Colloquium Classes

In this course, students examine human growth and development from a variety of perspectives, tracing life history stages from before birth, through infancy, to childhood, and adolescence. Students will explore the ways in which different factors influence human growth and development, including the intersections of (epi)genetic and biocultural processes, whose plasticity ultimately produces variation within humanity. The goal of this course is to provide learners with a more nuanced understanding of how evolutionary, environmental, and cultural processes interact in the growth and health in human populations.

In this course, students examine the role of music within the context of disaster. Understood to be catalysts for artistic expression, disasters produce musical expressions related to trauma in myriad forms. Following an historical overview of large-scale natural and man-made disasters and the kinds of music produced in relation to them, we will examine the ways in which disaster figures into the production and consumption of music in places like Haiti, New Orleans, Indonesia, South Africa, Cambodia, Uganda, and in the Post-9/11 world. Moreover, students will discuss music as a tool in social justice, considering the way that music is used as social commentary and critique and for social activism. Students will develop an understanding of how music and disaster have historically been intertwined, and how music shapes our understanding of conflict and catastrophe.

Summer 2026: 5/26-6/27

Date/Time:  | M/W/R 9:40-12:20

Credits: 3

Instructor: Dr. Megan Hughes & Dr. Roger Green

Prerequisite(s): Enrollment in the Honors Program or Permission from the Honors Director. ENG 1020 or ENG 1021

Description: The belief that the U.S. is the land of opportunity –a place where social mobility is truly possible– lies at the heart of many narratives on the American Dream. This course explores the history of the concept of the American Dream, The ways it has been depicted, and how it is etched into national identity.Students examine the relationship between the American Dream and democratic values and discuss the relevance of this concept to lived realities in the U.S. today. This seminar will include selections from many kinds of texts as a means for examining the topic of the American Dream including: critical theory, journalism, political commentary, short fiction, novel, film, and scientific literature. Topics will include: theories of social class and social mobility, the relationship between the American Dream and work, sustainability, environmental justice, resource use, the role of ideology and cultural production in society, obstacles that stand in the way of achieving the American Dream, and the mythic status of the American Dream vs. lived realities.

Date/Time:  | T/R 11:00-12:15

Credits: 3

Instructor: Dr. Helena Reddiington

Prerequisite(s): Enrollment in the Honors Program or Permission from the Honors Director. ENG 1020 or ENG 1021

Description: Long before yoga mats and meditation apps, Asian traditions envisioned the mind and body as tools for spiritual liberation. In this course, students examine the historical, philosophical, and religious roots of yoga and meditation “beyond the mat.” Today, yoga and meditation have become ubiquitous in American culture – their effects are studied scientifically, and their practices are marketed globally. How did these transformations occur? Are these modern practices truly rooted in age-old traditions? Students explore yoga and meditation as dynamic and diverse traditions that span more than two millennia, transcending boundaries of religion, geography, and discipline. This is not a physical activity class. Rather, students engage reflectively “off the mat” to consider what these traditions teach about the mind, body, and the pursuit of liberation.

Date/Time:  | M/W 9:30-10:45

Credits: 3

Instructor: Dr. Roberto Forns-Broggi

Prerequisite(s): Enrollment in the Honors Program or Permission from the Honors Director. ENG 1020 or ENG 1021

Description: This course introduces the video essay as an interdisciplinary methodology and technology for learning. Students explore and create multi-media format video-essays blending research, storytelling, and visual expression to examine how media can spark reflection, dialogue, and positive change in contemporary society. Students think across boundaries to draw from disciplines extending beyond their own field of study to reflect critically on how the languages, archives, and perspectives of different fields shape our understanding of pressing social, ecological, and cultural issues.

This course introduces students to the history, theory, and practice of debate indemocratic life. Students will consult numerous texts, analyze examples, and complete an experiential learning opportunity to: (1) understand the central role of debate in democratic decision making; (2) develop awareness of the precipitating causes of democratic breakdown and the typical outbreak of violence that follows; and (3) cultivate their ability to critically analyze debates, especially those that animate electoral politics in the U.S. Both primary and secondary materials will be consulted. Guest lectures by prominent scholars, public intellectuals, activists, and/or organizational leaders will provide students with deeper insights into the readings and session discussions.

The growing use of robotic weapons means that war is no longer an exclusively human activity. As militaries try to both reduce risk to their human personnel and realize efficiencies through the use of unmanned units, these weapons will by necessity become “smarter” and more autonomous. This growing autonomy, and the artificial intelligence it requires, raises questions not only about war and its conduct, but about what it means to be human.

This course is based upon a single inquiry; How is a foodservice within a sports venue used to enhance the brand of the team? Students engage in the theory and application of strategic management as it relates to foodservice for a major sports team. Lectures and activities take an analytical approach to strategic management in a hospitality context. Course content overviews strategy concepts and ideas while illustrating relevant examples from current industry cases. Guest lecturers from the sports and foodservice industry provide content expertise for students to examine a sports venue and decipher how foods are used strategically to support the brand of the team. Practical case study of current sports venues analyzes the needs for restructuring, entrepreneurship, innovation, organizational design, and global alliances to best suit stakeholder interest in the team brand.

This course is an opportunity to discuss which structures in society have the most effective solutions to social and collective action problems. The course will focus on how institutions and the people address local issues like transportation, hunger, climate change, mental illness, crime, education, homelessness, and health care. Students will examine whether some systems are better suited to solve contextual problems or if a single organizational structure is more effective. Students will apply various theoretical lenses to today’s most prevalent social issues. Particular emphasis will be on how our lenses and personal values often cloud our ability to create innovative solutions to public problems. 

Great works of Art can capture our imagination, take us to another world, and provide meaningful diversions from life’s stressful moments. Art is often viewed as something mysterious and unfathomable even filled with divine qualities. This reverence however can also be the ruin of Art. We forget that Art is made with the human hand, and we often give poor artists the benefit of the doubt. What is the purpose of Art in our country and city? Where should Art reside in our community? How should we consume Art? How much should we spend on Art? Who benefits from Arts spending? These are the questions we will consider during an exploratory semester that will lead to a deeper understanding of the purpose, place and price of Arts in America.

This course plans to provide introduction to preliminary, but historically important international trade theories.  It starts with simple theoretical explanations of why countries trade and then considers more complex issues like the tariff policy options and their effects on the economy.  Theories of Adam Smith, Ricardo, and Neoclassical Model of International trade form the basis for Heckscher –Ohlin Theorem and Leontief Paradox.  A small sketch of tariff policy in the U.S. is also considered.  The second half deals with more applied issues such as arguments against free trade, trade and development, analysis of economic integration and custom unions etc. If time permits, a brief introduction to the exchange rate determination is also made. 

Every generation invents their version of the apocalypse, and every culture has its thinkers, regardless of period, genre, or biography, who utilize various digital mediums to explore our end. These artifacts speak to a universal audience seemingly yearning to be united by an unbreakable philosophy, to be bound together by an essential law.  Of the procession of factors that divide us, of the myriad elements that polarize humanity, the one thing we seem to share is our fear of its end. This course will investigate such visions expressed via digital media, including film, television, digital literature, podcasts, video games, music, and photography. 

This upper-division, variable topics course acquaints students with a variety of interdisciplinary and multicultural perspectives as each contributed to the formation of contemporary American cultures.  Although its chief focus concerns the United States, regional cultures from throughout North America will be examined.  Students will ponder competing views and will synthesize their efforts through written essays, class presentations, and discussions. 

This course will explore humor in literature, media, and culture. We will identify subgenres of humor, including farce, slapstick, dark, broad, romantic, irony, satire and stand-up.  We will interrogate what makes us laugh, how different societies and cultures engage with humor, how gender, race and class are represented in humor, and particularly how humor can be used to create meaningful change in personal lives as well as in society. 

The interactions of power, privilege and oppression impact every facet of our lives, from social connections to legislative processes, relationships with customers, clients, or students to the creation of tests, measures, and even urban design. This colloquium will support students in exploring their own identities, both privileged and marginalized, and in examining how our identities change how we engage with others. Learners will grapple with how to create more inclusive and supportive spaces within their own fields and employ critical thinking to design plans of action to challenge privileges in their own areas of practice. Designed for individuals who have a basic level of knowledge regarding diverse identities, and who want to move towards the next stage in battling racism, ageism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, xenophobia, ableism, anti-Semitism, and other expressions of discrimination. 

This course will investigate the history of agriculture, the development of modern food systems, US agricultural policy, the environmental impacts of industrial food production, and the socioeconomic drivers of the global agricultural market. The course will also investigate alternatives to the modern industrial agricultural system including organic farming, slow food, eating local, and urban farming. Classroom activities will emphasize the complexity and the interconnected nature of the modern agriculture system. The course will feature field trips to sustainable farming operations and guest speakers from local farms and/or restaurants. 

This course explores contemporary theories about the relation of love to the brain. We will start by reading
written by medical doctors, neurologists, neuropsychologists and neuroscientists. These works are both theoretical and practical; they attempt to show how learning about the brain can increase intimacy, forge stronger relationships of all types and help us recognize neurologically based threats and pitfalls to love. Armed
with these theories, we will read classic literature and narratives describing love and heart ache and analyze
those complicated relationships using our new vocabulary. The end goal is for all students to learn how to love better, make better relationships and, ultimately, have and lead better lives.

In this colloquium, students will examine historical and contemporary artifacts such as political documents, food,
poetry, clothing, video, fiction, and non-fiction from the perspectives of cultural, social, political, and personal
forces that shaped each artifact. Specific artifacts from the 19th and 20th centuries will include such items as Vietnamese paintings, Romanian eggs, Indian clothing, and African children’s books. After discussions, students
will respond creatively in writing to evidence their prediction, comparison, and synthesis of primary documents with their own chosen contemporary artifacts. For the final project, students will synthesize learning of paired historical and contemporary documents into student-created artifacts, formal research reports, and class
presentations.

In this colloquium, students will examine historical and contemporary artifacts such as political documents, food, poetry, clothing, video, fiction, and non-fiction from the perspectives of cultural, social, political, and personal forces that shaped each artifact. Specific attifacts from the 19th and 20th centuries will include such items as Vietnamese paintings, Romanian eggs, Indian clothing, and African children’s books. After discussions, students will respond creatively in writing to evidence their prediction, comparison, and synthesis of primary documents with their own chosen contemporary artifacts. For the final project, students will synthesize learning of paired historical and contemporary documents into student-created a1tifacts, formal research reports, and class presentations.

This colloquium explores major topics and questions in moral psychology through the lens of the classic Hollywood epics of the 1950’s and 1960’s. Moral psychology names an interdisciplinary field that compares and critically evaluates ethical theories by examining them in light of the behaviors humans exhibit in particular morally charged contexts. Generally speaking, moral psychology traditionally relied upon the resources of mythology, literature, testimony and philosophical thought experiments. Today, the unique narrative dimension of film offers a new and remarkably rich stock of examples from which one can draw fresh insight into the nature of human morality. This seminar will utilize film as a means for examining competing moral theories from a wide range of disciplines and authors, including philosophers (Plato, Aristotle and Kant), theologians (St. Paul, Augustine and Kierkegaard), and psychoanalytic theorist (Freud and Lacan/Zizek). Topics will include: the limits of human freedom and responsibility; competing conceptions of virtue and goodness; tl1e nature and diversity of human error; the relationship between desire and evil; etc.

The purpose of the course is two-fold. First, to introduce students to the interdisciplinary field of political ecology, which seeks to understand the interconnections between the natural and social worlds. This provides a foundation for critical analysis of major environmental issues facing the world including the political, economic, social, and cultural implications. Second, the course requires students to create projects that conununicate to the general public a specific environmental challenge and solution. Looking at a variety of human-environment interactions from local to global perspectives, the course is divided into four main themes: 1) introduction to political ecology, 2) climate change, 3) environmental justice, 4) and sustainable development. We will examine theories and case studies to better understand how social and natural worlds are inte1twined.

This course will investigate the nature of pod casts as a relatively new medium where many Americans turn for news, ente1tainment and edncation. We will investigate the medium as it pertains to the current cultural moment, as well as create our own weekly podcast on a subject agreed upon by the class as a whole.

What does it take to live a good life and achieve happiness and well-being? Is there an art of living that can guarantee our lives will turn out well (or at least improve our chances)? We will look at the approaches to this question found in a wide variety of Ancient Greek and Roman thinkers, fom Plato and Augustine to Sophocles and Seneca. We will also consider the ways in which contemporary thinkers, such as Martha Nussbaum and Pierre Hadot, are appropriating these ancient approaches to living. In addition to understanding the overall views of the human condition found in these authors, we will also examine and engage with the practices and “spiritual exercises” (as Hadot calls them) that embody these ways of life. Your final project will involve reflection on how these ways of life cou Id be practiced in contemporary Iife and how attractive ( or unattractive) they are.

In the last two decades, mobile phones have become ubiquitous and, for most Americans, indispensable. Students will explore the latest research examining how our use of electronic devices alters our moods, our minds, and our social interactions. This course draws from various disciplines, including psychology, sociology, communication, business, industrial design, and information technology.

This course is an exploration of how food is procured, prepared, enjoyed and shared in relation to environment, cultural ideologies, ethical sensibilities, socioeconomic policies, and social identities using cultural examples from around the globe. Course activities include relevant readings from a variety of perspectives and disciplines, discussions encouraging synthesis and analysis of conflicting or competing views, and written assignments.

In The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, acclaimed social psychologist Steven Pinker argues that over human history societies have become less violent.  He illustrates his arguments with biological and neurological evidence and considers the psychological effect of ancient epics, mythologies, and literature.  In this course we will use Pinker’s periodization of the history of violence and consider different perspectives on the topic from such sources as Viking saga, Indian epic, Japanese monogatari, contemporary film, and more. The course evaluates his hypothesis and considers this question: for whom, exactly, has violence declined?   

This course explores the topic of ideology, including the history of the concept, its different meanings, key thinkers who have utilized and developed the concept, and current theoretical debates informed by the notion of ideology. Different meanings and uses of the notion of ideology are explored and especially as they relate to the development of political versus theoretical discourses. The history of the concept of ideology is examined from the Enlightenment forward, paying patticular attention to Marx’s use of this concept and its evolution since, including the notion of the ideological unconscious that later appears in Louis Althusser’s work and then in that of Juan Carlos Rodriguez. The intention of this course is to consider the continued relevance that the concept of ideology has to current discussions of social and cultural theory as well as political practice.

1 Book/1 Project/2 Transform: Exploring Community Engagement and Social Activism through Contemporary Literature immerses students in MSU Denver’s common reading selection. Each year, a common reading is selected on the basis of cross-disciplinary relevance, ability to engage readers with a compelling narrative, and connections to service opportunities/needs in the community. Through fiction, nonfiction, and academic literature, students will explore a community problem/challenge, and will engage with the community in a service-learning project.  

This colloquium focuses on our social lives from two main perspectives. The first perspective is in terms of our first-person, lived experiences. What is it “like” to be around friends and family as opposed to strangers on the street or anonymous drivers in the cars next to you? Is there a specific experience associated with belonging to a political community? Sometimes we interact seamlessly with other people without even noticing the details of our experience. In other cases, the fact that we are not alone truly (or perhaps annoyingly!) comes to the fore. The complexity of these experiences has been described in detail by philosophers, sociologists, psychologists, novelists, among others. The first half of our course will explore the nature of these kinds of descriptions and compare them to our own first-person plural experiences. The second focus of this course is quantitative and qualitative social data. Data and modeling techniques attempt to present representations of reality by simplifying complexity. Given the complexity of our social experiences, though, what should we make of the ubiquitous attempts that present human beings simply in terms of our data? Governments, schools, and businesses frequently create data-based profiles and narratives for us and use that kind of data along with social network analyses to make decisions. How accurate can these data depictions be, and how show we feel about being simplified in these ways? After digging into the social world oriented in terms of data and models of society, we will then be in a prime position to evaluate similarities and differences between sociality as experienced from an intimate, first-person point of view and sociality from the more removed vantage point of data.  

Language is central to our social existence because it offers us such a rich resource for communication. But it is argued that language is also deeply connected to how we perceive and experience the general world, both socially and physically. And as much as we think through language to fill our minds with intangible abstractions, we embody language to make the abstract tangible. But just how do we do this? There’s also the idea that such linguistic sense making is shaped culturally, so language would serve as a means to maintain sociocultural order as well as create sociocultural difference and variation. Through this course, students examine such ideas, along with the research, debates, and a bit of the history around the interconnection of language, body, culture, and mind.

This colloquium will incorporate the 1 Book/1 Project/2 Transform selection A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by award-winning Native author Alicia Elliott. We will use Elliott’s memoir along with other
readings from psychology, philosophy, sociology, and works of fiction to expand our understanding of issues like intergenerational trauma, oppression, mental illness, parenting, poverty, gentrification, and nutrition. We will explore individual and systemic barriers to empathic understanding. In addition to
discussions, written reflections, and student projects, this course athic understanding. In addition to
discussions, written reflections, and student projects, this course will feature guest speakers,
community-based learning, and a visit from author Alicia Elliott.

This course is an introduction to contemporary US Latinx literature written in English, with a focus on Mexican­Americans, Puerto Rican-Americans, Cuban-Americans, and Dominican-Americans. Representative works of various genres will be read and analyzed within a cultural context: drama, poetry, narrative (short story and novel), and film. Topics to be covered: individual and group identity in relationship to race/ethnicity/nationality, social/economic class, gender, being multicultural versus “living on the margins,” the struggle for self­ determination, and notions of mestizaje and its impact on cultural production. The goals of the course, in addition to acquainting students with significant works of US Latinx literature, include strengthening reading ability and sharpening critical-thinking skills.

This is an interdisciplinary seminar that explores the topic of the sky and human observation of it. This course brings together the sciences and the humanities through the disciplines of atmospheric science and art. We will study the color and compositions and the importance of the sky using the tools of these disciplines. The course begins with a short historical overview of the shift and differences between a mythic understanding of the cosmos to an empirical, scientific perspective. Students will learn about the physical causes of atmospheric phenomena and the depiction of these phenomena in artworks throughout history. Students will engage in projects involving citizen science, data collection, and the production of their own art and personal reflection on the importance of the sky. Sessions will include guest speakers sharing varied modes of interpreting celestial colors.

This seminar-type course examines the current state of scientific thought on the question of alien life
and civilizations most often attributed to physicist Enrico Fermi. In 1950 Fermi initiated a series of
informal discussions among his Los Alamos colleagues as to the ubiquity of extra-terrestrial life and
the probabilities of contact with alien civilizations. He famously asked “Where are they?” citing the
lack of any physical evidence for extra-terrestrial life, and hence the scientific paradox which still
carries his name. This class will delve into the history of this question, which predates Fermi by
millennia, looking at the myriad of proposed solutions to the paradox. The very nature of the
question cast an incredibly wide, interdisciplinary net, encompassing the fields of physics,
astronomy, chemistry, biology (chemical, organismic ang evolutionary), geology, meteorology,
sociology, anthropology, communications theory, and philosophy to list a few. The course will survey
the contributions of these fields to the question, drawing often on primary sources, but concentrate
more on critical thinking and communication skills, than on disciplinary knowledge.

Does death end our existence or can we continue on in some way? What sort of pleasures or pains await in an afterlife? Is continued bodily possible or would a future life proceed entirely apart from the body? If there is an afterlife, what is its purpose or value? We will look at the approaches to this question found in a wide variety of ancient and medieval thinkers, from Homer and the authors of Ecclesiastes and early Buddhist texts to Plato, Sophocles, Lucretius, and Cicero and on to the medieval era with Augustine, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Moses Maimonides, Thomas Aquinas, and Dante. We will also consider the broader implications that these questions have for our overall view of the world and our place in it, comparing theistic accounts of the world with atheistic and naturalistic accounts. Through this course we will come to appreciate how careful reflection on these issues can help us to better understand our own beliefs and those of others. Your final project will involve analytic and imaginative engagements with depictions of death and the afterlife and your own reflections on the value of life. 

this interdisciplinary course, students learn the histories of homelessness in the US and how socioeconomic forces produced and sustained homelessness and, since the 1990s, have exacerbated
unhousing. Students learn critical frameworks and approaches to understanding (un)housing and apply
these frameworks to a multitude of ongoing institutional and state failures to ‘solving’ homelessness.
Finally, the course requires students to critically engage grassroots, reflexive and locally-responsive
approaches to homelessness and the institutions that sustain un-housing.

This course draws on disability studies, rhetoric, fat studies, creative writing, and other disciplines to explore ableism in public and private domains and imagine a world that centers disability (such as chronic illness, autism, and ADHD) and other forms of difference. Students will learn about physical, intellectual, and emotional disabilities, and study how social and institutional structures position disability as strange, inferior, and problematic. Students will use memoir writing, ethnographic research, and other methodologies to explore how disability and ableism have impacted them. The final project will invite students to imagine a world that subverts ableist assumptions about non-normative bodies and minds.

Although some things in life are definite, most decisions must be made under a burden of uncertainty. Students in this course will spend a semester taking a close look at this reality of risk. The course’s first topic is the neurobiology and psychology of risk. Why does our brain sometimes seek it out, but other times avoid it? Why does it sometimes thrill us, but other times makes us

anxious and unhappy? What if liking risk too much becomes a problem? Next, we examine theeconomics of risky behaviors, mainly crimes, drugs, and sex. Does human participation in these behaviors change over time and in different places? What rules do societies create around thesebehaviors, and do these rules make us better off? Third, we examine financial markets (where more

risk is associated with a higher return), gambling (where we pay to add extra uncertainty to our lives), and insurance (where we pay to reduce the uncertainty). Finally, we move past individual level risk and consider the risks that affect humanity as a whole: nuclear war, catastrophic meteoric impact, and climate change.