CUSP Curriculum and Programming

Each year, all of the elements of CUSP – the first-year seminar, the Speaker Series, the Scholar Forums, and more – are united by a common theme, a broad idea that is the foundation of our year-long inquiry.  This year, our theme is Borders and Boundaries.  We selected this theme because understanding the vitality of any place means exploring the vast and complex issues that ultimately structure the borders within society.

The theme of “Borders and Boundaries” provides a wide-ranging lens through which we wish to explore issues of our own humanity, how we learn about our physical universe, how society is structured, themes of nature vs. nurture, the mind and the body, and the sacred or profane.  We look forward to exploring the paradox between boundaries and boundlessness in scientific inquiry – from bioethics to space exploration, gene mutation, and virtual reality.  We will engage the challenges of ethics and technology, the relationship between the arts and science, the intersections between religions, and the roots of religious violence.  Through the lens of law and justice, we look forward to exploring human and civil rights and privileges, issues of race and class, definitions of citizenship, issues of migration and immigration, geographic boundaries of political entities or legal jurisdictions.  In general, we will explore shifting boundaries, revolutions and counter-revolutions – political, scientific, technological, religious, and artistic discourses.