College Courses

Teaches foundational concepts for intellectual exploration and personal development within an academic community: analysis, critical thinking, metacognition, engagement with others across difference, and self-efficacy. Reflects our college theme of Social Justice and Community, addressing topics such as identity formation, inequality, and environmental injustice. Enrollment is restricted to college members. Enrollment limited to 30.

Orientation to and exploration of the nature of the liberal arts, and of learning at research universities. Topics include: academic planning for upper-division coursework; enrollment processes; and understanding pathways to degree completion; UCSC resources that support health and well-being strategies for academic success; the cultivation of just communities; the prevention of sexual harassment and violence; campus conduct policies; awareness of risks associated with drug and/or alcohol use; and an introduction to traditions of community-engaged learning, ground-breaking research, and interdisciplinary thinking that define a UC Santa Cruz degree. This course can be taken for Pass/No Pass grading only. . Enrollment is restricted to entering first-year John R. Lewis College students.

Introduces students to the academic study of popular music. Covers the blues, rock ’n’ roll, soul, funk, disco, punk, and hip-hop. People often understand music genres exclusively in terms of their sonic characteristics. But this course takes a different tack, looking as much at a genre’s social context as to the sounds themselves. Indeed, the path toward knowledge leads in both directions. What can history tell us about music? How can popular music tell us about our history? Enrollment limited to 15. (General Education Code(s): IM.)

Student Internship through the Apprenticeship in Community Engaged Research (H)ACER Program at College Nine and John R. Lewis College. The (H)ACER Program joins community engagement with critical reflexive components of qualitative research to support transformative learning and strengthen community-university partnerships. Students will be placed at a variety of internships and work with our community partners such as Calabasas Elementary School classroom teachers, Calabasas Elementary School After School Program, Calabasas Community Garden, and Watsonville High School classroom teachers. Students also may propose internships if they already have strong ties with a community partner and receive approval from the (H)ACER Director. Requires students to read selected readings on critical service learning, community learning, qualitative research methods and a variety of texts relevant to the history, context and activities at the sites where they will intern. Internships will take place primarily in Watsonville. Enrollment by permission of the instructor. (Formerly JRLC 30.) . (Also offered as College Nine 30. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.) May be repeated for credit.

Introduction to the (H)ACER program at College Nine and John R Lewis College. (H)ACER trains students in participatory research methodologies and creates opportunities for students to work in real-world contexts addressing issues such as social, economic, educational, and environmental injustice. Students gain a foundation in understanding the context of the research university and developing critical research methods for working with communities. Students grapple with questions of how to conduct research in an ethical way and to build relationships that both recognize and are not foreclosed by histories of violence, with particular attention to race, class, gender, and nationality. (Formerly offered as JRLC 35.) . (Also offered as College Nine 35. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.) (General Education Code(s): ER.)

The Undeclared Scholars Discovery Lab offers a framework for personal and intellectual exploration to help guide thoughtful consideration of potential majors. Considers careers and jobs within the context of selecting a major and reflects on personal, cultural, and social ideas about the importance of work in giving life meaning. Through readings, exercises, advising activities, and guest visits, students focus on the question of what makes a life meaningful and how different majors—and the wide range of opportunities associated with them—resonate with our thinking. To support a capacious approach to major exploration, students also learn about habits of mind that encourage discovery as an ongoing, iterative process that sustains our lifelong development. (Also offered as College Nine 45. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.)

The Undeclared Scholars Opportunity Lab is intended to offset obstacles to student engagement opportunities by providing a framework to help students understand common obstacles, develop skills and strategies for overcoming them, and learn about many of the research and extracurricular opportunities available at UCSC. Students have a structured way of learning about and “sampling” a range of opportunities while also developing a tool box of professional skills. (Also offered as College Nine 55. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.) Enrollment limited to 25.

Through readings, discussions, and primary research on campus, course explores the following questions: What is sustainability at UCSC and what assumptions about the relationships between humans and nature are privileged in these definitions? (Formerly, I Couldn’t Imagine Myself Anywhere Else: Understanding UCSC Undergraduate Narratives.) Enrollment is restricted to College Scholars students. Enrollment limited to 20. (General Education Code(s): PE-E.)

Examines histories of extinction, with particular attention to how human activity has contributed to species loss. Using the concept of “multispecies justice” as a guide, students consider a variety of historical extinction events, explore how certain endangered species were brought back from the brink, discuss responsibilities to nonhuman beings, and debate the ethics of ongoing de-extinction projects. (General Education Code(s): PE-E.)

Students in this course design and build a new community garden at Colleges Nine and Ten. Students engage in a collaborative design process with campus stakeholders; learn hands-on skills and community gardening best practices; and build regenerative social and ecological systems. (Formerly Colleges Nine and Ten Community Garden) (Also offered as College Nine 70. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.) May be repeated for credit.

Series of presentations, films, and workshops that address personal and cultural identity and examine social, cultural, political, environmental, and other justice concerns. Enrollment is restricted to John R. Lewis College members during priority enrollment only. Enrollment limited to 20.

Students newly appointed into leadership positions at John R. Lewis College explore the concept of leadership relating to the college’s theme of Social Justice and Community. Prerequisite(s): current John R. Lewis College student leader; permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 30. (General Education Code(s): PR-E.)

Weekly colloquium on social justice issues with a different topical focus each quarter. Presentations by UCSC faculty and invited speakers. Students must attend class, read an assigned article or book chapter(s) on the week’s topic, and write a one-page synopsis. May be repeated for credit.

Nonviolent Communication provides tools for the work needed to bring our reality closer to the ideal of a world with dignity and equity for all its members. Explores righteous anger, grief, empathy, diplomacy, and making requests others want to say ”yes” to. The course nickname is ”Rumi’s Field,” which comes from a Rumi poem: ”out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing/there is a field/I’ll meet you there.” Formerly Social Justice and Nonviolent Communication (Rumi’s Field Living-Learning Community). . Enrollment limited to 25. May be repeated for credit. (General Education Code(s): PR-E.)

Provides students with the opportunity to conduct service-learning work in a local Santa Cruz community over spring break. There are four preliminary class meetings in the winter quarter. Winter meeting attendance is required. Enrollment is by interview only. Enrollment is restricted to College Nine and John R. Lewis College members. (Also offered as College Nine 98. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.) (General Education Code(s): PR-S.)

Explores how environmental policy is made and influenced. Students learn about key contemporary environmental issues and the forces at play in determining environmental policy outcomes. Focuses on skills that enable citizens to impact environmental policy. Enrollment is restricted to sophomore, junior, and seniors. Enrollment limited to 35. (General Education Code(s): PE-E.)

Students explore their own creative output in order to inspire community dialogue around social justice issues. Open to those who identify as artists as well as those who do not. Interested students must attend an information session and commit to expectations. Preference is given to College Nine and John R. Lewis College members. (General Education Code(s): PR-C.)

Stories are fundamental to what it means to be human. This course introduces students to the history, social context and techniques of storytelling and takes students through the research, writing and performing process of storytelling from the personal to the communal, with an emphasis on social impact storytelling, purposeful stories that drive action on social issues. Students engage with the model of “The Moth” radio hour and podcast by listening to and analyzing a wide array of stories told before a live audience, as well as writing and performing three stories during the quarter, using techniques learned in class and from skilled storytellers and theater faculty. . (Also offered as College Nine 110. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.) Enrollment limited to 20. (General Education Code(s): PR-C.)

Focuses on radical joy, the feelings, and practices of freedom in social justice movements. Examines social and psychological effects of joy on social movement participants in terms of growth of movements, well-being and creativity of participants, and evolution of ideas. The articulation of radical joy is traced in movements against white supremacy, patriarchy, ableism, queer/trans-phobia, and other intersections of liberation movements. The course has a primary focus on art, music, and artivism, and will develop students’ art praxis. Enrollment limited to 30. (General Education Code(s): PR-C.)

Fosters a deeper intellectual engagement with the theme of John R. Lewis College through the design and implementation of community-based research projects developed in close consultation with community partners. Students gain methodological, teamwork, and critical-thinking skills while furthering social justice. Prerequisite(s): CLNI 85, or JRLC 85, or equivalent. Enrollment is restricted to College Nine and John R. Lewis College members and by permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 20. May be repeated for credit. (General Education Code(s): PR-S.)

Offers an applied experience of collaborative planning, production, and leadership. Students plan workshops and other event components; conduct outreach and publicity; and address all aspects of educational event planning. Enrollment is restricted to members of the spring volunteer Practical Activism planning group. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. May be repeated for credit. (General Education Code(s): PR-E.)

Explores the theoretical tenets and applications of Transcommunality, an outgrowth of the principles of Kingian non-violence, which works toward peace, tolerance, and mutual respect across difference and diversity. UCSC students connect with the Cemanahuac Cultural group, a multi-ethnic and multi-racial gathering of incarcerated men who are warriors for peace within and outside the prison community. Eight meetings will be held at the Correctional Training Facility (CTF) in Soledad, California. Enrollment is restricted to accepted applicants. Enrollment limited to 12. May be repeated for credit.

Explores the principles of community, guided by established texts, for inmates at the Correctional Training Facility (CTF) in Soledad, California. Covers the theoretical tenets and applications of Transcommunality, an outgrowth of the principles of Kingian non-violence. Eight joint meetings will be held with UCSC students enrolled in the parallel JRLC 125A. Enrollment is by permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 24. May be repeated for credit.

Course takes a holistic approach in familiarizing students about how to effectively and ethically conduct community engaged research, from contextualized understandings of power and knowledge to hands-on training in various methodologies through a class project. The topical focus of the course varies (e.g., sustainability, water justice, educational equity etc.). Enrollment limited to 30. Satisfies American History and Institutions Requirement. (General Education Code(s): ER.)

Considers an ethic of engaging with communities that honors existing knowledges and integrates them into community-engaged action plans and research strategies. Explores a list of questions critical scholars must consider when building socially just community partnerships. Interrogates notions of help and volunteerism and explores theories and practices of popular education as a praxis engagement. Includes practice interviews, oral histories, field notes, and other research methods. Interacts with community partners through forums, blogs, and other multimedia. Prerequisite(s): JRLC 135 or an equivalent course.

Overview of definitions, history, theory, law, and policy underlying secrecy. Through scholarly and popular readings, podcasts, video/film, guest speakers, and primary materials, course explores how secrecy—as the intentional and unintentional concealment of information and knowledge—permeates the social fabric, impacting social relationships as well as hampering public knowledge of historical and contemporary government policies and actions. (General Education Code(s): TA.)