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Master of Liberal Arts and Science

Master of Liberal Arts and Science
  2. Course Information
  3. Upcoming Roster

Upcoming Roster

Summer 2026

The MLAS Summer 2026 term will run from June 1 through August 6.

MLAS 6400: Seminar in Literature and Creative Writing: Introduction to Creative Writing
Prof. Major Jackson , Department of English and Director of Vanderbilt's Creative Writing Program
Monday evenings, 6:00-8:30 pm
Course Description: Introduction to Creative Writing  is designed to develop creativity and fluency in identifying and writing in three genres: poetry, short fiction, and creative non-fiction. Students are expected to engage in a search for artistic excellence, which through plenty of writing and rewriting, is obtainable in a course of this magnitude. Such a noble goal includes reading and talking and debating and listening, and exchanging ideas about what constitutes a perceptive and evocative work of literary art. Further, it is expected that each participant will acquire the artistic discipline and a professional attitude requisite to creating new works of literary merit. The course is offered as a series of workshops and craft lectures. Our course work will include group discussions and critiques of work produced in the course and that of established, contemporary and canonized writers. Most of all, we will be moved by each others stories and poems while also delighting in having fun as a community of writers .
(Literature and Creative Writing, Fine and Creative Arts)

 

MLAS 6600: Seminar in Social Science: The President, the Courts and the Constitution
Prof. Carrie Russell , Department of Political Science and Director of Pre-Law Advising
Tuesday evenings, 6:00-8:30 pm
Course Description: This course examines the dynamic—and often contentious—relationships among the presidency, the federal courts, and the Constitution, with special attention to moments of constitutional stress and crisis. Through focused readings, guided discussion, and analysis of current and recent “hot-button” controversies, students will explore executive power, judicial review, separation of powers, and the rule of law in real time. Emphasizing critical thinking over rote doctrine, the class invites students to grapple with how constitutional principles are tested, stretched, and sometimes redefined during periods of political polarization, national emergency, and institutional conflict.
(Social Science, History). 

 

Fall 2026

The MLAS Fall 2026 term will run from August 31 through December 10.

MLAS 6400: Seminar in Literature and Creative Writing: French Literary Masterpieces
Prof. Robert Barsky , Department of French and Italian and the Vanderbilt Law School
Thursday evenings, 6:00-8:30 pm 
Course Description: In this course we'll survey great French literary texts from the Middle Ages right up to the present day, translated into English. Along the way, we'll explore a variety of fascinating literary themes, and meet all kinds of amazing authors and characters:
  • Chivalrous knights engaged in Courtly Love (e.g., Lancelot)
  • Smitten characters in the throws of Passion (e.g. Madame Bovary)
  • Magical beings using supernatural powers (e.g. Gargantua)
  • Monsters (e.g. Beauty and the Beast)
  • Enlightenment-driven Revolutionaries (e.g. Marquis de Sade)
  • Extraordinary women (e.g. Nana)
  • Absurd worlds (Godot) and
  • Modern writers akin to mad scientists (Rimbaud).

This is a survey, similar to a buffet that aims to introduce students to delicious morsels in preparation for future feasts (!). Many of the texts have been turned into films that can serve to supplement or stand-in for the excerpts we'll be exploring.
(Literature and Creative Writing, Fine and Creative Arts)

 
MLAS 6600: Seminar in Social Science: Sex & Gender in Everyday Life
Prof. Stacy Simplican , Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies
Monday evenings, 6:00-8:30 pm 
Course Description: Sex and gender roles in culture and society. Gender, race, and class. Women and men in literature, art, culture, politics, institutions.
(Social Science)
 
 
MLAS 6700: Interdisciplinary Methods Seminar: American Journeys
Prof. Mario Rewers , Programs in Culture, Advocacy and Leadership and in Public Policy Studies
Wednesday evenings, 6:00-8:30 pm 
Course Description: From the sixteenth century to the present, using feet, hooves, and wheels, driven by curiosity, fear, and desire, men and women have traveled across North America while documenting their experiences in text, image, music, and film. Discussing Spanish explorers and French philosophers, eighteenth-century scientists and modern-day hoboes, this course examines what accounts of travel and movement reveal about American nature, culture, and politics.
(Core Course, History, Social Science)
 

 

4/21/26