2020: The Course

From a pandemic to economic fallout to a reckoning over race and policing in the United States, 2020 is sure to be remembered as a year of historic upheaval and change.

And it’s not even over.

Many communities throughout the West Coast and elsewhere continue to grapple with the devastating effects of perennial wildfires. We are in the midst of a national election season that is garnering worldwide attention. As we enter the first quarter of our academic year, we will witness together the final quarter of 2020 — no doubt with more questions than answers about what we’ll do, individually and collectively, to address the challenges that have surged in recent months. 

Ed Taylor, vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, is the lead instructor for “2020: The Course.”

This course examines what national thought leaders are doing to meet the imperatives of this particular moment through their research, scholarship, and service — inquiries with insights, actions with impact. Students enrolled in this course are engaging in a series of talks, lectures and dialogues with over 20 faculty from across the University. Further, students are documenting their own experiences so a time capsule can be created for future generations of UW teachers and learners.

Welcome to 2020: The Course

Designed with first-year students in mind and open to University of Washington students on all three campuses, this course connects students to some of the UW’s top public scholars. 

As part of our mission as a public university, we think it is important to make a number of these sessions available to you in an effort to help make sense of the most important issues of our time. The UW’s world-renowned scholars in the areas of history, sociology, education, law, environmental science — to name a few — can help place this tumultuous and chaotic time into a larger context and bring greater understanding.

These are the course sessions students viewed as the basis of the course, and it is truly representative of the moment. Just as our students are learning from their homes instead of classrooms on campus, faculty are teaching from their kitchens, dining rooms or living rooms.

Extra credit

Read the course syllabus.

Learn about the course’s lead instructor, Vice Provost and Dean Ed Taylor and the course’s co-instructors, UW Tacoma Associate Vice Chancellor Bonnie Becker and UW Bothell Associate Vice Chancellor Cinnamon Hillyard.