Core Courses And Cocurriculars | Core Curriculum - Boston University

Spring Term Courses

CAS CC 102: Core Humanities II: The Way: Antiquity and the Medieval World. Spring 2025; coursepage here. How to live? Examining Aristotle, Confucius, Laozi, The Bhagavad Gita, Virgil, Hrotsvitha, and the Gospels, students compare contrasting Biblical, Classical and Eastern views of “The Way,” or the best human life, concluding with Dante’s Divine Comedy. A focus on writing and oral / signed communication leads to an exploration of the nature of communication, and a study of Western and Asian art at the Museum of Fine Arts brings out the contrast of traditions and deepens Core’s overall study of the relation of the individual to culture and to nature. Hub units: As of Spring 2023, Writing-Intensive Course; Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy; Oral and/or Signed Communication. 

Prerequisite for CC102 in S25: CC101, WR120, or another FYW equivalent.

CAS CC 202: Core Humanities IV: Enlightenment, Romanticism, and Modernity. Spring 2025; coursepage here. Through Voltaire, Kant, Austen, the English Romantic Poets, Whitman, Dickinson, Douglass, and Shelley, as well as the music of Beethoven, we examine questions of social hierarchy and what it means to know, the relation of subjectivity to reason, and our relationship with nature. Then we trace the radical perspectives of Nietzsche and Chekhov and enter 20th-century America through W.E.B. Du Bois’ extraordinary The Souls of Black Folk. Hub units: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings; Ethical Reasoning; Writing-Intensive Course.

Prerequisite for CC202 in S25: CC101, WR120, or another FYW equivalent. This is a reading-intensive course, and we also recommend taking CC201 first. See the reading list here.

CAS CC 212: Core Natural Science II: Science, Reality and the Modern World. Spring 2025; coursepage via learn.bu.edu. Studies the paradigm-shifting scientific theories of quantum theory and relativity that created a new world view and forced the 20th century into a new understanding of our relation to reality. Examines chaos theory and parallels these ideas with current debates and discoveries in science, such as climate change and the phenomenon of allegedly “junk science”. Considers the role of science in the modern world, how we know what we know, and the nature of truth in a 21st century context. Hub units: Scientific Inquiry II; Quantitative Reasoning II; Critical Thinking.

CAS CC 222: Core Social Science II: “Unmaking” the Modern World: the Psychology, Politics, and Economics of the Self. Spring 2025; coursepage here. Can we ever be free? Confronting the legacy of Enlightenment philosophy in the modern era, students encounter the postmodern psychological, political, and economic theories that expose the paradoxes behind freedom and individual rights ideologies framing slavery, colonialism, ethno-nationalism, capitalist exploitation, sexism, and institutional racism. Hub units: Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings; Social Inquiry II; Critical Thinking.

Prerequisite for CC222 in S25: CC101, WR120, or another FYW equivalent. This is a very reading-intensive course, and we also recommend taking CC221 first.

Fall Term Courses

CAS CC 101: Core Humanities I: Ancient Worlds. Fall 2024; coursepage here. An interdisciplinary study of the origins of civilization, from Mesopotamia and the Hebrew Bible to the development of Greek civilization through Homer, tragedy, and the philosophy of Plato. We consider the contrasting values of the different cultures that have contributed to our own worldview with particular relation to the expression of those cultures in literature and the visual arts. Students explore the nature of creativity as it is examined in the works studied and engage with the visual culture of ancient Greece in its relation to beauty and power by studying the Parthenon and works at the Boston MFA. As of Fall 2022, fulfills the following Hub units: Aesthetic Exploration; First-Year Writing Seminar; Creativity/Innovation. [NOTE: students who took CC101 before F’22 will receive Aesthetic Exploration; Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy; Creativity/Innovation.]

CAS CC 111: Core Natural Science I: Origins—of the Big Bang, Earth, Life and Humanity. Fall 2024; coursepage via learn.bu.edu. The origins of the physical world, a scientific parallel to CC 101. Explores how the fields of astronomy, earth science, biology, and anthropology help us to understand our place in the cosmos from a scientific perspective. Topics include the Big Bang, evolution of the stars and earth, evolution of life, and the origins of human life and society. Assignments include computer-based and experimental laboratory work as well as team-based investigation and original research. Hub units: Scientific Inquiry I; Quantitative Reasoning I; Teamwork/Collaboration.

CAS CC 201: Core Humanities III: Renaissance, Rediscovery, and Reformation. Fall 2024; coursepage here.  Examining works of Petrarch, Elizabeth I, Machiavelli, Montaigne, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Descartes, and Cavendish, we consider the revival of the Classics and explore the new focus on the physical world and questioning of authority. Topics studied include the origins of modern political and scientific thought, the beginning of the novel and revival of epic, and Baroque aesthetics. A study of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel adds an artistic lens to our study of this period, and a focus on writing and research complements our emphasis on authorship. Note: Students who complete CC 201 have the opportunity to go to Florence over the January 2025 winter break. Hub units: Writing, Research and Inquiry; Research and Information Literacy; and as of Fall 2022, Aesthetic Exploration. 

Prerequisite for CC201 in F24: CC101, WR120 or another FYW equivalent.

CAS CC 221: Core Social Science I: Making the Modern World: Progress, Politics, and Economics. Fall 2024; coursepage here. How did “society” emerge as a distinctive object of political engineering, normative discourse, and social scientific inquiry? What economic transformations helped shape theories of justice and social contract? Careful readings of Western social, political and economic thinkers between 1600-1900. Hub units: Historical Consciousness; Social Inquiry II; Writing-Intensive Course. 

Prerequisite for CC221 in F24: CC101, WR120 or another FYW equivalent.

Core Digital/Multimedia Expression Courses

CAS CC 318: Public Speaking. Four units. Spring 2024. How can you make a connection with an audience when you speak? How can you find ways to make a rhetorical argument? This course puts students in conversation with texts and ideas that guide them to find authentic voices when constructing narratives, arguments, and presentations to different audiences. Students may not receive credit for both CAS CC 318 and CAS WR 318. Prereq: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., CC 101 or WR 120). Hub units: Oral and/or Signed Communcation; Teamwork/Collaboration; Writing-Intensive. (Klancer)

CAS CC 220: Multimedia Encounters with Core Texts. Two units. Allows Core students to re-imagine a favorite Core text in a new, digital format and context. Each section will focus on a particular Core work and students will decide upon and develop a new mediation of that work, developing a final project to be made available to the Core community and beyond. Prerequisite: Students must demonstrate previous experience of studying, performing, or otherwise engaging with the text on a sophisticated level, or must receive consent from the instructor. Not running in S25. Hub units: Digital/Multimedia Expression. 

CAS CC 320: Extended Multimedia Encounters with Core Texts. Four units. Allows Core students to re-imagine a favorite Core text in a new, digital format and context. Each semester will focus on a particular Core work and students will decide upon and develop a new mediation of that work, developing a final project to be made available to the Core community and beyond. Prereq: Students must demonstrate previous experience of studying, performing, or otherwise engaging with the text on a sophisticated level, or must receive consent from the instructor. In Spring 2025, two sections will run: one with a focus on Hamlet, led by Walsh; and one with a focus on Don Quixote, led by Vahamikos. Hub units: Digital/Multimedia Expression; Creativity/Innovation; Teamwork/Collaboration. Please note CC320 does not count for the Core Minor (Hegis 1431), although it can count for the Minor in Core Independent Studies (Hegis 1432) with advising.

Minor in Independent Core Studies Capstone

CAS CC 350: Core Capstone. Two-credit course. Spring 2025. Prerequisite: completion of one of the Core Curriculum’s four two-semester course sequences. A workshop for students pursuing the Minor in Core Independent Studies to develop skills in writing, presentation, and public speaking. Students learn to synthesize, refine, and share conclusions reached in pursuit of their capstone project. To declare for this minor, use the Hegis code 1432. This course is not required for the Core Minor (Hegis 1431); for more information on the minors click here.

Core Hub Cocurriculars

>> Related factsheet: “How Core courses satisfy the BU Hub”

HUB (not CAS!) CC 182: Co-curricular Core Docent Program. Spring 2025. Introduces students to ways of looking, thinking, and speaking about works of art. Through guest lectures, in-class activities, and museum events, students will discover a range of object-based teaching approaches and philosophies. Students will also develop their own abilities in public speaking, storytelling, facilitating conversation, and organizing learning experiences outside of the traditional classroom space. Students will leave the course with a deeper understanding of how to engage diverse communities through encounters with art and material culture.Prerequisite: completion of at least one CAS CC course.  Hub units: The Individual in Community.

HUB (not CAS!) CC 192: Collegiate Publishing – The Core Journal. Spring 2025. This BU Hub co-curricular is designed to run as a hands-on publishing workshop. Over the course of the semester, students will produce The Journal of the Core Curriculum, the annual print anthology of the Core community. Throughout the stages of editorial and production work, we will consider how social and professional aspects of publishing mediate the relationship between individuals and communities. Prerequisite: completion of at least one CAS CC course. Hub units: Teamwork/Collaboration.