What is study abroad and how can it help us understand the political, economic and social forces that shape globalization and the world we live in? This course explores the various meanings and modalities of study abroad, how to prepare to take advantage of this opportunity, and how curriculum designs connect with global affairs. In addition, we discuss the meaning and experiences of study abroad for students from other countries, and how they differ from those of Americans.

In this class, students will literally and figuratively explore the outdoors on campus and around Tacoma, and learn to notice things they might miss when they are too busy ¿in the grind.¿ They will learn about how scientists, social scientists, and artists are thinking differently about the importance of equitable access to outdoor spaces. Relatedly, this class will help students learn how to create the mental spaces that help them do our best learning with others¿in college and beyond.

Fun is a vital, yet underexamined, part of community building. This course introduces students to a variety of approaches to thinking about the relationship between community and fun. Students will encounter different definitions and ways of understanding fun. They will learn about fun in cross-cultural contexts. They will think about different barriers to fun. They will reflect on what fun means to them. Then, students will design a campus-wide activity that aims to bring fun to as many community members as possible.

This course examines visual, film, and literary representations of pairs or communities of women who commit murder in response to exploitation, discrimination, social marginalization, threat of military occupation, ethnic erasure, or sexual and gender-based violence. The case studies are drawn from biblical Bethulia, 17th century Italy, 20th century Hungary, and 21st century India, and explore female identity in patriarchal societies, and the interrelation of female violence and the forging of female communities.

Some believe that there are more Chinese restaurants in the U.S. than McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, and Wendy's combined. Many of the Chinese dishes most known to Americans, however, are not Chinese. What is Chinese food? Are Kung Pao dishes more "authentically" Chinese than chop suey? Why did this immigrant cuisine become so popular in the U.S.? This course explores American Chinese foodways as a form of cultural exchange, a chapter in American history, and a marker of Chinese-American identity, in the context of transnational interactions.

In the academic arena, whether working on painting, musical composition, mathematics, or any subject, doodling can facilitate students to think critically and creatively. What is more, doodling can play a therapeutic role for pursuing happiness. This Connections Core provides freshman students with a playground to explore their most interested topics through two gatherings per week in one semester. The course is designed for students to define their unique identity in the history of civilizations through doodling, brainstorming & calligraphy, both individually and collaboratively.

Using gender as the primary focus, this course engages students in critical analysis of the ways in which symbol systems in their cultural contexts function to create subjective spaces (e.g. assign specific roles) for particular groups of people. Students learn how communication practices shape the ways gender is viewed, how these practices constrain or promote resistance, and how individuals and groups negotiate their subjective spaces and 'genderized' practices.

In this course, students take on the challenge of quantitative modeling of Earth's climate. This is done by employing high-level computer programming languages (such as Python) to build original computer codes, and by learning to manipulate existing codes (such as Global Climate Models). Modeling focuses on energy, winds, and carbon flows through the atmosphere, on a global scale. Students also acquire systems thinking skills that frame the nonlinear processes inherent to climate dynamics, especially feedbacks, time delays, and the notion of stocks and flows.

Designers, engineers, and artists are beginning to use biologically inspired or biologically derived materials for solving a variety of world issues--from self-cooling buildings inspired by beehives to sticky tape inspired by geckos to DNA origami. This has influenced a variety of fields such as architecture, technology, visual art and fashion design. This course provides a broad framework of such design principles in use and allows students to create their own biologically inspired designs.

The art and science of distilling alcohol dates back to the fourth century BC. Today, making hooch is something that nearly every society has in common. Moonshine from Tennessee, mescal from Oaxaca, palinka from Hungary, airag from Mongolia, feni from India, cachaça from Brazil, sopi from Indonesia, the list goes on and on. While fermentation and distillation are nearly universal in human society, every flavor of hooch has its own botanical, chemical, cultural, economic, and political story to tell.