Eight incredibly cool fall courses

Both new and returning students will soon continue their educational adventures at the University of Minnesota this fall, and when they do, they’ll have thousands of courses to choose from. Education begins with discovery—and with more than 150 majors and minors to choose from, the opportunities at the U of M are endless.

Below we highlight eight courses offered this fall that offer a peek into the possibilities.  

Agronomy 1921: Coffee from the Ground Up
From supply chain to roasting to consumption, “Coffee From the Ground Up” is all about coffee: its history, geography, biology, breeding, production, processing, economics, sustainability, and brewing. Through team exercises, students will discover how measurable qualities of a cup of coffee are influenced by a variety of factors.

Students in the course develop skills in oral and written expression, working with others, and solving problems in a manner that combines science and art. Overall, the course will help students discover and appreciate how something that seems so simple is the product of a creative and complex process. “We do lots of brew-and-taste experiments to find out what makes a good cup of coffee, culminating in a student team competition before a panel of judges,” says course instructor Rex Bernardo. 

Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature 1923: Barbie™ (the movie, the doll, the phenomenon)
This course takes the blockbuster Barbie movie as a jumping-off point for exploring the history, meanings, identities, marketing, and social and creative practices associated with the iconic doll. Students will consider how Barbie has changed over time, her relationship to femininity, feminism, and social differences, and her role in the lives of diverse women and girls. Students will watch fascinating documentaries and read scholarship on Barbie, write reflection papers, and complete one or more creative assignments, such as creating a “weird” Barbie.

“Barbie is an iconic symbol of femininity and a cultural flashpoint for making sense of gender, power, popular culture, and everyday life,” says course instructor Laurie Ouellette. “Students will learn how to critically analyze popular culture and situate the varied and sometimes contested meanings of Barbie within social, historical, and economic contexts.

Curriculum and Instruction 1908W: Children and Other Talking Animals: Animal Tales in (Mostly) Children's Literature
This course looks at animal tales as reflecting the never-entirely-suppressed memory of our kinship with animals. Students will explore the benefits of learning from animals, the natural world, and children. Starting from ancient myths and beast fables, through modern novels and films, students will study stories about talking animals, animal guides, and animal companions as reflecting the complex ethical and culturally situated conceptualizations of the human relationship with the natural world. The course will trace the changing perception of animals in these narratives and explore the deep human need for animal companionship, as well as an exploration of why young children talk to animals and to the world around them.

“In an age of climate crisis, it is imperative that humans do as much as we can to (re)build caring relationships with the more-than-human world,” says course instructor Nick Kleese.

Geography 3973: Geography of the Twin Cities
The University of Minnesota sits in the middle of a fascinating metro area, and in this class students will explore parts of the Twin Cities in-depth. Students will get literal "on-the-ground" experience exploring Minneapolis and St. Paul, learning to decode the urban landscape while critically reflecting about why the Twin Cities look the way they do, and how they are changing. This class offers in-depth field work, applied research, readings, and discussion about urban concepts like immigration, history, poverty, architecture, structural racism, suburbanization, transit, local government, and more.

Ultimately, students will learn how to critically reflect on important contemporary challenges facing the metropolitan region. “You'll never look at the city the same way again,” says course instructor Bill Lindeke.

English Literature 1051: Progress & Madness: Literature, Science & Technology
The course will introduce students to a range of technologies that have had a measurable impact on contemporary society. Students will consider the ambivalence and anxiety that attend progress via topics such as electricity, telegraphy, photography, the railroad, cinema, genetic engineering, the Internet, and more. Students will also explore the archetype of the mad scientist, whose dangerous knowledge and often-fatal hubris typically turn a tale "cautionary." Students will be exposed to multiple perspectives through which a technology can be understood, as well as develop skills in evaluating conflicting views that provide a framework with which to evaluate new technology in the future.

Course instructor Ann Tandy-Treiber says the course will teach students “to think about how new knowledge and ideas don’t just replace the old ones, but work with them to create a new world, with its own joys and sorrows.”

Art History 1918: Witches, Ghosts, and Evil Clowns: Figures of Fear in Art, Folklore, and Popular Culture
From some of the earliest expressive evidence of humans, our art, stories, and belief systems have been filled with figures of fear. The returning dead, living people with strange powers, spirits, monsters, and mad killers haunt our dreams, but sometimes seem to show up during our waking hours. Worried communities and obsessed individuals have committed grave injustices and acts of violence based on fears about such beings. This course investigates these figures of fear through a range of academic approaches.

Instructor Peter Harle says that students in the course will build skills of close observation and visual analysis, learn surprising things about their own surroundings, think critically about culture and history, and deepen their appreciation for the individual artistry, cultural knowledge, and the play of communication that make folklife, art, and popular culture so rich and remarkable.

Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature 3231: Comedy: Media, Politics and Society
Humor and laughter are necessary ways to cope with the stresses of everyday life. In this course, students will live and breathe comedy—studying its history and formations, writing their own jokes, and surveying many different forms of the genre: film, television, viral web videos, internet memes, stand-up, improv, sketch comedy, absurdist theater, and political satire.

“By studying the history and formations of comedy, students will think about how jokes can help us change the rules of everyday life and imagine new ways forward,” says course instructor Maggie Hennefeld.

Entomology 1903: Toxins, venoms, and drugs from bugs
Insects and other invertebrates represent a rich and relatively unexplored source of bioactive agents that can be developed using modern molecular technologies for potential therapeutic applications. Insect products have been used in medical applications since prehistoric times. Honey and spider silk have antibiotic properties that facilitate wound healing. Maggot therapy is increasingly used for treatment of intractable wounds. Cordycepin comes from a fungus that infects a caterpillar. Margatoxin, produced by a scorpion, has been patented for its potential to block occlusion of bypass grafts in heart surgery. This course will explore the biological effects and molecular biology of arthropod toxins and venoms with a focus on recent and emerging applications to human therapies.