Enrollment season is finally upon us, and with it comes a slew of new courses at Penn State.

Although the course catalog’s spring semester additions aren’t all gen eds, most could be useful and interesting for Penn State students. Below, we’ve picked out just a few of our favorites that could be worthy inclusions to your schedule.

ARTH 207: The Eternal City: Rome From Antiquity To The Present

When in Rome, look at the buildings the Romans built, right? That’s what ARTH 207 covers: everything about the romantic city of Rome from its founding to the present day. The class looks at architects, buildings, and urban development through many lenses. Not only will you learn about ancient Rome and the fall of the empire, but you will also see how it was shaped into the capital of Italy as we know it today and how the city is portrayed in films.

Through this course, you can knock out both GA and international cultures credits.

OLEAD 220: Emotional, Social, & Cultural Intelligences & The Implications For Leadership

If you’re looking for a GS credit that can amp up your leadership skills, OLEAD 220 has you covered. This class looks at leadership and communication among cultural differences and counts as a GS credit. Through the combination of scientific background and leadership effectiveness, this course gives you the tools to work on stress management, decision-making, and more in a cross-cultural setting.

SOC 369: Foundational Theory & Practice In Small Group Facilitation

If you are interested in hearing new perspectives and encouraging thoughtful conversation, try out SOC 369. In this class, you learn how to facilitate dialogues about domestic and international cultural and social issues. These conversations are between Penn State students registered for World Conversation dialogues and students from all over the world.  

SOC 369 fulfills GH credits as well as IL/US credits.

BRS 350: Introduction To Life Cycle Assessment

Business, economics, math, and biorenewable systems, oh my! If you are at least a fifth semester standing and have taken MATH 110 or MATH 140, you can explore the life cycles of products, processes, and services in the supply chain. Life cycle assessment is quantitative and can help build data analysis skills. It can be used to develop more renewable and sustainable systems and develop critical thinking skills to apply to your career goals.

VBSC 331: Pharmacology I: Drug Actions & Reactions

Although this one isn’t a gen ed either, the intricate path a drug follows throughout the body is interesting enough to include. VBSC 331 goes in-depth into the effect of drugs on the body, the factors of varied drug response, and the therapeutic uses of drugs. BIOL 230W or 230M is a prerequisite, but this is a class for anyone interested in biotechnology, nursing, or pharmacy.

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This is not a comprehensive list of all the new and exciting courses you could be taking next semester. All newly added courses and the official course descriptions can be found at the Undergraduate Bulletin. Happy scheduling, Penn State!