UCOR Section Descriptions

Course Description

This class is a post-colonial study of the tensions and crises in the contemporary Middle East through the lenses of history and culture. We will survey the history of the region with a thorough analysis of primary documents and secondary sources dating from the foundation of Islam to the present. Our materials will also include close analyses of news media, film, and resistance art.

Course Description

Literature has always been a reflection of self and world: a creative work that tries to balance who I am IN the world with who I am FOR the world. In this course, we’ll unpack those ideas, reading work that hopes to inspire something in the community and meeting cultural leaders that want to bring sustainable development into the communities that inspire them.

Course Description

How has well-being been represented (in popular and academic discourses) as a thing to be attained in the 21st century? This course will offer a more complex perspective on the lived experience of well-being particularly in an era in which humans face potential catastrophe from myriad sources: environmental, political, social, economic, etc. We will read literary narratives of homelessness (exile, dislocation, refugee-ism, a sense of being estranged or a stranger, etc.) that, simultaneously, locate a sense of connectedness, community, and hope in the midst of such upheaval.

Course Description

Students will cultivate awareness of and advocacy skills to address global health and development issues. Includes understanding foundational concepts such as health and human rights, determinants of health, health inequities, and comparative global healthcare systems, as well as investigating specific global health issues. Students will also apply population health advocacy tools to increase their confidence in taking action toward social justice change around global health issues locally, nationally, and internationally.

Course Description

As the world’s two most powerful and important players, the U.S. and the People’s Republic of China hold the key to collectively solving many of the global challenges we face in the 21st century. This course explores this most important and complex strategic relationship through an examination of the basic dynamics of strategic thinking and policy‐making in the U.S. and China and a theory‐informed analysis of key contemporary issues in the bilateral relations, including security, arms control, trade, human rights, energy, and the environment, from a variety of perspectives of International Relations and Foreign Policy Analysis. No prior background on China, U.S. foreign policy, or International Relations is assumed or required.

Course Description

Anthropocene, or the era of the humans, and consequently climate change are the biggest threat to global biodiversity. However, biodiversity conservation policies are themselves products of social histories of colonization and social stratification. The course will enable students to adopt a critical analytical lens to learn about the challenges to our global environment, as well as understand how principles of social justice and equity can lead to a better future.

Course Description

What are the main global economic challenges we are facing today? This course addresses theories and issues of international political economy. By examining problems such as international trade, production, debt, aid, development, the role of the state, multinational corporations, international institutions, regionalism, and the process and impact of globalization, the course aims to help students understand the main global economic challenges, especially how these challenges could influence international justice.

Course Description

This course examines migration and migration policies through the lenses of social science research and Catholic social teaching.  In the present moment, many countries have adopted migration policies that are out of step with the realities of migration and the dignity of the human person.  As you study these tensions and contradictions, you will devise research-based policy proposals and explore opportunities for meaningful action in both personal and political contexts.

Course Description

Anthropocene, or the era of the humans, and consequently climate change are the biggest threat to global biodiversity. However, biodiversity conservation policies are themselves products of social histories of colonization and social stratification. The course will enable students to adopt a critical analytical lens to learn about the challenges to our global environment, as well as understand how principles of social justice and equity can lead to a better future.

Course Description

What lies at the heart of clashes between cultures and sub-cultures? In this course, we will explore the difficulties we face when communication and understanding between cultures break down and when our preconceptions diverge from fact. Frameworks from fields as diverse as cross-cultural management and non-violent communication will help us prepare for- and, hopefully, diffuse- cultural misunderstandings. For your major topic, you'll choose your own specific culture clash to examine in detail and address.