What If Your Passion Became a Class?

Do you have a penchant for Pink Floyd, an appreciation for architecture or maybe a genuine gratitude for… gratitude? 

For nearly 60 years, House Courses have given Duke undergraduates the freedom to take a passion, hard-earned skill, academic obsession, social concern or favorite hobby and build it into a credit-bearing course they can teach to their fellow Blue Devils. The premise is simple: If you care enough about something to create a course around it, there can be a place for it at Duke. 

If you build it 

That spirit goes all the way back to 1969, when eight House Courses were offered in the Fall course catalog. Originally taught in the common areas of residence halls (hence the name), the course lineup has ebbed and flowed over the decades, from nearly 50 offered in some years to just one in others. But the number of courses has never been the whole story — sometimes, one class can start something much bigger. 

In Fall 1982, undergraduate Caroline Wang proposed Asians in America, the first House Course to do a deep dive into the Asian diaspora. The course was popular and steadily grew over the years, helping to build campus momentum for what would eventually become Duke’s Asian American and Diaspora Studies Program. More than a class on a syllabus, it was a student idea that fueled what Duke would teach for years to come. 

Asians in America is just one example of the range House Courses have captured over the years. Courses on race relations, death, elementary thermodynamics, personal finance, the environment, juggling, parapsychology and even auto mechanics read like a time capsule of student curiosity.  

House rules 

But turning an idea into an actual course takes more than a good topic — it takes planning. 

Students who are interested in teaching work with the Dean of Special Academic Programs Heather Settle and program coordinator Angel Martinez to develop a course proposal, robust syllabus and plan for the semester.  

While the subject can be unconventional, all courses are reviewed by the Academic Dean’s Office for academic substance. As Martinez explains, House Courses should have “a clear academic focus, meaningful learning goals and enough substance to fill the semester.” They also must offer something that isn’t already available through Duke’s regular course offerings. 

Students who are new to teaching House Courses are required to enroll in ARTS&SCI 102: Introduction to College Teaching. Offered in fall and spring, this 0.5 credit course is taken on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading basis and teaches students how to design syllabi, create effective assignments and assessments, provide high-quality feedback and teach classroom management strategies. After successful completion of the course, student instructors remain qualified to teach a House Course for the remainder of their time at Duke. 

While student instructors lead the class, develop assignments and activities and guide discussions, they don’t have to do it alone. Each course requires a Trinity faculty advisor, giving student instructors a sounding board as they develop and teach the course. 

For Duke students who want to add a House Course to their schedule, the process is equally straightforward. Courses are 0.5 credits and capped at 18 students, with no prerequisites or permissions needed. Grading is based on satisfactory/unsatisfactory, so House Courses can be a low-stakes way to explore something outside a major, dive deeper into an existing interest or spend a semester learning something you simply don’t have room for elsewhere.  

Students can also take as many courses as they want, but only 1.0 credit counts toward graduation.  

Welcome wagon 

For senior Ben Maschler, majoring in Music and Economics, the path from House Course student to instructor started with Pink Floyd. 

During his first year at Duke, Maschler enrolled in Pink Floyd and the Concept LP, a House Course taught by a senior student. The class began by listening to “The Dark Side of the Moon” in its entirety. Maschler was hooked, not just by the music but by the conversations that followed and the different ways his classmates interpreted what they had heard. 

As graduation approached, the instructor offered to pass the course materials to anyone willing to take over. Maschler stepped up along with another student, Seth Kessler. With mentorship from lecturing fellow Susan Fancher, they taught the course the following year. Maschler has since continued teaching it on his own, with Fancher staying on as advisor.  

For Maschler, teaching isn’t really about Pink Floyd. It’s about teaching students how to listen — and how to stay curious. “I want students to always be asking, ‘What does this mean?’ when listening to music and to have the curiosity and the tools to find out,” he says. 

And that is the essence of a House Course: take something you love and give others a new way to see — or hear — it. 

In a 1974 issue of The Chronicle, Virginia Bryan, then dean of Trinity College, said House Courses “augment course offerings with courses of special interest and courses in areas that aren’t covered in the general curriculum.” 

More than five decades later, that idea still holds. The subjects change. The students change. The questions change. But the invitation remains the same: Find something you care about, build a class around it, then open the door.  

Sometimes the most interesting class is the one no one has created yet.