This course will explore issues concerning human impact on water and the environment in urban and suburban Tacoma. This course is a learning-by-doing class. The class will investigate systems set up in Tacoma to reduce chemicals from being released to the environment and the health of urban streams and lakes. Experiential components of the course will include visiting a local creek to observe salmon returning to spawn, investigation of Tacoma's Green Stormwater Infrastructure, and a class project to devise and implement a plan to monitor pollutants in local creeks.

In this course students will learn and practice the human-centered engineering and design process with the goal of contributing to a pressing real-world problem. Problems could include homelessness, salmon restoration, water pollution, microplastic pollution, or the need for inexpensive prosthetics in the developing world. Students will work in groups on a semester-long project to either design, prototype and build a device or to collect and analyze data to address the chosen problem.

This course welcomes students to college and a liberal arts education while also introducing them to the science of well-being. Students learn about several disciplines and their own distinct way of asking questions and focus on the skills needed for lifelong learning in diverse communities. While philosophers and theologians have long contemplated ¿happiness,¿ in recent years psychology and neuroscience dominate the science of well-being, with sociology offering important additions.

Except for water, tea is the most popular drink in the world. Each year, the global population consumes billions of kilograms of tea at meals, as an afternoon break, during ceremonies and rituals, in closing business deals, and on many other occasions. This course introduces students to how scholars of politics, history, science, and culture ask and answer questions about tea, while also offering an introduction to the university curriculum and campus life.

This course focuses on building community in a variety of settings. Students study community building in a variety of contexts through academic and popular press articles, podcasts, videos and by building community on campus. In small teams, students help build community with a campus club. Questions examined include: Why do people behave in certain ways? What helps and what detracts from building meaningful community? In what ways can community enhance our lives? Students read, listen, watch, observe, interact, question, write, converse, and experiment.

This Connections seminar provides an introductory and multidisciplinary examination of critical societal and global relations through the prism of soccer, which is often also referred to as 'the beautiful game.' As a sport, soccer has and continues to captivate the lives and imagination of billions globally. Since the invention of modern soccer, it has grown to become universal and ubiquitous across cultures and societies.

This course explores the definition of health from multiple perspectives including biology, economics, society, exercise, and nutrition. Discussions and activities will span individual experiences to the Puget Sound community and beyond via readings, self-assessment, a community-based project, and excursions around Tacoma. In addition, students will be introduced to campus resources focused on academic success, wellness, and working towards future goals.

More than a children's toy or a means of exercise, the bicycle has had a profound

This course engages students in conversation about ethics in everyday life, and the values and reasoning behind different ways of approaching them. Throughout the semester, students research and discuss case studies in small groups. The instructor-assigned cases may come from personal contexts (such as friendship and family), social contexts (such as speech and representation), technological contexts (such as social media and generative artificial intelligence), or professional contexts (such as medicine or business).

The novel Dune by Frank Herbert is widely recognized as a foundational text for modern science fiction. Less known are its origins in the Pacific Northwest, as Tacoma native Herbert sought to address issues of climate change, resistance and conflict that were unfolding around him. This course engages Dune through a multidisciplinary lens. Students will examine the interplay between such topics as ecology, locality, empire, and identity, tracing the narrative's origins, influence, and eventual transition to film.