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Demystifying The Course Catalog: HC Pitt’s Favorite Classes

Emma Schramm Student Contributor, University of Pittsburgh
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Pitt chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

One of the most stressful times in the semester has finally arrived at Pitt: course registration. On October 1, PeopleSoft released the course catalog for the Spring 2026 semester, and registration will begin on October 27. To assist you in your decisions, I (with help from our e-board and staff) have compiled a list of some of our favorite courses that we’ve taken so far. These classes are Her Campus–approved, so we hope you’ll check them out!

ANTH 0768: Anthropology of Gender and Sexuality

Staff writer Maggie Salzman took this course to fulfill an anthropology requirement and loved how it discussed connections between society and gender that she had never realized before. As an anthropology major, I’ve taken this class too, and I found all the readings extremely interesting! It covered a wide range of global topics, and I enjoyed attending it even though it was an evening class.

ENGCMP 1551: History and Politics of the English Language

Okay, I’ll admit that this course title doesn’t sound particularly intriguing. I’m also a Public & Professional Writing (PPW) major, and since class is required, I wasn’t initially excited about it. However, I’ve actually come to love it! It’s only been a month, but we’ve already discussed how social media is changing our language, language families, and our personal biases in English. Vice President Amanda Buchman also took this course and enjoyed learning how English is intertwined with racism and sexism.

ENGLIT 0315: Reading Poetry 

As a fellow PPW major, Amanda also loved this course because it was a great way to engage with creativity within writing as opposed to her other classes, which focused on writing in professional contexts. I totally agree with this reasoning, which is why I’ve also loved…

ENGLIT 0610: Women and Literature

This course is set up quite uniquely: there are multiple sections each semester, and each professor chooses a specific topic to focus on in their class. Some topics/professors may be better than others, but I loved my topic: “The Monstrous Feminine.” Brenda Whitney taught it, and we explored the monsterization of feminine/motherly qualities in books like Coraline, Frankenstein, and Beloved. I would definitely recommend checking out this semester’s topics to see if you’re interested!

LCGS 1200: Criminal Law

Our Marketing and Recruitment Chair, Kelly Kowalewski, took this class for her Law, Criminal Justice, and Society major, and she loved the deep insight it provided into the intricate parts of the criminal justice system.

LCGS 1440: Criminal Investigations

Kelly also loved this class for its focus on criminal investigations in Pittsburgh. These two classes are great choices if you’re an LCGS major looking for elective credits. Even if you’re not, there are some open spots in each one for non-CGS students, so go ahead and register if the topic interests you!

I also can’t leave without shouting out some great teachers:

  • John Musser, Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Department

Have fun exploring the course offerings for next semester, and I hope you get into every class you want!

Emma is a junior at the University of Pittsburgh majoring in Anthropology and Public & Professional Writing with a Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies certificate. She is the senior editor of Her Campus at Pitt, and enjoys writing about pop culture, music, tv/movies, and food. In her free time, Emma loves to read, play guitar, cook, hang out with friends, and obsess over anything Taylor Swift related.