Level Up with Liberal Arts Summer Offerings

Summer 2024 course offerings

New 2024 Summer Course Offerings Below!

Whether you're a Tulane student or alum, a local New Orleans professional, or a remote learner—our 25+ summer courses across 5 program areas offer something for everyone.

With options for May, June, or July sessions as well as in-person, remote or hybrid formats, Tulane Liberal Arts summer courses are designed to help all students:

  • Gain Industry-Specific Results & Skills
  • Learn Directly from Key Industry Experts
  • Make an Impact via Service-Learning in NOLA
  • Start or Finish a Minor Degree
  • Work Toward Core Tulane Requirements

To sum it up? Immersive Learning + Digital Flexibility = Leveling Up with Tulane Liberal Arts!

Questions? 
Reach out to Kendre Paige, Administrative Program Coordinator at kpaige@tulane.edu.


Tulane Liberal Arts — Summer 2024 Course Offerings

Tulane Student in video production for Creative Industries summer classes

Creative Industries / SLAM

Embrace our local “creative economy” and learn the entrepreneurial & business sides of success as an artistic professional, while pursuing a Creative Industries Certificate!

Creative Industries / SLAM Summer Courses

  • SLAM 4010/SLAM 7010: Leadership Strategies for Creative Industries 
    Instructor: Leslie Scott & Leah Hennessey | 3 or 4 credits with 1-credit internship | May 28-June 14 (online) | M-F 10:00 am-1:00 pm 
    Gain the perspective needed to develop—and skills needed to lead—a diverse team, and examine the creative industries through the lens of social justice and racial reconciliation.
  • SLAM 4020/SLAM 7020: Branding and Storytelling for Creative Industries 
    Instructor: Nicole Robinson | 3 or 4 credits with 1-credit internship | July 8-26 (online) | M-F 10:00 am-1:00 pm 
    Harness branding, media and storytelling tools to develop your public relations skills as an artist, and learn how to meaningfully connect with your consumers wherever they are.
  • SLAM 4030/SLAM 7030: Data Driven Strategies 
    Instructor: Sharon Goldsmith | 3 or 4 credits with 1-credit internship | July 8-26 (online) | M-F 3:00-6:00 pm 
    If creatives consider their art their most important asset, data is their second. Artists can use data to find footing and a sustainable path forward as entrepreneurs. The information gathered can then be used to trim up costs, boost revenues, and reach a larger audience. By making data collection, storage, and analysis accessible, students will learn the cycle of making art to make money to make art.
  • SLAM 4040/SLAM 7040: Legal Strategies for Businesses and Creatives 
    Instructor: Elizabeth Townsend Gard | 3 or 4 credits with 1-credit internship | June 17-July 5 (online) | M-F 1:00-4:00 pm 
    Understand the legal principles needed to grow a successful business as a creative, including how to develop and negotiate contracts, and monetize (and protect!) your intellectual property.
  • SLAM 4810/SLAM 7810: Creative Industries in the Community 
    Instructor: Leslie Scott | 1 credit | May 13-14 (in-person) | 9:00 am-5:00 pm 
    This intensive introduction to local creative industry leaders through guest lectures, on site visits, and local case studies, is intended to orient the certificate student to the current landscape. This 2day course offers participants a chance to connect with the full certificate cohort, and building meaningful context for New Orleans as a backdrop for this program.
  • SLAM 4820/SLAM 7820/COMM 4820: Business of Sports 
    Instructor: Peter Kunze | 3 or 4 credits with 1-credit internship | July 15-August 3 (online) | M-F 11:00 am-2:00 pm 
    This course provides a practical and critical overview to the sports business by drawing from research in business, economics, geography, legal studies, media industry studies, and sociology. We will talk about labor, entrepreneurship, management, and marketing as well as the structure of the sports industries and their convergence with the media industries, in particular. Special attention will be paid to the business sports in a variety of intersecting contexts: locally, nationally, and globally.
Environmental Studies Summer Classes at Tulane

Environmental Studies

Dig deep (literally) into vital issues of environmental and social justice and community preservation in the Gulf South region. Minor option.

Environmental Studies Summer Courses

  • COMM 3520-1/ COMM 3520-2: Environmental Crisis in World Cinema 
    Instructor: Antonio Gómez | 3 or 4 credits | July 1-August 2 (online) | M-F 1:00-2:30 pm 
    As you watch, analyze and consider if these global films about environmental disasters, ecological issues, and climate change promote activism or contribute to the crisis.
  • COMM 3730-1 / EVST 3950-1 : Race, Nature & Disaster 
    Instructor: Clare Daniel | 3 credits | May 28-June 28 (online) | M-F 10:30 am-12:00 pm 
    Examine the intersection of these concepts in global politics and economic policy, and how structural racism has made marginalized groups disproportionately vulnerable to wide-scale disasters. Optional 20hr Service-Learning (EVST 3890 & COMM 3891)
  • EVST 3010: Food System Leadership in the Gulf South 
    Instructor: Marcus Coleman | 3 credits | May 28-June 28 (online) | M-F 1:00-2:30 pm 
    A food system is a dynamic system of interrelated processes that impacts a diverse base of individuals, businesses, and communities economically, socially, politically, and environmentally across the Gulf South. While the industrial food system provides vast quantities of food to consumers, various alternative models demonstrate that food systems can be nutritionally productive, socially just, culturally appropriate, and environmentally sound. Inequities related to food security, energy, water, and climate have drawn public attention to the deficiencies and complexities in food systems across the region. This 3-credit-hour undergraduate course, through academic-community partnership, offers a unique opportunity for students to understand food systems and cultures across the Gulf South through interdisciplinary forums that engage diverse academic, industry, grassroots, and community perspectives. Students will also participate in community-based research to explore opportunities and threats related to food system distribution and resiliency in the Gulf South.
  • EVST 3952: Writing for a World on Fire 
    Instructor: Jennifer Urbanek | 3 credits | May 28-June 28 (online) | M-F 3:00-4:30 pm 
    Writing for a world on fire is a class in writing for environmental justice this summer. Students will write zines and engage in other forms of radical media to promote change. An expository research paper will also be assigned. We will examine a number of texts, including Timothy Morton's The Ecological Thought and Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants by Robin Kimmerer. Current and local topics will be discussed, such as Louisiana's cancer alley. We will examine how all life on earth is inextricably connected. It can be disheartening to see the links of our earth's mesh fray and threaten to tear. However, we are not powerless bystanders. We will consider ways that we can generate positive changes through our writing.
  • EVST 3951: Black Lives, Green Spaces 
    Instructor: Ebony Perro | 3 credits | July 1-August 2 (online) | M-F 10:00-11:30 am 
    From the petrochemical belts of Louisiana’s River Parishes (Cancer Alley) and Port Neches, Texas (Cancer Belt) to New Orleans’ widely discussed “climate refugees” and the water crises in Jackson, Mississippi and Flint, Michigan, marginalized communities— particularly Black people— are disproportionately impacted by anthropogenic pollution and climate change. Black people have also been central to discussions of environmental racism. Paying attention to“sacrifice zones,” we will explore how interlocking oppressions inform experiences with—and reactions to—environmental racism and climate-fueled disasters while illuminating how Black people (in media, climate fiction, and other mediums) represent those experiences. Through discussions of environmental justice, we will also explore the organizing efforts of these communities and illuminate Black people’s contributions to past and present climate action movements. As we think about what Black citizens do to sustain and revitalize their communities, we will consider how environmental justice and Environment Studies are central parts of Black history (and Black futures).
  • EVST 4210: Environmental & Social Justice in NOLA 
    Instructor: Christopher Oliver | 3 or 4 credits | July 1-August 2 (online) | M-F 3:30-5:00 pm 
    Frame and analyze environmental and social justice issues while engaging in impactful field research within the Greater New Orleans region. Mandatory 40hr service-learning (EVST 4890).
US Public Policy Summer Classes at Tulane

U.S. Public Policy

Analyze public policy at local and federal levels, and gain invaluable hands-on research experience within New Orleans local government. Minor option.

U.S. Public Policy Minor Summer Courses

  • COMM 3810: Race & Prison in Public Policy 
    Instructor: Jerome Dent | 3 credits | May 28-June 28 (online) | M-F 9:00-10:45 am 
    Knowing that black and brown folks are overrepresented in our prisons, this course explores the policies responsible for U.S. incarceration rates, with a particular focus on the history of The Louisiana State Penitentiary.
  • POLA 3240: Public Policy 
    Instructor: Scott Nolan | 3 credits | May 13-May 24 (online) | M-F 9:30 am-1:30 pm 
    This course covers the policy making process for domestic policy in the United States. We will study the following questions: Why do some problems reach the political agenda and others do not? Who are the important actors in the policy process and what roles do they play? What are the values at stake with policy debates? What explains why certain solutions are offered and others are rejected? How do we know if a policy has been successful?
  • POLA 4010: Gun Policy in the U.S. 
    Instructor: Michael Jones | 3 credits | May 28-June 28 (online) | M-F 11:00 am-12:45 pm 
    Is gun violence the price we pay for freedom? Can gun violence be decreased without infringing on 2nd Amendment rights? Why do individuals own guns in America? To answer questions like these, this course will examine the evolution of firearms ownership in America, as well as changes in public perception, regulations, and policy initiatives which have framed contemporary gun politics. By aligning cutting-edge research on firearms policy with political realities, this course will assess the possible outcomes of gun policy moving forward and push students to craft their own policy proposals within the context of the contemporary policy environment.
  • POLA 4110: sections 1 & 2: Policy Research Shop 
    Instructor: Brian Brox | 3 credits | July 1-August 2 (Sec 1 online; Sec 2 in-person) | M-F 9:30-11:15 am 
    Produce a product for city government officials while expanding your knowledge of urban politics, governance, public policymaking and policy research. Mandatory 20hr service-learning (POLA 4890).
Science, Medicine, Technology Summer Classes at Tulane

Science, Medicine, Technology & Society

Interested in med school? In partnership with Tulane's School of Medicine, untangle the complex and critical disciplines of SMTS to better address current crises.

Science, Medicine, Technology & Society Summer Courses

  • BEMH 6002: Foundations in Bioethics 
    Instructor: Valerie Holliday | 3 credits | June 03-July 29 (online) | T&TR 9:00-11:30 am 
    Consider questions about the foundations of medicine, illness and the physician-patient relationship while debating how to solve urgent moral and social justice issues.
  • BEMH 6006: The Doctor as Author 
    Instructor: Ben Saxton, Cathy Lazarus & Valerie Holliday | 3 credits | June 3-July 29 (online) | T&TR 2:00-4:30 pm 
    This course explores some of the many doctor-writers who have reflected on the practice of medicine and the qualities of a good doctor. Beginning with a discussion of the merged scientific and humanistic sensibilities of these writers, and continuing with a focus on their pleas that we attend to the patient’s illness and life-world as well as to the patient’s ailing body, it will consider how their work helps us to think about what it means to practice purposefully.
  • GESS2190 / BEMH 6810: Disability Justice and Health Care 
    Instructor: Krystal Cleary | 3 credits | July 1-August 2 (online) | M-F 11:00 am-12:30 pm 
    This interdisciplinary course examines the disability politics of medicine, health, and care. We will approach disability as a social category, culture, civil rights issue, and diverse lived experience that is inclusive of physical and intellectual disability, neurodiversity, chronic illness, and mental health. Students will be introduced to critical disability studies and Disability Justice frameworks to investigate disability’s intersection with sexuality, class, race, and gender in ongoing histories of pathologization and contemporary debates. We will study the nuanced critiques of medicalization advanced by disabled, chronically ill, neurodiverse, and mad scholars, activists, and culture workers. We will also explore disability-related movements and creative projects for reimagining health, care, and justice. Optional 20hr service-learning GESS 3890.
  • BEMH 6813: Animal Ethics 
    Instructor: Stephen Hanson & Valerie Holliday | 3 credits | June 3-July 29 (online) | M&W 9:00-11:30 am 
    In the last four decades, society's concern for the treatment of animals has grown significantly. This course explores the history and ongoing philosophical discussions surrounding animals. We'll explore how the widespread use of animals in research and mass food production following World War II has made the treatment of animals a much more pressing issue. Throughout the course, we'll cover the major theories in animal ethics and engage in discussions about topics such as animals as food, animal experimentation, animals as companions, and animals and biotechnology.
  • COMM 3730 / EVST 3950 /BEMH 6812: Race, Nature & Disaster 
    Instructor: Clare Daniel | 3 credits | May 28-June 28 (online) | M-F 10:30 am-12:00 pm 
    Examine the intersection of these concepts in global politics and economic policy, and how structural racism has made marginalized groups disproportionately vulnerable to wide-scale disasters. Optional 20hr Service-Learning (EVST 3890 & COMM 3891)
  • HISU 2100 / BEMH 6521: History of Medicine in the U.S. 
    Instructor: Jacquelyne Howard | 3 credits | May 28-June 28 (online) | M-F 12:00-1:30 pm 
    Students in this course will study the social dimensions of medicine, disease, and health in U.S. history. We will examine how ordinary people were affected by pandemics, advances in medical technologies, and changing ideas about health care. Students will consider how ideas about medicine have been shaped by economic, military, political, and social transformations in U.S. history.
  • SOCI 2220 / BEMH 6811: Sociology of Medicine 
    Instructor: Mariana Craciun | 3 credits | July 1-August 2 (online) | M-F 12:30-2:00 pm 
    Few institutions compare to medicine in their claimed expertise and control over human life, health, illness, and death. This class is an introduction to various dimensions of the medical world. We will discuss the organization of care, the power of physicians, the production of medical science, how experts and non-experts define illness, and how such definitions vary across time and place. We will bring “global health” into focus, ask what it means to be a patient today, and illuminate disparities in health. Throughout, we will take a critical stance towards the system that supports the practice and power of medicine.
Native American Studies Summer Classes at Tulane

Native American Studies

Explore Indigenous U.S. history and help revive the Tunica-Biloxi tribe of Louisiana's nearly lost language through immersive service-learning on their tribal land in Marksville, Louisiana. 
Lapuhch! (Tunica for “It would be a good thing!”). Minor option.

Native American Studies Summer Courses

  • ANTH 1101: Introduction to Native American Studies 
    Instructor: Christopher Wheatley | 3 credits | August 5-15 (online) | M-F 9:00 am-1:30 pm 
    Explore the historical and modern issues of Indigenous peoples, focusing on vignettes of the cultures, languages, philosophies and lifeways of Native American groups in the U.S.
  • LING 3000: Tunica Louisiana's Sleeping Language 
    Instructor: Judith Maxwell | 4 credits | June 3-14 (in-person) Week 1: 9:00 am-12:00 pm; Week 2 (Marksville, LA) 8:30-5:00 pm 
    Address the processes of language death and second language teaching methods before participating in the Tunica-Biloxi tribe's Language Summer Camp in Marksville, Louisiana, learning elementary Tunica while facilitating Indigenous sports and craft activities. Co-req: LING 3890 (Mandatory 40 hr Service Learning)
  • THEA 2910: Native America on Stage and Screen 
    Instructor: Victor Holtcamp | 3 credits | May 13- May 24 (in-person) | M-F 10:00 am-2:00 pm 
    How have stereotypes of Native Americans been created, perpetuated, mutated and contested since the arrival of Europeans in the 1500s? Why were certain types of stories compelling to their audiences at the time? What plays and films have been instrumental in telling broad audiences – primarily but not exclusively in the United States – who Native Americans are and what they are like? How have Native artists engaged with dominant culture and narratives? This course is a chance to explore the roots and contemporary ramifications of stories told about Native America alongside stories told by Native Americans.

Plan to "level up" next summer with boutique courses at Tulane's School of Liberal Arts! Learn from incredible faculty, explore new career paths, expand your education, and experience New Orleans in-person and online. Register today!

How to Register:

Questions? Email Kendra Paige, Administrative Program Coordinator, at kpaige@tulane.edu.

Calling all New Orleans creatives! Learn about our NEW Creative Industries Certificate.