The Course Catalog
Each quarter, we offer lifelong learners access to more than 40 courses at the University of Chicago.
Summer quarter course registration is now open. For questions, please contact grahamregistrar@uchicago.edu or call 773.702.7249.
Bach: Life and Works Bach: Life and Works
One of the towering figures in Western culture, J.S. Bach is the foundation of Classical music, whose influence has permeated the work of virtually all his successors. Whether sacred or secular, vocal...
Basic Program Year 1 Makeup Course Basic Program Year 1 Makeup Course
This course is for students who need to make up the Year 1 Autumn Quarter of the Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults to complete the certificate.
We recommend that new students to the Basic...
Basic Program Year Four: Autumn Basic Program Year Four: Autumn
The Year 4 Seminar texts cover a wide range time periods and genres, including philosophy, biography, satire, and romance, which connect through the themes of love, character, and humor as they...
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 Seminar, we read two classics texts seeking the ungrounded ground of reason. In the Tutorial we will engage in a close reading of a classic novel. The novel for 2024 is War and Peace, by Leo...
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...
Bulgakov's Master and Margarita Bulgakov's Master and Margarita
Mikhail Bulgakov’s savage satire of modern bureaucracy alternates between scenes of Stalinist Russia and ancient Jerusalem. Bulgakov literally unleashes the powers of Hell by having the Devil and his...
Calvino's Worlds Calvino's Worlds
Shortly before his death, Italo Calvino (1923-1985) wrote: “The grand challenge for literature is to be capable of weaving together the various branches of knowledge, their various ‘codes’ into a...
Chaplin: Film Art and Society Chaplin: Film Art and Society
This course follows six of Charlie Chaplin’s films in a progressive exploration of the filmmaker’s remarkable life and art. Our discussions of Shoulder Arms (1918), The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925...
Common Ground: Civic Unity in a Polarized Time Common Ground: Civic Unity in a Polarized Time
America is more divided than it has been in over a century. Yet while we are polarized politically and culturally, there may still be a shared core of values upon which most Americans agree. This...