The following 298H seminars are 3 credit hour classes. ACE credit is noted by each course. Enrollment in these courses will follow regular University enrollment procedures and occur on a first-come, first-served basis in accordance with your assigned priority registration times, unless otherwise noted For example: if there is a study abroad component, you will need to apply through MyWorld.
Special ENVR 189H for January 2021 3-week session
189H (ENVR)
From Terraforming to Space Exploration: Environmental Ethics in Science Fiction
Course description ►
| No.: **** | Section 301 | MTWRF 12:30-2:30pm, Jan. 4-22, 2021 |
| Meets on Zoom | Dr. George Limpert | ACE 8 |
From the stories of Isaac Asimov to successful television franchises like Doctor Who and Star Trek, the genre of science fiction has a long history of examining ethical, social, and moral issues in futuristic and sometimes dystopian settings. Science fiction can be effective at conveying ideas where other approaches may be unsuccessful because complex and often controversial issues are humanized and portrayed in non-contemporary settings where they may be less overt and off-putting to audiences. Humanity faces a myriad of environmental challenges from conservation to climate change, which have been the subject of many science fiction stories. This course will survey how environmental issues have been portrayed through science fiction and the impact on audiences to understand how and why science fiction can be effective where other means of presenting these issues to readers and viewers often fail.
Open to ALL undergraduate students at UNL. Non-Honors students should contact uhon-office@unl.edu for help enrolling.
Spring 2021
Interdisciplinary
Global Islam: Current Debates
Course description ►
| No.: **** | Section 005 | 12:30-1:45pm, Tu/Th |
| In-Person City Campus (Room TBD) | Dr. Abla Hasan | ACE 5 & CAS CDR C |
What are the most controversial debates in Islam? Who are the representatives of each side of these controversies? Are arguments from pluralism, gender egalitarianism, religious freedom and tolerance external to Islam? How do different Muslim theologians and scholars deal with major theological dilemmas like: God’s justice, the problem of evil and suffering, animal and children suffering? What are the variable and different answers different scholars provide for the world's beginning, end and what is in between? This based on discussion course provides an approach that investigates these scholarly debates and arguments in an academic ideology-free environment.
Interdisciplinary
Not a Drop: Water and the Grand Challenges
Course description ►
| No.: **** | Section 006 | 11:00-12:15pm Tu/Th |
| Meets on Zoom | Dr. Grace Panther & Dr. Shannon Bartelt-Hunt | ACE 4 |
“Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink” bemoans the speaker in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s famous poem “Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.” This line especially resonates with us because the need for access to clean, drinkable water is fundamental to human survival, but such water it is not always available. This course explores water use and reuse in a local context through social, political, and technical lenses. Further, it provides students with a comprehensive design experience focused around water reuse.
Interdisciplinary
How to Build a Starship
Course description ►
| No.: **** | Section 007 | 2:30-3:20pm, MWF |
| Knoll 150 | Professor Nate Pindell | No ACE |
Imagine a future in which humanity must flee Earth for a new home among the stars and you have to make decisions about the starship’s design. How would you decide how many people you could take? What process would you use to decide who gets to go? What kind of rules and regulations would you have on the ship that might be traveling through space for 75 or more years? What kind of criminal justice system? What kind of education? How would you solve problems related to food and water or to population control? This interdisciplinary course will explore all this and more before you finish designing your starship.