The example syllabi below are from a range of X courses taught during the first year of the exploration level at UP. The courses integrate different sets from among the six University Core ‘habits of heart and mind’ that organize our curriculum, and they draw on humanities approaches to varying degrees. Some of these classes were pre-existing courses adapted to be X courses, while others were specially created for the exploration level.
THE 391XA Spirituality and the Arts (Rachel Wheeler, Theology)
Core Habits of Heart and Mind:
- Faith & Ethics
- Aesthetics & Creativity
Course Description: This course examines how artists who identify (in loosely defined ways) as people of faith communicate their experience of the sacred. Students learn how to interpret artistic work like poems, paintings, and music to better understand other people’s experience of the sacred, while reflecting on and deepening their own understanding of what is sacred. Art is thus experienced in this course as a means of self-discovery and spiritual formation. Students are expected to experiment with their own creativity, encouraged to understand there are lots of ways they already are and can be creative.
CORE391X: The Good Life: Ethics, Happiness, and Dialogue Across Disciplines (Andrew Guest, Psychological Sciences and Dan McGinty, Dundon Berchtold Institute)
Core Habits of Heart and Mind:
- Faith & Ethics
- Literacy & Dialogue
Course Description: In this transdisciplinary course, and with the instruction of faculty across the University, students will engage with ideas about moral and emotional dimensions of a good life. Students will learn how different disciplines think about human flourishing in domains ranging from work and relationships to health and technology.
ENG 373X: African American Literature (Molly Hiro, English)
Core Habits of Heart and Mind:
- Literacy & Dialogue
- Diversity & The Common Good
Course Description: African American literature, from narratives by enslaved people to contemporary Black-authored novels, represents some of the most fundamentally “American”—and fundamentally relevant—literature in our history. As we encounter stories, novels, autobiographies, essays, poems, and a play by Black Americans, from the earliest days of the nation to recent times, we will confront questions of racial and national identity, racism, freedom, resistance, family, democracy, art, politics, and other topics. As a Core Exploration course that focuses on the two habits of Literacy & Dialogue and Diversity & The Common Good, Eng 373 will also centrally consider how Black authors’ choices in writing about race have both reflected and shaped changing historical meanings of these concepts over the years.
ENV 360X Science and Ethics of the Sustainable Gourmet (Heather Carpenter, Environmental Studies)
Core Habits of Heart and Mind:
- Science & Problem Solving
- Faith & Ethics
Course Description: This course allows students to explore the environmental impacts and scientific challenges of raising the food for our growing population. Students engage in using an ethical lens to evaluate the impact of our agricultural system on the world around us and ourselves.
PHL 331X Asian Philosophy (Andrew Eshleman, Philosophy)
Core Habits of Heart and Mind:
- Literacy & Dialogue
- Global & Historical Consciousness
Course Description: This course explains the nature and source of reality in classical and contemporary Asian philosophies. It focuses on such questions as the origin of ultimate reality, the nature of the self in relation to reality, freedom and causality in human existence, idealism and realism, and methodological approaches to apprehending reality.
PHL 341X Breakdowns in Knowledge (Sruthi Rothenfluch, Philosophy)
Core Habits of Heart and Mind:
- Literacy & Dialogue
- Diversity & The Common Good
Course Description: This course covers central topics in social epistemology, a field that examines the social dimensions of knowledge. Students first examine the nature of peer disagreement and learn various perspectives on our rational obligations when we encounter intellectual peers who disagree with us. Then, we examine a deeper form of disagreement known as polarization and learn different explanations as to why such wide divisions emerge and our moral and epistemic duties when we confront them. Finally, students study a form of injustice known as epistemic injustice in which the victim is harmed in their capacity as knower, and thereby prevented from contributing knowledge as a reliable and respected informant. The course aims to both familiarize students with the landscape of these debates and develop the skills of critical reasoning and writing.
PSY/SOC 391X: The World Cup in Mind and Society (Andrew Guest, Psychology)
Core Habits of Heart and Mind:
- Science & Problem Solving
- Faith & Ethics
Course Description: This class uses soccer’s World Cup hosted by Qatar during November and December of 2022 to investigate social and psychological phenomena embedded in sports and global spectacle. Students analyze the attitudes, behaviors, and meanings associated with mega-events to learn about topics including social identity, nationalism, fanaticism, peak performance, development, and sport cultures.
THE 328X: Encountering Grief and Loss (Rebecca Gaudino, Theology)
Core Habits of Heart and Mind:
- Faith & Ethics
- Diversity & The Common Good
Course Description: This course explores the human experience of suffering, loss, and grief from the perspective of practical theology, incorporating multi-disciplinary and inter-religious learnings and insights. It seeks to help students understand suffering and prepare them to encounter loss and grief in their personal and professional lives.