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Spring Quarter

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Most Classes Begin Apr 01
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About Us

Spring Quarter: Letter from the Director

 

Dear Friends,

We are excited to share with you a spring course lineup that we feel is one of our strongest to date. It reflects an extraordinary team effort to expand our recruiting of Stanford faculty and experts while also partnering with many of our talented, longtime instructors to create new courses that speak to the present moment. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our terrific course coordinating team—Nate Boswell, Angel Evan, and Malena Watrous, as well as our dean, Dan Colman—all of whom have had a hand in shaping the courses you’ll see in our catalog this quarter.

One such course is “The American Civil War: A Visual and Literary History,” taught by art history professor Alexander Nemerov, which will explore a range of powerful and evocative paintings, poetry, and literature that emerged from this dark moment in America’s history. The eight-week hybrid course will be open to Stanford undergraduates as well. Whether you join the live audience on campus or participate via Zoom from home, you can expect a vibrant state-of-the-art audio-visual experience.

We have also put together a new edition of the “Stanford Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series,” which will feature law professor Pamela Karlan discussing the contentious history of voting rights in the United States, Caroline Winterer recounting “What Historians Still Don’t Know about History,” and political scientist Jeremy Weinstein exploring how the technology industry sacrifices core values that underpin our democracy.

Political science professor Larry Diamond and visiting scholar Amichai Magen will be leading a unique course called “Modern Israel: Insights and Analysis from Stanford Scholars and Guests,” which evolved out of a course they developed for Stanford undergraduates. Presented in partnership with the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, the course features lectures by a diverse set of Stanford faculty and prominent experts, including Condoleezza Rice (director of the Hoover Institution and former US secretary of state), Sophia Khalifa Shramko (Stanford MBA ’19), Russell Berman (Stanford professor of German studies), Ran Abramitzky (Stanford professor of economics), and more.

Other timely courses being offered in spring include “Parenting for Calm in a Chaotic World” by Stanford education lecturer Denise Pope, “The History and Geography of Natural Mind-Altering Substances” by Stanford history lecturer emeritus Martin Lewis, and “America and the World: The Foreign Policy Challenge” by Stanford visiting scholar Amir Kamel.

For fiction writers, this is a great quarter to explore new genres! Jeanne De Vita will be teaching “Romance Novel Workshop: Getting to the Heart of the Story,” Michael Agresta will lead us through a “Speculative Fiction Workshop: Fabulous Visions,” and Deborah Johnson will offer us “Mystery and Thriller Workshop: Misdirection, Mayhem, and More.”

For those seeking solace or a change of perspective, you might consider Edwin Bernbaum’s excellent course, “Sacred Mountains of the World: The Heights of Inspiration.” Or if some rest and a good night’s sleep sounds nice, we are pleased to have Stanford clinical professor Rafael Pelayo offering for the first time his course on “The Science of Sleep and Dreams.”

One way or another, we are confident you will find something new or unexpected in our lineup to inspire you! We look forward to seeing you in class.
 
Warmly,
Jennifer Deitz
Director & Associate Dean