Johns Hopkins undergraduate students interested in deepening their understanding of democracy’s history, norms, and challenges can explore these and related topics in one of several Intersession courses focusing on democracy.
Intersession, held during the three weeks before the spring semester, offers a variety of for-credit and enrichment courses for undergraduate students to explore new contexts for their academic studies or to learn new skills and concepts.
One of these classes will be taught by Hahrie Han, the new director for the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins, which aims to strengthen global democracy through powerful civic engagement and informed and inclusive dialogue. In addition to Han’s course, the SNF Agora Institute is coordinating several other Intersession courses taught by institute faculty and experts from outside the university community. These courses focus on civil debate, democracy in the digital age, and Russian interference in the 2016 election.
“Democracy is complicated and multifaceted, and it’s being challenged in a variety of different ways,” Han says. “Together these classes, along with courses being taught in a variety of departments across campus, aim to teach students to process information, engage with others, and to more deeply understand the history and practice of civic engagement—all of which are crucial to the practice of democracy.”