SCCS Course Offerings

Robert Sloane

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Andrew Schocket

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Charles Coletta

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This course is an introduction to the study of the comic books, graphic novels, and sequential art and storytelling in American popular culture. It shall introduce students to some of the major topics, themes, creators, characters, and issues that have led to the creation of and continued success of the superhero genre.  We shall explore the role of heroism in our society and concepts dealing with race, ethnicity, gender, politics, and more as they are presented within the superhero context. This class will rely on a mixture of lecture and discussion of the material we are reading. Students are encouraged to actively participate in our discussion and analysis. The emphasis of the course will be to get students to think critically about the issues that are raised in the readings and class discussions. We shall consider why this genre, which was once viewed merely as juvenile, disposable “literature,” has had such a profound impact upon our popular culture.

Matthew Donahue

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The course gives an examination into four of rock music's most prominent subcultures including rap, reggae, punk and heavy metal music.  This course gives a historical breakdown of these four genres and examines their cultural impact on popular music, popular culture and humanity. A series of films, music/sound recordings, websites and other media related to the genres will be analyzed from a historical and cultural point of view.

Kimberly Stanley

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Thomas Edge

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Football is the most popular of the four major professional sports in the United States. Throughout its history, it has both reflected and shaped views on race and identity in a number of ways. This course will examine how race and football intersect. Attention will be given to efforts to integrate the sport at the college and professional levels; debates over team names and mascots; depictions of race and football in popular culture; political activism among players; and how race affects perceptions of players' actions, on and off the field. 

Nicole Jackson

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Susana Peña

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Becca Cragin

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Julie Haught

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Queer Theory engages students with some of the core texts and key debates that have shaped queer theory. Using an intersectional analysis, the course will trace the roots and connections between queer theory and feminisms, gender studies, critical race theory, and LGBTQ+ studies. We will explore the impact of queer theory and its influences in shaping current debates about identity and desire outside of cisnormative and heteronormative cultural frameworks.

Session: 5/18-6/26 
Jenna Sule

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This course offers an interdisciplinary approach to the relationship between sport, gender, and culture by having students engage with cultural theories. In 2024, media coverage of Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark showed how race affects the public representation of female athletes, while the 2018 Canadian junior hockey case provides insight into the violence associated with highly physical sports. Students will examine topics such as these to show how sport reflects, reproduces, and challenges gender norms and identities. This course will also cover issues such as the influence of feminism on women’s participation in sports, masculinity and violence in professional men's sport, and the role of nationality in the Olympics. 

Session: 5/18-6/26
William Walton

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Angry White Guys: Gender, Violence, and Race in MMA, Video Games, and American Culture. What is the appeal of watching two people punch each other in the face? What about watching the Joker blow up a hospital?  From sociologists to politicians, the role of violence in young people’s media has been a constant topic of debate and criticism for decades. Is the prevalence of violence a symptom of nihilism, or does it reflect genuine frustrations with social problems? To answer these and other questions, this course will explore the role of violence in video games, sports, and films alongside other mediums to see whether young men’s culture today is as nihilistic as is often claimed. By looking at the popularity of Mixed Martial Arts, Call of Duty, and movies like The Batman, as well as examples from across mediums, we will investigate the ways in which depictions of violence in media reflect and shape the political concerns of young people. 

Session: 6/29-8/7 
Allyson Spoering 

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This course investigates museums as powerful storytellers of history in the United States. Through independent and virtual museum visits, exhibition analysis, and museum studies readings, students will examine how museum workers’ decisions shape the stories often associated with understanding the U.S., its culture, and its formation. We'll explore key questions such as which stories museums choose to tell, and which are ignored? Who holds the power to make these decisions, and whose perspectives are prioritized? Students will analyze exhibitions from diverse institutions, from major national museums to local historical societies, to understand how museums construct, contest, and control the stories told about American history. By the end of this course, students will develop key skills for reading museums as institutions and understanding their role in shaping the collective story of the American experiment and national identity formation. 

Session: 6/29-8/7
Taylor Bowles 

Course Description:
Join us on an adventure into the world of fantasy through an examination of the complex portrayals of women within the genre. This course will take an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the female characters, authors, and creators who have shaped fantasy. The primary goal of this class is to challenge the notion that fantasy is a men’s genre by exploring women’s contributions that have challenged gender norms and critiqued conventional tropes and cultural narratives. 

Beginning with a foundation in fantasy genre studies and a brief history of women in fantasy, we will explore a range of topics, including the use of gender in world-building, the racialized and gendered history of fantasy races, the Romantasy subgenre (i.e. A Court of Thorns and Roses and Twilight), women’s futures, and the themes of sex, violence, and reproduction in fantasy narratives. Students will build cultural criticism, media literacy, and critical thinking skills by discussing both classic and contemporary works, including Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings, Dungeons and Dragons, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as short excerpts from the growing body of contemporary fantasy literature authored by women. This course will highlight the ongoing shift toward improved representations of women in fantasy while also developing the analytic tools to recognize and critique portrayals of women in mainstream fantasy. 

Session: 5/18-6/26 
Becca Cragin 

Course Description: This course is an introduction to the study of genre texts via Breaking Bad. We will look at the show's popularity, its reflection of recent television trends (narrative complexity, anti-heroes and prestige television) and its juxtaposition of white masculinity with capitalism and violence. This course fulfills the College of Arts and Sciences Multidisciplinary Component (MDC) requirement.

Session: 6/29-8/7
Montana Miller 

Course Description: TBD