Welcome to your new favorite class.

1 credit minicourse

How often do you see problems in the world and think, “someone needs to do something about that” This course gives you an opportunity to ask, “why not me? The Critical Issues minicourses feature expert speakers from campus and beyond, with each speaker introducing a pressing issue facing society and challenging students to design creative solutions.

Topics:

• Critical Issues in Climate Solutions

• Critical Issues in Education

These courses are uniquely student-led with guest speakers join weekly to discuss important trends and innovations.

3 credits

What if you could shape how technology impacts society?
In this course, you'll move beyond passive consumption of tech to become an ethical innovator and community leader. We'll tackle the real questions: Who benefits from the algorithms that decide what you see? How do we build technology that doesn't leave people behind? What does responsible innovation actually look like?
Through interactive labs, collaborative projects, and real-world case studies, you'll explore how emerging technologies intersect with social equity, ethical design, and systemic change. You'll dig into surveillance capitalism, algorithmic bias, and the cultural forces shaping our digital world—then move from critique to action.
What you'll actually do:

• Examine historical patterns and systemic disparities in tech

• Design ethical solutions to real technological challenges

• Prototype inclusive interventions that center diverse voices

• Engage with technologists, ethicists, and community leaders

• Build the skills to connect technical expertise with ethical decision-making

By the end, you won't just understand technology's impact—you'll know how to steward it for the public good.

This course fulfills the Ideation requirement for the U-M Entrepreneurship Minor.

3 credits

This course introduces students to the core principles of social innovation methodology, applying creative, iterative problem-solving to address complex social challenges. Grounded in human-centered design and systems thinking, this course equips students with the critical thinking skills and practical tools needed to develop, test, and refine impactful solutions.

This course fulfills the Ideation requirement for the U-M Entrepreneurship Minor.

3 credits

This course is for scholars who want to do more than just innovate—they want to center cultural wealth within community. They will explore how to become responsible stewards, exemplifying how sociocultural influences and sociotechnical systems can merge to serve minoritized communities more equitably. Instead of designing for users who are being used, they will prioritize designing within the community, understanding that we share a profound responsibility to uplift each other. By embracing a simple but powerful mantra, "pause, reflect, protect," they will begin to slow down, assess risk, and respect both people and the planet before we act. Upholding values of connection, embracement, and collaboration pushes beyond the crude mechanism of capitalism to consider whole ecosystems, non-human life, and the reciprocal relationships that create a healthy world to lead transformative change.

This course fulfills the Elective requirement for the U-M Entrepreneurship Minor.

2 credits

This course is a requirement for all students enrolled in the BSP living-learning community.

Through active engagement, students will grow academic and professional skills and enhance their sense of belonging in the BSP community through learning about and applying human-centered design strategies to social innovation challenges.