Ignite Seminars

Black women are often subjected to mediated stereotypes. The use of digital technologies challenges those marginalizing discourses. In this class, students will interrogate the relationship between Black women and popular/digital culture using frameworks such as intersectional, hip-hop and digital feminisms. Students will also use academic and nonacademic sources to gain information and research literacy.

Knowledge can come from examining more closely what you already think you know. Understanding the history and cultural influences of subjects that you may take for granted can provide perspective and an eagerness to learn more. We will start with what you know about being a customer of many businesses, both online and brick-and-mortar, and what you have experienced in part-time and summer employment. From there, we will explore what you know about business from popular culture, especially film and TV.

Get a bad grade? Fight with your roommate? Don't know what you want to do with your life? Feeling anxious? Feeling depressed? Sometimes we just want to talk to a mom ... but not our mom. This seminar will address some of the issues we experience as we transition to being adults. With the help of a mom (who is also a therapist), we will figure out how to do the hard stuff and take good care of ourselves and the people in our community.

Life does not have a "user's manual." But it does have a resource that we can use when things do not go our way. That resource is psychotherapy, and this course will explore it by engaging some of the 20th century's most insightful therapists, including Viktor Frankl, Sigmund Freud, Franz Fanon, Ignacio Martin-Baro, Alice Miller and Donald Winnicott. We will close by reading Alison Bechdel's graphic novel Are You My Mother? Students will engage in a semester-long writing project that brings the course readings to bear on their own lives — and how they hope to live them in the future.

Texts have transformative power. This Ignite Seminar considers how and why certain texts have been personally, politically, and historically transformative. We read and discuss some of these texts, with a focus on those that use religion and theology to engage questions of politics, race, gender, class, and struggles for justice in the U.S./global context. Reading such texts is a formational exercise, even a spiritual practice, that can help us to reflect on our own lives, vocations and commitments, to understand different perspectives and experiences, to expand our view of self and others, and to imagine and work for social transformation.

The goal of this course is to critically understand and evaluate humanity in a time of chaos. Sociology of Pandemics will introduce students to the pandemics' impact on society, with a focus on COVID-19. Students will reflect on and contextualize the time, place, and circumstances we currently find ourselves in through a sociological lens.

We all constantly tell and take in stories about the world. In this course, we’ll reflect on our own stories and how our experiences shape our relationship to social justice issues, including feminism, antiracism and LGBTQIA+ liberation. We will also explore the stories about these movements in media, ranging from music to medical journals and textbooks to TikTok. How can the stories we tell and how we tell them — contribute to positive social change?

We will read, discuss, and write about poetry dealing with loss and consider how poetry speaks to our most profound lived experiences. 

In The Power of Communication, you will learn about yourself, you will learn about communication and how it impacts our social and professional lives, especially when it breaks down, and you will learn how communication powerfully shapes our world and how we move through it together. The Power of Communication just might change your professional path!

This course makes math personal. What should we do (or not) in a day or a lifetime? What amount of new and familiar is most fulfilling? How much mess is ok? This isn't a class for math majors, it's a course for everyone on thinking algorithmically, on learning about the fundamental structures of the problems we face, and ultimately on discovering something about ourselves.

This course will examine fringe forms of art, performance, fandom, social rebellion, and political protest. We will reflect on what it means to conform or deviate from the norm in our social environments. How have subcultures and countercultures changed our world? And how have changes in the world, including changes in capitalism and the rise of digital media, affected the conditions under which undergrounds can survive?

Black women are often subjected to mediated stereotypes. The use of digital technologies challenges those marginalizing discourses. In this class, students will interrogate the relationship between Black women and popular/digital culture using frameworks such as intersectional, hip-hop, and digital feminisms. Students will use also academic and non-academic sources to gain information and research literacy.

Knowledge can come from examining more closely what you already think you know. Understanding the history and cultural influences of subjects that you may take for granted can provide perspective and an eagerness to learn more. We will start with what you know about being a customer of many businesses - online and brick-and-mortar - and what you have experienced in part-time and summer employment. From there we will explore what you know about business from popular culture, especially film and TV.

Data are everywhere! As technology has taken over our lives, data has now become a part of everyday life. To be a global citizen in the 21st century, it's crucial to understand where data come from, how data are used, and how to interpret data. In this seminar, we will explore the use of data in a variety of fields, learning about how everyone from social scientists to medical researchers to journalists to educators – and beyond – uses data, as well as discuss how data are a part of everyday life. Even when we don't know it.

This course examines the history of anatomy as a discipline. At times, uniquely personal for the practitioner, patient and cadaver alike, the study of anatomy also developed on the public stage with dissections and medical procedures performed before packed amphitheaters. Anatomy thus developed at the intersection of sociopolitical factors that impacted who and how one became anatomized, notions about what happens to the body after death, and the growth of biological and scientific inquiry. While anatomy seeks simply to understand the human body and how it is put together, by taking human beings as its subject the field and its practitioners are forced to reckon with issues of life and death, race and ethnicity, gender and sex, growth and aging, socioeconomic status, and cultural mores regarding health and wellbeing. It is intimate yet benefits many. By examining how the field of anatomy developed, we will uncover deeper themes about what it means to be human, how humans have treated one another throughout history, and the impact of sociopolitical factors on human lives, health and death. With historical foundations developed in this course, students will be better prepared to be leaders in the future of patient-centered modern healthcare.

Empires on the Mississippi shows that at the time of its founding, St. Louis was not just a French city – it was a vibrant hub shaped by Spanish rule (1764-1803) and connected to broader Iberian worlds across Europe, the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Americas. Offered in Fall 2026, the seminar coincides with the 250th anniversary of the American War of Independence, a moment that highlights Spain's role in shaping early U.S. history. The seminar examines how empires, free and enslaved people, American Indian nations, and the environment shaped each other. You'll explore diplomacy, trade, conflict, and daily life, while seeing how rivers, landscapes, plants, and animals influenced politics, economies, and communities. St. Louis becomes your classroom. Through hands-on work with archives, museums, and gardens, you'll gain research experience, collaborate on projects, and engage with experts, discovering how a renewed and critical study of Spanish borderlands in North America illuminates entangled Iberian worlds, environmental histories, and interconnected empires. Note: This Ignite Seminar can also count for the history major/minor requirement of U.S. History and Post-1500 History.

Although our brains are amazing, our thinking suffers from multiple cognitive biases. This leads to misperceptions and poor decision-making on societal and personal issues alike. In this class we will read Hans Rosling's "Factfulness" to study some of these biases and see how we can improve our thinking using facts and data. Applications will focus on environmental issues. We will work with spreadsheets to handle data and create informative graphs. No prior experience with spreadsheets is required, but a willingness to learn is expected. To fix the world, fix your thinking first.

Forcibly Displaced and Stateless is a topic anchored in the discipline of history.  The course focuses on saving lives, protecting rights and securing a better future for those who have been displaced and forced to flee their countries.  Forcible displacement has been a product of myriad factors ranging from persecution and denial of human rights to wars and natural calamities.  This task of securing lives and helping the forcibly displaced rebuild their place is an enormous task that calls for individual reflection, shared involvement, and guaranteeing international standards of treatment for their protection.  The course readings and discussions will help students understand the context of forcibly displaced and stateless people. In that mix of readings, there will be narratives from survivors as well as workers and counselors working with the survivors. In addition, organizations whose work is focused on the forcibly displaced and stateless people will be discussed. Note: This Ignite Seminar can also count for the history major/minor requirement of World History and Post-1500 History.

We are living in the immediate wake of two historical events that so thoroughly transformed the world they are instantly and universally recognizable by shorthand terms: 9-11 and Covid-19. Our current culture, politics and economy cannot be fully grasped without understanding the terrorist attacks of 2001 and the global pandemic that started in 2020. Students will confront this momentous, still-unfolding history and learn historical thinking skills to better understand our world today. Note: This Ignite Seminar can also count for the history major/minor requirement of U.S. History and Post-1500 History.

Using Jacques Derrida's theory of hauntology, this course begins with a look at how ghosts in literature point us to unresolved social justice issues. For example, in American literature, we see ghosts both call for and enact social justice as they haunt characters and sometimes break into the action on stage or on the page. While we commonly make a distinction between fiction and nonfiction, this approach to learning and inquiry reflects how literature is often far less easily compartmentalized; instead, depictions of "lived" experience lead us to acknowledge injustice and propel us toward action. 

Materials for this course include Shakespeare's Hamlet (which is the basis for the theory of hauntology), and Toni Morrison's Beloved, a novel that was inspired by the real-life figure of Margaret Garner. This course will then shift to a discussion of social justice issues that stem from our own history of slavery and injustice in St. Louis. Students will craft reflective pieces throughout the course as we move from a critical analysis of literature to a better understanding of social justice in our local context. Students will end the course with a project that utilizes our library resources to explore the history of St. Louis and understand current solutions to social justice concerns, including SLU's own reconciliation work with descendants of former Jesuit-owned slaves. 

Free and open-source software is the infrastructure of the Internet. Its advocates fight for openness, sharing, and freedom in computing and beyond. What does it mean to be free and open, and are these ideals the key to a better future?

If you are interested in being a pre-med major or a major in a healthcare field, this seminar will allow you to explore the history and culture of medicine and health care in relation to your own personal experiences. You will read a variety of selections, as well as view some films and examine examples of other arts, reflecting on how these can help you to better understand your field of study and your future profession. At the end, you should better understand not only the field you hope to study and practice but also your own personal sense of commitment to this field.

Yogi Berra, famous baseball player, philosopher and St. Louisan said: "The future ain't what it used to be". I'd add that it isn't yet what it will be. Why not become aware of trends and future possibilities to do everything you can to make the future the best it can be?

This seminar fosters student curiosity and understanding of the mindfulness in the Jewish tradition towards engaging in acts of charity and promoting social justice in the world.

From Blackboard Jungle (1955) to Abbott Elementary (present), teachers, students, and the American education experience have been widely depicted in film and television. This course guides students through critical examination of pop culture depictions of education and self-reflection on how these depictions have shaped their personal views about teaching, schooling, and the student experience.

Each week during this 3-credit -hour course, students will watch a film or television episodes depicting schooling, teaching, or the student experience. Media content will be selected based on its relevance to current education policy debates like urban education, undocumented students, sports, and controversies around instruction on race and gender in schools. Students will also read empirical literature pertaining to each week's policy issue. The assigned readings and media will be discussed in seminar format, where students will examine the media's portrayal within the context of empirical evidence. Discussion prompts will explore how the selected media authentically or stereotypically depicts the given policy concern and how media constructs popular social narratives that may benefit or harm public education.

Students will learn about a variety paradigmatic theories and approaches to leadership (including failed leadership) and explore examples of leadership found in movies.

How do we effectively engage in cross-cultural communication in order to build bridges and create belonging? How do we truly thrive in the diverse communities within which we live? This seminar will ask you to consider how the concepts of belonging, crossing cultural boundaries, and intercultural communication, viewed through the lens of short stories written and told by international authors, help us answer these important questions for our lives now and in the future.

Stories about monsters and the monstrous inspire both fear and curiosity. One way to define the monstrous is that which defies description and the categories we use to make meaning.  This course will explore representations of monsters across cultures and time periods, considering what these cultural products tell us about social change, scientific inquiry, and changing ideas of what it means to be human.  Course materials will include films, plays, short fiction, poetry and new media.  

This Ignite Seminar explores intersections of sports — defined broadly to include fitness culture and fandom — and religion in America, past and present. From 19th century "saintly souls in strong bodies" to 20th century Catholic school hoopers to contemporary fantasy leagues, we think about how systems of religion and athletics have shaped human experience, often in tandem. Both religion and sports have complex histories of race, gender, sexuality and class that will further guide our study and analysis. And let's not forget mascots! Why do so many Americans define their identities in relation to imaginative figures and what can the study of religion provide us to better understand this phenomenon? Beyond a study of religion in sports or sports as religion, this course utilizes a range of methods to prompt deeper consideration of human experience through embodied practices.

Owning the Awkward explores the multifaceted concept of awkwardness and its impact on social interactions. Through discussions, experiential activities, and self-reflection, students will better understand this shared human experience of awkwardness and identify strategies for mitigating it. Together, we explore how "owning the awkward" can lead to personal development, improved communication skills, and stronger communities. 

We often assume that reading about someone's pain, watching a film, or even viewing a photograph can help us have empathy and understanding for someone else's suffering. But Susan Sontag writes "No 'we' should be taken for granted when the subject is looking at other people's pain." This class will explore how writers and artists attempt to bridge that gap, how we can cultivate empathy in ourselves as readers and viewers, and also reflect on how we can communicate our own experiences of pain and suffering. This seminar takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of pain and its representation. In this seminar, we will explore how a wide range of media — literature, visual arts, and film, among others — across historical periods represent pain and suffering. How and why do creators choose to represent pain? Is it a predilection for violence and a voyeuristic drive to enjoy the suffering of others? Is it a desire to create empathy, understanding, and fellow-feeling? Or is there a need to express the inexpressible? Alongside theories and texts from philosophy, cultural studies, social sciences, and medicine we will explore how different artists represent pain and suffering. 

Texts have transformative power. This Ignite Seminar considers how and why certain texts have been personally, politically, and historically transformative. We read and discuss some of these texts, with a focus on those that use religion and theology to engage questions of politics, race, gender, class and struggles for justice in the U.S./global context. Reading such texts is a formational exercise, even a spiritual practice, that can help us to reflect on our own lives, vocations, and commitments, to understand different perspectives and experiences, to expand our view of self and others, and to imagine and work for social transformation.

Most students attend SLU because of the University's mission to educate young people to be more compassionate, knowledgeable global citizens who advocate for social justice around the world. Human rights issues in our own communities and abroad have never been more visible and meaningful change more attainable than they are now. This course helps students understand the rhetorical history of human rights and how they can become more effective communicators about social justice issues they care about. 

Social action is foundational to SLU's Catholic, Jesuit mission — this course provides students with the knowledge, skills and tools to become effective leaders for social change, whether on campus as a student or in their communities as an active citizen.

We all constantly tell and take in stories about the world. In this course, we'll reflect on our own stories and how the experiences we have had shape our relationship to a range of social justice issues, including feminism, antiracism, and LGBTQIA+ liberation. We will also explore the stories that are told about these movements in media ranging from music to movies, textbooks to TikTok. How can the stories we tell--and the ways that we tell them — contribute to positive social change?

New mapping technologies are transforming how we understand cities, inequality and the environment. But who controls these tools, and whose stories do they tell? This seminar introduces students to critical conversations about geospatial technology and data. Through exploration of real-world examples and case studies, we'll ask: How can maps and spatial data challenge or reinforce power structures? What are our responsibilities when representing communities through technology? Who benefits from location-based technologies, and who might be harmed? Students in this course will learn to question how mapping technologies shape what we see, and what remains invisible.

"The Gods of the Others" explores how ideas of the sacred shape relationships among people and communities across different times and places. We begin by looking at how the long history of Christianity — both as an institution and as a cultural force — affects the way we usually think about non-Christian traditions. From there, the course introduces students to "bottom-up" ways of studying religion that focus on the experiences and practices of everyday people around the world.

Throughout the semester, we will look at many kinds of religious materials — images, objects, rituals and performances, Hollywood movies, and Japanese manga and anime — to understand how different communities express their views on the environment, politics, economics, morality, gender, sexuality, and violence through their beliefs and practices regarding the sacred.

Alongside learning about specific cultures and developing analytical tools, students will also be encouraged to think reflectively. Studying religious experiences that feel "unfamiliar" can help us see our own "familiar" traditions in new ways. As the Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi wrote during the Warring States period, "Without the Other there is no Self." Note: This Ignite Seminar can also count for the history major/minor requirement of World History and Pre-1500 History.

The Ignatian City will introduce students to contemporary theories of American cities. This class is designed for students that have a desire to learn about the faces of urban oppression, social suffering, and urban marginality with a focus on action for justice that provides students with an opportunity to develop a sociological imagination to create a Just City — An Ignatian City.

The Christian tradition has a long history of experiencing the outdoors and wilderness as a means of finding God, Christ and inner peace. This course will lead students through that tradition, while also exposing them to the history of wilderness in America, and offer students the chance to experience wilderness through outdoor activities like hikes and camping.  No outdoor experience is required or expected.

Every day we are bombarded with information, some of it true, some of it not true, in the media, across social media platforms, in advertising campaigns, in political campaigns, just about everywhere we come across information. How do we process all of this, and how do we distinguish true from false information? What psychological factors and cognitive biases play a role in our processing of information and make us susceptible to misinformation? This course will look at the research on the psychology of misinformation, to examine the factors that make us susceptible to believe and act on it, examine how and why it spreads, and how to counter it.

How do we help? Can we help people we don't know, or more importantly, can we help people we are close to? Can we do it on our own? How do we know what the people who need our help want?  Or need?  The purpose of this Ignite Seminar is to struggle with these questions and try, through empirical science, to find how best to maximize support and minimize harm. 

The Star Trek universe provides a rich collection of episodes to explore many management concepts, such as conflict resolution, identity management, leadership, mentoring, and selection. Classes will focus on specific episodes and concepts, which will be enriched by an introduction to management theories.  Through this introduction, we will distinguish between what is entertaining fiction and what are good examples of social science.

"Think Like an Entrepreneur" equips students with the skills and mindset to succeed in any work environment. Focusing on team-building, problem-solving and leadership, the course covers key entrepreneurial mindset indicators, preparing students to thrive as entrepreneurs or in leadership roles within established companies, with an emphasis on servant leadership and social entrepreneurship. 

In this Ignite Seminar, we will look briefly at the history of water and explore the mutual interactions between water and society to see how societies shape, use, and abuse our most precious resource. We will approach this complex topic from thematic areas including public health, medical theory, politics, economics and entertainment. We will ask questions, such as who controls water and why, who is using it (and how), why do societies interact with water in the ways they do, how does water shape individual daily lives, and how do attitudes toward water reflect worldviews.

This course aims to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and motivation to be active, informed community members, recognizing voting as a cornerstone of engagement. The course will provide students with the analytical tools to deepen their involvement with the public policymaking process and better understand the work of elected officials, public sector employees, policy analysts, activists, nonprofit leaders, and local residents. After learning the foundational terms and aspects of the policymaking process, students will be able to examine the impact of policy decisions and construct and propose their own feasible alternatives.

Before Instagram, the humble postcard was the way we advertised ideals, communicated in both a personal and universal way, and documented what was happening in the world. In this course, explore postcards as a means of communication, history, memory and art.