KC-301U Integrative Studies: Death and Dying * †

A writing-intensive capstone course for the General Education curriculum, to be taken as a student with junior or senior standing, that provides students with guidance in their application of interdisciplinary knowledge to problem solving. Students are challenged to practice critical and creative thinking skills, and they are expected to demonstrate competence in oral, written, and other creative modes of expression. This course is open to all majors. This capstone general education course asks students to think critically about the ways in which the human condition is defined by our encounters with death and dying. It will survey changing cultural attitudes towards death; the ways in which death and dying have been portrayed in art, literature, and the media; the ways in which we commemorate the dead through monuments, tombs, and other funerary practices. The course will encourage students to reflect on their own attitudes towards death, and move them to address questions such as, “What does a good death look like?” “How can we face death with dignity and courage?”