Summer 2026 courses

AMETH 160: Intro to American Ethnic Studies

Multiple sections available
How did the United States become the multiracial, multicultural society we live in today? How have ideas about race shaped that history? In this course, you’ll explore the historical and contemporary experiences of Native American, African American, Mexican/Latina/o American, Asian American, and white communities, and examine how race and ethnicity have been constructed, contested, and transformed over time. We’ll connect the past to the present, asking how earlier struggles over land, labor, migration, and citizenship continue to shape today’s conversations about identity, inequality, and belonging. This class invites you into some of the most challenging — and most meaningful — discussions happening in America right now. You’ll leave with a deeper understanding of race relations and stronger tools for navigating and contributing to our diverse democracy.

Fulfills the "Historical Perspectives" and "Human Diversity within the U.S." K-State 8 requirements.
Fulfills a "Social and Behavioral Sciences" requirement within the K-State Core and the Arts & Sciences "U.S. Multicultural Overlay."

GWSS 105: Introduction to Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies

Multiple sections available
How do ideas about gender shape your daily life — from the clothes you wear to the opportunities you’re offered? In this course, we explore gender not just as personal identity, but as a powerful force that shapes — and is shaped by — families, schools, media, governments, and global systems. We’ll examine how race, class, sexuality, nationality, and ability intersect with gender, and how both biology and social norms influence our understanding of gender and sexuality. Drawing on feminist, queer, trans, anti-racist, and anti-colonial perspectives, you’ll develop tools to think critically about inequality, power, and social change. Whether you’re new to gender studies or ready to dig deeper, this course invites you to connect theory to lived experience and imagine more just futures.

Fulfills the "Ethical Reasoning and Responsibility" and "Human Diversity within the U.S." K-State 8 requirements.
Fulfills a "Social and Behavioral Sciences" requirement within the K-State Core and the Arts & Sciences "U.S. Multicultural Overlay."

GWSS 380: Global Struggles for Feminist, Queer, and Trans Justice

Dr. Rachel Levitt
Online - asynchronous
May Intersession: 5/15/26-6/5/26
How could the Russian invasion of Ukraine connect to Native communities’ fight against sexual and gender violence in Kansas? In this course, we trace the unexpected, powerful links between justice movements led by women, queer, and trans people around the globe. You’ll explore Indigenous feminist organizing against sexual violence and extractive colonialism, democratization movements and the Arab Spring, queer migration and UndocuQueer activism, anti-pinkwashing campaigns, and visions of liberation that transcend borders. Together, we’ll ask what it means not just to study these movements, but to learn from them and think about accountability and solidarity in our own lives. You’ll get to design your own culminating project — whether a research paper, reflective analysis, or creative work — that connects global struggles to the issues you care about most.

Fulfills the Arts & Sciences "Global Perspectives Overlay"