Celebrating over 50 years of a UCI tradition
“UC Irvine, the eighth campus in the University of California system, opened its doors in 1965. The Humanities Core Course was implemented in 1970. The academic excellence of the program was so strong in rigor and concept that many of the other deans on campus made enrollment in the course a high priority for their students. To this day, students rank the course among the best on campus.” (School of Humanities History)
WORLDBUILDING (2022-2025), directed by Prof. Jonathan Alexander.
Syllabi and Assignment Prompts: Fall 2022-Spring 2023 | Fall 2023-Spring 2024 | Fall 2024-Spring 2025
ANIMALS, PEOPLE, AND POWER (2019-2022), directed by Prof. Nasrin Rahimieh (Comparative Literature).
Webpages by quarter: Fall 2019 | Winter 2020 | Spring 2020 | Fall 2020 | Winter 2021 | Spring 2021 | Fall 2021 | Winter 2022 | Spring 2022
Writing and Research Prompts
EMPIRE AND ITS RUINS (2016-2019), directed by Prof. Rodrigo Lazo (English).
Webpages by quarter: Fall 2016 | Winter 2017 | Spring 2017 | Fall 2017 | Winter 2018 | Spring 2018 | Fall 2018 | Winter 2019 | Spring 2019
WAR (2013-2016), directed by Prof. Carol Burke (English).
Ways in which people have represented, rationalized, memorialized, and found meaning in the human activity of war.
Websites by year: 2015-2016 | 2014-2015 | 2013-2014
THE HUMAN AND ITS OTHERS (2010-2013), directed by Prof. David Pan (German).
Ways in which human beings conceptualize the “Other” as or in divinity, society, and nature.
Websites by year: 2012-2013 | 2011-2012 | 2010-2011
THINKING | MAKING | DOING (2007-2010), directed by Prof. Julia R. Lupton (English). Three forms of human activity: philosophy, creating art and artifacts, and social theories and actions.
Websites by year: 2009-2010 | 2008-2009 | 2007-2008
ASSOCIATIONS AND DISSOCIATIONS: THE SOCIAL INSTINCT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES (2004-2007), directed by Prof. Gail Hart (German). Family and State, Nation and Empire, Globalization and Society.
Websites by year: 2006-2007 | 2005-2006 | 2004-2005
LAWS AND ORDERS: Humanities and the Regulation of Society (2001-2004), directed by Prof. Gail Hart (German).
Laws and Language, Legal Cases, Law and the Social Order.
Website 2003-2004
Syllabus: Laws and Orders
EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY (1998-2001), directed by Prof. Michael P. Clark (English).
Intellectual Discovery, Journeys of Discovery, Cultural Contact.
Website 2000-2001, 1999-2000
Syllabus: Exploration and Discovery
IDEAS IN DISPUTE (1995-1998), directed by Prof. John H. Smith (German).
Nature and Culture, Identity and Community, Authority and Subversion.
Syllabus: Ideas in Dispute
WESTERN CIVILIZATIONS AND THEIR DISCONTENTS (1992-95), directed by Prof. Brook Thomas (English).
Rationality and Rhetoric, Politics and Ethics, Race and Gender.
Syllabus: Western Civilizations
CONFRONTING CULTURAL DIFFERENCES (1989-1992), directed by Prof. Spencer Olin (History).
Representations of difference in race, in belief systems, in gender.
Syllabus: Confronting Cultural Differences
LOVE, THE SELF, AND FAMILY (1986-1989), directed by Prof. Guy Sircello (Philosophy).
Some themes on love, the self and family.
Syllabus: Love, the Self, and Family
THE HUMAN CONDITION (1982-85), directed by Prof. Keith Nelson (History).
Knowledge and choice, the middle class in the nineteenth century, violence: domestic, racial, imperial.
Syllabus: The Human Condition
