Need to make a last-minute change to your schedule?
The University of Utah’s course catalog is always updating with new and interesting classes, and this Fall 2023 Semester is no exception. From a class teaching how to create your own true crime podcast to an examination of how smartphones are changing the world, the U is offering new ways to think, new ideas to explore and new paths to a job that is challenging and worthwhile.
“This semester’s course offerings cover a diverse spectrum of topics, issues and investigation,” said Jim Agutter, senior associate dean of Undergraduate Studies. “Many cover broad interdisciplinary connections, while some provide opportunities for in-depth exploration. Every student will have the opportunity to discover a class that provides them with an exceptional educational experience and provides them with the tools to innovate, adapt, connect and excel.”
As a bonus, if you are looking to make updates to your path of study— whether it’s changing your major or adding a certificate—this story includes information about some of the University of Utah’s newest offerings as well. (Please note some of these classes have waitlists.)
New Courses
College of Humanities
Great Books (HUM 1500)
New Fall 2023
Open to all students, with no prerequisite
Fulfills Humanities Exploration Requirement
In-person only
Across history, great books, both enduring and contemporary, have recorded the humanities’ effort to bring to bear critical thinking to meet challenges and imagine new futures for the human experience. With lectures from leading faculty across the humanities disciplines, intensive small group discussions and a focus on impactful texts representing a cross-section of cultures and contexts. Read more about this course here.
True Crime Podcasting (COMM 5570)
New Fall 2023
In this course, students will learn about investigative, long-form journalism through the medium of true crime podcasting. Course topics include empathetic and trauma-informed interviewing and connecting unsolved cases to larger social and systemic issues.
College of Fine Art
Making Movies (FILM 1500)
New Fall 2023
Open to all students, with no prerequisite
In-person only
This class provides an introduction to the basic principles and techniques in digital motion picture storytelling. Students will create short works in a variety of modes, including live-action, animation, fiction and non-fiction. Students must have their own device that can record video as well as access to a computer or other device that can edit video.
College of Social and Behavioral Science
Transition to adulthood (FSC 2100)
First offered Fall 2022
Open to all students, with no prerequisite
Fulfills the Social/Behavioral Science Exploration requirement
In-person only
In this course, students think critically about what it means to become an adult and how the meaning and realities of adulthood vary across time and place. Using a sociological lens, students will explore how adulthood is socially constructed and what this means for their own transition to adulthood in the contemporary United States. Read more about the course here.
College of Social Work
Crisis Intervention & Certification (SW 4000)
First offered Spring 2023
Open to students of any major who have completed a “C” or better in PSY 1010
Offered online and in-person
Over the course of the semester, students will learn about common crisis issues and how to assist individuals experiencing crisis or distress related to suicidal thoughts or behavior, mental illness, substance use and other scenarios exceeding and overwhelming a person’s coping abilities. Read more about the course here.
Students who successfully complete the class can receive the Utah Crisis Worker certification.
David Eccles School of Business
Strategy for Good: Social Impact, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation (STRAT 5859)
New Fall 2023
Open to all students, with no prerequisite
For businesses and organizations today, creating a positive social impact is directly tied to sustainability and growth. But how can organizations transition from a traditional mindset of the role of business in society toward one that prioritizes social good? In this course, students will learn how to embed and measure social impact into business while exploring the latest in impact innovations and trends.
John and Marcia Price College of Engineering
Your Smartphone: How it Works and How it’s Changing the World (ECE/MSE 1030)
New Fall 2023
Open to all students, with no prerequisite
Fulfills the Physical/Life Science Exploration requirement
In-person only
This course uses personal electronics as a launching point for student-led explorations into the science, technology and engineering of smart mobile devices as well as how they are affecting societies in the US and internationally in terms of issues like material resources, sustainability, ethics and social justice. This course will also develop skills and habits of applying quantification and comparison to develop a perspective on and make decisions about complex societal questions. Read more about this course here.
New majors, minors and certificates
College of Social and Behavioral Science
Financial Planning and Counseling Major
New Fall 2023 (previously only available as a certificate or minor)
This major focuses on providing students with a comprehensive understanding of personal finance, investment strategies, risk management, retirement and estate planning, tax planning, and other relevant topics. Students will learn about ethical standards and regulations that govern the financial planning industry. Read more here.
College of Fine Art
Online Art History Minor
New Fall 2023
With the launch of the new online art history minor students now have the option of completing their program through in-person classes, a mix of in-person and online, or wholly online. This new online version is one of only eight fully online minors offered at the U, and the only fine arts undergraduate degree currently offered from UOnline. Read more here.
Screen Performance Certificate
Created Fall 2022
Open to undergraduate Film & Media Arts and Theatre majors
This certificate offers undergraduate students in Film & Media Arts and Theatre an opportunity to extend their major program of study with focused training in screen performance. Read more here.
College of Science
Earth & Environmental Science Major
Created Fall 2023
This is an interdisciplinary degree that enables students to study the interconnected nature of earth systems, including the fields of atmospheric science, geology, and ecology. Students with this degree will gain the education and experience to make an impact on the challenges facing our planet. Read more here.
David Eccles School of Business
Finance Major with Fintech emphasis
Created 2022
Fintech Minor
Created 2022
All undergraduate students who have at least a 3.0 GPA can enroll in these new financial technology study programs. Students may choose from electives, a minor, or a finance major with a fintech emphasis to learn the range of business models and technologies disrupting financial services. Read more here.
Honors College
Human Rights & Resources Integrated Minor
Created 2022
Integrated minors offer students a unique, cohort-based pathway to complete their Honors degree by taking themed, interdisciplinary courses that articulate a minor. This integrated minor focuses on how the unequal distribution of cultural and natural resources shapes the human experience. It introduces students to the legal and philosophical basis for human rights as well as to paradigms that challenge and disrupt what has become our default moral language for thinking about human community. Students can choose from a domestic Utah-based track or an international study abroad track. Read more here.