Hoos Connected brings together groups of students who get to know one another in a relaxed environment, while also developing leadership and communication skills. Led by two trained upper-class student facilitators, groups of 6-10 students engage in activities and discussions that delve into what brings us together, what can keep us apart, and how these things manifest in our personal lives and our broader UVA community.
This course builds on the skills students develop through the Civic Cornerstone Fellowship and applies them to local civic issues. Students will develop their ability to understand myriad perspectives on political dilemmas and enhance their capacity to work across ideological differences to construct solutions to these challenges. The semester will culminate in student-led collaboration on a proposed policy, program, or creative project.
An introduction to environmental ideas, texts and practices of Buddhism in broad historical and geographical context. Engages Buddhist "environmental imagination" through readings of primary texts, considers the ways that contemporary Buddhists around the world have interpreted environmental problems, and the ways that Buddhist modernist movements draw upon Buddhist ideologies in the service of social-environmental change.
Students put into practice leadership skills & competencies through experiential learning preparing them for a lifetime of civic engagement as policy makers & citizens. Course emphasizes opportunities to use learned frameworks to evaluate real-world applications & will help students identify opportunities to engage in public life regardless of their chosen profession. Course serves as a bridge between the Batten education & life after graduation.
Students put into practice leadership skills & competencies through experiential learning preparing them for a lifetime of civic engagement as policy makers & citizens. Course emphasizes opportunities to use learned frameworks to evaluate real-world applications & will help students identify opportunities to engage in public life regardless of their chosen profession. Course serves as a bridge between the Batten education & life after graduation.
This course is designed to examine and experience the intersection of physical awareness and cognitive awareness. We will explore the connection between body and mind. As we study and practice contemplative yoga and mindfulness techniques, we will build, strengthen, and develop lifelong tools for managing stress, promoting self-care, strengthening communication, and deepening compassion in consideration of multiple contexts.
Through this course, you will learn foundational skills for bringing mindfulness-based contemplative practices into your personal life, community, and professional environments. Students will deepen their own mindfulness practice while learning to lead contemplative practices and infuse mindfulness into facilitation and leadership settings. Students will apply what they are learning to a specific dimension of their life.
Yoga is the practice of uniting the mind and body in a series of postures or a meditation in motion. The type of yoga offered will be contingent on the skills of the instructor. All yoga classes focus on a series of postures that strengthen the muscles, increase flexibility, energize the body and cultivate mental and emotional calmness. The class will begin with instruction on basic postures and progress to an intermediate level.
The goal of this course will be to examine different conceptions of Buddhist meditation and how these different conceptions affect the nature of practice and the understanding of the ideal life within a variety of Buddhist traditions. Thus, the study of Buddhist meditation traditions reveals not just intricate forms of practice, but reveals the nature of the good life and how one lives it.
The Orisa traditions of the Yoruba-speaking peoples of West Africa have survived and thrived across centuries of war, slavery, and colonization, and continue to provide meaning to the lives of millions of people all over the world. This course will survey the various Orisa traditions of West Africa and the Americas, their interactions with other traditions as well as their influence on Black Atlantic art and spirituality.