ABE 199 CHP: Water in a Global Environment
Prof. Prasanta Kalita
55376 | MW | 1:00-2:50 p.m. | POT A Online | 3 Hours
“Water in a Global Environment” enhances students’ understanding and appreciation of the impact water has globally, including in various cultures around the world. Students will be encouraged to step outside of traditional thinking and become knowledgeable about how water availability and quality affect people’s day to day lives. Without water, or suitable water, cultural infrastructure is destined to fail. Water is arguably the most precious resource in the world, and the fact that it is non-renewable provides additional value. Water quality and its impact on global environment will be explicitly covered. Students will develop in-depth analyses of case studies that examine historical and current water-related issues and the solutions utilized to tackle the issues in various parts of the world (i.e., Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, South America, USA). This course’s goal is to not only educate students on one of the most important and critical areas of concern in the world today, but to motivate them to use enhanced knowledge to make an impact both locally and globally.
This course fulfills the General Education categories Physical Sciences and Non-Western Cultures.
Please note that this class meets online (the only CHP course to do so), and only meets for the first eight weeks of the Fall semester. Prof. Kalita occasionally integrates in-person field trips.
Instructor: Prasanta Kalita is Professor in the soil and water resources engineering program in Agricultural and Biological Engineering. His research focuses on water management and water quality, hydrology, erosion and sediment control, and global food security. Professor Kalita is an Elected Fellow of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) and the Indian Society for Agricultural Engineers (ISAE).
AFRO 199 CHP: Black Visions of Agriculture and Food
Prof. Bobby J. Smith II
80568 | TR | 9:00-10:20 a.m. | 212 Honors | 3 Hours
Located at the social science crossroads of African American Studies, AFRO 199 introduces students to a unique set of Black people who engineered new visions of agriculture and food. In the face of intersecting inequities, these visions reshaped how we think about agriculture and food as a nation. A deeper exploration of these views illuminates pathways to consider how Black people have contributed to the development of agricultural and food systems across multiple scales, informing national and global conversations about food justice, food sovereignty, food security, and agricultural methods. These visions also offer students a myriad of critical sites of analysis that promote innovative thinking, strategic communication skills, and collective actualization. In keeping up with this kind of thinking, AFRO 199 provides a canvas by which students can challenge themselves to think seriously how about the visions studied can be used as blueprints to build more socially just, culturally sensitive, environmentally conscious, and sustainable futures for all people. In this way, the classroom in transformed into an incubator to produce an engaging and impactful learning environment that encourages new ways of knowing, anchored in the minds of the professor and students.
This course fulfills the General Education categories Social Science and U.S. Minority Cultures.
Instructor: Dr. Bobby J. Smith II is an award-winning author, social scientist; Associate Professor in the Department of African American Studies; and Fellow in the Policy Design Lab in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics. He holds affiliations in the Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition and the Center for Social & Behavioral Science. Trained as a sociologist, with a background in agricultural economics, Dr. Smith’s research, teaching, and service creates a public interdisciplinary space to explore how Black people’s historical and contemporary relationships to food and agriculture have shaped both their lives and the world. More broadly, Dr. Smith is an expert in food justice, food systems analysis, food equity, agricultural history, agricultural industry issues, and equitable policy design.
ARTJ 209: Chado – The Way of Tea
Prof. Jennifer Gunji-Ballsrud
Two sections of this course are being offered in Fall. Register for one section only.
74959 | T | 9:30 a.m. – 12:10 p.m. | Japan House | 3 Hours and
78299 | W | 9:30 a.m. – 12:10 p.m. | Japan House | 3 Hours
The main focus of this course is the exploration of how the Way of Tea can be applied to different disciplines as well as to one’s everyday life. Through the study of the Way of Tea and the Zen worldview, it is hoped that students will acquire a better understanding of Japanese culture and also come to see their own culture in a new light. In this course, the study of Zen aesthetics and philosophy, as well as special rituals and equipment for serving a bowl of tea will be introduced. Serving a bowl of tea is an ordinary act, yet in the tea ceremony this very ordinary act has been elevated into an extraordinary art form. When one wishes to serve a bowl of tea in the sincerest and the most pleasant manner, one has to pay detailed attention to each movement, and the recipient is to enjoy a bowl of tea not only with the palate but also with all other senses. Thus, both host and guest can enrich life through a bowl of tea. Through this course experience, it is hoped that students realize that any simple and ordinary act can be extraordinary and can contribute to their success in all human endeavors. One of the most important objectives of this course is to learn what it means to be a fine human being.
An additional materials fee of $50.00 is required for this course.
This course fulfills the General Education category Non-Western Cultures.
Instructor: Jennifer Gunji-Ballsrud is Associate Professor in the School of Art and Design and the current Director of the Japan House. She has been studying the Urasenke Way of Tea since 1990 under various teachers. She has earned the Wakindate level as an intermediate student in the Urasenke Foundation and has been teaching university courses for Japan House for the past 20 years. She was awarded the College of Fine & Applied Arts Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2004 and was awarded the Broadrick-Allen Award for Excellence in Honors Teaching in 2017, an award presented annually by the Campus Honors Program.
ASTR 330 CHP: Extraterrestrial Life
Prof. Leslie Looney
73938 | TR | 5:30 – 6:50 p.m. | 124 Observatory | 3 Hours
More than half of all Americans believe in aliens, but what do we really know about ET life? In the last 15 years we have gone from knowledge of only 8 planets around only our Sun to nearly 4000 planets around many suns. In the near future, NASA will have missions that may find signs of life on Titan, under the oceans of Europa, on Mars, or may even produce imaging of Earth-like planets around nearby stars. In this course, we will examine the current status of one of the ultimate questions: “Are we alone?” And, perhaps we will ask some new ones. We are searching for signals from ET today, but if we do detect a signal what do we do? Why do “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence?” What are the problems with interstellar travel? The class will dive into many fields ranging from cosmology to anthropology with a little science fiction thrown in for fun and speculation.
This course fulfills the General Education category Physical Sciences.
Instructor: Leslie Looney is Professor of Astronomy. With an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering and Physics, he worked as a system engineer at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for the Space Shuttle’s digital processing system (i.e., computers, interfaces, and software)– launching shuttles. In 1998, he obtained a Ph.D. in astrophysics. Prof. Looney’s main research topic is the early stages of star formation. In particular, he studies the circumstellar disks surrounding young protostars; these disks are thought to be the natal environment of planets. He has discovered many new worlds and new stars. As protostars form in dense clouds of gas and dust, Prof. Looney uses some of the world’s most sensitive telescopes operating from infrared to millimeter wavelengths.
BADM 199 CHP: Exploring Leadership – Insights from Philosophy to Pop Culture
Prof. Elizabeth A. Luckman
53818 | TR | 3:30-4:50 p.m. | 212 Honors | 3 Hours
Chances are you’ve taken a leadership class or workshop before. What did you learn? Did they teach you leadership types? Did they share frameworks for effective leadership that you were expected to memorize? Did they talk about the communication and critical thinking skills you need to develop? And when you left, did you promptly put all of those things away in a corner of your mind until you needed them in the future?
This is a different type of class on leadership. We are going to explore leadership as a concept. Through reading (and watching!) and meaningful dialogue, we will define leadership as a class. We will talk about the challenges that all of those leadership “typologies” lead to and why it is so challenging to be an effective leader. We will explore leadership not as a formal role, but as a way of stepping up and being the best version of yourself. In this class, we will read widely from ancient Chinese philosophy (Tao te Ching by Lao Tzu) to the cutting-edge work on leadership being done in the organizational sciences (Dare to Lead by Brene Brown, PhD). We will wrap up class by watching Ted Lasso – and considering what it is about this fictional character and television show that has captured the attention of audiences everywhere.
This course will utilize the Harkness method of discussion. Harkness is a method of “student-led learning” that is rooted in student curiosity and enquiry.
This course fulfills the General Education category Social Science.
Instructor: Professor Luckman’s teaching model combines a dynamic classroom with mentorship. In addition to content mastery, she emphasizes broader themes: problem-solving for complexity, continuous learning and improvement, how ethical, adaptive leaders cultivate higher performing organizations, the vital roles of communication and social interaction, and the paramount goal of creating value for stakeholders, especially the end customer. She is specifically interested in leadership, ethics, negotiation, management, organizational development and change.
Her significant experience with a major corporation, including five years in management, adds valuable insights to her teaching. Having led teams that successfully battled to achieve demanding performance objectives amplify her ability to prepare students to lead with impact.
CHP 395A: Student Life – Analyzing the College Experience Through Autoethnography
Prof. Ann Abbott
31622 | TR | 2:00 – 3:20 p.m. | 212 Honors | 3 Hours
In this course you will learn about the research methodology and methods of autoethnography. In particular, you will explore why autoethnography can render unique insights about the intersections between your identities and campus culture(s). We will explore the interplay of research and creativity and assume the role of autoethnographers by keeping a research journal, exploring topics through mini-autoethnographies and producing a final paper. By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Define autoethnography, list its research methods and recognize the variety of formats the final outcome can take.
- Engage in the inquiry process by collecting data, posing and refining research questions, drawing conclusions and participating in the peer editing process.
- Explore official and unofficial campus cultures with special emphasis on the role of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, class, languages, nationalities, and more.
- Apply the autoethnographic methodology to create several autoethnographic projects in class and as assignments.
- Creatively apply the autoethnographic methodology through non-written examinations of the self in relation to campus culture.
This course fulfills the General Education categories Social Science and Western/Comparative Cultures.
Instructor: Ann Abbott is Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Her work focuses on student learning outcomes in and critical analysis of the following: foreign language community service learning, social entrepreneurship, social media and languages for specific purposes. She also creates curricular materials that reflect current research. She was the recipient of the inaugural 2021 Xiaohui Zhang Diversity and Community Engagement Award.
CHP 395B: Shipwrecks
Prof. Peter Fritzsche
31625 | MW | 9:00 – 10:20 a.m. | 212 Honors | 3 Hours
This course is designed to allow students to explore the themes of shipwreck, sailors, and castaways in the early modern and modern world. It is centered around six shipwreck stories. Along the way, we will examine both literature on shipwrecks themselves and on the imagination and metaphor of shipwreck which like the ship itself has broad social and political resonance. We will look at how shipwrecks refashion individuals, bind and break apart society, and create new political worlds of authority and freedom, and we will examine the idea of society as a ship and its self-destruction in war or rearrangement in strife as shipwreck. The course will begin with the Cameron’s Titanic (yes, the movie) and end with Hitchcock’s Lifeboat (also a movie), and along the way examine shipwrecks and castaways in a variety of original sources from the seventeenth to the twentieth century.
This course fulfills the General Education categories Historical & Philosophical Perspectives and Western/Comparative Cultures.
Instructor: Peter Fritzsche has taught History at the University of Illinois for nearly thirty years. He has received Guggenheim, Humboldt, and NEH fellowships, and has written seven books in German and European history, including: Life and Death in the Third Reich, Germans into Nazis, Reading Berlin 1900, Nietzsche and the Death of God, Stranded in the Present, and, most recently, An Iron Wind: Europe Under Hitler. Fritzsche has served as chair of the Department of History and has been recognized for his excellence in teaching, including regular inclusion on the “List of Excellent Teachers.” He has taught honors courses on the Holocaust and on World War I as well as on the wars in Iraq. His pedagogy emphasizes the close analysis of key texts through discussion and debate and the creation of defensible interpretations of human behavior through writing and rewriting and an empathetic understanding of narrative, documentary, and argumentative strategies. His goal is to give students confidence in speaking about the world and ultimately in judging it.
CMN 396: CHP Photography and Public Life
Prof. Cara A. Finnegan
53504 | TR | 2:00-3:20 p.m. | 21 Psych Bldg. | 3 Hours
Photographs are powerful forms of communication: they visualize social issues, make visible those who are often invisible, and foster or limit bonds of identification. This course examines the role of photography in public contexts, i.e., those complex spaces in which citizens engage matters of common concern. As the course unfolds, we will engage such questions as: How do photographs participate in public deliberation about social and political issues? How does photography shape who we imagine ourselves to be as citizens? In what ways has photography historically been used to intervene in public debate? How does the contemporary public engage photography today? Throughout the course, students will use written, visual, and multimedia communication to share ideas, prompt class discussion, and demonstrate their learning. Specific topics of the course include the relationship of photography to portraiture, stereotyping, war, health, climate, tourism, politics, social movements, and algorithmic culture. We will also explore the history of photography and learn how to analyze photographs’ composition as well as their historical contexts.
This course fulfills the General Education category Literature & the Arts.
Please note that although this course is numbered 396, it is open to students on all levels, as are all CHP classes (with the exception of our capstone seminars, CHP 395A and CHP 395B. Only sophomores, juniors, and seniors may enroll in capstone courses).
Instructor: Cara Finnegan is a Professor of Communication and holds affiliate appointments in Art History, the Center for Writing Studies, and Gender and Women’s Studies. She is a scholar of rhetoric, public address, and the history of photography whose research and teaching explore the role of photography in public life. She is the author of three books of photography history, the most recent of which is Photographic Presidents: Making History from Daguerreotype to Digital (University of Illinois Press, 2021). She regularly teaches courses in rhetoric and visual politics and shares her ideas about visual culture in popular media outlets such as the New York Times. As part of her work with the non-profit media literacy organization Reading The Pictures, she co-hosts Chatting The Pictures, a webcast that analyzes significant photos in the news. Professor Finnegan is a past recipient of LAS and Campus undergraduate teaching awards and was named a University Scholar in 2017.
DANC 100 CHP: Intro to Contemporary Dance
Prof. Alexandra Barbier
46037 | TR | 1:00-2:20 p.m.| Rm 109, 907 Nevada/111 Dance Studio | 3 Hours
This CHP section of Dance 100 focuses on performance-making as a method of autoethnographic research. Students will encounter definitions, histories, and methodologies of autoethnography and performance (including dance, theatre, and performance art) through lectures, viewings, and readings. Experiential and compositional activities (including movement improvisations and embodied rituals) will help students explore the various possibilities of physical performance. The final project asks students to synthesize these ideas into an autoethnographic performance study of their own design. The course consists of one seminar class (Tuesdays) and one studio practice class (Thursdays) per week.
This course fulfills the General Education categories Literature & the Arts and Western/Comparative Cultures.
Instructor: Alexandra Barbier is an interdisciplinary artist whose works are often whimsical and humorous while also inspiring critical thought and societal/cultural commentary and inquiry. Weaving together practices from dance, performance art, theatre, installation, Blackness, queerness, and Southern-ness, these works have been presented in theaters, parks, gardens, libraries, festivals, and DIY spaces throughout North America. Her current body of work-in-progress, Stations of Black Loss, is an autoethnographic collection of performance, visual art, and creative non-fiction works that chronicle her journey of learning to love and embrace Black identity. The performance components have been supported by and presented through NCCAkron (Akron, OH), loveDANCEmore (SLC, UT), and the dance department at the University of Illinois, with research presentations and lecture-demonstrations presented through the International Association of Blacks in Dance, Collegium for African Diaspora Dance, and Popular Culture Association conferences. Alexandra is Assistant Professor of Dance and has previously held faculty positions with the University of Utah’s School of Dance, the Joffrey Ballet and Jazz + Contemporary Trainee Programs, and Joffrey South summer intensive.
EPOL 199 CHP: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Schools
Prof. Rachel Roegman
77330 | TR | 9:00-10:20 a.m. | 389 Education| 3 Hours
In this course, we will engage with the current national debates about the role of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the curriculum. We will situate these debates within the broader concept of “culture” and investigate them first-hand through classroom observations in a local elementary and high school. No need to be an Education major, just someone interested in thinking about policy, curriculum, and learning. Today’s K-12 students are tomorrow’s citizens, so unpacking these issues within the context of schooling will help us to better understand political movements and state laws across the U.S. that seek to restrict or promote aspects of DEI in the classrooms.
This course fulfills the General Education category Social Science.
Instructor: Rachel Roegman is Associate Professor in the Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership. Her research interests examine the interconnections of equity, contexts, and leadership, and her work focuses on the development and support of equity-focused leaders. She received her EDD. in Curriculum & Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University in 2014. She received her M.A. in Teaching at University of San Francisco in 2001, and her B.A. in Comparative Literature and Judaic Studies at Brown University in 1998.
EPSY 199 CHP: AI and the Science of Accelerating Human Learning
Prof. H. Chad Lane
32128| TR | 2:00-3:20 PM | 137 Loomis Lab | 3 Hours
This course explores the cognitive, emotional, and motivational processes involved in human learning and reviews what science tells us about how we can optimize and improve teaching and learning. Students will gain a deeper appreciation for both how to structure and design their own learning (e.g., studying for an exam) and what strategies and support mechanisms are most effective for classrooms, museums, and the workplace (e.g., feedback, tutoring, collaboration). In addition, students will also gain important insights into the impact of Artificial Intelligence on education and learn about emerging research that uses AI to assess, monitor, and support learners in nuanced ways.
This course fulfills the General Education category Behavioral Science.
Instructor: H. Chad Lane is Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and Computer Science and Associate Chair of the Department of Educational Psychology. Prof. Lane’s research focuses on the design, use, and impacts of intelligent and entertainment technologies for science learning. Prof. Lane is also Director of the NSF AI Institute for Inclusive and Intelligent Technologies for Education (INVITE), based at UIUC. He received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh in 2004.
FAA 110 CHP: Exploring Arts and Creativity
Profs. Bradley Mehrtens and J. W. Morrissette
66964 | R | 1:30 – 2:50 p.m. | 3601 KCPA | 3 Hours
High and street art, tradition and experimentation, the familiar and unfamiliar, international and American creativity provide this course’s foundation. Students will attend performances and exhibitions, interact with artists, and examine core issues associated with the creative process in our increasingly complex global society. Faculty from the arts, sciences, humanities, and other domains will lead students through visual arts, music, dance, and theatre experiences at Krannert Center and Krannert Art Museum to spark investigation and dialogue. The class meets twice per week: once a week for discussions, and a second time to attend performances and/or exhibitions at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and/or Krannert Art Museum. Event dates will vary. Admission to all events will be provided without charge to students enrolled in the course.
This course fulfills the General Education Category Literature & the Arts.
Instructor: Bradley Mehrtens is Instructor and Advisor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. He earned his bachelor’s in biology from Truman State University, and his master’s in microbiology from Illinois. His research interests include educational pedagogy, course design, and assessment. His advising interests include transitions for freshmen and transfer students, preparing for professional or graduate programs, understanding the undergraduate research experience, and acknowledging and addressing academic or personal issues. As for hobbies, he enjoys acting, theatre, movies, music, and sports.
Instructor: J.W. Morrissette is the Associate Head of the Department of Theatre. He has served in the Department of Theatre for 24 years. He has served as chair of the BFA Theatre Studies Program, the Assistant Head for Academic Programs as well as the assistant program coordinator for INNER VOICES Social Issues Theatre. He completed his BFA in Acting at Otterbein College in Westerville, OH and both his MFA in Acting and MA in Theatre History at the University of Illinois. J.W. has taught and directed for the past 22 years with the summer Theatre Department at Interlochen Center for the Arts. For the University of Illinois his classes include Acting, Directing, Introduction to Theatre Arts, and Broadway Musicals. He has spent several summers acting with the Utah Shakespeare Festival and the Interlochen Shakespeare Festival and directs professionally when time allows. He has received the Provost’s Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award at the University of Illinois.
GER 199 CHP: Becoming Who We Are – Feminism for Everybody
Prof. Laurie Johnson
64578| TR | 12:30 – 1:50 p.m. | 212 Honors | 3 Hours
Becoming Who We Are is an introduction to the history of feminism and to feminist cultural theory, with parallels to other social justice movements from the 18th century to the present. Going far beyond studies of “the woman,” feminism illuminates basic questions about humanity, living collectively, and how we develop into who we are. We will read canonical and lesser-known texts in the history of feminism together with fiction and poetry, with the goal of understanding these works in larger social, political, and economic contexts. We emphasize the diversity within feminism and its “waves” throughout history, in different geopolitical regions. Students will be able to interpret phenomena in the world through feminist lenses, but they also will be able to integrate aspects of feminist thought into interpretations driven by other models.
This course fulfills the General Education category Historical & Philosophical Perspectives.
Instructor: Laurie Johnson is Professor of German, with affiliations in Comparative & World Literature, Criticism & Interpretive Theory, and the European Union Center. She works on eighteenth- through twenty-first-century intellectual history, literature, psychology, philosophy, and visual studies, with emphasis on Romanticism and its afterlife. She has published four books and numerous articles and essays. Johnson has won several teaching awards, and was named Helen Corley Petit Scholar at the University of Illinois for exceptional research and teaching while on the tenure track. She has taught and researched at public and private universities, a liberal arts college, and a community college. Johnson has coached faculty around the country for the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity’s Faculty Success Program, and she was a Campus Workshop Facilitator for the NCFDD. She also was Visiting Professor for a year at the University of Ghent. Currently Johnson directs the Campus Honors Program.
HIST 268 CHP: Biology and Society from Darwin to the Human Genome
Prof. Mark Micale
70838 / MW 2:00 – 3:20 p.m. / 212 Honors / 3 Hours
It is universally acknowledged that Darwinian evolution provides the central explanatory paradigm in all of the life sciences today. The ideas of Charles Darwin also initiated one of the most profound transformations in the general history of human thought and culture.
History 268 is an interdisciplinary course about the intellectual origins, scientific content, and social, cultural, and religious impacts of Darwinian evolutionary theory in the nineteenth and twentieth century. Our methodological approach will be historical and contextualist. The core subject is Darwin’s life, work, and world; collaterally, we will explore the careers of several other Victorian intellectuals whose lives intersected with Darwin’s. We will also study the influence of Darwinian ideas outside the sciences in fields as diverse as Victorian-era relition, politics, philosophy, social theory, gender relations, and international affairs. The course provides a historical case study in the development and diffusion of radical scientific ideas in modern history. This seminar is designed for undergraduates with a wide range of interests and majors in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities.
This course fulfills the General Education categories Historical & Philosophical Perspectives and Western/Comparative Cultures.
Instructor: Mark S. Micale is Professor Emeritus in the Department of History, where he has taught since 1999. He specializes in modern European history (especially the history of France) and the history of science and medicine. Most of his publications books deal with the history of psychiatry, neurology, and psychoanalysis; they include Beyond the Unconscious, Traumatic Pasts, Interpreting Hysteria, Discovering the History of Psychiatry, and The Mind of Modernism. He is currently working on a collection of essays about “the founder of neurology,” the nineteenth-century French physician Jean-Martin Charcot. Professor Micale has won teaching prizes on the departmental, college, and university levels, and in 2018 he was awarded the King Broadrick-Allen Teaching Prize by the students of the CHP.
HK 199 CHP: Health Psychology
Prof. Shelby Keye
79956 | TR | 11:00 a.m. – 12:20 p.m. | 212 Honors | 3 Hours
The course will review the scientific evidence in the field of health psychology. For example, students will learn that regular exercise can be just as effective as psychotropic medications in improving mental health and why most people drop out of exercise programs within a few months. We will examine the psychological determinants and consequences of exercise and physical activity and review the bidirectional relationship between one’s lifestyle choices/behaviors and a wide variety of health behaviors including physical activity, sedentary behavior, diet and nutrition. By the end of the course students will understand the importance of physical activity and fitness in optimizing health and quality of life to minimize disease, apply social and psychological principles to effective behavioral change and maintenance of a healthy lifestyle, identify the characteristics of common psychosocial disorders and the role of physical activity in their prevention, treatment and/or, symptom management, and describe and critically analyze published research in the field of health and exercise psychology.
This course fulfills the General Education category Behavioral Science.
Instructor: Shelby Keye is Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health. Her research interests include the influence of physical activity, exercise, and fitness on cognitive abilities and motor functions in children. Prof. Keye focuses on understudied populations such as early life populations (i.e. toddlers and preschool-aged children) as well as individuals from low socioeconomic status households/neighborhoods. Prof. Keye is always looking for bright and motivated undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in working with her to gain laboratory and research experience.
LAW 306 CHP: The Criminal Justice System
Prof. Jennifer Pahre
78259 | MW | 3:00-4:15 p.m. | Law Bldg, Room K | 3 Hours
This course focuses on the operation of the criminal justice system in the United States.
The words “the justice system” broadly describe the laws that regulate society, and the law enforcement and court units that function throughout the nation at the federal, state, and municipal levels.
Focusing on criminal law, we will learn how the state and federal systems differ; the roles that law enforcement personnel, investigators, judges, attorneys, and other people play in the system; and the process that moves cases through the courts. We will meet with key legal professionals, including judges, prosecutors, and public defenders, and talk with them about what they do and what they see as the challenges and opportunities in their work. We will also explore the substantive law and review the rules of criminal procedural law and the key cases that have established that law.
In addition, we will learn about the role that poverty and mental illness plays in the justice system, and note the special problems that arise when juveniles commit crimes. Finally, we will explore a variety of controversies that have plagued the justice system through the years, and we will consider how well our society has responded.
This course fulfills the General Education category Historical & Philosophical Perspectives.
Instructor: Professor Jennifer Pahre is Teaching Associate Professor in the College of Law. She has taught courses in insurance law, constitutional law, remedies, and evidence. She oversaw the Legal Externship Program for 15 years, and then became the College of Law’s first Director of Undergraduate Studies. Working with other faculty from other campus units, she created the Legal Studies Minor, and she now teaches two of the core classes in the minor. Jennifer Pahre was awarded her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University with dual majors in international relations and German studies and was inducted into the Pi Sigma Alpha International Relations Honors Society. She earned her JD degree from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles, where she was the chief note and comment editor of the Loyola International and Comparative Law Review. Professor Pahre is admitted to the state bars of California, Michigan, and Illinois and has practiced law in all three states. In addition, she is admitted to practice in the Sixth and Ninth Circuits of the United States Court of Appeals; in the United States District Courts of the Central, Northern, and Southern Districts of California; in the United States District Courts of the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan; and in the United States District Courts of the Central and Northern Districts of Illinois.
LAW 307 CHP: Law and Literature
Prof. Meghan Brinson
80572 | TR | 9:30 – 10:50 a.m. | Law Bldg., Room J | 3 Hours
Law and Literature introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of law and literature, examining how literature shapes our view of the law, and how society and its conflicts make demands on the law for solutions to social and political questions. The course introduces major theories and concepts of the law from five separate legal subfields, major methodologies in literary studies, and explore fundamental humanities questions about how we organize society as a system of rules, how we develop the values that the rules reflect and replicate those values through literature and through the creation and enforcement of laws to define and resolve social and ethical conflicts. Students will read and respond primarily to literary texts, supplemented by legal documents and abridged passages from interdisciplinary scholarship.
This course fulfills the General Education category Literature & the Arts.
Instructor: A graduate of University of North Carolina School of Law, Professor Meghan Brinson teaches in the Undergraduate Legal Studies Program. She also holds a Master of Arts in English Studies from Georgetown University and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Arizona State University. Professor Brinson has experience teaching undergraduate composition, business writing, and creative writing, including as a Piper International Writing Fellow at the National University of Singapore and with Park University’s program on Marine Corp Air Station Cherry Point. Her academic background is in 20th century American literature, postmodernism, critical theory and narratology. She pursued law with an interest in nonprofits and higher education law. Professor Brinson’s current interdisciplinary research utilizes law and literature, narrative studies and the law, and critical legal studies to examine how literary tropes influence trials and judicial reasoning. Professor Brinson is a poet and nonfiction essayist with three published chapbooks and several journal publications. She has worked as an editor on a national literary magazine, Hayden’s Ferry Review, as well as an editorial intern for the literary journal now known as swamp pink
LER 199 CHP: Immigration & Race: Inequality in Work
Prof. Michael LeRoy
70463 | T | 3:30 – 5:50 p.m. | 35/43 LIR | 3 Hours
Throughout U.S. history, whites have erected legal barriers to racial equality in the workplace. This course examines public policies, drawn from the U.S. Constitution, laws, court rulings, executive orders and related policy directives that have led to inequality in work. Our weekly readings will examine these topics:
- Constitutional debates, admission of free and slave states, and related court rulings that maintained and enhanced slavery as well as inferior legal status for free blacks.
- Public policy debates over “compassionate” repatriation of blacks to Liberia, and the presumption that whites and blacks are inherently incapable of working side-by- side.
- Court rulings declaring that slaves and peons are property or of such inferior legal status as to deny those individuals basic human rights of liberty and equality; and protests, revolts, and other organized resistance by slaves and people of color.
- Radical Republicans, Reconstruction, and the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses.
- The rise of the Ku Klux Klan, white terrorism, quasi-slavery, and sharecropping; and passage of the Ku Klux Klan Act.
- Chinese immigration and “Yellow Fever”; and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
- Legal dismantling of the Ku Klux Klan Act and emergence of Jim Crow.
- Japanese and pan-Asian immigration restrictions; the National Origins Formula.
- Labor unions and the reborn KKK: The segregated workplace.
- The Two Faces of FDR: Japanese Internment and Executive Order 8802 (ordering integration of U.S. industrial plants).
- Legislating racial equality in the workplace, 1964-2016: Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.
- White Supremacy and Nativism in the Age of Trump.
This course fulfills the General Education category U.S. Minority Cultures.
Instructor: Michael LeRoy has published extensively on antitrust in professional sports, immigration, race, and employment policy (in particular, the “gig economy”), strikes and lockouts, voluntary and mandatory arbitration, employee involvement teams, and labor law implications stemming from national emergencies. Professor LeRoy has testified before the full U.S. Senate Committee on labor and human resources; consulted at the request of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers in connection with the Taft-Hartley labor dispute involving Pacific Maritime Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union; and served as an advisor to the President’s Commission on the United States Postal Service.
MUS 127 CHP: Beatmaking I
Prof. Lamont Holden
80633 | TR | 11:00 AM – 12:20 PM | 324 Music Bldg | 3 Hours
Students will learn to understand, identify and apply the basic functions of a DAW (digital audio workstation) in the construction of hip hop, R&B, pop, trap and trap subgenre beats. We will understand, identify and apply sounds used to construct hip hop, R&B, pop, trap and trap subgenre beats. Students also will understand, identify and apply the basic parts of hip hop, R&B, pop, trap and trap subgenre beats and learn how those parts can be sequenced. We will explore samples in hip hop, R&B, pop, trap and trap subgenre beats, why they were used and how they were crafted. And, we will learn basic mixing, from stereo field, mono/stereo, frequency, levels, compression, subtractive eq to mixing hip hop, R&B, pop, trap and trap subgenre beats.
This course fulfills the General Education category U.S. Minority Cultures.
Instructor: Lamont Holden, known in the music production community as TheLetterLBeats, is a music producer, DJ, podcast host, videographer, social media content creator, sound designer, teacher and audio engineer. Returning to campus after four years in Atlanta, GA at the pulse of the music industry, he teaches Beatmaking I & II, Critical Audio Listening and Audio Recording Techniques.
During the fall 2021 semester, Professor Holden helped launch the “Illini Anthem” project that combines hip hop music and culture with new athletic and school spirit traditions at UIUC.
Professor Holden earned his B.A. from the University of Illinois in 2004 and an M.A. in Teaching & Education at National Louis University in 2011.
PHYS 199 CHP: Exploring Quantum Science Through the Arts, Prof. Smitha Vishveshwara
26550 | MW | 2:00-3:20 PM | 1020 Lincoln Hall | 3 Hours
In this course, students will gain exposure to the exciting ways in which science has joined hands with a broad spectrum of the arts and to the marvelous creations that have emerged from this synergy. Students will themselves become creators by using the knowledge gained in the course, forming teams having both arts and physics students, learning from one another, and working on projects together. The course will involve class time, where science-based movies, music, plays, architectural constructs, and more will be explored; field trips; interactive sessions and short presentations; and a group-based final project that results in a mini-production employing the students’ choice of media.
This semester (Fall 2025), by exploring quantum-based themes, we will join in celebrating the U.N.-proclaimed International Year of Quantum Science and Technology.
This course fulfills the General Education categories Physical Sciences and Literature & the Arts.
Instructor: Smitha Vishveshwara is Professor of Physics, and also a writer and science-artist. Through her scientific field of expertise in quantum condensed matter physics, she studies the coldest states of matter in the universe, emergent behavior, out-of-equilibrium dynamics, and more. In her research, she forges connections with quantum information science, biophysics, cosmology, and space explorations. Vishveshwara collaboratively synergizes the sciences and the arts, and has created new work with artists, including the theater piece Quantum Voyages, the circus performance Cosmic Tumbles, Quantum Leaps, and the short film Solaria. She is serving on the global steering committee for the United Nations 2025 International Year of the Quantum and is a Public Voices Fellow with the Op-Ed Project. She has recently published a popular physics book with her late black hole-physicist father: Two Revolutions: Einstein’s Relativity and Quantum Physics; A Dialogue Between Father and Daughter.