GW draws on Washington, D.C.’s deep historical roots to provide culturally-rich courses in history and the humanities.
Course topics include foreign languages, philosophy, world history, religion, leadership and more.
On-campus and online courses are available for credit, while our noncredit offerings focus on experiential learning environments, connecting students with large institutions and experts in their respective fields.
All course offerings are subject to cancellation. College Intensive Listings are from Summer 2020. Summer 2021 listings will be updated in the coming months.
Noncredit
Two-week program
July 11 – July 23, 2021
In this course, students focus on the fundamentals of investigating elaborate crime scenes and apply state-of-the-art forensic science principles in simulated experiences. Students will be introduced to the critical skills and abilities necessary for future careers such as investigators, detectives, lawyers, special agents, medico-legal death investigators, crime scene technicians, and forensic pathologists.
Noncredit
Two-week program
Washington, D.C. is the heart of the legislative processes and social movements that influence structural, cultural and ideological change. This course introduces students to questions, opportunities, and roadblocks faced by civic and global leaders while aiming to expand their leadership capacity teaching them to translate their values and ideas into action. Students explore topics such as grassroots organization activism by looking at how activism has shaped social change.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: May 18—June 27, 2020
Survey of the world’s cultures, illustrating the principles of cultural behavior.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: May 18—June 27, 2020
Comparison and analysis of how cultures use language to communicate. The relationship of language to issues of human nature, gender, race, class, artistic expression, and power. Laboratory fee.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: May 18—June 27, 2020
An exploration of genres of creative writing (fiction, poetry, and/or playwriting). Basic problems and techniques; examples of modern approaches; weekly writing assignments; workshop and/or conference discussion of student writing.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: May 18—June 27, 2020
A systematic survey of human geography; spatial perspectives on demographic, social, cultural, economic, and political changes around the world.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: May 18—June 27, 2020
An introduction to the dynamic relationship between society and the physical environment, with focus on population, natural resources, environmental degradation, pollution, and conservation.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: May 18—June 27, 2020
Fundamentals of cartography; geographic data structure and information systems. Laboratory fee.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: May 18—June 27, 2020
Practical approach to the themes, concepts, and tools appropriate for in-depth examination of the geography of the world’s. Historical and physical regional geographies; contemporary regional issues; and intra- and interregional issues.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: May 18—June 27, 2020
An introduction to world history over the past half millennium, stressing themes of exchange and integration, tracing the ways various peoples of the world became bound together in a common system.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: May 18—June 27, 2020
The political, social, economic, and cultural history of the United States. From the earliest settlements to 1876.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: May 18—June 27, 2020
American foreign relations in the twentieth century.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: May 18—June 27, 2020
Readings from major philosophers and study of their positions on the most basic questions of human life. Topics include such issues as: What is justice? What is knowledge? What is reality? Does God exist? What is the mind? Do humans have free will?
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: May 18—June 27, 2020
Philosophical problems and theories of perception, meaning, personal identity, and moral agency and their illustration in the context of cinema. Cinema and its derivatives (TV, video) as prime routes to experience of the natural and social worlds in an age of communication. Readings in classical and contemporary philosophy and in film theory; screening of a series of films.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: May 18—June 27, 2020
Introduction to informal logic, scientific argument, and formal logic. The informal logic component focuses on fallacies of reasoning and practical applications of logic. The formal logic component focuses on translation from English into propositional logic, truth tables, and proofs in propositional logic.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: May 18—June 27, 2020
Introduction to the major religions of the world: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism. Examination of the central aspects of these religions including the doctrinal, ethical, ritual, experiential, and social dimensions. Exploration of similarities and differences between these religious traditions.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: May 18—June 27, 2020
A broad overview of the "sociological imagination" as a way of understanding social issues and personal experience; sociology’s place among the social sciences; basic elements of sociological perspectives.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: June 29—August 8, 2020
An exploration of genres of creative writing (fiction, poetry, and/or playwriting). Basic problems and techniques; examples of modern approaches; weekly writing assignments; workshop and/or conference discussion of student writing.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: June 29—August 8, 2020
A systematic survey of human geography; spatial perspectives on demographic, social, cultural, economic, and political changes around the world.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: June 29—August 8, 2020
An introduction to the dynamic relationship between society and the physical environment, with a focus on population, natural resources, environmental degradation, pollution, and conservation.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: June 29—August 8, 2020
Practical approach to the themes, concepts, and tools appropriate for in-depth examination of the geography of the world’s. Historical and physical regional geographies; contemporary regional issues; and intra- and interregional issues.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: June 29—August 8, 2020
Patterns of world population; factors contributing to population pressures, growth, and migrations.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: June 29—August 8, 2020
The political, social, economic, and cultural history of the United States. From 1876 to present.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: June 29—August 8, 2020
American foreign relations in the twentieth century.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: June 29—August 8, 2020
Introduction to informal logic, scientific argument, and formal logic. The informal logic component focuses on the fallacies of reasoning and practical applications of logic. The formal logic component focuses on translation from English into propositional logic, truth tables, and proofs in propositional logic.
Three credits
Six-week program
Online Course: June 29—August 8, 2020
Examination of leading ethical theories (e.g., utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics), and methodology in ethics. Engagement with contemporary problems.
