Critical University Studies

Catalog description

This course seeks to address the current crisis of American higher education through the lens of Critical University Studies (CUS). Consisting of three interrelated themes, it will provide doctoral students with the knowledge and skills needed to critically analyze universities and colleges as well as make transformative interventions in higher education. The first theme of the course, What is Critical University Studies (CUS)?, introduces students to the relatively new field of study. Building on the first theme, the second theme of the course, Higher Education through the Lens of Neoliberalism and Intersectionality, grants students the opportunity to study how CUS emerged as a response to neoliberalism and how it incorporates intersectionality in its analysis. Rounding out the course, students will learn how to connect CUS and Action Research. In this final section, students will be asked to address a specific issue of concern in higher education that they wish to examine through a CUS-Action Research framework.