Two students stand under Sever Hall archway.

Students take a break under the archway of Sever Hall on the first day of classes. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer

Campus & Community

Gen Ed shopping spree

Students look, sample, and select from a menu of new course offerings

3 min read

Students popped in and out of classrooms, labs, and lecture halls in the first days of the semester, hunting for just the right Gen Ed class — the one that both fit their interests and their schedules. Courses in the redesigned program move between theory and practice and across disciplines in the areas of Aesthetics and Culture; Ethics and Civics; Histories, Societies, Individuals; and Science and Technology in Society.

Durba Mitra teaches.

Assistant Professor Durba Mitra gives shoppers a taste of “Global Feminisms.”

Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer

Students sit on floor listening to lecture.
Phoebe Suh speaks during class.

Madeline Murphy (from right), Amanda Westort, and Chloe Li, take in Durba Mitra’s lecture. At right, Phoebe Suh ’22 (center) speaks up in class.

Photos by Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer

Students walk around the entrance to Sever Hall.

Students flow through Sever Hall during shopping week.

Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer

A crowded classroom with Tech Ethics on screen.

Professors Michael Sandel and Douglas Melton’s “Tech Ethics,” a University-wide course open to all Harvard students, was the first to be held in Klarman Hall’s new, visually striking auditorium.

Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer

Douglas Melton speaks from podium during class.
Michael Sandel speaks from the stage during class.

Xander University Professor Douglas Melton speaks about forms of reproduction, including cloning as he and Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government Michael Sandel kick off “Tech Ethics.” At right, Sandel poses a moral dilemma to the audience.

Photos by Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer

Karen Thornber speaks during class.

Karen Thornber lectures on “Disease, Illness, and Health.”

Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer

Prince Jenkins listens during class.
Jacob Olupona speaks during class.

Prince Jenkins ’22 listens as Jacob Olupona teaches “Wakanda Revisited.”

Photos by Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer

Students do a stair stepping exercise during class.

James Herring ’22 (from left), Moaz Selim ’22, Clair Fu ’23, and Sophie Hirst ’22 help Elaine Kristant, the senior mechanical and systems lab engineer at the SEAS Active Learning Labs, teach a stair-stepping exercise to get students thinking about the connections between metabolism and energy. The exercise is part of Scott Martin’s “Energy Bodyworks” class.

Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer

Two students walk down stairs in Pierce Hall.

Margaret Hylton ’22 (left) and Chidera Ejikeme ’23 walk downstairs in Pierce Hall.

Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer

Pia Sorensen teaches from front of classroom.
Three students speak during class.

Pia Sörensen, senior preceptor in chemical engineering and applied materials, conducts a class on science and cooking at the Science Center with David A. Weitz, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and of Applied Physics (not pictured). At right, first-years Hannah Gardner (from left), Angela Caloia, and Brian Baltazar discuss a question posed by Weitz.

Photos by Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer

Students walk out of Sever Hall.

The campus buzzes during the first week of classes.

Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer

Students listen to lecture during class.

Janet Browne and Andrew Berry’s “Understanding Darwinism” drew a crowd in Boylston Hall.

Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer

Students listen during class.
Students listen during class.

Students listen to the lecture in “Understanding Darwinism.”

Photos by Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer

Ali Asani teaches during class.

Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures Ali Asani gives a lecture in “Multisensory Religion: Rethinking Islam Through the Arts” during shopping week.

Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer

Students listen during class.
Students speak following class.

The Class of ’22’s Spencer Frome (left) and Jiho Lee listen during “Multisensory Religion: Rethinking Islam Through the Arts.” At right, Vivian Tian ’21 (left) and Ben Freeman, a graduate student at Harvard Divinity School, chat after class.

Photos by Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer

One student walks into Sever Hall.

A student walks into Sever Hall.

Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer