Understanding Social Issues of Our Time

The following seminar will feature a close reading and discussion of up to five contemporary bestsellers, with students choosing from a list including $2 a Day, Hillbilly Elegy, March, Hidden Figures, American Born Chinese, Persepolis, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Tuesdays with Morrie, and Just Mercy. How does the content of these books inform the public discourse on social issues such as poverty, rural America, civil rights, diversity, loss and grief, and the death penalty? Can the values, theories, and practices of Social Work broaden and deepen our understanding of these social issues, and if so, in what specific ways? Students will also be introduced to the concept of integrative learning and develop an ePortfolio over the course of the semester.