Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Maymester

Maymester runs from Monday, May 18 to Friday, June 5, 2026. Current students and non-matriculated students will be able to take one course with an HWS faculty member for 3.5 hours, five days a week. Classes are scheduled in the mornings (9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.) or afternoons (1:30 – 5 p.m.).

2026 Courses

• ARTH 100 Issues in Art
• ARTS 161 Photography: Design in Nature
• ASN 201 Technology, Society, and Science Fiction from China and Beyond
• CHEM 198 Miracle Drugs in the Time of Pandemics
• ENV 214 Nordic Film and Climate Change
• ENV 216 Birds in Our Landscape
• GEO 182 Introduction to Meteorology
• GLS 101 Introduction to Global Studies: Minoritized
• GSIJ 204 Politics of Health
  GSIJ 225 Hookup Culture

• MDSC 100 Introduction to Media and Society

• MGMT 201 Quantitative Tools for the Entrepreneur
• PSY 203 Child Psychology
• SLAE 325 From Tourist to Conscious Traveler: A Culturally Competent Understanding of the Spanish Speaking World
• SOC 212 Data Analysis

ARTH 100 Issues in Art
Remote
9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Art and Architecture
Professor Angelique Szymanek
Goals: Social Inequality (Substantial), Cultural Difference (Substantial)
Perspectives: Global and Cultural Connections

Issues in Art challenges students to investigate how visual objects act as powerful catalysts for social and political change. This course builds essential art historical foundations, such as formal analysis, the study of materiality, and the ethics of collecting to uncover how an object’s history shapes its current meaning. Students will engage with provocative global topics, including the "monument wars" and the politics of public memory, the ethics surrounding the display of sacred indigenous artifacts, and the ways the "male gaze" is being deconstructed within the art historical canon. With these analytical tools, students challenge passive viewership while building their skills as critical interpreters of the visual world, prepared to navigate the complex intersection of art, history, and social justice. No prerequisites. 

ARTS 161 Photography: Design in Nature
Remote
9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Art and Architecture
Professor Christine Chin
Goals: Artistic Expression (Substantial)
Perspectives: Artistic and Creative Expression

Photography allows us to see and explore the natural world in ways that expands human vision and understanding. We will use our cameras to look for specific design elements in the natural world and bring nature inside in improvised tabletop studios. Camera controls, exposure, lighting, and lenses will be discussed to help students achieve their photographic goals. Looking at the work of artists who photograph nature will help us explore larger questions: Can photography help us to understand the species who share our planet? What are the possibilities and limits on how photography can advocate for the natural world? How does photography explore the effects of and interactions between humans and nature? Students will use their cameras to complete assignments that will culminate in an individual book project. This is an introductory course in photographic image-making at Hobart and William Smith College. No prerequisites.

ASN 201 Technology, Society, and Science Fiction from China and Beyond
In Person
9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Asian Studies
Professor Melissa Hosek
Goals: Artistic Expression (Partial), Ethical Judgement (Partial), Cultural Difference (Substantial)
Perspectives: Global and Cultural Connections

Science Fiction from and about East Asian contexts are more accessible than ever in the English-speaking world. In this class, we examine the hopes, fears, and concerns regarding technology that are expressed through science fiction. In examining how notable texts, films, and works of art use this genre mode to comment on real world issues, we will debate their relevance to today's discussions about technological change. We will take a comparative approach to highlight the aesthetic and intellectual traditions of Asian cultures and while also observing common ideas that transcend borders. Students will learn skills related to literary and aesthetic analysis, ethical reasoning, global perspectives, and communication. All materials are in English or with English subtitles. No prerequisites.

CHEM 198 Miracle Drugs in the Time of Pandemics
Remote
9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Chemistry
Professor David Slade
Goals: Quantitative Reasoning (Partial), Scientific Inquiry (Substantial)
Perspectives: Scientific and Quantitative Reasoning

When global public health is "normal", a search for a new miracle drug requires medicinal chemists to make hundreds or thousands of new molecules that might treat some disease while avoiding nasty side effects... but the timeline for success is on the order of a decade or more. What can drug companies do to speed up the process amid a brand-new viral pandemic? We do have several drug cocktails for HIV/AIDS, but AIDS remains a notable outlier of a success story - we have very few small molecule treatments for infectious viral diseases. Instead, most efforts against viral diseases rely on preventing infection, with vaccines being the primary tool in the fight. This course will answer questions like: Why was there so much interest in testing old, well established drugs like Hydroxychloroquine, Ivermectin, Remdesivir, and Dexamethasone against COVID-19? How do we know whether a drug is doing anything useful at all? What are the various vaccine platforms and how do they differ? Famously, the Moderna vaccine was designed within 2 days of the viral sequence being published. Why, then, does data collection and analysis for an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) require an additional 11 months or more? What are monoclonal antibodies, and how do they work? There's a very old idea that's worth exploring: can we treat patients with the blood of patients who have already recovered? The backdrop of a pandemic serves to illustrate the pitfalls, challenges, and interesting questions of drug discovery, and the interactions of molecules and viruses with our immune systems. This course is intended to improve scientific literacy while developing analytical skills. No prerequisites. 

ENV 214 Nordic Film and Climate Change
In Person
1:30 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Environmental Studies
Professor Robinson Murphy
Goals: Social Inequity (Partial), Cultural Difference (Partial), Ethical Judgement (Substantial)
Perspectives: Global and Cultural Connections

This course will study climate change through Nordic films that range from psychological thriller to Indigenous cinema, with a focus on Arctic and northern environments. The Nordic region includes Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and the Åland Islands. Owing to a phenomenon called “Arctic amplification,” the Nordic region warms more rapidly than the rest of the planet. As a result of ice-loss, global powers increasingly eye new shipping routes and resource extraction opportunities in the region. Ongoing eco-colonial tensions—visible in Indigenous resistance to projects like the Kallak mine (Sweden)—additionally make Nordic film uniquely situated to capture how climate change alters the planet, and how it might best be responded to. Students will engage with how Nordic film registers and responds to political discussions on climate adaptation, sustainability transitions, and environmental justice. No prerequisites. 

ENV 216 Birds in Our Landscape
Remote
9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Environmental Studies
Professor Mark Deutschlander
Goals: Scientific Inquiry (Substantial)
Perspectives: Scientific and Quantitative Reasoning

Birds are an apparent and familiar part of our environments, whether hiking in a national forest or spending time in our own backyards. From pristine natural areas to the most urban settings, birds are ubiquitous and serve as sentinels for the health of the environment. Examining population trends and geographical distributions of birds can help us understand the impacts of urbanization, pollution and pesticides, climate change, and more. In this course, you will learn how distributions of birds inform scientists about environmental change and the impacts of change on the function of ecosystems. You will learn, firsthand through field excursions and exercises, to identify local bird species and how to conduct some basic field techniques for direct monitoring of birds. You will learn how scientists collect distribution data on birds using remote sensing and how citizen science has greatly advanced our ability to understand the distributions and movements of birds. You will also learn how scientists communicate their findings by reviewing scientific publications, which we will use as case studies of how birds in our landscape impact us and tell us about our environments. No prerequisites.

GEO 182 Introduction to Meteorology
Remote
9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Geoscience
Professor Neil Laird
Goals: Quantitative Reasoning (Partial), Scientific Inquiry (Substantial)
Perspectives: Scientific and Quantitative Reasoning

The influence of weather and climate affect our daily activities, our leisure hours, transportation, commerce, agriculture, and nearly every aspect of our lives. In this course many of the fundamental physical processes important to the climate system and responsible for the characteristics and development of weather systems will be introduced. We will examine the structure of the atmosphere, parameters that control climate, the jet stream, large-scale pressure systems, as well as an array of severe weather phenomena including hurricanes, tornados, thunderstorms and blizzards. Upon completion of this course, we will have developed: (a) a foundation of basic scientific inquiry (b) a basic comprehension of the physical processes that govern weather and climate, and (c) an understanding of the elements of weather and climate that are most important to society. No prerequisites.

GLS 101 Introduction to Global Studies: Minoritized
Remote
9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Global Studies
Professor Alaa Murad
Goals: Social Inequality (Substantial), Cultural Difference (Substantial)
Perspectives: Global and Cultural Connections

What does it mean to be a minority? And, who defines minorities as such? This course traces histories and struggles of minoritization as a dynamic process rather than a fixed identity. It takes a transnational and interdisciplinary approach to exploring how “minorities” are created through historical, political, and social processes across various temporal, geographical, political, and cultural contexts. From 12^th -century Jewish poetry in al-Andalus, and 14^th -century legal treatises of Muslims living under Catholic Spanish rule, to 19^th -century First Nations mobilizing against residential schools in North America, and the communal navigation of the Partition of India in 1947, students in this class will explore how social and political minorities (and majorities) come to be as well as how different communities shape their own experiences, respond to changing conditions, and experiment with ideas and mechanisms of belonging. No prerequisites.

GSIJ 204 Politics of Health
Remote
9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Public Health
Professor Jessica Hayes-Conroy
Goals: Social Inequality (Substantial), Ethical Judgement (Substantial)
Perspectives: Ethical and Social Responsibility

This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to the critical study of health politics, including the politics of gender, race and sexuality. Through the themes of social and environmental justice, students will explore the uneven distribution of health care and wellness both within the United States and beyond. Topics include the history of the women’s health movement, breast cancer awareness campaigns, reproductive health and technologies, HIV/AIDS, feminist psychology, eating disorders, environmental health and toxicity, and more. In exploring these topics, feminist theory will serve as a lens through which we examine different experiences of illness and disease. At the same time, feminist pedagogy will serve as the model upon which we build our policy recommendations. No prerequisites.

GSIJ 225 Hookup Culture
Remote
9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Gender, Sexuality and Intersectional Justice
Professor Jiangtao Harry Gu
Goals: Social Inequality (Substantial), Ethical Judgement (Substantial)
Perspectives: Ethical and Social Responsibility

What does "hookup culture" reveal about the politics of love, sex, and connection in contemporary society? This course examines how intimacy and desire are shaped by technology, the law, and cultural norms. It explores how ideals of commitment and marriage reflect broader systems of power and morality. From monogamy to polyamory, from hookup apps to "situationships," students will examine how norms about love and sex are produced and policed, as well as how they have been challenged by social movements and practices. Drawing on feminist, queer, and abolitionist frameworks, students will analyze literature, media, and social trends to ask: Who is monogamy for? Who is stigmatized for wanting or refusing sex? What might freedom in love demand of us and how can we be transformed by it? Together, we will explore how rethinking intimacy can help us rethink justice, care, and what it means to love one another. No prerequisites. The course substantially satisfies the ethical judgement and social inequalities goals.

MDSC 100 Introduction to Media and Society
Remote
1:30 – 5 p.m.
Media and Society
Professor Iskandar Zulkarnian
Goals: Artistic Process (Partial), Cultural Difference (Partial), Social Inequality (Partial)

This course provides an introduction to various media and their modes, methods, and themes. We will explore the role of the media in shaping social consciousness, global economies, and material culture. Examples drawn from film, television, print media, and digital environments will be contextualized, analyzed, and theorized as crucial elements of our media culture. Students will gain an appreciation for the social, cultural, economic, and political influences of global communications while performing close readings of conventional media objects. Writing assignments, exams, and projects will help to cement insights gained through close investigation of films, TV shows, advertisements, video games, music videos, and more. No prerequisites.

MGMT 201 Quantitative Tools for the Entrepreneur
In Person
9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Business Management and Entrepreneurship
Professor Melanie Dun Moodie
Goals: Quantitative Reasoning (Partial)
Perspectives: Scientific and Quantitative Reasoning

This course covers many basic skills necessary for success in the Management and Entrepreneurship program. The course includes a heavy emphasis on understanding and applying Excel skills. We will use actual start-ups and existing companies for assignments, labs, and projects. Topics covered include: customer discovery, market analysis, survey design, financial statements, financial ratios, data visualization, basic statistical methods, and company valuation. Prerequisite: MGMT 101, MGMT 120, or ECON 160.

PSY 203 Child Psychology
Remote
9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Psychological Science
Professor Julie Kingery
Goals: Scientific Inquiry (Partial), Social Inequality (Partial)

This course provides an overview of the major theories that guide the study of child development, as well as the normative physical, cognitive, social, and emotional changes that take place from infancy through late childhood. This course also considers contextual influences (e.g., the family, peers, schools, culture, and the media) on development and several key themes (e.g., how children shape their own development, individual differences, and the use of research findings to promote children's well-being). No prerequisites.

SLAE 325 From Tourist to Conscious Traveler: A Culturally Competent Understanding of the Spanish Speaking World
Remote
9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Spanish, Hispanic, and Bilingual Studies
Professor Carolina Travalia
Goals: Social Inequity (Substantial), Cultural Difference (Substantial)
Perspectives: Global and Cultural Connections

This interdisciplinary course taught in English prepares students to engage with Spanish-speaking countries (specifically Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Spain) not as passive tourists but as culturally competent, informed travelers. Through the study of recent history, contemporary social issues, economic realities, and cultural practices, students will develop the knowledge and critical awareness necessary to interpret and respectfully interact with diverse communities. Through books, articles, podcasts, films and documentaries, students will examine how identity, history, politics, and globalization shape everyday life across Spanish-speaking societies. Emphasis will be placed on both shared legacies across countries and regional differences. The course combines cultural analysis with practical language acquisition through in-class communicative workshops, applied travel scenarios and structured use of Duolingo. This course is not limited to students who plan to visit a Spanish-speaking country, but rather is geared towards any student who wishes to develop a more profound understanding of the Spanish-speaking world. No prerequisites.

SOC 212 Data Analysis
Remote
9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. with a 2 – 4:30 p.m. lab on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays
Sociology
Professor Kendralin Freeman
Goals: Quantitative Reasoning (Substantial)

This course provides an introduction to the organization and analysis of data in the process of social research. Presentation of data in tabular and graphic forms, the use of elementary descriptive and inferential statistics, and the use of bivariate and multivariate analytic procedures in the analysis of data are examined. This course includes a laboratory experience in the use of computing software to display data and test hypotheses. The course is ultimately intended to prepare students for original research efforts and to help them become more sophisticated consumers of the literature of the social sciences today. No prerequisites.