Essential Education Experience

Explore "nature spaces" and the "unbuilt world" through art using materials including cell phone photography and matter you find outdoors to create installations. Hikes provide inspiration and practice with creative fundamentals. Cultivate "flow" attentiveness, and learn visual analysis.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-0-4)
• Semesters Offered: Fall
• Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman, Sophomore

A U.S.-based travel course focused on experiential arts learning. Students study theatre, arts, music, design, architecture, and arts engagement, considering local, regional, and national contexts. Experiences include gallery exhibits, museums, design festivals, live performances; participating in and reflecting on cultural life.

• Credits: variable to 3.0; Repeatable to a Max of 9
• Semesters Offered: On Demand
• Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman

An International travel course focused on experiential arts learning. Students study theatre, art, music, design, architecture, and arts engagement, considering local traditions and international context. Experiences include gallery exhibits, museums, design festivals, live performances; participating in and reflecting on cultural life.

• Credits: variable to 3.0; Repeatable to a Max of 9
• Semesters Offered: On Demand
• Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman

Experience designed for the practical application of leadership knowledge, skills, and behaviors acquired through peer coaching, facilitating, or mentoring environments. The practicum experience will be designed and implemented by the student, with mentorship/guidance from the associated faculty.

• Credits: 3.0; Graded Pass/Fail Only
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-0-3)
• Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring
• Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman, Sophomore

Engages students online and in the field, learning practical skills for identifying and using wild plants of the northern forest for food, medicines, and utilitarian purposes. The course provides a basic overview of cultural and historical importance of the interactions between people and plants or ethnobotany. Students will experience preparing a meal with foraged plants.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (1-1-1)
• Semesters Offered: Summer, in even years

An international ecologically-focused travel course emphasizing observational learning. Students study forest ecology topics and various natural disturbance and human-derived impacts that shape forests around us. Connecting to the natural world and place-based learning influences the way we make observations.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-1-2)
• Semesters Offered: On Demand, in odd years
• Restrictions: Permission of instructor required
• Co-Requisite(s): FW 3117

Uses sociological concepts to enhance understanding of shared natural resource stewardship regimes, including human-environment relationships, beliefs and values, rights and responsibilities associated with sovereignty; and the diversity of knowledge systems and expertise related to natural resource practices and policies.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (3-0-0)
• Semesters Offered: Fall

Overviews cultural and historical importance of syrup production. Topics include methods of collecting and processing sap, syrup, sugar, and business marketing of maple products. Course includes lab experience at Nara Family Maple Center.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (1-1-1)
• Semesters Offered: Spring

Students engage in a site specific activity guided by the instructor, in a location context. Students apply the lessons learned to explore connections elsewhere.

• Credits: 3.0; May be repeated
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-0)
• Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
• Pre-Requisite(s): UN 1015

Builds on existing leadership experiences, introduces frameworks for leadership development, guides students through a project that engages with community needs outside the MTU campus.

• Credits: variable to 9.0
• Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
• Restrictions: Permission of department required; May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman, Sophomore
• Pre-Requisite(s): MGT 3100 or AF 3001

Students gain hands-on experience managing a university Makerspace. Activities include coaching users, leading outreach events and designing improvements that enhance operations. Weekly meetings cover theory and practice of makerspace management and innovation.

• Credits: 3.0; May be repeated
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (1-1-3)
• Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring

Combines project-based learning with active community engagement. Students will explore key themes and methods within the humanities and apply their knowledge through a hands-on project in collaboration with campus, community, or global partners. Projects will vary.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-0)
• Semesters Offered: On Demand
• Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman
• Pre-Requisite(s): UN 1015

Investigate topics in German-speaking cultures while sustainably exploring landscapes and cities abroad. Examine the relationship between history and current events. Consider the evolving role of the individual in society within shifting borders and competing ideologies,

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-0)
• Semesters Offered: Summer
• Restrictions: Permission of department required
• Pre-Requisite(s): UN 1015

Learn the communicative approach to second language teaching through team-teaching. Plan, create, and teach Spanish language and culture lessons in a local school. Reflect on teamwork and material creation. Showcase growth in communication, cultural awareness, critical thinking, and intercultural competence.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (2-0-1)
• Semesters Offered: Spring
• Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman
• Pre-Requisite(s): HU 3292 or Language Placement Spanish >= 480

Explore films linked by the common thread of the city we are visiting as a character. Discuss them through referential spaces of the city and break the division between the setting of the film and its fiction. Compare and reflect upon local history and its representation.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-0)
• Semesters Offered: Summer
• Pre-Requisite(s): UN 1015

Focuses on the craft and ethics of documentary storytelling from the perspective of filmmakers, participants, and audiences. Through hands-on projects, documentary analysis, film festival attendance, and critical reflection, students will examine key questions, and techniques that inform documentary practice and reception.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-2-2)
• Semesters Offered: Fall
• Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman

Students will draft and revise written deliverables that advance the mission and goals of a community organization. Readings and writing activities develop students' knowledge of best practices for community writing, theories of publics and counterpublics, the exigencies of public genres, audience awareness, and narrative communication.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-0)
• Semesters Offered: Spring
• Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman, Sophomore
• Pre-Requisite(s): UN 1015

This course engages students in the theory and practice of community journalism through immersive participation in the MTU Lode alongside study of journalistic process and craft.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-2-3)
• Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring
• Pre-Requisite(s): UN 1015

This course explores different ways of reflecting on our relationships to our natural environments, inquiring into the meaning of environment, ecology, resources, and management. It analyzes the social and ethical dimensions; examining how different understandings of 'environment' affect policy, ethics, law, and technology.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (3-0-0)
• Semesters Offered: On Demand
• Pre-Requisite(s): UN 1015

Considers interrelationships between technology and culture. Includes understanding the context within which technologies are developed and used, and how assumptions about technology shape knowledge, practice, and creative action.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-0)
• Semesters Offered: Spring
• Pre-Requisite(s): UN 1015

Introduces critical perspectives in environmental communication through service learning designed to develop communication competencies in social action. Students engage environmental controversies and participate in campaign to change or instate a policy, regulation, or practice on campus or in the community.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (3-0-0)
• Semesters Offered: Fall, in even years
• Pre-Requisite(s): UN 1015

Starting from the United Nations sustainable development goals, explores community-level sustainability challenges, potential solutions, and communication strategies to promote awareness and project support. Focuses on concepts such as sustainability, community-driven project development, and application of communication strategies.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-0)
• Semesters Offered: Fall, in odd years
• Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Junior, Senior
• Pre-Requisite(s): UN 1015

An international research activity as part of a study abroad experience. Students conduct directed study involving the exploration of international themes in science, technology, or society. Students must identify a faculty supervisor prior to enrollment.

• Credits: variable to 15.0; Repeatable to a Max of 15
• Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
• Pre-Requisite(s): EC 2001 or PSY 2000 or SS 2100 or SS 2200 or SS 2400 or SS 2500 or SS 2501 or SS 2502 or SS 2503 or SS 2504 or SS 2505 or SS 2600 or SS 2700

Students participating in fine arts performance tours taking place outside of regular academic terms are eligible to receive credit based on the time span of the tour and the nature of the itinerary. Requires active membership in the touring group or permission of director.

• Credits: variable to 3.0; May be repeated; Graded Pass/Fail Only
• Semesters Offered: On Demand
• Restrictions: Permission of instructor required

This course prepares students to not only support individuals in distress, but to lead empathetic, inclusive peer support communities. Course will foster student leadership in mental health advocacy and support students in designing and implementing meaningful, student-driven spaces on campus that are open to the broader student body.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (3-0-0)
• Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring
• Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman
• Pre-Requisite(s): PSY 2000

This course is intended to help students develop the knowledge, skills, and motivation to make a difference in the civic life of their communities. To accomplish this, students will participate in one-on-one tutoring sessions to assist older adults in the local area to become comfortable with their laptops, phones, and other devices and to guide them in solving technical issues.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (3-0-0)
• Semesters Offered: On Demand
• Restrictions: Permission of instructor required
• Pre-Requisite(s): PSY 2000 and UN 1015

Prepares Summer Youth Programs counselors to mentor pre-college students through leadership, teamwork, and communication. Emphasizes reflection, civic engagement, and interdisciplinary approaches to youth development and community building.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-0)
• Semesters Offered: Summer
• Restrictions: Permission of instructor required

Practical experience and training in the methods and techniques of field archaeology. Selected readings are followed by active participation in site survey, testing, excavation, record keeping, and analysis. Students benefit through involvement in ongoing research projects.

• Credits: variable to 8.0; Repeatable to a Max of 8
• Semesters Offered: Summer

This is a team-taught course that focuses on the historical foundations of sustainability through the study of trash. The course will zoom out from this individualized focus to explore the structural conditions that gave rise to our global "world of goods" through the processes of production, consumption, and disposal/discard.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (3-0-0)
• Semesters Offered: Fall
• Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman
• Pre-Requisite(s): UN 1015

Examines the social, labor, and technological history of the Copper Country from the frontier era until the shutdown of the mines.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (3-0-0)
• Semesters Offered: Fall, Summer

Students will participate in policy lab setting engaging in stakeholder collaboration and experimentation to address pressing societal issues in STEM.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (3-0-0)
• Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring

Explores criminal and social justice policies including policing and control of crimes involving violence, drugs, sexual offenses, and terrorism. Sentencing, effects of mass incarceration, and inequalities based on race and class will also be examined in student writing and debate.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (3-0-0)
• Semesters Offered: Fall, in even years

Hands-on experiential course includes field trips to museums and historic sites with emphasis on career development in the heritage sector. Critical thinking about the history of museums and their current economic impact will be included.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (1-0-2)
• Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring

Social science course for students engaged in 65 experiential hours of a community project or service during the semester. Enrolled students must already have a community partner to work with such as a nonprofit or student organization doing service or philanthropy. Students reflect on experiences and integrate scholarship on community engagement.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (3-0-0)
• Semesters Offered: Spring, Summer

Course designed for students on supervised study abroad or exchange programs in which they investigate and report on cultural patterns and behaviors.

• Credits: variable to 3.0; Repeatable to a Max of 9
• Semesters Offered: On Demand

Asynchronous online companion Experience course for students on non-E3 study away programs. Students engage in regular critical reflection and produce individual, group, and community-generated experiential artifacts that examine their identities, ethics of engagement, and cultural interactions in context.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (3-0-0)
• Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer

Advanced application of Geographic Information Systems in social sciences as a tool to collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data. Students gain hands-on experience in data collection, advanced spatial analysis, and scripting.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (1-0-2)
• Semesters Offered: Fall, in odd years, Spring, in odd years
• Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman
• Pre-Requisite(s): (SS 2050 or FW 3540 or GE 3250 or GE 4540 or SU 3540 or SU 4010) and UN 1015

This course examines economic, environmental, and social problems associated with deindustrialization in postwar North American cities and the strategies adopted to ameliorate them. Major topics include segregation and housing, environmental regulation, environmental justice, industrial heritage, and economic and urban development policy.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-0)
• Semesters Offered: On Demand
• Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman, Sophomore
• Pre-Requisite(s): UN 1015

Introduces advanced students to scholarly literature on industrial communities and its methods through reading and discussion of selected articles and case studies. Students will acquire skills in oral history, archival, field, and community-based research.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (3-0-0)
• Semesters Offered: Fall, in even years
• Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman, Sophomore

A rural sociology course analyzing the sustainability of rural communities (socially, environmentally, economically, and culturally). The course involves participatory research, led by a faulty member, conducted together with a local community organization. Students practice research skills while making a difference in improving community life.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-0)
• Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring
• Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman, Sophomore
• Pre-Requisite(s): UN 1015

Students will work directly with a community organization that provides legal, social, or cultural resources through engagement in a project identified by that organization. Weekly class sessions to focus on related challenges such as engaging constituencies, marketing and funding community services for low income and/or rural populations.

• Credits: 3.0; Repeatable to a Max of 6
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (3-0-0)
• Semesters Offered: Spring, in even years
• Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman

In-depth study of process of directing stage productions. Students learn/practice the director's process of analyzing scripts, developing vision/concept for production, casting, staging and coaching. Students will also learn methodologies for leading a design team in creating a cohesive production.

• Credits: 3.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-0)
• Semesters Offered: On Demand
• Restrictions: Permission of instructor required

Study of interdisciplinary and experiential special topics as specified by section title.

• Credits: variable to 6.0; May be repeated
• Semesters Offered: On Demand

An Essential Education Experience course to supplement Enterprise Project Work courses by grounding students in key principles of team and project management, leadership theory, and interest-holder engagement and communication. Students reflect on work and apply strategies to enhance collaboration, team dynamics, and project outcomes.

• Credits: 1.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (1-0-0)
• Semesters Offered: Fall
• Restrictions: Permission of instructor required; May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman
• Pre-Requisite(s): ENT 2950(C) or ENT 2960(C) or ENT 3950(C) or ENT 3960(C)

To supplement Enterprise courses by grounding students in key principles of team and project management, leadership theory, and interest-holder engagement and communication. Students reflect on work and apply strategies to enhance collaboration, team dynamics, and project outcomes.

• Credits: 2.0
• Lec-Rec-Lab: (2-0-0)
• Semesters Offered: Spring
• Restrictions: Permission of instructor required; May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman
• Pre-Requisite(s): UN 3950 and (ENT 2950(C) or ENT 2960(C) or ENT 3950(C) or ENT 3960(C))