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Fall 2022

Courses Still Accepting Students as of 9/27/22:

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Fall 2022 Courses

An exciting range of Gen Ed courses is on offer this term.  You can explore these course offerings in a number of ways:

Choosing the Best Courses for You

We want to help you make the best choice when determining which Gen Ed courses to take. Below, please find a table of all Fall 2022 Gen Ed courses that includes some information that may help you determine which courses to take. If the course has a number under "Lotteried?," that means it is a part of the Gen Ed lottery (details below). If you have further questions, please feel free to join us during our advising hours, available in person and via Zoom. Please note that students pursuing simultaneous enrollment in a Gen Ed course and a non-Gen Ed course must attend the Gen Ed course.

Course # Faculty Title What's it about? Category Books Lotteried?
GENED 1050 Levine, David Act Natural How do we draw the line between acting and authenticity? A&C Butler, The Method; Stanislavsky, An Actor's Work; Cole & Krich Chinoy, Actors on Acting; Potolsky, Mimesis; Brecht, Brecht on Theater; Trilling, Sincerity and Authenticity yes
GENED 1114 Saunders, Matt Painting's Doubt How does a hands-on practice of image making (painting) lead us to perceive, represent and inhabit our world differently? A&C No required texts. yes
GENED 1130 Bronski, Michael Power to the People: Black Power, Radical Feminism, and Gay Liberation How does understanding political activists and movements in the past help us radically change the world today? A&C Brown, Rubyfruit Jungle; Brown, Taste of Power; Cleaver, Soul on Ice; Firestone, Dialectic of Sex; Greenlee, Spook Who Sat by the Door; Jay, Out of the Closets; Jong, Fear of Flying; Khan-Cullors, When They Call You a Terrorist; Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X yes
GENED 1033 Shapiro, Daniel Conflict Resolution in a Divided World From the interpersonal to the international, are we destined to live in a world of destructive conflict—or can we negotiate our way out? E&C Fisher, Beyond Reason; Fisher, Getting to Yes; Shapiro, Negotiating the Nonnegotiable yes
GENED 1166 Eck, Diana Pluralism: Case Studies in American Diversity How does our society deal with religious, ethical, and cultural diversity, and what challenges do we face as people of different faith communities encounter one another in cities and public institutions, schools and businesses, neighborhoods and families? E&C Coming soon! yes
GENED 1076 Merseth, Katherine Equity and Excellence in K12 American Schools How does the U.S. K12 education system reflect, reinforce, and reshape American society? E&C, HSI Coming soon! yes
GENED 1140 Lewis, Mary Borders How have borders been formed historically, and what are the ethics of border construction, defense, expansion or transgression? E&C, HSI No required texts. yes
GENED 1044 Smail, Dan; Liebmann, Matt Deep History Who are we, how did we get here... and how far back in time do we have to go to start asking the question? HSI No required texts. yes
GENED 1103 Carvalho, Bruno; Davis, Diane Living in an Urban Planet How did the world become so urban, and how can we build more sustainable, just, and livable cities? HSI Coming soon! yes
GENED 1181 Sandel, Michael Meritocracy and Its Critics If a society achieved truly equal opportunity, so that everyone could rise as far as their effort and talent would take them, would it be a just society? E&C Coming soon! yes
GENED 1105 Flad, Rowan; Ur, Jason Can We Know Our Past? In a time when histories are being contested, monuments removed, and alternative facts compete with established orthodoxy, how do we evaluate competing narratives about what really happened in the past? HSI, STS Renfrew & Bahn, Archaelogy Essentials; Renfrew & Bahn, Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice yes
GENED 1053 Lee, Richard The Global Heart Disease Epidemic What are you willing to do for the health of others? STS No required texts. yes
GENED 1080 Wood, Robert How Music Works: Engineering the Acoustical World Music and technology are two dimensions of humanity that have been interdependent for tens of thousands of years; what can this intersection teach us about our past and our future? STS No required texts. yes
GENED 1104 Weitz, David; Sorensen, Pia Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science How can science make us better cooks, and how can cooking make us better scientists? STS McGee, On Food and Cooking (2nd Edition); Brenner, Sorensen, Weitz, Science and Cooking yes
GENED 1038 Czeisler, Charles; Scheer, Frank Sleep

How does sleep affect your health, your safety, and our society?

STS No required texts. yes
GENED 1012 Rentschler, Eric The Art and Politics of Propaganda: The Nazis and Their Legacy Why did Nazi sights, sounds, and propaganda prove to be so captivating and compelling for German audiences of a modern nation and how do we explain the continuing impact of Nazi images and fantasies to this very day, which is to ask, what do “they” have to do with “us”? A&C Doherty, Projections of War; Ellul, Propaganda; Kracauer, From Caligari to Hitler; Spielvogel, Hitler and Nazi Germany no
GENED 1042 Yoda, Tomiko Anime as Global Popular Culture What can anime’s development in Japan and its global dissemination teach us about the messy world of contemporary media culture where art and commerce, aesthetic and technology, and producers and consumers are inextricably entangled with each other? A&C Coming soon! no
GENED 1069 Lamberth, Courtney; Lamberth, David Faith and Authenticity: Religion, Existentialism and the Human Condition How do the possibilities of faith and the demands of living authentically square with the developments of the modern west and its threats of nihilism? A&C Buber, I and Thou; Camus, Fall; Camus, Myth of Sisyphus +; DeBeauvoir, Ethics of Ambiguity; Dostoevsky, Notes from the Underground; Kierkegaard, Fear+Trembling+Repetition; Kierkegaard, Works of Love; Marino, Basic Writings of Existentialism; O'Neill, The Iceman Cometh; Plato, Five Dialogues; Sartre, No Exit +; Soloveitchik, Halakhic Man; Tillich, Dynamics of Faith; Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich; Wright, Eight Men no
GENED 1074 Nagy, Greg The Ancient Greek Hero How did ancient Greek heroes, both male and female, learn about life by facing what all us have to face, our human condition? A&C Coming soon! no
GENED 1097 Mitchell, Stephen Tradition, Performance, Culture Does folklore inhibit or inspire individual expression? A&C Brunvand, The Study of American Folklore; Tatar, The Classic Fairy Tales no
GENED 1131 Coleman, Kathleen Loss How are we to cope with the inevitability that some of what we most love in life we will lose? A&C Deraniyagala, Wave; Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking; Genova, Still Alice; Lewis, A Grief Observed no
GENED 1144 Thornber, Karen Mental Health and Mental Illness through Literature and the Arts How have mental illness and mental health been understood across time and space, and how have literature and the arts both perpetuated and undermined stigmas against individuals with mental illness? A&C Kaysen, Girl, Interrupted; Mailhot, Heart Berries; Nam-Joo, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982; Nevatia, How to Travel Light; Restrepo, Delirium; Wood, Azanian Bridges no
GENED 1091 Puett, Michael Classical Chinese Ethical and Political Theory What if many of our assumptions about the self and about how to live fully are limiting and even dangerous, and what other possibilities might we be able to find in classical Chinese philosophy? E&C Coming soon! no
GENED 1146 Shelby, Tommie Race and Justice What is racial justice, and through what justifiable means might it be achieved in the United States? E&C Appiah & Gutmann, Color Conscious; Loury; Race, Incarceration and American Values; Fredrickson, Racism: A Short History; Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning no
GENED 1174 Oreskes, Naomi Life and Death in the Anthropocene What does it mean for us --both as a society and as individuals -- to live in a world radically remade by the human hand? E&C Coming soon! no
GENED 1102 Sunstein, Cass Making Change When Change Is Hard: The Law, Politics, and Policy of Social Change How does social change happen? E&C, HSI Heath, Switch; Hirschman, Rhetoric of Reaction; Mullainathan, Scarcity; Thaler, Nudge no
GENED 1120 Summers, Lawrence; Lawrence, Robert The Political Economy of Globalization How can a globalizing world of differing countries – rich and poor, democratic and authoritarian – best promote inclusive growth and human security by meeting the challenges of inequality, climate change, rising populism, and global disease? E&C, HSI No required texts. no
GENED 1011 Khanna, Tarun; Balsari, Satchit Contemporary Developing Countries: Entrepreneurial Solutions to Intractable Problems How do you successfully design and implement solutions to intractable social and economic problems in the developing world? HSI Khanna, Trust no
GENED 1019 Patterson, Orlando The Caribbean Crucible: Colonialism, Capitalism and Post-Colonial Misdevelopment in the Region How does the growing inequality between and within nations—which is the major global issue of our times—impact the Caribbean region and, in turn, its U.S. neighbor? HSI Coming soon! no
GENED 1071 Olupona, Jacob African Spirituality and the Challenges of Modern Times What can African spiritual traditions contribute to human flourishing in the contemporary age? HSI Coming soon! no
GENED 1089 Soto Laveaga, Gabriela The Border: Race, Politics and Health in Modern Mexico What can histories of tension and cooperation at the U.S.-Mexico border tell us about our own nation's public health programs and national racism? HSI Coming soon! yes
GENED 1148 Carrasco, David; Fash, William Moctezuma's Mexico, Then and Now: The Past, the Present and Pandemics in North America How does Mexico's rich cultural past shape contemporary Mexico and the US in the face of today's pandemics, protests and other challenges of the borderlands? HSI Coming soon! no
GENED 1183 Donoghue, Daniel The English Language Today, Yesterday, Tomorrow How does the English language shape our world, and how does the world shape English? HSI Coming soon! no
GENED 1018 Langmuir, Charles How to Build a Habitable Planet The relationship between human beings and Earth is the central problem of our time; can an understanding of Earth’s history reveal a place for us in a process of planetary evolution that might influence our behavior? STS Crystal, Stories of English no
GENED 1079 Cutler, David Why Is There No Cure for Health? Let’s solve the US’s and the world’s health problems. STS No required texts. no
GENED 1093 Kleinman, Arthur; Keshavjee, Salmaan; Becker, Anne Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Cares? Reimagining Global Health How can health care systems be restructured to provide high quality care even to the poorest and most vulnerable people on our planet? STS Farmer, Reimagining Global Health; Farmer, Fevers, Feuds and Diamonds; Keshavjee, Blind Spot; Kleinman, Illness Narratives; Kleinman, Soul of Care; Richardson, Epidemic Illusions no
GENED 1094 Schrag, Dan Confronting Climate Change How can we address the issue of climate change, reducing the damages by preparing for impacts already underway and fixing the problem by transforming our energy system? STS Coming soon! no
GENED 1175 Alter, Galit; Brandt, Allan; Katz, Ingrid Vaccines: History, Science, Policy Can vaccines solve the problem of infectious global pandemics? STS Coming soon! no
 

Enrollment Caps and Lotteries

Some - but not all! - Fall 2022 courses in Gen Ed have faculty-placed enrollment caps. If a course has an enrollment cap, it will be noted in the grid above, and also in my.harvard with this note:

This course has an enrollment cap, so to be considered, you must request permission to enroll and rank your choices through my.harvard by 11:59 p.m. EDT Wednesday, August 24, 2022. The Gen Ed lottery will run Thursday, August 25 with approvals and denials sent out no later than 11:59 p.m. that day. 

Gen Ed will run a coordinated, ranked-choice lottery for all capped courses that have more requests to enroll than available seats. In order to participate in the coordinated lottery, you must do the following by 11:59 p.m. EDT Wednesday, August 24:

  • Request a seat in the course by submitting a petition through my.harvard. Once you've put in a petition for any Gen Ed course, my.harvard will add you to the lottery event within 15 minutes. When you're entered into the lottery, you'll see a Gen Ed Lottery banner in your my.harvard account.
  • Rank your choices in the my.harvard lottery banner. You don't have to choose three courses; if you're only interested in one course, request it and rank it no.1. Please remember that you MUST rank your choices; petitioning for only one course will NOT automatically rank it for you. Sometime before the end of the day August 25, you'll see a green check in your Crimson Cart if your petition has been approved in the lottery. If you weren't successful in the lottery, you'll see a red X in your Crimson Cart. 
  • Register for the course(s) you were approved for in the lottery no later than the enrollment deadline (11:59 p.m. EDT Friday, August 26). Your seats in a course won't be held any longer than that.
  • Note: When you create a petition in my.harvard, a blank box will pop up that allows you to type in any information you'd like. There's no need to enter anything into that box, so please feel free to leave it blank. 
     
  • You can still petition for a Gen Ed and participate in the lottery with an immunization hold. Click here to see how!
     

  Click here to see a step-by-step, illustrated guide for participating in the Gen Ed lottery.

**PLEASE NOTE THAT ONLY HARVARD COLLEGE STUDENTS MAY PARTICIPATE IN THE GEN ED LOTTERY. If you are a student in GSAS or other schools, you will be able to petition for a seat in any FAS course as of August 17. For more information on the cross-registration process for all non-FAS students, please see this information shared by the FAS Registrar.**

Send all questions about enrollment and lotteries to gened_enrollment@fas.harvard.edu. We're happy to answer!

Questions and Advising

We’re happy to talk with you! Please join us at one of our drop-in office hours during registration and the start of classes.  

  • Aug. 22 - 12-1pm (Zoom)
  • Aug. 23 - 10-11am (Zoom)
  • Aug. 24 - 1-2pm (Zoom)
  • Aug. 25 - 2-3pm (Zoom)
  • Aug. 26 - 10-11am (Zoom)
  • Aug. 29 - 11:30am-12:30pm (in-person), 12:30-1:30pm (Zoom)
  • Aug. 30 - 1:30-2:30pm (in-person), 2:30-3:30pm (Zoom)
  • Aug. 31 - 2-3pm (in-person), 3-4pm (Zoom)
  • Sep. 1 - 2-3pm (Zoom)
  • Sep. 2 - 2-3pm (Zoom)
  • Sep. 7 - 1-2pm (in-person), 2-3pm (Zoom)
  • Sep. 14 - 1-2pm (in-person), 2-3pm (Zoom)
  • Sep. 21 - 1-2pm (in-person), 2-3pm (Zoom)
  • Sep. 28 - 1-2pm (in-person), 2-3pm (Zoom)

In-person advising takes place in the Gen Ed office on fourth floor of the Smith Campus Center.

If you're unable to make any of these times, please contact us at gened_questions@fas.harvard.edu to set up an appointment.  Please note that the Gen Ed office is closed on evenings, weekends, and holidays.