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 2025 Dean's Seminars
For the dates and times that these courses meet, please review the Schedule of Classes.
- True Crime?: "Copaganda" and Crime Culture
- AMST 1000
- Professor M. House-Tuck
- GPAC: Critical Thinking in the Humanities
Over the last several years, the genre of “true crime” has boomed in popularity. This seminar examines the roots of true crime and the broader cultural category of “copaganda,” media that represents policing. We will consider how true crime and copaganda have evolved over time, how to evaluate their key themes and aspects, and what makes them so popular. Students will learn through media analysis, scholarship on policing and crime media, and reflection on their own personal experiences with the subject.
- Anthropology of Revolution
- ANTH 1000
- Professor E. Karnes
- GPAC 1: Critical Thinking, Quantitative Reasoning or Scientific Reasoning in the Social Sciences
- GPAC 2: Global or Cross-Cultural Perspective
Revolutions are often understood as dramatic political upheavals, but in this seminar, we will expand that definition to explore revolutions as world-making projects—efforts to reshape how societies conceive of space, time, power, and their responsibilities to the environment and to one another across various scales. Drawing on both sociocultural anthropology and the archaeology of the contemporary, students will investigate revolutions in diverse cultural and historical contexts, analyzing their motivations, dynamics, and long-term consequences. The course is organized into thematic units, with class sessions blending lectures, discussions, and hands-on activities that introduce students to primary sources, archives, museums, and other sites of revolution around Washington DC, as well as to the methods and practices of anthropological research. Assignments will include both written and creative components, offering students the opportunity to engage deeply with course themes and materials in multiple modes. There will be no in-class exams. By the end of the course, students will be equipped with the Anthropological skills to critically examine their own positions as active, reflective members of the George Washington University Revolutionary community.
- Great Bromances of Arabic Literature
- ARAB 1000.11
- Professor J. Tobkin
- 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.
- Art & Politics
- CAH 1000.10
- Professor L. Matheny
- GPAC: Critical or Creative 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, gender and sexuality, 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. The course will include field trips and special effort will be made to incorporate discussion of art seen in Washington.
- Unreasonable Doubt
- CHEM 1000.10
- Professor H. Thorp
- 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.
- Modern Architecture & Design
- CIAR 1000.10
- Professor S. Travis
- GPAC 1: Critical or Creative Thinking in the Arts
- GPAC 2: 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 the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art. 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
- CTAD 1000.11
- Professor T. Wetenhall
- GPAC 1: Critical or Creative Thinking in the Arts
- GPAC 2: Global or Cross-Cultural Perspective
- GPAC 3: 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 (GWTM), the GWTM's Textile 101 Lab, Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection, 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.
- Writing the Wall
- ENG 1000.10
- Professor L. Page
- GPAC: Critical or Creative Thinking in the Arts
This university seminar in creative writing is designed to generate original student work addressing the theme of divided communities. Partitions from the US southern border to the Berlin Wall and the International Peace Wall in Belfast are examples of community division. Students will study established poets, fiction writers, and nonfiction writers addressing division and construct their own work in the course of the semester. Writing workshops are included.
- Touching the Past
- FREN 1000.10
- Professor E. Campbell
- GPAC 1: Critical Thinking in the Humanities
- GPAC 2: Oral Communication
Taking premodern objects as a point of departure, this class engages in a historical thought experiment. Conventional ways of learning about history often privilege narrative. While acknowledging the enduring importance of historical scholarship, this class tackles our relationship to the past from a different angle. It asks: What alternative perspectives emerge when we center tangible objects and their agency in the world, past and present? We will collectively explore potential responses to this question through hands-on engagement with material artefacts; literary, historical, and philosophical readings; and critical reflection. As a student on this course, you will interact with—and sometimes handle—centuries-old materials and think deeply about the agencies they had in the past, as well as those they continue to have today. You will also reflect on your own relationship to the past, on why that matters, and on how the distinctive ways we touch the past—physically, mentally, affectively—might shape the histories of the future.
- Migrants in the City
- GEOG 1000.10
- Professor E. Chacko
- GPAC 1: Critical Thinking, Quantitative Reasoning or Scientific Reasoning in the Social Sciences
- GPAC 2: 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.
- Rocks and Fossils in Cinema
- GEOL 1000.10
- Professor James Kerr
- GPAC: Oral Communication
Do you lay awake at night wondering if T. rex could really outrun the Land Rover in Jurassic Park? Could you really inject seawater into old oilfields to activate the San Andreas Fault in A View to a Kill? Do valuable petroleum reserves actually exist in California as in There Will Be Blood? Geology and paleontology are key players in a remarkably large number of movies. This course explores the portrayal of fossils, rocks, and minerals through the window of film: what is real, what is cinematic fantasy, and critically: how do we know?
- Green Germany
- GER 1000.10
- Professor M. Gonglewski
- GPAC: Critical Thinking in the Humanities
Germany shines as a global leader in sustainability---yet as the world’s third largest economy, Germany is also a top polluter. 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. We explore culturally rich materials, including art, “cli-fi” movies, food/drink, and activist manifestos—all offering insights into deeply-held societal values about sustainability. To enrich our discussion and debate, we visit Germany in DC, including field trips like to the German Embassy. Together we look in depth at the past, present, and future of sustainability in Germany, highlighting its many triumphs while also acknowledging its shortcomings. No knowledge of Germany or German is needed to take this course! Just come with an open mind, ready to explore.
- Evil
- PHIL 1000.10
- Professor L. Papish
- GPAC: Critical Thinking in the Humanities
This course 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.
- Politics of Information
- PSC 1000.11
- GPAC: Critical Thinking, Quantitative Reasoning or Scientific Reasoning in the Social Sciences
In today’s digital age, information is often called the “new oil”, a strategic resource wielded by states, corporations, and citizens alike. While the political power of information is not new, the rise of global networks, social media, and artificial intelligence has radically intensified its reach and consequences. This Dean’s Seminar explores how information is created, contested, and weaponized in the modern world. How does it shape political behavior, governance, and global power? What new challenges do digital technologies pose, ranging from disinformation and polarization to surveillance and algorithmic bias? Drawing on scholarly readings, journalistic accounts, and real-world case studies, students will examine the risks and opportunities of our information-saturated era and envision more just and democratic digital futures.
- Identity Politics in Global Perspective- An Exploration through Film and Literature
- PSC 1000.MV
- Professor A. Syed
- GPAC: Critical Thinking, Quantitative Reasoning or Scientific Reasoning in the Social Sciences
- Islam in the Digital Age
- REL 1000.80
- Professor K. Pemberton
- GPAC 1: Critical Thinking in the Humanities
- GPAC 2: 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.
- The Global South Today
- SPAN 1000.10
- GPAC 1: Oral Communication
- GPAC 2: Critical Thinking in the Humanities
- GPAC 3: Global or Cross-Cultural Perspective
We live in a world that is no longer unipolar. Was it ever? Upon reflecting on the numerous civilizations that have dominated the known world, we understand that empires come and go. At the end of the second decade of the twenty-first century, new nations and regions stand ready to “stake their claim” in the global order. One such region is the virtual Global South that, for lack of a better definition, refers to “developing nations. This course examines the purported rise of the Global South as part of a multipolar world order, with a particular focus on the relationship between Latin America and Africa. Geopolitics, history, and the study of the arts are the primary ways that this course examines this phenomenon. Regardless of their starting point, students will contemplate their place in the world. The excitement comes from acknowledging the richness of one’s thought place of origin.
Spring 2026 Dean's Seminars
- Designing Classical Ballet
- CTAD 1000.10
- Professor T. Wetenhall
- GPAC 1: Critical or Creative Thinking in the Arts
- GPAC 2: Oral Communication
- GPAC 3: Global or Cross-Cultural Perspective
- Designing Classical Ballet' introduces study and research in visual culture, cultural production, and the visual and performing arts. Ballet's classical era inducts students into the art form as a site of historical, political and contemporary discourse surrounding gender, power, war, (in)equality, racial diversity, and inclusion. Ballet's history, aesthetics, and various cultural perspectives reveal how ballet's design has specific functions or ends. Through readings, close viewings, and structured discussions of seminal works of classical and contemporary ballet, students consider the agency of costume in performance; artists designing for the stage; ballet's global appeal; ballet as a tool of cultural diplomacy; how to affect change in the art form; and the diverse cultural, political and historical perspectives shaping the shared theatrical experience of 'going to the ballet', particularly in 2025.
- African Futures in Utopian and Dystopian Literature & Film
- FREN 1000.10
- Professor A. Waberi
- GPAC 1: Critical Thinking in the Humanities
- GPAC 2: Oral Communication
- GPAC 3: Global or Cross-Cultural Perspective
Examines African futurism, magical realism, and other forms of the unreal or fantastic in literary texts, film, and other media. Through close reading and attention to historical, cultural, and sociopolitical context, students consider how these works reinterpret the past, diagnose modernity, and posit alternative futures. Particular attention given to the roles race, gender, class, and sexuality play within these radically imaginative worlds. Topics vary from week to week but might include works by Nnedi Okorafor, Amos Tutuola, Wanuri Kahui, Birago Diop, Amadou Hampaté Bâ etc.
- Identity Politics in Global Perspective- An Exploration through Film and Literature
- PSC 1000.10
- Professor A. Syed
- GPAC 1: Critical Thinking, Quantitative Reasoning or Scientific Reasoning in the Social Sciences
- GPAC 2: Global or Cross-Cultural Perspective
This seminar explores the nature of identity and its significance in politics, examining the roots of ethnic conflict, the impact of borders and migration policies, and the interaction between politicized identities and democratic institutions. We will further critically analyze how narratives and storytelling reflect these dynamics. Over the course of the semester, we will read a series of scholarly papers covering an array of identities and geographic regions and from across academic disciplines that provide some answers to these important questions. You will also have the opportunity to reflect on your own identity as well as how identity shapes politics and society around you by engaging in reflective and analytical writing. By the end of our time together, I hope to convince you that identity—in all of its complexity—is a thing worth rigorously thinking about.
- Roots and Resilience: Mental Health and Well-Being in Immigrant Children & Families
- PSYC 1000.10
- GPAC 1: Critical Thinking, Quantitative Reasoning or Scientific Reasoning in the Social Sciences
- GPAC 2: Global or Cross-Cultural Perspective
Immigrant children are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population, with one out of four children growing up in families with at least one immigrant parent. Despite their growing numbers, immigrant children and families remain a vulnerable population, facing unique barriers to health and mental health care. This course takes a broad look at psychological well-being for immigrant children and families. We start by asking: What are the greatest psychological problems that immigrant children face? How are they assessed and diagnosed? From there, we examine interventions designed to support immigrant children and their families - evaluating what works, for whom, and why. Students will engage with class discussion, scientific literature, and fictional novels to understand how culture and context influence diagnosis, etiology, and treatment of mental health for immigrant children and their families.
- The Global South Today
- SPAN 1000.10
- GPAC 1: Oral Communication
- GPAC 2: Critical Thinking in the Humanities
- GPAC 3: Global or Cross-Cultural Perspective
We live in a world that is no longer unipolar. Was it ever? Upon reflecting on the numerous civilizations that have dominated the known world, we understand that empires come and go. At the end of the second decade of the twenty-first century, new nations and regions stand ready to “stake their claim” in the global order. One such region is the virtual Global South that, for lack of a better definition, refers to “developing nations. This course examines the purported rise of the Global South as part of a multipolar world order, with a particular focus on the relationship between Latin America and Africa. Geopolitics, history, and the study of the arts are the primary ways that this course examines this phenomenon. Regardless of their starting point, students will contemplate their place in the world. The excitement comes from acknowledging the richness of one’s thought place of origin.
- The Science of Uncertainty
- STAT 1000.10
- Professor H. Mahmoud
- GPAC: Quantitative Reasoning in Mathematics
Probability and the calculus of chance are presented at an introductory level. Axiomatic probability is introduced. Some fun scenarios, such as poker urn schemes, and paradoxes 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.
Dean's Seminar Highlights
