This coming fall Boston College will begin piloting a renewed core curriculum, unveiling nine semester-long offerings for freshmen that apply an interdisciplinary lens to contemporary social problems and perennial questions about the human condition. Three are courses that will utilize team teaching, with faculty from divergent disciplines working side by side.
The pilot initiative, the first core renewal since 1991, will in six cases also introduce a lesser-known approach, which John Rakestraw, director of the University’s recently established Center for Teaching Excellence, refers to as “tandem teaching.” This involves faculty members teaching separate courses with overlying topics to a shared group of students.
Complex Problems | Fall 2015
GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Brian Gareau, Sociology, and Tara Pisani Gareau, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Complex Problems | Fall 2015
UNDERSTANDING RACE, GENDER, AND VIOLENCE
Marilynn Johnson, History, and Shawn McGuffey, Sociology
Enduring Questions | Fall 2015
TRUTH-TELLING IN LITERATURE
Allison Adair, English
TRUTH-TELLING IN HISTORY
Sylvia Sellers-Garcia, History
Enduring Questions | Spring 2016
EPIDEMICS, DISEASE, AND HUMANITY
Mary Kathleen Dunn, Biology
DEVISING THEATER: ILLNESS AS METAPHOR
Scott Cummings, Theatre
Enduring Questions | Fall 2015
HUMANS, NATURE, AND CREATIVITY
Min Song, English
INQUIRING ABOUT HUMANS AND NATURE
Holly Vande Wall, Philosophy
Complex Problems | Spring 2016
GENOCIDE AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
Devin Pendas, History, and Maxim D. Shrayer, Slavic and Eastern Languages and Literatures
Enduring Questions | Spring 2016
POWER, JUSTICE, WAR: THE ANCIENTS
Robert Bartlett, Political Science
POWER, JUSTICE, WAR: THE MODERNS
Aspen Brinton, Philosophy
Enduring Questions | Spring 2016
EPIDEMICS, DISEASE, AND HUMANITY
Mary Kathleen Dunn, Biology
DEVISING THEATER: ILLNESS AS METAPHOR
Scott Cummings, Theatre
Enduring Questions | Spring 2016
SPIRITUAL EXERCISES: ENGAGEMENT, EMPATHY, ETHICS
Brian Robinette, Theology
AESTHETIC EXERCISES: ENGAGEMENT, EMPATHY, ETHICS
Daniel Callahan, Music