Complex Problem & Enduring Question Courses
First year students are invited to enroll in Boston College鈥檚 innovative Complex Problem and Enduring Question University Core courses. These courses are collaboratively taught by two faculty members from different fields and are designed to engage students in interdisciplinary explorations of topics of critical importance. These include areas such as ethics and engineering; climate change and urban planning; faith and virtue; the value of freedom; health and illness; and more.
Complex Problem and Enduring Question courses extend inquiry beyond the classroom to labs, Reflection sessions, conversations with outside speakers, and off-campus field visits, creating an intensive shared learning experience for both teachers and students. They exemplify Boston College鈥檚 distinctive approach to Core education by establishing a foundation for students鈥� intellectual development and preparing them to become engaged, effective world citizens.
Fall 2025 Complex Problem and Enduring Question Courses
Complex Problem Courses
Complex Problem courses are six-credit courses, team-taught by two professors from different disciplines. Students meet multiple days each week for lectures and once per week for lab. Students and faculty also gather for weekly Reflection sessions, which may involve group activities, guest speakers, or field trips off campus. Each paired Complex Problem course fulfills two University Core requirements. Some may fill an additional University Core requirement for Cultural Diversity, through either Difference, Justice and the Common Good (DJCG) or Engaging Difference and Justice (EDJ).
If you have any questions about these courses or how to register, e-mail core@bc.edu.
听
Crisis and Storytelling in the Age of Climate Change
EESC1720 + ENGL1733
鈻� Fulfills 1 Natural Science + Literature
Hilary Palevsky, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Min Song, English
The realities of a changing climate, including intensified extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and strengthening heat waves and droughts, are already being felt by frontline communities around the world. This course focuses both on hearing stories about climate change as told by climate writers, scientists, and members of impacted populations, and telling these stories ourselves. We will examine storytelling as it works across mediums and genres from literature to scientific data visualizations, and consider what it means to write an essay, produce a graph, create a podcast, or make a film. Students in the course will read, watch, and analyze examples of climate storytelling, broadly defined, and produce their own personal essays, infographics, podcasts, and/or films. Some questions we will foreground throughout the semester are: How do we communicate the science and the human impacts of the climate crisis? Whose ways of knowing and lived experiences do we privilege? How can the stories we tell move society toward just climate solutions?
These course lectures meet:
- TTh 3:00 鈥� 4:15 p.m.
You must select one of the following lab selections with your registration:
- M 10:30 鈥� 11:45 a.m.
- M 12:00 鈥� 1:15 p.m.
- W 9:00 鈥� 10:15 a.m.
- F 2:00 鈥� 3:15 p.m.
Reflection will be held:
- T 6:00 鈥� 7:15 p.m.
Real Estate and Urban Action: Transforming Communities and Increasing Access to Opportunity
ECON1704 + UNAS1725
鈻� Fulfills 2 Social Science + Cultural Diversity
Geoffrey Sanzenbacher, Economics
Neil McCullagh, Carroll School of Management
This course explores concepts of social, economic, and racial inequality with a focus on the interaction between housing, labor markets, and the ultimate accumulation of wealth. Housing will be examined through a study of the history of affordable housing, an exploration of the transformation of Columbia Point Public Housing Development to Harbor Point, and an applied simulation. Labor markets will be explored at the theoretical level (e.g., labor supply/demand, human capital, discrimination) before diving into data and literature on how changes over the last 40 years have expanded inequality. The course will conclude with how the lack of both affordable housing and quality labor market opportunities can interact to restrict intergenerational wealth accumulation and opportunity. Through field projects, simulations, and a practical final project, the course will challenge students to explore and test solutions for transforming distressed communities into safe, desirable neighborhoods that produce better outcomes for all residents.
These course lectures meet:
- TTh 12:00 鈥� 1:15 p.m.
You must select one of the following lab selections with your registration:
- M 11:00 a.m. 鈥� 12:15 p.m.
- M 1:00 鈥� 2:15 p.m.
- F 11:00 a.m. 鈥� 12:15 p.m.
- F 1:00 鈥� 2:15 p.m.
Reflection will be held:
- W 6:00 鈥� 7:15 p.m.
Making the Modern World: Design, Ethics, and Engineering
ENGR1801 + HIST1627
鈻� Fulfills 1 Natural Science + History II + Cultural Diversity
Kristen Conroy, Engineering
Jenna Tonn, Engineering & History
Together we will consider how engineers and other stakeholders navigate risks related to industrial and environmental disasters, balance financial, technological, and regulatory pressures associated with complex socio-technical problems, and negotiate technical and political liabilities surrounding artificial intelligence, surveillance, and climate adaptation. Engineering systems present pressing technical, ethical, and moral problems that we must grapple with as engaged global citizens. Students will explore the social, cultural, and institutional history of engineering, learn foundational skills in quantitative analysis of real-world engineering designs, and understand the political, environmental, economic, and ethical tradeoffs associated with building the modern world. Students will also collaborate on group design projects based on human-centered engineering
These course lectures meet:
- TTh 10:30 鈥� 11:45 a.m.
You must select one of the following lab selections with your registration:
- Tu 12:00 鈥� 1:50 p.m.
- Tu 3:00 鈥� 4:50 p.m.
- F 10:00 鈥� 11:50 p.m.
- F 3:00 鈥� 4:50 p.m.
Reflection will be held:
- Th 6:00 鈥� 7:15 p.m.
Enduring Question Courses
Enduring Question courses are two linked three-credit courses taught by professors from different disciplines. The same 19 students take both courses. Four times during the semester, students and faculty gather for Reflection sessions, which may involve group activities, guest speakers, or field trips off campus. Each pair of Enduring Question courses fulfills two University Core requirements. Some may fulfill an additional University Core requirement for Cultural Diversity through either Difference, Justice, and the Common Good (DJCG) or Engaging Difference and Justice (EDJ).
If you have any questions about these courses or how to register, e-mail core@bc.edu.
听
Exploring the Mystery of God: A Philosophical Perspective (PHIL1726)
Exploring the Mystery of God: A Theological Perspective (THEO1726)
鈻� Fulfills 1 Philosophy + 1 Theology (Christian Theology)
Deborah De Chiara-Quenzer, Philosophy
L. Matthew Petillo, Theology
What is the relationship between human beings and God?
These paired courses explore conceptions of the divine that have been a fundamental part of Western civilization as well as the relationships that human beings have with the divine. The Philosophy course will examine how the Greeks viewed their gods in their literature and philosophy. The Theology course will explore various perspectives on God in ancient, medieval, and contemporary theological writings. There will be many intersections and divergences on the divine between the two courses.听
These course lectures meet:
- MWF 9:00 鈥� 9:50 a.m.
- MWF 10:00 鈥� 10:50 a.m.
Reflection will be held four times during the semester:
- M 6:00 鈥� 7:50 p.m.
Aesthetic Exercises: Empathy, Engagement, Ethics (MUSA1701)
Spiritual Exercises: Empathy, Engagement, Ethics (THEO1701)
鈻� Fulfills听Arts + 1 Theology (Christian Theology)
Daniel Callahan, Music
Brian Robinette, Theology
How might we train for encounters with beauty and the sacred?
One objective of these linked courses is to help students realize that their own personal experiences can be the departing point for鈥攁nd even the subject of鈥攕cholarly inquiry, that theology, the arts, and philosophy are not mere disciplines to be learned but practices that are indispensable to being alive and serving the common good. Another aim is for students to realize that deeply meaningful experiences鈥攚hether of the true, the beautiful, and the good, or听the divine in the world and in one鈥檚 self鈥攐ften do not just happen. Instead, such experiences are usually the result of being situated in the right place and time with the right preparation and mindset; in other words, they are usually the result of a certain type of exercise.
These course lectures meet:
- TTh 12:00 鈥� 1:15 p.m.
- TTh 1:30 鈥� 2:45 p.m.
Reflection will be held four times during the semester:
- T 6:00 鈥� 7:50 p.m.
The Rule of Law and the Meaning of Justice (UNAS1719)
Law, Literature, and the Meaning of Justice (ENGL1729)
鈻� Fulfills 1 Social Science + Literature + Cultural Diversity
R. Michael Cassidy, 亚色影库 Law School
Marla De Rosa, English
What is justice?
In these paired courses, we will consider the role that lawyers and authors play in illuminating the complex issues underlying the concept of justice. Through the study of works of philosophers, political scientists, novelists, and dramatists, we will explore how societies define justice as well as an individual's responsibility when they confront injustice in society.
These course lectures meet:
- TTh 10:30 鈥� 11:45 a.m.
- TTh 12:00 鈥� 1:15 p.m.
Reflection will be held four times during the semester:
- Th 6:00 鈥� 7:50 p.m.
From Hiroshima to K-Pop: Historical Perspectives (UNAS1716)
From Hiroshima to K-Pop: Filmmakers鈥� Perspectives (UNAS1717)
鈻� Fulfills听History II + Arts + Cultural Diversity
Ingu Hwang, International Studies
Christina Klein, English
What is the relationship between politics and popular culture?
How did East Asia emerge from the wreckage of the Second World War to become the dominant political, economic, and cultural force it is in the world today? What is the relationship between politics and popular culture? Since 1945, East Asia has experienced the Cold War, civil war, communist revolution, modernization, capitalism, democratization, and economic booms and busts. It has also become a powerhouse producer of popular and art cinema. In these paired courses, students will explore the relationship between politics and culture as they learn how historians and filmmakers have grappled with the tumultuous events of the past 75 years.
These course lectures meet:
- TTh 12:00 鈥� 1:15 p.m.
- TTh 1:30 鈥� 2:45 p.m.
Film screenings will be held:
- M 7:00 鈥� 8:50 p.m.
The Self and Its Limits: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives (PHIL1727)
The Self and Its Limits: Greco-Roman Slavery (CLAS1706)
鈻� Fulfills 1 Philosophy + Literature + Cultural Diversity
Dermot Moran, Philosophy
Thomas Sapsford, Classical Studies
What is the relationship between the individual self and its social roles?
These paired courses examine what factors make us free individuals and how that freedom has historically been removed from certain people. One course will explore the nature of the self in historical and contemporary perspectives from East and West to look at the nature of self-consciousness and personhood. The other will investigate how ancient Greeks and Romans justified the enslavement of individuals for material gain and how ancient slavery influenced American society both in terms of its use of slave-labor and in the arguments made for abolition.
These course lectures meet:
- TTh 9:00 鈥� 10:15 a.m.
- TTh 10:30 鈥� 11:45 a.m.
Reflection will be held four times during the semester:
- T 6:00 鈥� 7:50 p.m.
Memory and Representation: The Science of Remembering (PSYC1701)
Memory and Representation: The Literature of Remembering (ENGL1736)
鈻� Fulfills 1 Natural Science + Literature
Elizabeth Kensinger, Psychology and Neuroscience
Amy Boesky, English
What is memory, and why does it matter?
These paired courses explore complex and fascinating aspects of human memory through twodisciplines: neuroscience and literature. In five short modules, we will consider enduring andemerging questions about memory: how it works (both scientifically and literarily); how it canbe distorted or misrepresented; how it intersects with cultural values and beliefs; how stress ortrauma can change or damage memory; and how monuments (built and literary) help us bothto remember and to heal. Shared texts will include Maya Lin鈥檚 Boundaries, Christopher Nolan鈥檚 2001 film Memento and the short story 鈥淢emento Mori鈥� by Nolan鈥檚 brother Jonathan, and essays by Oliver Sacks.
These course lectures meet:
- TTh 1:30 鈥� 2:45 p.m.
- TTh 3:00 鈥� 4:15 p.m.
Reflection will be held four times during the semester:
- T 6:00 鈥� 7:50 p.m.
Breaking Bread: Food, Fiction, and Identity (ENGL1743)
Breaking Bread: Food, Fellowship, and Faith (THEO1730)
鈻� Fulfills Literature + 1 Theology (Christian Theology) + Cultural Diversity
Deanna Danforth, English
Liam Bergin, Theology
What is the role of food in shaping identity and building community?
More than daily acts that provide physical nourishment, eating and drinking are primordial human experiences that inform our relationships with others. The food we choose to eat and the gatherings at which we partake in these meals have social, cultural, environmental, religious, political, and ethical dimensions. These paired courses examine the deeper meanings of food encountered in literary forms and in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Discussions will be enriched by opportunities to cook and eat together.
These course lectures meet:
- TTh 10:30 鈥� 11:45 a.m.
- TTh 12:00 鈥� 1:15 p.m.
Reflection will be held four times during the semester:
- Th 6:00 鈥� 7:50 p.m.
Creative Women: Women in the Art World During the Renaissance (ARTH1715)
Creative Women: Women in Society and Culture During the Renaissance (HIST1731)
鈻� Fulfills Arts + History I
Stephanie Leone, Art History
Sarah Ross, History
How do women shape culture and society?
In 1971, Linda Nochlin posed the trailblazing question, 鈥淲hy are there no great women artists?鈥� A few years later, in 1976, medievalist Joan Kelly similarly inquired, 鈥淒id women have a Renaissance?鈥� Prior to that time, women scarcely appeared in the pages of history and art history books. Since then, scholars have unearthed abundant evidence of women鈥檚 productivity beyond the domestic sphere. These paired courses examine how women made significant contributions in political, intellectual, creative, and artisanal work during the long Renaissance (1400-1650), and explore connections with creative women in our own time.
These course lectures meet:
- TTh 9:00 鈥� 10:15 a.m.
- TTh 10:30 鈥� 11:45 a.m.
Reflection will be held four times during the semester:
- Th 6:00 鈥� 7:50 p.m.
Masking to Unmask: Strategies of Representation in Visual Art (ARTS1702)
Masking to Unmask: Strategies of Representation in Media Texts (COMM2299)
鈻� Fulfills听Arts + Literature + Cultural Diversity
Greer Muldowney, Art
Ren茅e Pastel, Communication
How do artists and authors unmask the human condition?
In a culture hungry for authenticity, we often forget how masking through code switching, using social media filters, and conforming to popular brands and media can be a form of self-expression and/or an act of safety, especially for members of marginalized groups. This course considers the ways in which artists use various forms, ranging from poetry and short essays to photography and collage to film and television, in order to approach questions of truth,听identity and, often, our own humanity.
These course lectures meet:
- TTh 3:00 鈥� 4:15 p.m.
- TTh 4:30 鈥� 5:45 p.m.
Reflection will be held four times during the semester:
- Th 6:00 鈥� 7:50 p.m.
Self, Health, and Illness: Biological Perspectives (UNAS1739)
Self, Health, and Illness: Societal Perspectives (SOCY1133)
鈻� Fulfills 1 Natural Science + 1 Social Science + Cultural Diversity
Andrew Dwyer, Connell School of Nursing
Latrica Best, Sociology
How does our biology and the larger society shape our understanding of ourselves, health, and illness?
These paired courses address enduring questions about nature and nurture by exploring fundamental human experiences of health and illness from both biological and sociological perspectives. One aim is to examine the concept of self in relation to genomics, the microbiome, and society. Another aim is to critically appraise human difference from biological, social, and environmental perspectives. Using examples from biomedical discovery and precision healthcare, students will examine their values and discuss how we as a society can manage the ethical, legal, and societal implications of this rapidly changing healthcare landscape.
These course lectures meet:
- MWF 10:00 鈥� 10:50 a.m.
- MWF 11:00 鈥� 11:50 a.m.
Reflection will be held four times during the semester:
- Th 6:00 鈥� 7:50 p.m.
The Good Life: Literary Perspectives (CLAS1707)
The Good Life: Theological Perspectives (THEO1731)
鈻� Fulfills听Literature + 1 Theology (Christian Theology)
Thomas Epstein, Classical Studies
Jeremy Wilkins, Theology
What is the good life?
These paired courses explore the question of the good life from a variety of perspectives and from two disciplines: literature/literary analysis and theology. What constitutes a good life? How can I know it? What must I do? In what shall I believe? Grounded in careful reading of great works of literature by Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Chekov, along with theology and the Bible, each course will center on discussion, reflection, and writing about the great questions of life as expressed both by others (in the texts we read) and by ourselves. Reflection sessions will seek to deepen our understanding and our commitments by meeting with people outside the Boston College community and engaging in dialogue among ourselves.
These course lectures meet:
- TTh 3:00 鈥� 4:15 p.m.
- TTh 4:30 鈥� 5:45 p.m.
Reflection will be held four times during the semester:
- T 6:00 鈥� 7:50 p.m.
Folk Wisdom: History and Anthropology (HIST1732)
Folk Wisdom: Literature and Environment (ENGL1744)
鈻� Fulfills History II + Literature + Cultural Diversity
Guy Beiner, History
Colleen Taylor, English
What is the value of tradition in the modern world?
What insights can we find in local vernacular knowledge that address global concerns about excesses of scientific-technological innovation, postcolonial injustices, geopolitical conflicts, and environmental crises? These paired courses uncover the many ways in which traditional knowledge and oral storytelling continues to inform and contribute to our understanding of the past and the present. Bringing history and anthropology in dialogue with literature and environmental humanities, these courses critically examine traditions and customs from around the world, with a special interest in the folklore of Ireland.
These course lectures meet:
- TTh 9:00 鈥� 10:15 a.m.
- TTh 10:30 鈥� 11:45 a.m.
Reflection will be held four times during the semester:
- Th 6:00 鈥� 7:50 p.m.
Where We Are: Reading in Place (ENGL1745)
Where We Are: Writing in Place (ENGL1746)
鈻� Fulfills听Literature + Writing + Cultural Diversity
Christy Pottroff, English
Rebekah Mitsein, English
What is the relationship between where we are and who we are?
Where we are shapes our being, enables our thinking, inspires creativity, and facilitates connection. In these paired courses, students will think about where we are at a range of scales, from the local (What does it mean to be at 亚色影库?) to the historical (How are we part of the story of Boston?) to the global (What does the far-away have to do with us?). Students will cultivate a mindful and ethical relationship to place by bridging the imaginative possibilities that literary analysis facilitates with the sense of empowerment and personal agency that writing affords.
These course lectures meet:
- MWF 1:00 鈥� 1:50 p.m.
- MWF 2:00 鈥� 2:50 p.m.
Reflection will be held four times during the semester:
- T 6:00 鈥� 7:50 p.m.
From Loneliness to Connection: The Literature of Human Connection (ENGL1747)
From Loneliness to Connection: The Literacy of Human Connection (ENGL1748)
鈻� Fulfill Literature + Writings