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Summer College

Students in front of Kent

Join us online this summer to explore new subjects, delve into a current interest with intense focus, and broaden your powers of perception while earning college credit for undergraduate courses at the University of Chicago. As a Summer Session student, you have the opportunity to enroll in undergraduate courses drawn from the regular curriculum of the College at the University of Chicago.

You will have access to the same exceptional educational resources available to all students during the regular academic year. All of our classes are taught by distinguished professors and experienced lecturers. In these smaller class settings, you will be able to receive personal attention from your professors and get to know other students in your class well.

"Because of Summer Session I learned so much about myself and who I am in this world. I studied the hard sciences alongside the humanities alongside the social sciences, all melding together to create a truly unique experience."

Aaron H., Homestead High School, Mequon, WI - 3rd Year in the College

Details

Courses can be three or five weeks long. Read each course listing carefully.

Each summer course, regardless of length, is the equivalent of a full, quarter-long (10 week) course, and meets for a least 30 contact hours.

Once you choose the course(s) for which you would like to apply, make a note of the department code and course number (ex. ANTH 21501).
Make sure you don’t choose courses with conflicting schedules.
Credits earned as a Summer College student will not count towards graduation requirements if you matriculate as an undergraduate at UChicago.
See individual course descriptions for prerequisites, if any.

Eligibility: Current high school juniors and seniors.

	Session I (3 weeks)	Session I (5 weeks)	Session II (3 weeks)
Course Dates	June 21 - July 09	June 21 - July 23	July 13 - July 30

To search for courses based on your grade level and academic interest, check out the course finder.

Courses in Program

20th Century American Short Fiction

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* This course presents America's major writers of short fiction in the 20th century. We will begin with Willa Cather's "Paul's Case" in 1905 and proceed to the masters of High Modernism, Hemingway, Fitzgerals, Faulkner, Porter, Welty, Ellison, Nabokov, on through the next generation, o'Connor, Pynchon, Roth, Mukherjee, Coover, Carver, and end with more recent work by Danticat, Tan and the microfictionists. Our initial effort with each text will be close reading, from which we will move out to consider questions of

Session(s)

Session II

A Brief History of Doom: Ragnarok & Other Apocalypses

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* This course examines the idea of the “end of the world” as conceived in Old Norse, biblical, and other traditions, ancient and modern. Topics to be discussed include visions of the apocalypse and afterlife in Norse Mythology (Snorri’s Edda, The Poetic Edda, The Saga of the Volsungs), the Book of Revelation, Shakespeare’s King Lear, Wagner’s Ring cycle, and Marvel’s Thor franchise.

Session(s)

Session I

Acting Fundamentals (Session 1)

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.

Session(s)

Session I

Acting Fundamentals (Session 2)

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* This course introduces fundamental concepts of performance in the theater with emphasis on the development of creative faculties and techniques of observation, as well as vocal and physical interpretation. Concepts are introduced through directed reading, improvisation, and scene study.

Session(s)

Session II

America in World Civilization II

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* The American Civ sequence examines America as a contested idea and a contested place by reading and writing about a wide array of primary sources. In the process, students gain a new sense of historical awareness and of the making of America. The course is designed both for history majors and non-majors who want to deepen their understanding of the nation's history, encounter some enlightening and provocative voices from the past, and develop the qualitative methodology of historical thinking.

Session(s)

Session I

America in World Civilization-III

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* The American Civ sequence examines America as a contested idea and a contested place by reading and writing about a wide array of primary sources. In the process, students gain a new sense of historical awareness and of the making of America. The course is designed both for history majors and non-majors who want to deepen their understanding of the nation's history, encounter some enlightening and provocative voices from the past, and develop the qualitative methodology of historical thinking.

Session(s)

Session II

Beginning Poetry Workshop: Composition

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* At its root, the verb compose means to "put together," so in this course we will explore poetic composition as the practice of putting words together in ways that help us compose, discompose, and recompose parts of our lives. Our basic premise will be that poetry offers useful forms of attention and construction, so that to write is to observe the world and to fashion ways of living in it.

Session(s)

Session I

Black Holes

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* White dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes, the so-called compact objects, are among the most remarkable object in the universe. Their most distinctive feature which ultimately is the one responsible for their amazing properties is their prodigiously high density. All compact objects are the product of the final stages of stellar evolution.

Session(s)

Session II

Classics of Social and Political Thought I

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* In this course we read and discuss works by classical, medieval, and early modern thinkers that have helped shape, if not set, the terms in which politics and society continue to be argued and imagined. The aims of this course are to wrestle deeply with the texts we are reading and to reflect on the varied forms and historical contexts in which their ideas about life in a political community are presented.

Session(s)

Session I

Contemporary Dance Practices

This hybrid studio/seminar course offers an overview of the formal techniques, cultural contexts, and social trends that shape current dance practices. Through both scholarly and practical approaches to course content, students will gain a working knowledge of a wide range of formal and aesthetic approaches to dance. Other topics include the influence of pop culture, the role of cultural appropriation, and the privileging of Western-based perspectives within dance presentation, education, scholarship, and criticism.

Session(s)

Session I

Core Biology

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* What is life? How does it work and evolve? This course uses student-centered interactive learning in the lab, assigned readings from both the popular press and primary scientific literature, and directed writing exercises to explore the nature and functions of living organisms, their interactions with each other, and their environment.

Session(s)

Session II

Drama: Embodiment and Transformation

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* This course seeks to develop an appreciation and understanding of a variety of processes by which dramatic scripts are theatrically realized, with an emphasis on the text’s role in theatrical production rather than as literature. Students will learn a range of theatrical concepts and techniques, including script analysis and its application to staging, design and acting exercises. Students will be required to act, direct, and design.

Session(s)

Session I

Elementary Logic

An introduction to the concepts and principles of symbolic logic. We learn the syntax and semantics of truth-functional and first-order quantificational logic, and apply the resultant conceptual framework to the analysis of valid and invalid arguments, the structure of formal languages, and logical relations among sentences of ordinary discourse.

Session(s)

Session I

Experimental Animation: Handmade Motion

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* Experimental Animation: Handmade Motion will introduce fundamental concepts and techniques of animation through a series of exercises and assignments which touch on the history, theory and practice of this dynamic medium. Utilizing a responsive, interactive web-based platform to facilitate lectures, screenings, technical demonstrations, collaborative production processes and direct feedback, students will develop independent and group animations.

Session(s)

Session I

Film and the Moving Image

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* This course seeks to develop skills in perception, comprehension, and interpretation when dealing with film and other moving image media. It encourages the close analysis of audiovisual forms, their materials and formal attributes, and explores the range of questions and methods appropriate to the explication of a given film or moving image text. It also examines the intellectual structures basic to the systematic study and understanding of moving images.

Session(s)

Session I

Fundamentals of Computer Programming I: Swift and iOS Application Development

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* This course introduces computer programming using the Swift programming language. The emphasis is on fundamental concepts, including logic, functions, data structures and program design. The course will end with a discussion of iOS application development, though that is not its focus, and the extent to which it is covered will depend on factors such as the availability of technology.

Session(s)

Session I

Game Theory I

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* The origins of game theory in political science reach back to the arms race at the height of the cold war. Since then, it’s applications in political science have proliferated to explaining regime transitions, civil war conduct, and even climate change.

Session(s)

Session I

Genre Fundamentals: Fiction

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* This course offers an introduction to the fundamentals of narrative fiction. Together, we will ask: what are the basics of complex storytelling? what are its conventions and deviations?

Session(s)

Session I

Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* This course presents the science behind the forecast of global warming to enable the student to evaluate the likelihood and potential severity of anthropogenic climate change in the coming centuries. It includes an overview of the physics of the greenhouse effect, including comparisons with Venus and Mars; predictions and reliability of climate model forecasts of the greenhouse world. This course is part of the College Course Cluster program, Climate Change, Culture, and Society.

Session(s)

Session I

Introduction to Biological Psychology

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* This course is designed to satisfy the upper division undergraduate core breadth requirement for the undergraduate major in Psychology (PSYC 20300). The material will introduce undergraduate psychology students to the fundamentals of biological psychology and neuroscience. We will concentrate on biological processes which underlie human and animal behavior.

Session(s)

Session II

Introduction to Computer Science 1

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* Computers are extremely helpful at solving computational problems: problems involving numbers, counting, logic, arranging things, ordering things, manipulating images, solving puzzles, developing game strategies, and so on. This course examines a rich assortment of interesting and increasingly challenging topics, and explores what computer science has discovered about them, and what is yet to be discovered. Our main activity will be programming, and no prior experience in programming will be assumed.

Session(s)

Session I

Introduction to Health and Society II

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* What can the social sciences teach us about the ongoing coronavirus pandemic or the opioid epidemic of the past decade? How can we understand the sources of inequalities in access to care and in health outcomes across populations, both in the United States and globally? What is the significance of varying experiences of illness, categories of disorder, ideals of well-being, and forms of intervention across cultural settings and historical periods?

Session(s)

Session I

Introduction to Quantitative Modeling in Biology

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* Although mathematics and biology have traditionally not gotten along, recent advances in molecular biology and medicine have made biological experiments essentially quantitative. This course introduces mathematical ideas that are useful for understanding and analyzing biological data, including data description and fitting, hypothesis testing and Bayesian thinking, Markov models, and differential equations. Students acquire hands-on experience working with data and implementing mathematical models computationall

Session(s)

Session II

Introduction to the Arts of the Italian Renaissance

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* This course will cover the major themes and works of the Italian Renaissance, including painting, sculpture, decorative arts, and architecture. We will consider stylistic development of the arts from the period of roughly 1300 (late Medieval/pre-Renaissance predecessors) to 1560. Throughout the course we will interrogate the concept of “Renaissance” as a unifying term and examine its relationship to the Medieval in terms of both continuity and change.

Session(s)

Session I

Introduction to the Civilizations of East Asia (China)

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* This is a two-course sequence on the civilizations of Japan and China, with emphasis on major transformation of individual identity, community, and nation in these cultures and societies from the Middle Ages to the present. The China course of the sequence will review the broad characteristics of Chinese civilization from its beginnings, with special emphasis on the social, political, and cultural transformations from the nineteenth century to the present. The two courses may be taken separately.

Session(s)

Session I

Introduction to the Civilizations of East Asia (Japan)

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* This is a two-course sequence on the civilizations of Japan and China, with emphasis on major transformation of individual identity, community, and nation in these cultures and societies from the Middle Ages to the present. This course of the sequence focuses on Japan from 1600 to the postwar era. The two courses may be taken separately. These courses count toward the general education requirement in civilization studies.

Session(s)

Session II

Introductory Statistical Methods and Applications for the Social Sciences

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* This course introduces and applies fundamental statistical concepts, principles, and procedures to the analysis of data in the social and behavioral sciences. Students will learn computation, interpretation, and application of commonly used descriptive and inferential statistical procedures as they relate to social and behavioral research. These include z-test, t-test, bivariate correlation and simple linear regression with an introduction to analysis of variance and multiple regression.

Session(s)

Session I

Linear Algebra

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* This course takes a concrete approach to the basic topics of linear algebra. Topics include vector geometry, systems of linear equations, vector spaces, matrices and determinants, and eigenvalue problems.

Session(s)

Session I

Mathematical Methods for Social Sciences

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* This course takes a concrete approach to the basic topics of multivariable calculus. Topics include a brief review of one-variable calculus, parametric equations, alternate coordinate systems, vectors and vector functions, partial derivatives, multiple integrals, and Lagrange multipliers.

Session(s)

Session I

Models and Methods in Contemporary Documentary Film

The documentary has been undergoing a popular cultural renaissance since the 1980s, when these movies moved out of classrooms and began, more and more, to play alongside narrative blockbusters in movie theatres and as installations in gallery spaces. Unlike fiction narrative movies, these movies featured people (social actors) playing themselves in front of the camera, speaking about their lives and going about their business.

Session(s)

Session I

Nutritional Science

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* This course examines the underlying biological mechanisms of nutrient utilization in humans and the scientific basis for setting human nutritional requirements. The relationships between food choices and human health are also explored. Students consider how to assess the validity of scientific research that provides the basis for advice about how to eat healthfully. Class assignments are designed to help students apply their knowledge by critiquing their nutritional lifestyle, nutritional health claims, and/or

Session(s)

Session I

Principles of Macroeconomics

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* The course will cover - via theory and basic economic reasoning, as well as contemporary applications and public policy debates - current major U.S. domestic and international macroeconomics issues, including: the determination of income and output, inflation, and unemployment; the money supply, banking system, and the Federal Reserve; federal spending, taxation and deficits; international trade, exchange rates, the balance of payments and globalization; and long-run population and economic growth.

Session(s)

Session I

Principles of Microeconomics

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* The course treats by way of economic theory, quantification, data, applications, and contemporary issues: (a) the behavior and decision making on the part of individuals, business firms, and the government; and (b) the role of choices, tradeoffs, costs, prices, incentives and markets in the American economy. Special attention will be paid to the contributions of Chicago economists/economics to our understanding of microeconomic principles and public policy.

Session(s)

Session I

Public and Private Lives of Insects

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* This course examines the ecology and evolution of insects, from their early evolution over 350 million years ago to their adaptations that allow them to exploit nearly every habitat on earth and become the most diverse animal group on the planet. We explore the basic biology of insects that have allowed them to become the largest group of animals on the planet, making up approximately 1 million of the 2 million described species.

Session(s)

Session II

Stars

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* At the beginning of the 20th century, two astronomers: Ejnar Hertzprung and Henry Norris Russell independently took catalogues of stars and plotted their brightness as a function of their color. The result, now known as the HR diagram, was to become one of the most influential diagrams in astrophysics. It showed that, contrary to one's naive expectation, the distribution of stars was highly structured.

Session(s)

Session I

Statistical Methods and Applications

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* This course introduces statistical techniques and methods of data analysis. including the use of statistical software. Examples are drawn from the biological, physical, and social sciences. Students are required to apply the techniques discussed to data drawn from actual research.

Session(s)

Session I

Survey Data Analysis

This course overviews the way scientific surveys are conducted, the survey data structure, and common techniques to analyze survey data. Students will explore the actual survey data (using major surveys such as the General Social Survey) and look for answers to their research question. Students will learn where to find information about survey data sources and how to conduct analyses for their research project. The course also introduces some online tools and statistical software.

Session(s)

Session I

The Workings of the Human Brain: From Brain to Behavior

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* This course examines how the brain generates behavior. Topics covered include the organization of the nervous system, the mechanisms by which the brain translates external stimuli into electrical and chemical signals to initiate or modify behavior, and the neurological bases of learning, memory, sleep, cognition, drug addiction, and neurological disorders.

Session(s)

Session II

Visual Language: On Images (Session 1)

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* Through studio work and critical discussions on 2D form, this course is designed to reveal the conventions of images and image-making. Basic formal elements and principles of art are presented, but they are also put into practice to reveal perennial issues in a visual field. Form is studied as a means to communicate content.

Session(s)

Session I

Visual Language: On Images (Session 2)

*Taught Online for Summer 2021* Through studio work and critical discussions on 2D form, this course is designed to reveal the conventions of images and image-making. Basic formal elements and principles of art are presented, but they are also put into practice to reveal perennial issues in a visual field. Form is studied as a means to communicate content. Topics as varied as, but not limited to, illusion, analogy, metaphor, time and memory, nature and culture, abstraction, the role of the author, and universal systems can be illuminated through these primary investigations.

Session(s)

Session II