Course Schedule and Catalog

Department: Humanities Division

Meeting: 2:00PM - 4:30PM M (11-JAN-2027 - 23-APR-2027) 

Part of Term: Full Term

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Seminar

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Method of Instruction: Face to Face

Credit Hours: 3

 

Section Max Enrollment: 12

Section Enrolled: 0

Enrollment data as of: 2-NOV-2026 2:23AM

 

 

Final Exam: No Final Exam

 

Description: Graduate students spend years training at colleges and universities, and many go on to dedicate their professional lives to the institution. And yet, in almost all graduate programs (with the exception of degrees in higher education!), little is taught about the university itself – its history, institutional formation, modes of organization, finances, constituencies, missions, challenges, and futures. What exactly is the modern American university? What are its missions? How do the complex histories of various institutions shape higher education today? How do different university actors and constituencies intersect – and sometimes, compete and conflict? Is it time to reimagine what the university can be? Grounded in the field of Critical University Studies, and drawing from both canonical texts – from Kant to Kuhn – and contemporary critiques, this course will teach PhD students how universities work and help them develop a vocabulary and toolset to examine these institutions from within. Topics will include disciplinarity and the organization of knowledges, university finances and corporatization, faculty governance and administration, athletics and student support services, the public mission, diversity imperatives, global campuses of US universities, and more. Students will complete the course knowing how to better understand and navigate these institutions.