Spotlight on Courses

Corvallis Campus 

Find the day/time and CRN details for these courses in the OSU Schedule for Winter 2025.

SOC 205H Institutions and Social Change

Instructor(s): Rebecca Bemrose

Sociological study of the dynamic organizational nature of society through analysis of social change and major social institutions such as family, education, religion, the economy, and political systems. 

HC 407 Building Hope: International Service Learning

Instructor(s): Dave Kovac

This course helps students develop an international service perspective, one that includes volunteering in vulnerable communities around the globe. Explore the complexities of international service from a variety of perspectives and learn how to balance your good intentions with cultural considerations and community"“identified needs. Discover your passions, internationalize your OSU experience, and make meaningful contributions to building a better world.

HC 407 The Hidden History of Women at Oregon State University

Instructor(s): Tiah Edmunson-Morton & Chris Petersen

Women have played a foundational role in OSU's history since its establishment in 1868, yet their contributions often remain overlooked. This class delves into the untold stories, focusing on themes and individuals that have shaped the academic and social landscape for women at OSU over 150 years. Topics include the ascent and decline of Home Economics, formal rules governing women's lives, the impact of Title IX, and the Women's Center's fight against sexism and sexual violence in the 1990s. Taught by experienced archivists, the course integrates lectures, images, film, discussion, and oral history to document and contextualize women at OSU.

HC 407 Last Year Experience

Instructor(s): Don Johnson

This seminar examines elements of the post college experience which include, and go beyond ones career. Students will engage in ways to examine new communities, approaches to personal finance, continued personal development, navigating ones career, creating a professional portfolio and maintaining personal health from physical, mental and spiritual perspectives. Each topic will include significant class reflection and discussion. 

HC 407 Technology & The Good Life

Instructor(s): Ken Funk

We all seek the Good Life, a life wherein our material needs are met and certain higher goods are realized, and, for many of us, technology has become a chief, if not the pre-eminent, means to it. But technology can also be an impediment to the Good Life, and the roots of this ambivalent nature of technology may lie in our own fallibilities, mental and moral. In this Colloquium, we will discuss the Good Life, why technology can be both means and impediment to it, and how to make technology more of the former and less of the latter.

HC 407 Exploring ChatGPT for Creativity and Innovation

Instructor(s): Islam Almusaly

This course offers an interdisciplinary exploration of artificial intelligence (AI) and language models through the lens of ChatGPT. Students from different majors will gain an understanding of how AI works, its limitations, and its potential applications. Through hands-on projects and discussions, students will develop skills in problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, and communication.

HC 407 Gonzo TikToks: Redefining Gonzo Journalism for the 21st Century

Instructor(s): Rich Collins

When describing Gonzo Journalism, Hunter S. Thompson said that "the eye & mind of the journalist would be functioning as a camera," taking in the action, recording it, and reporting out with little editing. That's fine for 1979 when he wrote it, but how about now that we all walk around with actual cameras in our pockets? How do we define Gonzo Journalism now? How do platforms such as TikTok and Instagram change that definition? In this class, we'll seek answers to these questions and experiment with creating gonzo TikToks of our own.

Ecampus

Find the day/time and CRN details for these courses in the OSU Schedule for Winter 2025.

CS 162H Introduction to Computer Science II

Instructor(s): Tim Alcon

The honors section of this class features group discussions of issues relevant to computer science.

This class provides an overview of the fundamental concepts of computer science. Studies basic data structures, computer programming techniques and application of software engineering principles. Introduces analysis of programs.

PSY 202HZ

Instructor(s): Juan Hu

Scientific study of behavior and experience. Motivation and emotion; personality; social psychology, human development, psychopathology and psychotherapy.

SUS 331H Sustainability, Justice, and Engagement

Instructor(s): Deanna Lloyd

Many sustainability crises are local, and the people most impacted tend to be groups already experiencing difference, lack of power, and discrimination. Transformational responses led by those most affected will be examined -- responses that address the environmental problem while also building social and economic power for those affected. The tools and tactics used to achieve positive changes will be analyzed. 

HC 407 The Holocaust in the Digital Age

Instructor(s): Katherine Hubler

This class explores the historical intersection of the Holocaust and new media.  It will also analyze how social media, visualizations, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence are currently being used by Holocaust researchers and educators during a time when awareness about the Holocaust is fading and antisemitic incidents are on the rise.

HC 407 Philosophy and Happiness

Instructor(s): Marta Kunecka

We all have a desire to be happy. Is human need for happiness causing us to suffer while looking for an unobtainable illusion or is this desire substantial and necessary to live a fulfilled life? What is it that we are looking for? What, in fact, is happiness"”can it even sustain a definition?  
In this course we will immerse in the wisdom of some of the greatest philosophers from various intellectual traditions, and search for answers which can become guidelines for life. 

HC 407 (How) Is a Better World Possible? Politics Between Utopia & Dystopia

Instructor(s): Philipp Kneis

We are all aware that we are living in a world of imperfection, and we frequently wonder whether a better world would indeed be possible. In fact, one of the oldest problems for political and social theory is how to create an ideal state. Yet this quest for utopia has always come at the price of dystopia. An ideal state for whom? Every utopia, it seems, is someone else's dystopia. Even the most well-meaning ideas for creating a better society will have unintended consequences.

OSU-Cascades Campus

Find the day/time and CRN details for these courses in the OSU Schedule for Winter 2025.

HC 407 Communicating Science

Instructor(s): Neil Browne & Irene Moore

The goal of this class is for students in any discipline to explore avenues of communicating science through writing.  Our culture is firmly invested in science, and yet individuals often lack the tools to engage meaningfully in discussions and disputes in which science plays a central role. It follows that scientists be able to communicate effectively with the general population.  In order to enrich scientific discourse among scientists and the larger population, we explore the relations among writing, art, and science.