Courses Tailored Toward Leadership and Innovation
The Wilson Center sponsors courses that complement the existing curriculum of majors and concentrations, as well as provides course offerings in areas of student demand consistent with our mission but with no departmental home.
Wilson gives special attention to connecting our students with professionals, particularly alumni, who serve as leaders and innovators in their fields and can offer inspiration, mentorship, and valuable lessons. Our courses also feature opportunities for discovery-mode, practice-based or experiential learning.
Each year, Wilson offers a core repertoire of courses, including our highly popular Creative Careers: Learning from Alumni. Wilson also sponsors a number of short courses with diverse and varying foci, often taught by our accomplished alumni. Lastly, Wilson sponsors enhancements to existing courses to add opportunities for leadership and innovation to the existing curriculum.
Spring 2027
Creating Marketing Campaigns (WIL-101-01)
Short course with visiting instructor Katy Wells. This course will explore the phases of building a successful marketing campaign — performing research, developing a messaging strategy, creating a perfect media mix, delivering creative, and analyzing success. Working in groups, students will have an opportunity to build an entire marketing campaign from scratch by selecting a faux product from a real industry. As students gain knowledge on the process, final presentations may be printed and used for portfolios.
The Enterprise of Freelance Journalism (WIL-101-02)
Short course with visiting instructor Leigh Kunkel ’09. Journalism isn't dying, but the newsroom might be. Freelance journalists run their own enterprise by finding their own stories, setting their own hours, and working from wherever they want. This course covers the practicalities of freelancing, from identifying stories to building a platform on social media, as well as how to use those tools to build a more ethical, diverse and sustainable future for the profession.
Fall 2026
Entrepreneurship and Social Change (WIL-201-01)
Short course with visiting instructor Robert Gehorsam ’76. A frequent critique of business is that prioritization of profit is a key driver of many of the world’s interlocking crises. However, technology and innovation create effective solutions at speed and scale. This course will detail how entrepreneurs address the world's biggest problems in areas such as climate change, inequality, health, education, and good government. Multiple guest entrepreneurs will share own journeys in entrepreneurial social action. Students will learn different types of business organizations including how investors support socially minded entrepreneurs through these enterprises. Prerequisite: second year standing.
Learning from Alumni (WIL-210-01)
Taught by Henry Reitz ’89. Students engage with alumni to learn about their lives and careers. Leadership and career-focused readings together with discussion with alumni will help students think creatively about their º£½ÇÊÓƵ education and possible futures. The second goal of this course is to help create a multi-generational network or community of º£½ÇÊÓƵ alumni, faculty, and current students in order to enhance our potential for changing the world.
Special Topic: Career Design Lab (WIL-295-01)
Taught by Dani Perkins. The second and third years of college bring vexing decisions before students. What is the relationship between my academic interests and my post-college goals? How might my interests, values, and strengths inform this process? What additional experiences do I need (and how do I get them)? What knowledge, skills, insights, and relationships will I need to realize my post-college goals? This Career Design Lab is designed to provide students with the personal insights, tools, action plan, and overall career development foundation to fuel and guide their planning, decision-making, and goal-setting at º£½ÇÊÓƵ and beyond. Prerequisite: second-year standing.