Social scientists analyze social systems and why they work the way they do. Engineers design and build things to accomplish certain tasks. In this class we will merge the two disciplines by taking apart social systems, figuring out what makes them tick, and then putting them back together in new and different ways. We will focus specifically on education, as it is a large social system with which we all have some measure of experience, but will explore other topics in less depth.

Gender identity in video games, specifically online games with a component of anonymity, has been in the news fairly often recently. This class will explore a few of the main principles of gender in online worlds, and will discuss why we care about it.

Have you ever been curious about what Marx actually said? Have you wondered how the father of modern capitalism would feel about the economy of today? Are you interested in Nietzsche, but unsure how to pronounce his name? This class will briefly touch upon a variety of social theorists, giving enough of a taste to satisfy casual curiosity and hopefully to spur deeper explorations.

A history of American Higher Education in less than an hour; why is college the way it is today? When did college start being that way, and what was it like before?