Core Colloquia are dynamic, three-credit first-year seminars designed to ignite intellectual curiosity from the very first day on campus. These faculty-led courses move beyond the mastery of facts to model the rigorous modes of inquiry and durable academic habits required to navigate Tulane's core curriculum. By using compelling, specialized topics as a vehicle for methodology, these seminars ensure that first-year students embark on their collegiate journey with the tools to uncover deep fascination in any field of study.
These courses also satisfy the First-Year Seminar Core Curriculum requirement.
MWF 12:00-12:50p
Was Hurricane Katrina a natural disaster or a man-made one? In this course, students use intersectional feminist tools to challenge dominant narratives of the storm. By analyzing oral histories, documentaries, and local case studies, we examine how structural vulnerability shaped disaster and recovery. The course highlights the leadership, experiences, and community work of Women of Color in the aftermath of Katrina and considers how public policy continues to shape life in New Orleans today.
Attributes: Textual & Historical Perspectives; Race & Inclusion
Sina Lee, Professor of Practice, Gender and Sexuality Studies | BIO
HISA 1500 Dante’s Divine Comedy
MWF 1:00-11:50p
An immersive journey through a vision of the afterlife that is also an “encyclopedia” of the medieval world. Features a “student-expert” model: each student masters a specific theme—from astronomy to politics—and leads the class as they traverse the text of The Divine Comedy.
Attributes: Textual & Historical Perspectives; Global Perspectives; Writing Tier I
Thomas Luongo, Associate Professor, History | BIO
HIST 1500 Digital History & Slavery
M 3:00-5:30p
What does the history of slavery and race have to do with modern digital data? Students investigate the dehumanizing intent of slavery-era data collection, and the ethics of modern digital archives. The course will explore large public databases related slave trading and slavery, including some databases directly related to slavery history in New Orleans.
Attributes: Textual & Historical Perspectives; Race & Inclusion; Writing Tier I
Laura Adderley, Associate Professor, History | BIO
HIST 1520 Pain & Torture Through History
M 3:00-5:30p
An examination of the goals and consequences of torture through history, as it moved from a focus of inflicting pain to the use of psychological torture and sensory deprivation. Students will explore what makes a person into a torturer, the effect torture has on victims and communities, and why countries that signed the UN declaration banning torture still practice it along with the ramifications of this.
Attributes: Textual & Historical Perspectives; Global Perspectives; Writing Tier I
Linda Pollock, Professor, History | BIO
HISU 1500 New Orleans and Its Environment in History
F 12:15-2:45p
Grounding students in their new home. This course asks how the environment has shaped New Orleans—and how humans have engineered the landscape. The city itself becomes the archive as students observe the local environment to understand the history beneath their feet
Attributes: Textual & Historical Perspectives; Writing Tier I
Brad Bolman, Assistant Professor, History | BIO
MATH 1661 Explorations in Variant Sudoku
MWF 12:00-12:50p
A masterclass in logic without the barrier of advanced prerequisite knowledge in mathematics. Students develop perseverance and high-level deductive reasoning by analyzing “Variant Sudoku”—complex logic puzzles that require rigorous proof rather than guesswork.
Attributes: Formal Reasoning
Michael Joyce, Senior Professor of Practice, Math | BIO
Core Colloquia CUREs (Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience)
These immersive courses replace passive learning with active discovery, empowering students to develop sophisticated research methodologies and professional communication skills through applied, real-world inquiry. By integrating faculty-mentored projects directly into the curriculum, CUREs provide a gateway to intellectual ownership that empowers students to anchor their education in original discovery.
HISC 1500 Divorce in Maoist China: Archives in Action
R 12:30-3:00p
The Project: AI-powered history. In a “first of its kind” seminar, students use AI tools to translate and analyze a rare collection of Chinese-language archives regarding the 1953 Marriage Law Campaign. This innovative approach allows students without language skills to unlock historical “silences.”
Attributes: Textual & Historical Perspectives; Global Perspectives; Writing Tier I
Brian DeMare, Professor of History, Gender and Sexuality Studies | BIO
M 12:15-2:40p
The Project: Reclaiming economic history. Students investigate the rise, fall, and future of historic Black business districts, including Richmond, Tulsa, and Mound Bayou, MS. The course results in a public-facing project that integrates oral histories and digital humanities to map these spaces of economic resilience.
Attributes: Textual & Historical Perspectives; Race & Inclusion; Writing Tier I
Shennette Garrett-Scott, Associate Professor, History | BIO
MATH 1660 Modeling Campus Life
MWF 11:00-11:50a
The Project: Turn everyday campus moments into real research! Investigate dining-hall crowds, study habits, pedestrian flow, and more using data you collect and mathematical models you build. No predetermined answers, just genuine discovery. Own your research question, design your study, and present original findings.
Attributes: Formal Reasoning
Lifeng Han, Professor of Practice, Math | BIO
Collaborative Molecular Epidemiology
TBA
The Project: Real data, unknown outcomes. Students step into the role of molecular epidemiologists, analyzing authentic surveillance records of neglected tropical diseases like Trypanosoma cruzi explore patterns in disease transmission.
Attributes: Mathematics & Natural Sciences
Claudia Herrera, Assistant Professor, Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine | BIO
Please reference the Schedule of Classes for the most updated course information. Core Colloquia courses are listed on the Schedule of Classes with the “First-Year Core Colloquium” course attribute. You may search for these courses by filtering that attribute under Curriculum Requirements.
