Townsend Center Course Threads
The Course Threads Program allows Berkeley undergraduates to explore intellectual themes that connect courses across departments and disciplines. Without creating new majors or minors, the program instead highlights connections between existing courses. Course Threads help students see the value in educational breadth while also pursuing a more in-depth and well-rounded knowledge on one particular topic. Following a thread is easy: simply sign up, enroll in at least 3 courses from the thread over the course of your study at Berkeley, and participate in at least one year-end symposium.
All information related to the Course Threads Program is now housed on a separate website. Please visit the Course Threads website for course listings, media content, and bibliographies for each thread!
Faculty: Visit the Townsend Center website for information on how to apply for the Project on Disciplinary Innovation Grant and propose a new course thread.
This project is made possible by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Thread Topics
The Historical & Modern City: Studying metropolitan evolution, centrality and marginality, and national, ethnic, and urban identity.
Human Rights: Investigating the legal, political, historical, economic, social, and psychological dynamics of human rights.
Cultural Forms in Transit:
Examining national identity, the circulation of culture, and performances of ethnicity.
Visible Language: Addressing issues of textuality and technologies of communication.
Humanities & Environment
Analyzing how humans imagine, represent, interact with,
and change within their natural and cultural environments.
Human-Centered Design
Exploring interactions between humans and tools,objects, services, and information spaces.