Putting a Global Twist on the Freshman Experience
We bring our diverse and thriving city into the classroom and extend the university experience into Austin and beyond. "Connecting the Global with the Local" is our motto.
In this LC, you'll explore a variety of cultural and political topics in global contexts through your academic work and social engagement. Our range of seminars and extracurricular activities across the city offer students many opportunities to study and tackle diverse social issues first-hand. Whether it be by studying a foreign film, sampling global cuisine, or taking in an art exhibit in downtown Austin, students in this LC will learn how a global perspective can help us tackle problems at the local level and vice-versa.
Fall Classes
This course will examine how various facets of globalization shape the dynamics of popular culture by focusing on the BTS phenomenon and the rise of K-pop. We will explore how Western and non-Western cultures interact and intermingle. Students will learn how popular culture operates at the intersection of gender, race, and nationalism in the rapidly globalizing world and explore how the process of making and breaking down boundaries is taking place.
Taught by Jooyoun Lee
This course will examine concepts of heroism in different cultures through the study of anti-colonial movements in the 19th and 20th centuries. We will consider how these movements developed, who led them, who made the very risky decision to participate in them, and how they are remembered. If you enjoy reading biographies, thinking about political ideologies, or engaging with popular culture this may be the class for you!
Taught by Mity Myhr
Strategic intelligence is among the most widely romanticized and exaggerated elements of U.S. foreign policy. It is also among the least understood with fears arising when government officials in a democracy operate “in the shadows.” In this course we look at how the intelligence community has developed over the past century and how it has impacted U.S. foreign relations. In doing so, we will discuss the various roles intelligence officers play, examine some of the more significant covert operations conducted by the CIA, compare the portrayals of intelligence in popular culture to IRL, and finally, delve into some of the ethical and moral dilemmas associated with espionage.
Taught by William Nichols
This course will introduce students to history of Islamic Spain and how the Umayyad Caliphate and later Muslim dynasties impacted the cultural and intellectual landscape of the Iberian Peninsula. The course will also look at contributions of Muslims, Jews, and Christians to Spanish society under Muslim rule.
Taught by Imran Khan
Signature Events
Students in the Global Engagement LC learn about other cultures — on campus and in Austin — through cultural food cooking demonstrations, trips to museums and viewing international films.