The spring 2026 semester is upon us, and that means course registration is here. I’ve scoured the double-click archives for some obscure, curious and/or raw courses that may pique your interest!
Course registration is my favorite time of the semester because I get to dwell in fantasies of courses I don’t have the time or energy — and not to mention money — to take. Gratefully aided by our new course registration interface, I’ve dug these six 2026 courses up. From the Earth to astrolabes to food, our professors do not fail to deliver ever-intriguing explorations.
HUM 3990 – Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings: On Being Human in Middle Earth.
Historian Brad Hale and Philosopher Darrell Dooyema come together to ponder the wisdom instilled in Tolkien’s timeless stories; what does Tolkien teach us about the human condition — or perhaps the Hobbit condition?
If you’re of junior standing and bear ravenous interest in the stories of Middle Earth, the duo is offering seats on Tuesdays from 10:50 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. It’s a great way to knock out that Humanities requirement too.
FILM 3900 – Feminist Ecocinema.
Think, we must! Assistant Professor Nadine Boljkovac has precisely the means to inspire that inclination. Our very own VAPA Department feminist cinema and screen studies scholar lifts the curtain in a time where we must think to expose students to the world of feminist film arts.
On Wednesdays from 1:40 p.m. to 4:20 p.m., all students, but especially film students, are invited to the theater for a journey into the lands of ecofeminist theatrics.
Various ENGL 1410s.
Each ENGL 1410 professor has a different theme, but you can only pick one! This goes out to my first years — or procrastinators — who have yet to take the course. I’ll briefly lay out some peculiarities coming next semester, but the whole list can be found here. En garde: “New Technologies: Friend or Foe?” with Keri Hemenway; “Beasts of Mind: The Sociopolitics of (De)Humanization and Animalization” with Christine Robinson Coon; “SCIENCE!” with Cody Kaser; and “Web and Wilderness: Digital and Natural Realities” with Sheldon Gaskell.
Each professor’s themed class will take place at a different time, and some will be online, so do be sure to check the catalog!
PHIL 3999 – Philosophy of Food: From Mind to Farm to Table.
Now that’s a mouthful. In the ponderous tradition of philosophy, this class is anxious about all sorts of questions. What is food? How do we judge it to be yummy or gross? What social roles does food play?
If you wish to see more than the shadows of fast food on the walls, then sign up for Professor Robert (Rex) Welshon and Joseph Kuzma’s Philosophy of Food on Tuesdays, 4:45 p.m. to 7:20 p.m.
WEST 4570 – South Sea Tales: Decoloniality & Indigeneity in Transpacific Literature.
That’s a lot of daunting words — for a daunting project. Recounting and recovering imperial and colonial texts from the 18th and 19th centuries, Professor Ilaheva (or Natalie) Tua’one will set sail with crew into her own seas of expertise.
Students who have taken WEST 1010 can climb aboard for this rickety ride on Wednesdays from 1:40 p.m. to 4:20 p.m.; apologies to now-distressed ecofeminists for the schedule conflict.
HIST 4150 – Astrolabes, Arms, and Azulejos (Tiles): Medieval Science, Technology, Material Culture (600-1500 C.E.).
If high school history classes were like this, maybe I’d have literacy! A true archivist and a long-time professor and scholar, Roger L. Martínez-Dávila, will show his trove of excavated secrets from a time of Christian and Islamic conflict and cooperation towards the truth. It explores what developments reveal about the past and how we have inherited different sciences.
This online, asynchronous inquiry will attempt to bring the strings together for those with a warm heart for the medieval past. It’s Session B, so it’ll trek from March to May.
I hope some of these courses have caught your eye!
Photo via The Scribe archives.