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.
Freedom and Equality in the New World Freedom and Equality in the New World
Come read three texts concerning freedom and equality in the New World that will, in their individual ways, expand our ideas of what exactly the “Western tradition” says about who has freedom and self...
George Eliot's Romola: A Serial Reading George Eliot's Romola: A Serial Reading
George Eliot’s fourth novel, Romola (pronounced “ROE-mola”) superimposes Victorian themes and concerns onto the religious, political, and personal lives of 15th-century Florence. The result is a...
Global Histories of Race in Science and Medicine Global Histories of Race in Science and Medicine
Why do we call a white person “Caucasian”? Why is affirmative action in present-day Brazil based on racial classification? In this course, we will explore the ways in which government officials...
Goethe’s Faust: Knowledge, Striving, Bliss Goethe’s Faust: Knowledge, Striving, Bliss
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust is the work not only of a poet but also of a scientist, statesman, autobiographer, novelist, painter, art collector – in short, the work of a polymath. Like Dante’s...
Great Conductors and the Art of Interpretation Great Conductors and the Art of Interpretation
Why is every performance different, when the score remains the same? This course will provide insight into the decision-making process of an interpreter and the factors involved and offers an overview...
Gulliver’s Travels Gulliver’s Travels
Gulliver’s Travels (1727) is Jonathan Swift’s wildly imaginative account of Lemuel Gulliver’s journey through fantastical lands. It is funny, moving and profound, a masterful satire that verges into...
History of Sparta History of Sparta
Classical Greece is at the center of the Basic Program, and at the center of Classical Greece are Athens and Plato, at least, as far as the readings that make it into great books curriculums are...
How To Read Ancient Greek Art and Archaeology How To Read Ancient Greek Art and Archaeology
Basic Program students learn how to read texts closely, carefully, and systematically. Many of these texts are by ancient Greeks. Reading is also a good name for looking at ancient Greek material...
Indo-Iranians from Herodotus Indo-Iranians from Herodotus
Around 2000 BCE, Indo-Iranian speakers emerged in the central Eurasian steppes, invented the chariot, lived the lifestyle of warrior-aristocrats and called themselves Aryans. In time they spread south...
Introducing the Art and Thought of Hildegard of Bingen Introducing the Art and Thought of Hildegard of Bingen
Called the Sybil of the Rhine for her prophetic visions, Hildegard of Bingen towers as great creative genius: a visionary, visual and musical artist, a practicing physician and naturalist, formidable...