Recommended Course List

Fall 2026

These courses are recommended to fulfill the STPEC requirements. Not all courses listed here will be offered every semester. We suggest that you look for courses you are interested in and search in Spire using the Professor’s last name. If the Professor is not offering that specific course this semester, they might be offering a similar one that fits that same category. New courses might not appear in the list. If the new course is 300 and above, for example, AFROAM 391, or WGSS391H, you can consult with Monica García, our Director of Undergraduate Advising, to find out if it would be appropriate to fulfill an Upper-Level Course category. Courses below 300 do not qualify for Upper-Level Course status. 

If a course is listed under more than one category you may choose which category you wish the course to fulfill. No course may be used to satisfy more than one STPEC requirement. You may take additional STPEC Focus Seminars to fulfill upper level requirements. 

If SPIRE will not let you register for a course on the STPEC course list because it is restricted to majors in a particular department or because it requires prerequisites, contact the instructor to ask if they are willing to override SPIRE to allow you to enroll. 

(Edited 11/7/24)

A.  PREREQUISITES 

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL THEORY 

  • UM STPEC 101-Radical Visions of Social Thought & Political Economy-Salam- TuTh 11:30AM-12:45PM 

  • UM STPEC 179- Capitalism and Identity- Salam-We 5:30PM-6:45PM 

  • UM STPEC 189- Introduction to Radical Social Theory- Salam- We 4:00PM-5:15PM 

 

INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL ECONOMY 

  • UM ECON 104 - Introduction to Macroeconomics -Patrick Dolenc MoWe9:05AM-9:55AM 
  • UM ECON 104 - Introduction to Macroeconomics Val Voorheis TuThu 1:00PM-1:50PM 

 
B.  UPPER LEVEL COURSES 

MODERN SOCIAL THEORY & SOCIAL MOVEMENTS 

  • UM ANTHRO 386 - Critical Pedagogy and Academic Peer Facilitation - Jennifer Sandler Mo-1-4PM 
  • UM ANTHRO 496W - IS-Advanced Critical Pedagogy - Jennifer Sandler-TBA   

  • UM COMM 426 - Media Violence- Erica Scharrer TuTh 1:00PM-2:15PM 

  • UM HISTORY 325 World War 1- Andrew Donson TuTh 11:30AM-12:45PM

  • UM HISTORY 357 - Women and Revolutions – Diana Sierra Bacerra TuTh 1:00PM-2:15PM  

  • UM HONORS 499CC - HonsThesis-DebatingGlobalizn - Deepika Marya MoWe 2:30PM-3:45PM 

  • UM HONORS 499CG - Honors Thesis- American Struggles: Immigration and Mass Incarceration – Razvan Sibii MoWeFr 11:15AM-12:05PM 

  • UMASS JOURNAL 380 - The Black Freedom Struggle and the Press- Kathy Forde TuTh 8:30AM-9:45AM 

  • UM LEGAL 393LG-  Law and Global Migration- Rebecca Hamlin MoWe 1:25PM-2:15PM 

  • UM POLISCI 499C- Honors Thesis Health and Health Care Inequality in the US, First Semester- Dean Robinson Tu 4:00PM-6:30PM 

  • UM SOCIOL 360 - Urban Sociology - Agustin Lao-Montes TuTh 4:00PM - 5:15PM   

  • UM SOCIOL  492 Civil Resistance and Social Change- Stellan Vinthagen  MoWe 4:00PM-5:15PM 

  • UM STPEC 491H - Preparations and Trainings for Civil Resistance-Vinthagen TuTh 4:00PM-6:30PM   

  • UM WGSS 301 - Theorizing Gender, Race & Power – Laura Briggs TuTh 10:00AM-11:15PM 

  • UM WGSS 392 Teaching and Learning in Carceral Spaces – Laura Ciolkowski Tu 2:30PM-5:00PM 

 

POLITICAL ECONOMY 

  • UM ECON 305 - Marxian Economics-Vamsicharan Vakulabharanam- We 4:00PM-6:30PM 

  • UM ECON 308H: Political Econ of the Environment – J.CamiloCardenas MoWe 4:00PM-5:15PM 

  • UM ECON 335- Economics of Immigration- Hendrik van de Berg MoWeFri 11:15AM-12:05PM 

  • UM ECON 338 - Compensation, Incentives & Prod - Fidan Kurtulus TuTh 11:30AM-12:45PM 
  • UM ECON 340 - Economics of Health with Lawrence King-MoWe 4:00PM-5:15PM 
  • UM ECON 348 - The Political Economy of Women -Katherine Moos MoWe 1:00PM-2:15PM  
  • UM ECON 368 - Political Econ African Growth and Transformation-Ndikumana-MoWe 2:30-3:45PM  

 

WOMEN, GENDER, SEXUALITY STUDIES, AND QUEER THEORY 

  • UM ECON 348 - The Political Economy of Women Katherine Moos MoWe 1:00PM-2:15PM  

  • UM HISTORY 357 - Women and Revolutions – Diana Sierra Bacerra TuTh 1:00PM-2:15PM 

  • UM  HISTORY 378G - Rape Law: Gender, Race, (In)justice – Jennifer Nye TuTh 10:100AM-11:15AM 

  • UM WGSS 301 - Theorizing Gender, Race & Power – Laura Briggs TuTh 10:00AM-11:15AM  
  • UM WGSS 360 Asian American Feminisms - Miliann Kang Tu 4:00PM-6:30PM  
  • UM WGSS 393M Everything to Expect when you're Expecting: Confronting Pregnancy Loss TuTh 1- 2:15PM 

  • UM  WGSS 395D Queer Trans Feminist Disability Studies- Cameron Awkward-Rich MoWe 2:30PM-3:45PM 

 

HISTORY AND POLITICS OF RACE IN THE UNITED STATES 

  • UM AFROAM 494DI ‐ Du Bois Senior Seminar – Amilcar Shabazz TuTh 2:30PM-3:45PM 
  • UM ECON 335- Economics of Immigration- Hendrik van de Berg MoWeFri 11:15AM-12:05PM  

  • UM  HISTORY 378G - Rape Law: Gender, Race, (In)justice – Jennifer Nye TuTh 10:100AM-11:15AM 

  • UM HONORS 499CG - Honors Thesis- American Struggles: Immigration and Mass Incarceration – Razvan Sibii MoWeFr 11:15AM-12:05PM 

  • UMASS JOURNAL 380 - The Black Freedom Struggle and the Press- Kathy Forde TuTh 8:30AM-9:45AM 

  • UM LEGAL 351- Environmental Justice- Leah Wing  Th 4:30PM-6:30PM 

 

NON-WESTERN PERSPECTIVES, GLOBAL SOUTH, AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLE  

  • UM ECON 368 - Political Econ African Growth and Transformation-Ndikumana-MoWe 2:30-3:45PM  
  • UM HISTORY 345 ‐ China in the 19th Century - Stephen Platt TuTh 11:30AM-12:45PM  
  • UM HISTORY 356-US Empire&Solidarity in Central America-Sierra Becerra TuTh 11:30AM-     12:45PM   
  • UM POLISCI 390T Anticolonial Thought and Politics- Adam Dahl TuTh 1:00PM-2:15PM 

  • UM POLISCI 394CI Central Asian Politics –Regine Spector TuThu 11:30AM-12:45PM