Hannah Walker

The Signature Course (UGS 302 and 303) introduces first-year students to the university’s academic community through the exploration of new interests. The Signature Course is your opportunity to engage in college-level thinking and learning.

Seminar in American Government and Politics.

A basic survey of American government, including fundamental political institutions, federal, state, and local; special attention to the United States and Texas Constitutions.

Instructor: Hannah Walker

The purpose of this course is to explore the challenges posed for American democracy by
issues related to criminal justice in the modern era. Such issues include police brutality, felon
disenfranchisement, the treatment of prisoners while in prison, and especially – the
relationship between historical institutional racial exclusion and the current era of mass
incarceration. We will evaluate the challenges posed for a system predicated on democratic
inclusion and equality of voice through the primary lens of civil rights and political organizing
around those rights as they intersect with criminal justice. In so doing, students will become
familiar and conversant on some of the most pressing topics of the current political moment.