Course Requirement
Department of Interdisciplinary Studies
Experience a 21st-century liberal arts curriculum.
Through the College of Liberal Arts core requirements, you will achieve the breadth of knowledge and range of skills that employers value. Our college-wide curriculum includes a team-taught interdisciplinary course required of all majors in our college. Housed in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, IDIS 10605 Introduction to the Liberal Arts is a variable topics-based course designed to bridge the disciplinary specialties of the faculty who team-teach the course and enable you to integrate knowledge across fields of study in exciting and powerful ways.
IDIS 10605 Introduction to Liberal Arts
Our Spring 2025 topics.
IDIS 10605 Section 01 and Section 02
Taught by Suin Roberts and Wei Luo
Course description
This course introduces students to East Asian countries such as China and Korea to help them understand social institutions, political-economic structures, and cultural values. It examines the multi-facets of each country, such as language, family (including gender/sexuality), school, work (i.e., social class/economy), politics, religion, minority groups (i.e., race/ethnicity), and entertainment. While the course focuses on contemporary China and Korea, it also incorporates historical backgrounds. Aside from reading, discussing, and analyzing theoretical texts, primary literature, and media (music/film) in translation, students will also explore the very basics of the structure of the two languages.
IDIS 10605 Section 03 and Section 04
Taught by Kate White and Sarah LeBlanc
Course description
This course will examine the rhetoric surrounding book bans. Students will read banned books from four categories. You will explore how literature has shaped their identity and world understanding. Students will examine how values, beliefs, and attitudes communicated within their families and cultural systems influence how they perceive the books and speak about topics not discussed within the family mirror or divert from the issues found in the banned books.