60 Second Syllabus

Deep-ish dives into intriguing courses being taught on campus reflect the vast diversity of subjects being taught and studied at UC Santa Barbara.

Issue Name
Summer 2026

A student smells a piece of pannetone

Science class explores the matter of taste

Flavor is in the brain, and nowhere is that clearer than in neuroscientist Matthieu Louis’s introductory neurogastronomy class. The course, “Unraveling the Science of Flavor: From Genetics and Data to Michelin Stars,” part of the campus’s undergraduate Discovery Seminar series, unpacks the multimodal phenomenon we call taste.

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Fall / Winter 2024

book on table next to computer keyboard called Hate Speech 101

A critical look inside ‘the back room’

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Spring / Summer 2024

student passing a basket of oranges

Climate activism and resilience to climate anxiety

The newly offered UC-wide Climate Resilience Course," led at UCSB by Ken Hiltner and Summer Gray, aims to help students get centered

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Fall / Winter 2023

trio of data visualizations by George Legrady

Visualizing Information

Blending artistic and analytic approaches yields a unique course on data visualization

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Spring / Summer 2023

Stephanie Malia Hom outdoor portrait

Humanities in the Time of COVID

Taking cues from the pandemic, a professor of Italian teaches multidisciplinary compassion

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Fall / Winter 2022

Elizabeth Perez portrait on colorful background

Queering the Spirit

Religious studies course brings LGBT figures front and center

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Spring / Summer 2022

Surfers on campus beach

Making Waves

The first course of its kind, Geography of Surfing has been among campus’s most popular classes for nearly 20 years.
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