Sample Courses

Semester at Sea offers approximately 75 upper- and lower-division courses each fall and spring term, and 35-40 each summer term.

Engineering Cohort

• Each summer term, SAS offers a special cohort of classes for engineering students who wish to enhance their education with a cross-cultural, comparative studies experience. These engineering courses, which integrate classroom and international fieldwork, are taught by pre-eminent faculty and the academic credit is granted by our academic sponsor, the University of Virginia.

ASTRONOMY

Introduction to the Sky and Solar System
Introduction to Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe
Introduction to Cosmology

BIOLOGY

Marine Biology
Human Disease and Society
World Nutrition
Topics in Global Public Health
Biology of Infectious Diseases
Introduction to Immunology

COMMERCE

Foundations of International Business
International Marketing
Topics in Finance
International Management
Entry Strategies in Emerging Markets
Non-profit Management
Social Entrepreneurship
Commerce Law
Business Ethics
Learning to Lead (Non-Profit Leadership)
Communication Strategies for Business Professionals
Business, Politics and Culture of the EU
Global Sustainability
Business and Sustainable Development

COMMUNICATION/JOURNALISM

Intercultural Communication
International Mass Media / Global Mass Communication
Travel Writing
Diverse Cultures, Lifestyles and Gender in Mass Communication
Public Speaking about Global Issues
Interpersonal Communication

CULTURAL STUDIES

Gender and Society
Rhetoric of Equality and Social Justice
A Brief History of Everything
Music and Social Change
Introduction to World Mysticism
Islam in the Modern Age
Rethinking Humanism

DRAMA

World Theatre and Performance
Acting I
Community Based Drama
Global Theatre Literature

ECONOMICS

Development Economics
International Money and Banking
International Trade
Comparative Economic Systems
Poverty and Economic Development

ENGLISH

Women’s Literature of the World
World Literature
Introduction to Creative Writing
Academic Writing
Travel Writing
World Poetry

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE / EARTH SCIENCE

Earth’s Weather and Climate
Earth Processes as Natural Hazards
Introduction to Oceanography
Beaches, Coasts and Rivers
Topics in Oceanography
Coastal Processes
Marine Environments

FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Conversational Spanish
Conversational Spanish II or III
Conversational Arabic
Conversational Chinese
Conversational French
Conversational Hindi
Conversational Japanese

GEOGRAPHY

World Regional Geography
Political Geography
Human Geography
Geography of International Development
Geography of the Oceans
Cultural Geography

HISTORY

The West and the World
Topics in Economic History
East / Southeast / South Asian History
Modern African History
History of the Mediterranean
Diasporas

LEGAL STUDIES

International Law
Maritime Law and Piracy

LINGUISTICS

Languages of the World
Introduction to Sociolinguistics
Psychology of Language
Pidgins and Creoles
Morphological Theory

MEDIA STUDIES

Introduction to Media Studies
Globalization through Film
Cinema as an Art Form
Theory and Criticism of Media
Introduction to Documentary Production
Diverse Cultures, Lifestyles and Gender in Mass Communication

MUSIC

Introduction to World Music
Popular Music in World Cultures

POLITICS

Introduction to Comparative Politics
Theories of International Relations
Ethics and Human Rights in World Politics
Political Economy of Development
Chinese Politics
Contemporary Political Thought

PSYCHOLOGY

Culture in Personality
Cross-cultural Psychology
Introduction to Cognition
Introduction to Social Psychology
Psychology of Language
Abnormal Psychology
Positive Psychology
Global Mental Health

RELIGIOUS STUDIES

Comparative World Religions
Religion and Human Experience in Global Perspective
African Religions
Introduction to Buddhism
Introduction to Eastern Religion
Popular Hinduism
Islam in the Modern Age
African Diaspora Religions
Religious Freedom – Evolution and Consequences

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, and SOCIETY

Rural Development and the World Food Crisis
Environmental Health in Global Perspective
Technology, Aggression, and Peace
Science, Technology and Medicine in Society
Environment, Power and Society
Engineering for a Sustainable Society
Natural Resource Use, Technology and International Policy
Engineering in a Global Context
The Engineer, Ethics, and Society

SERVICE LEARNING AND LEADERSHIP

International Service Learning
Leadership Development
Non-profit Leadership

SOCIOLOGY

Gender and Society
Race and Ethnicity
Sociology of the Family
Sociology of Sport
Systems of Inequality
Sociology of Development
Women, Islam, and Modernity
Social Movements

STUDIES IN WOMEN AND GENDER

Multiculturalism and Women’s Rights
Human Rights and Gender
Technology and Reproduction
Border Crossings - Women, Islam and Literature in the Middle East and North Africa
Gendering Partition Cultures
Transnational Feminisms

STUDIO ART

Introduction to Drawing I
Introduction to New Media I
Introduction to Painting I

This list is provided as a rough sample and should not be construed as a course listing.