The Course Catalog
Each quarter, we offer lifelong learners access to more than 70 courses at the University of Chicago. Explore all of our course offerings below.
Use the filters in the left-hand column below to search for courses in specific program areas or at specific days and times.
Basic Program Year One: Autumn Basic Program Year One: Autumn
Since 1946, the Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults has engaged lifelong learners in reading, discussing, and building community around the foundational texts of literature, philosophy, and...
Photograph © Andrew Dunn.
Basic Program Year Three: Autumn Basic Program Year Three: Autumn
In the Year 3 Seminar we will read some of the fundamental and groundbreaking works in the history of science. Each of these texts challenges the way we think about the structure and operation of the...
Basic Program Year Two: Autumn Basic Program Year Two: Autumn
The Year 2 seminar is devoted to three great plays: Sophocles' Oedipus the King, Euripides' The Bacchae, and Shakespeare's Anthony & Cleopatra. A close reading of Aristotle's Poetics will enhance our...
Beyond Tradition I: The Crisis of Modernity: Making Sense of Our Historical Situation Beyond Tradition I: The Crisis of Modernity: Making Sense of Our Historical Situation
“Sense,” Santayana says, “is the foundation of everything.” The task of “making sense” of things is a distinctively modern enterprise, the effect of our having lost a unified, coherent, if sometimes...
Create Diverse Characters with Nuance and Sensitivity Create Diverse Characters with Nuance and Sensitivity
Today’s readers—as well as agents, editors, and publishers— expect stories that include diverse characters authentically portrayed. We’ll explore how to reach outside our own identities and...
Eight Plays By and About Chicago Eight Plays By and About Chicago
What do the playwrights Tracy Letts, Lorraine Hansberry, Bertolt Brecht, David Auburn, Rohina Malik, Keith Huff, August Wilson, and Joe Mantegna have in common? They have all written plays set in...
Ethnographic Traditions Ethnographic Traditions
This class will introduce students to the practice of ethnographic field work, or participant observation research. Students will read works on the practice of ethnography and actual ethnographic...
Fiction Writing Essentials Fiction Writing Essentials
Explore essential aspects of fiction writing such as plot, voice, dialogue, character, and point of view. Every week, students will read published stories and generate new work in response to writing...
Flash Nonfiction: A Generative Workshop Flash Nonfiction: A Generative Workshop
In this workshop, we will explore the craft issues related to flash nonfiction. Writing shorter pieces of 700-1,000 words, will allow you to work on intensity of language, wrapping an idea in a...
Focus on Fiction Focus on Fiction
This course will advance your understanding of fiction writing through lecture, discussion, eclectic readings, in-class and at-home writing exercises, as well as discussions of your own and your...