. With this foundation students will examine how costumes have been used in film and theater to help tell a story.
Drawing and rendering skills are not required.
- Dance Cultures on the Silk Road
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- CTAD 1000.12
- GPAC: Creative Thinking in the Arts
- GPAC: Global or Cross-Cultural Perspective
This course considers the multi-faceted role of the folk, classical, and court dances of India, China, and the Persianate world, as well as those of the Turkic peoples of Central Asia which developed through commerce, conflict, and cultural exchange. It examines dance with relation to spiritual expression, healing, entertainment, propaganda, gender roles, and ethnic/national identity.
- Creativity Across Arts & Culture
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- Professor J. Kanter
- CTAD 1000.13
- GPAC: Creative Thinking in the Arts
- GPAC: Global or Cross-Cultural Perspective
The mission of this course is to provide students with a comparative introduction to key concepts in the making and analysis of art across disciplines and cultures. In addition, the course provides students with a framework for thinking about the relationships between the arts and social justice. The course will include guest lecturers from across the Corcoran School.
- What's New About New Plays?
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- Professor E. Schreiber
- ENGL 1000.10
- GPAC: Critical Thinking in the Humanities
This Dean’s seminar takes advantage of the theater offerings in Washington and asks the question: What is new about new plays? Are contemporary playwrights reworking classical themes or are their works entirely new entities? What themes reappear and how are they presented? The course also considers how classical plays are re-imagined for modern audiences.
For example, is a Shakespearean work staged in a different political or social milieu than the original production? Why would directors make these types of artistic decisions? What does it mean for plays to be culturally relevant? Students will consider who attends the theater and who will be in the audience in the future. These questions form a large part of decisions about what plays Artistic Directors select to be produced each year and the nature of those productions. We will read at least three classical plays and three new plays. We will attend two plays, as long as theaters remain open for in-person performances. I have arranged with Artistic Directors in DC and elsewhere to have filmed performances of new plays streamed to us to provide additional new plays to view.
THIS COURSE FULFILLS THE CRITICAL THINKING IN THE HUMANITIES GPAC REQUIREMENT.
- Migrants in the City
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- Professor E. Chacko
- GEOG 1000.10
- GPAC: Critical Thinking, Quantitative Reasoning or Scientific Reasoning in the Social Sciences
- GPAC: Global or Cross-Cultural Perspective
In this course students will investigate and analyze key ways of examining the relationships between migration (flows of human beings across internal administrative borders as well as international borders) and the city, through readings on migration theories and processes, the evolution of immigrant enclaves and neighborhoods, immigrant identity as it relates to place, immigrant entrepreneurship, the gendered nature of some migrant flows and the mutual influence of immigrants and urban landscapes. Students will also conduct research on immigration and its effects in cities (with an emphasis on the Washington Metropolitan Area), gathering and analyzing data from archival sources, the Census and information gathered during field work by students.
- The Fairy Tale From Grimms to Disney
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- Professor J. Freedman
- GER 1000.10
- GPAC: Critical Thinking in the Humanities
- GPAC: Global or Cross-Cultural Perspective
- GPAC: Oral Communication
In this course students will investigate and analyze key ways of examining the relationships between migration (flows of human beings across internal administrative borders as well as international borders) and the city, through readings on migration theories and processes, the evolution of immigrant enclaves and neighborhoods, immigrant identity as it relates to place, immigrant entrepreneurship, the gendered nature of some migrant flows and the mutual influence of immigrants and urban landscapes. Students will also conduct research on immigration and its effects in cities (with an emphasis on the Washington Metropolitan Area), gathering and analyzing data from archival sources, the Census and information gathered during field work by students.
- Green Germany: Sustainability Meister or Myth?
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- Professor M. Gonglewiski
- GER 1000.11
- GPAC: Critical Thinking in the Humanities
On the one hand, Germany shines as a global leader in sustainability—the result of favorable public policy incentives and strong public support. Yet as the world’s fourth largest economy, Germany is also a top polluter, with its famous car industry still mired in the recent “Dieselgate” scandal. Has Germany proven itself to be the meister of sustainability, or is sustainability in Germany just a myth?
In this course, we dig into sustainability as “Made in Germany” by learning about the concept in German cultural terms of environmental, economic, and social responsibility. By focusing specifically on Germany, we explore sustainability outside of the U.S., raising questions about how different cultural values are expressed in government policy, business innovations, and the day-to-day lifestyles of ordinary citizens. We analyze culturally rich materials, including artworks, “cli-fi” movies, new laws, and activist manifestos—all offering insights into deeply-held societal values about sustainability. To enrich our discussion and debate, we visit Germany in DC during class time, with field trips to the German Embassy, and to the think-tank of Germany’s Green Party. Together, we look in depth at the past, present, and future of sustainability in Germany, highlighting its many triumphs while also acknowledging its shortcomings.
This class fulfills the Critical Thinking in Humanities GPAC and can count towards the Sustainability Minor. No knowledge of Germany or German is needed to take this course! Just come with an open mind, ready to explore.
- International Humanitarian Assistance
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- Professor M. Kelso
- HSSJ 1000.10
- GPAC: Critical Thinking, Quantitative Reasoning or Scientific Reasoning in the Social Sciences
- GPAC: Global or Cross-Cultural Perspective
A massive earthquake hits a metropolitan area, leaving tens of thousands of people without homes, water or food. An aggressor nation invades its smaller neighbor, attacking civilian populations causing millions to flee their country while others remain internally displaced. A pandemic outbreak, with no known cure, ravages communities, leaving entire populations in quarantine, taxing the medical and social systems. Situations such as these arise in which humanitarian assistance is provided to alleviate suffering and to ensure human dignity.
What causes humanitarian disasters? How do individuals, communities and states act and respond to disasters? What organizations at the local, national, and international levels are equipped to respond when such situations occur?
We will explore how and why situations are classified as disasters and which types of organizations respond to those catastrophes. We will also dig into the history of how we have arrived at delivery and assistance of international humanitarian aid. The end of WWII in 1945 brought forth a turning point in international relations through the creation of the UN. This, in turn, formed the humanitarian structures that have been put into place today, such as The World Food Program and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. We will examine local responses to major crises, as well as how national and international organizations and governments respond.
- Evil
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- Professor L. Papish
- PHIL 1000.10
- GPAC: Critical Thinking in the Humanities
In this course we will confront questions related to the phenomenon of evil. What do we mean when we say that some person or act is evil? What distinguishes evil from the merely bad?
What are the psychological and social mechanisms behind evil? Does the existence of evil show that God does not exist, and can we criticize evil unless we rely on the concept of God? When, if ever, is evil forgivable? We will rely on philosophical sources to help address these questions, though occasionally we will also turn to literature, history, and the social sciences.
- Islam in the Digital Age
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- Professor K. Pemberton
- REL 1000.80
- GPAC: Critical Thinking in the Humanities
- GPAC: Global or Cross-Cultural Perspective
This mixed methods course draws upon technocultural studies, marketing theory, visual analysis, social psychology, cultural studies, and critical feminist and gender studies to assess the ways in which digital technologies have shaped expressions and understandings of Islam, Islamic authority, and Islamic markets (especially the 'halal' market). Beginning with an introduction to the emergence of new technologies in Muslim-majority countries in the late 19th century and Muslims’ varied responses to them, we pay special attention to the ways in which digital technologies have enabled the development of new and innovative paradigms for understanding the role of Islam in the public sphere. Gender -- particularly as it relates to debates about Islamic masculinities, femininities, and sexualities – serves as a pivotal theme and point of inquiry throughout the term. The course is highly interactive and provides many opportunities for student participation in small group discussions and in-class collaborations.
- Hollywood and Politics
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- Professor P. Phalen
- SMPA 1000.10
- GPAC: Critical Thinking, Quantitative Reasoning or Scientific Reasoning in the Social Sciences
Hollywood & Politics provides an introduction to the American media industry and its age-old relationship with American political life. Did you know that leaders from Hollywood and DC had connections as far back as 1920? Or that suspected communists were blacklisted in Hollywood during the 1940’s and ‘50s? Well, now you do – but you’ll learn the details of these and other topics in Hollywood & Politics! The course covers the history of connections between Hollywood’s executives and political leaders; the influence of celebrities on politics; the representation of politics in television and film; the politics of Hollywood’s business practices, and much more.
- The Science of Uncertainty
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- Professor H. Mahmoud
- STAT 1000.10
- GPAC: Quantitative Reasoning in Mathematics or Statistics
Probability and the calculus of chance are presented at an introductory level. Axiomatic probability is introduced. Some fun scenarios, such as poker and urn schemes, are brought to the fore, then some standard discrete and continuous probability distributions are presented. The course touches on elements of estimation and predictions. Scientific discovery through hypothesis testing is briefly presented. Elements of stochastic behavior are discussed.
- Islam in the Digital Age
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- Professor K. Pemberton
- WGSS 1000.80
- GPAC: Critical Thinking in the Humanities
- GPAC: Global or Cross-Cultural Perspective
This mixed methods course draws upon technocultural studies, marketing theory, visual analysis, social psychology, cultural studies, and critical feminist and gender studies to assess the ways in which digital technologies have shaped expressions and understandings of Islam, Islamic authority, and Islamic markets (especially the 'halal' market). Beginning with an introduction to the emergence of new technologies in Muslim-majority countries in the late 19th century and Muslims’ varied responses to them, we pay special attention to the ways in which digital technologies have enabled the development of new and innovative paradigms for understanding the role of Islam in the public sphere. Gender -- particularly as it relates to debates about Islamic masculinities, femininities, and sexualities – serves as a pivotal theme and point of inquiry throughout the term. The course is highly interactive and provides many opportunities for student participation in small group discussions and in-class collaborations.
Dean's Seminar Highlights
