Teaches foundational concepts for intellectual exploration and personal development within an academic community: analysis, critical thinking, metacognition, engagement with others across difference, and self-efficacy. Examines the emergence and development of key concepts of justice including procedures, rights, and reparation.
Orientation to and exploration of the nature of the liberal arts, and of learning at research universities. Topics include: academic planning for upper-division coursework; enrollment processes; and understanding pathways to degree completion; UCSC resources that support health and well-being strategies for academic success; the cultivation of just communities; the prevention of sexual harassment and violence; campus conduct policies; awareness of risks associated with drug and/or alcohol use; and an introduction to traditions of community-engaged learning, ground-breaking research, and interdisciplinary thinking that define a UC Santa Cruz degree. This course can be taken for Pass/No Pass grading only.
Explores adaptations of Japanese fantasy across media forms and national boundaries. Argues that the genre of Japanese fantasy emerged through a network of trans-cultural and trans-media adaptations which inform each other to shape understandings of the genre today. Exploration of the fantasy genre includes the transnational circulation of folklore, historical romance, high fantasy, dark fantasy, sword and sorcery, cosmic horror, and secondary world fantasy. The learning objectives of this course are obtained through group projects, theorizing collaboration, and tabletop role-playing games, including Dungeons & Dragons and The Call of Cthulhu.
General Education Code
PR-E
Preparation for those students who have successfully applied to join the Shikoku Pilgrimage super class in the fall of 2025. The Shikoku Pilgrimage is a physically and mentally challenging 1200 km trek through mountainous terrain. While doing that difficult task, students will be doing 20 credits of academic fieldwork in a very different cultural and linguistic setting as well. This 2-credit summer course is designed to prepare students for this difficult but hugely rewarding experience, laying the foundation for deep learning about Japanese society and about their own selves. Enrollment is restricted to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Enrollment is by instructor permission. Students must successfully apply in a written application and an interview with the instructor.
This is a course about the modern college classroom. Specifically, this is a course about finding your place in the classroom, about honing skills that can help you be the most successful student you can be. Using concrete tools and techniques, students tackle everything from managing email inboxes to effectively communicating with professors. Includes time exploring larger, more philosophical topics in education. What does it mean to be a student at this moment in time? What are mentors and how do you find them? How do you meet your goals while still remaining compassionate to yourself? (Formerly Becoming a Successful Student.)
First in a three-part sequence that builds the foundation for aspiring leaders, although anyone can join the sequence at any time. Students explore personal leadership through self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and values-driven activities, build key leadership theories, reflect and assess their strengths and opportunities for growth, and develop a leadership mindset. Through interactive experiential learning activities such as self-assessments, reflective journaling, and case studies, students use new ways of thinking as leadership principles are applied to real-world scenarios. (Formerly Experiential Leadership Program Core Course: Tools for Leadership and Conflict Resolution.)
General Education Code
PR-E
The second in a three-part sequence that builds the foundation for aspiring leaders, although anyone can join the sequence at any time. This part sets the foundation to learn how to lead teams, groups, and committees. Students gain experience and confidence working with others in an effective way, and using their leadership mindset to grow so they can serve others and be a change agent and catalyst in our community. (Formerly ELP Core Course: Leadership From the Inside Out, Networking and Professionalism.)
General Education Code
PR-E
The third course in a three-part collaborative leadership sequence that builds the foundation for aspiring leaders, although anyone can join the sequence at any time. Focuses on leading with intention to make a meaningful impact in the communities and systems. Students learn how to lead with clarity, communicate your vision, and influence change within complex systems. By engaging in real-world application and reflective practice, students strengthen their ability to lead with purpose and be a catalyst in our community. (Formerly ELP Core Course: Tone-Setting and Leading with Cultural/Emotional Intelligence.)
General Education Code
PR-E
Although applicable to any setting, this Experiential Leadership Program (ELP) course explores topics of risk management and social justice through the lens of outdoor leadership. Students gain tools and insights to cultivate a safe and inclusive environment. Includes a weekend backpack trip (funding dependent). No experience necessary.
General Education Code
PR-E
Experiential Leadership Program course focusing on tools to build a high functioning team that has the confidence and skill to work together, solve complex problems, and navigate challenges to achieve a shared goal. Includes a 10-day wilderness expedition as a testing ground to practice and apply new team skills. Includes leadership development, and learning about good expedition and team behavior. Enrollment is by instructor permission. (Formerly offered as STEV 13.)
General Education Code
PR-E
Develop the leadership and professional skills and confidence that will enable you to make a difference in your personal, academic, and professional life. Course offers students the opportunity to give back by sharing their stories and successes, engaging in networking events, and serving as role models for fellow students. Course limited to students participating in the Slug Ambassador program. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor.
General Education Code
PR-E
This introductory level seminar is designed to reduce anxiety and increase competence and confidence in a variety of public speaking situations. While providing some theory, this seminar emphasizes the practice of composing and delivering speeches, including formal, informal, and extemporaneous occasions.
Instructor
Catherine Carlstroem
Intended to enhance students' skills in using the most powerful learning tool in any university: the library. Topics: organization of the library; how to begin researching; search engine and database use; judging the quality of sources; using sources responsibly. Disciplinary focus changes from quarter to quarter.
Overview of the financial responsibilities that young adults take on after college. Topics include: taxes, budgeting, student loans, credit, and investing in the stock market. Ubiquitous terms, such as 401(k), are defined, and financial principles are used to develop a framework for personal financial decision-making.
Instructor
Patricia Kelly
Quarter offered
Winter, Spring
Focused followup on social justice topics and readings introduced in the Cowell core course. Allows first-year students to pursue social justice themes in greater depth. Students must have previously taken a Cowell core course (or equivalent).
Multidisciplinary overview of the problem-solving methodology known as Systems Theory. The word “system” is used every day, but few people understand what a system really is. What do different systems—from a digestive system to a legal system to a solar system—have in common? What are the laws that govern how systems operate, and how do problems arise? Our goal is to appreciate the fundamental roles that systems play in making daily life functional, in order to diagnose problems better and to generate novel and functional solutions.
General Education Code
MF
Quarter offered
Winter, Spring
Mary Holmes--legendary founding faculty member of UCSC, keen observer, painter of mythic images, and profound thinker--had a visionary's insight into the mysteries of love, paradox, and meaning. This course explores her art, teaching, and wisdom.
General Education Code
IM
Students learn techniques of bookbinding, construction, and design, and fundamentals of letterpress printing. Enrollment is by permission of instructor.
General Education Code
IM
Learn fundamental skills in fine letterpress printing, including hand typesetting and instruction in the operation of printing presses. Basic typography explored as students design and print a small edition of a selected text.
General Education Code
IM
Students learn fundamental skills in fine letterpress printing, including hand typesetting and instruction in the operation of printing presses. Basic typography explored as students design and print a small edition of a selected text.
General Education Code
IM
Offers students the knowledge and skills required to lead diverse teams. Topics include the social-change model of leadership and principles of collaboration. Geared toward Cowell and Stevenson Residential Assistants, but students interested in the topics may take the course with permission from the instructor.
Cross Listed Courses
STEV 86
General Education Code
PR-E
Introduction of UCSC as a research university, our notable researchers, and their work. Weekly discussions with UCSC faculty from a variety of disciplines.
Various topics to be arranged. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
Various topics to be arranged. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
A program of independent study arranged between a group of students and a faculty instructor. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
A program of independent study arranged between a group of students and a faculty instructor. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
Various topics to be arranged. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
Various topics to be arranged. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
Offers opportunities to improve students’ public speaking and communication skills through weekly exercises which challenge a student’s ability to think quickly, organize information effectively and speak persuasively. Students also learn and practice courtroom procedures and legal argument styles. Each week students learn about a facet of mock trial. Students focus on different speaking skills weekly. Speakers of all skill levels are welcome and receive constructive criticism both from peers and the teachers and participate in debates within a small team.
Instructor
Caitlin Stinneford
General Education Code
PR-E
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
Study of significant texts enhanced by music for performance. Topics vary annually. Course compares original texts in English translation with their adaptation to musical theater (My Fair Lady, Oklahoma, etc.) and opera (Carmen, etc.)
Introduces the Model United Nations through discussion of contemporary issues. Students learn parliamentary procedures and U.N. protocols, as well as how to work collaboratively to research and to present position papers. Students learn resolution writing, alliance building, and persuasive speech.
Instructor
Caitlin Stinneford
General Education Code
PR-E
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
Many religious, philosophical, and cultural traditions emphasize diverse paths and understandings to the strikingly similar goal for humans to live harmoniously amongst each other in society and in the natural world. This seminar focuses on exploring and examining such ideas across history from around the world with a particular focus on ideas that offer paths to healing for readers and practitioners. The course doesn’t presume to heal students, but rather to point out the tools provided by the philosophical process toward this individual end, as well as equipping students for interpersonal and community efforts at collective, cooperative healing.
General Education Code
CC
Quarter offered
Winter, Spring
Interdisciplinary examination of the concept of hope, with particular emphasis on philosophical, psychological, and artistic approaches to the concept. Students consider viewpoints for and against hope as a human strength, and a variety of accounts of what constitutes hope.
General Education Code
PE-H
Explores forgiveness as both interpersonal relationships and political questions in a broader historical context. The thesis of the course is that forgiveness is a radical act and a major theme in philosophy and religion where it serves as a necessary step toward social solidarity in our contemporary moment of hyperpolarization. Explores how forgiveness can heal social divisions such as those constructed around religion, political affiliation, and identity. The course closes with historical examples of forgiveness in action, such as reparations and prison abolitionist movements.
General Education Code
PE-H
Quarter offered
Winter, Spring
Centers around interviews of alumni and involves a reflective term paper on a specific topic having to do with the role of higher education in a democratic society. Teaches students how to conduct interviews.
General Education Code
PE-H
Do you ever think, "I want to make a difference!" but don't know where to start? In this class, students learn design thinking theory and methods and apply them to their lives, specifically to the question of what to do after college. Students build deeper awareness of their values and goals, define areas of life and work they want to grow in, ideate multiple life paths, prototype elements of careers of interest, and take small steps to try these out. This is an experiential class that asks students to try new ways of thinking and step outside comfort zones as they learn a creative problem-solving approach applicable in many contexts. (Formerly offered as CLNI 140.)
General Education Code
PE-H
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
How does one make decisions about those “big life” questions? From deciding “what the right thing to do to” is to how to have a career that enriches your life, how does one choose what to do? In this course, Cowell Alumni discuss how they made those “big life” decisions in the hopes that it can guide others. Course is designed to expand on the topics covered in COWL 140, Designing Your Life.
How do we understand pain? How do we make ethical decisions on topics like organ transplantation and reproduction? What is the role of genetic technology in the future of medicine? What are the ethics of healthcare? What does climate change have to do with bioethics? In this interdisciplinary course, students delve into the morality and ethics of medicine, using bioethical frameworks to take on important scientific and human questions. This course is suitable for everyone, but in particular those interested in medical anthropology, pre-med, environmental studies, sociology, history of science, and philosophy. (Formerly Medical Ethics and Justice in Literature and Film.)
Instructor
Dawson Schultz
General Education Code
SI
Introduction to the theory, practice, technology, and ethics of conducting oral history. Readings and expert guest speakers offer both theoretical and practical insights. Students plan and implement oral history projects in accordance with professional standards.
Instructor
Cameron Vanderscoff
General Education Code
PR-C
Proposes an aesthetic approach to the cookbook. Students read from a series of cookbooks, and prepare a series of meals described in or inspired by the cookbooks read. Our interdisciplinary approach to food will allow us to interpret and analyze food as cultural storytelling, while also cultivating the spirit of hospitality through shared meals.
General Education Code
CC
Covers the fundamental skills, ethics, and practices of crowd-sourced fundraising in the liberal arts. Students build a project portfolio that includes mission statement, donor-cultivation tools, and action reports. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. Meet with the instructor to verify enrollment in a Giving Day campaign with liberal arts focus.
Cross Listed Courses
HUMN 165
How do you change the world, working alone and in concert with others? To find out students spend the quarter learning about how one non-profit organization of their choosing creates change in their community. Students research an agency, focusing on who is served, how funding works and how real change is created.
Instructor
Caitlin Stinneford
General Education Code
PR-S
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
Students learn about leadership styles, how leaders work with constituent groups, build cooperation, and develop implementation plans. Students learn to consider how decision making is done, and what is best practice for best working in a variety of communities and cultures. Enrollment is restricted to those participating in Virtual Global Internships.
Instructor
Caitlin Stinneford
General Education Code
PR-S
Through lectures by senior administrators and student consensus-and-recommendation teams, students learn how leaders work with constituent groups, build cooperation, and develop implementation plans in an institution such as the University of California, specifically, UC Santa Cruz. Enrollment is restricted to undergraduates accepted in the Chancellor's Undergraduate Internship Program. Students submit applications winter quarter for the following academic year.
Instructor
Caitlin Stinneford
General Education Code
PR-S
Through lectures by senior administrators and student consensus-and-recommendation teams, students learn how leaders work with constituent groups, build cooperation, and develop implementation plans in an institution such as the University of California, specifically, UC Santa Cruz. Enrollment is restricted to undergraduates accepted in the Chancellor's Undergraduate Internship Program. Students submit applications winter quarter for the following academic year.
Instructor
Caitlin Stinneford
General Education Code
PR-S
Through lectures by senior administrators and student consensus-and-recommendation teams, students learn how leaders work with constituent groups, build cooperation, and develop implementation plans in an institution such as the University of California, specifically, UC Santa Cruz. Enrollment is restricted to undergraduates accepted in the Chancellor's Undergraduate Internship Program. Students submit applications winter quarter for the following academic year.
Instructor
Caitlin Stinneford
General Education Code
PR-S
Teaching of a lower-division seminar under faculty supervision. (See COWL 42.) Upper-division standing required and a proposal supported by a faculty member willing to supervise.
Program of study arranged between a group of students and an instructor, which may involve work with an off-campus or non-departmental agency (e.g., internship or field work). Interview only; prior arrangement with instructor. Enrollment is restricted to juniors and seniors.
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
Program of study arranged between a group of students and an instructor, which may involve work with an off-campus or non-departmental agency (e.g., internship or field work). Interview only; prior arrangement with instructor. Enrollment is restricted to juniors and seniors.
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
A program of independent study arranged between a group of students and an instructor. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
A program of independent study arranged between a group of students and an instructor. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency. Enrollment is restricted to juniors and seniors.
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
Provides for college-sponsored individual study programs off campus, for which faculty supervision is not in person (e.g., supervision is by correspondence.) Up to three such courses may be taken for credit in any one quarter. Approval of student's adviser, certification of adequate preparation, and approval by provost required.
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
Various topics to be arranged. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
Various topics to be arranged. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.
Quarter offered
Fall, Winter, Spring
Cross-listed Courses
Explores the emerging field of digital investigations and the concept of human rights witnessing. Within the context of the impact of social media and digital technologies, course explores how ethics, power, and social inequalities affect everyday life in the digital realm, including its use to share stories of injustice and the ways access to social media and other technology is a reflection of societal inequalities. In what ways has the digital divide become more evident due to the COVID-19 pandemic? And finally, in what ways does repeatedly viewing traumatic posts online affect our well-being?
Cross Listed Courses
COWL 161E
General Education Code
PE-T
Studies 20th- and 21st-century productions and adaptations of ancient Greek and Roman drama in theater, dance, music, and film, including Stravinsky, Graham, Pasolini, and Taymor. Discusses artists' goals, the sociopolitical context, ideas of authenticity and audience response.
Cross Listed Courses
COWL 161Y