Required Courses and Sampler Block Courses

STC 108 Exploring Consciousness (4–5 credits)

This course is your entryway into MIU and Consciousness-Based education. We’ll dive into an ancient yet radically new framework for understanding the universe and our place in it. With this framework in mind, we look at some of life’s big questions: How can we develop our fullest potential as human beings? How do art and stories help us understand that potential? How can our own growth help create a more just and peaceful society? What do the world’s great wisdom traditions have in common? How can we improve education and healthcare? The new framework we explore in this course infuses all your classes at MIU. In this course, you’ll learn the Transcendental Meditation technique to awaken the full potential of consciousness in your life.
Onsite and online.
Comments from students:

• “I truly had a significant experience every single day in class.”
• “I’m eternally grateful for this experience.”
• “This course has not only primed me well for the rest of my time at MIU, but the information I gained will be extremely relevant for the rest of my life.”
• “For a first impression of the school, this course truly has me looking to spend the rest of my academic career here at MIU.”
• “It was easily digestible, deeply engaging (edge of my seat in pure focus many days), and incredibly enjoyable.”
• “One of the best organized, most well-presented classes I have ever attended.”

NOTE – As an exception, students can take the following courses before or along with the STC108 course: AG 200-300, BIO 265 & 266, FA 200-300, LIT 100-300 (if one has taken WTG 191 & 192), PH 218, 219, & 263, WTG 191 & 192, WTG 200-300 (if one has taken WTG 191 & 192). As an exception, students can take the STC108 course following course: MATH 166.

WTG 191 Writing for Career and Community 1: Consciousness in and Beyond the Classroom (4 credits)

In this course, you will gain the skills essential for academic and professional success by exploring the practical aspects of writing, creative expression, and communication. You will learn how rhetoric intersects with everyday communication by reading and analyzing creative and professional texts. You will practice giving and receiving supportive feedback through workshops and instructor notes while improving your abilities through drafts and revision. In addition, you will craft compelling resumes, engage in social media and information literacy, and hone your persuasive speech-writing skills.
Onsite and online.

WTG 192 Writing for Career and Community 2: Consciousness in and Beyond the Classroom (4
credits)

Building on the methods learned in WTG 191, this course takes a deeper dive into writing as a discovery process. Through step-by-step assignments, your instructor will guide you to the course’s main objective, a research paper on a topic related to your field of study. As a student in this course, you will explore how to find, evaluate, and use valid sources to build and support a stance. In addition, you will practice giving and receiving supportive feedback through workshops and instructor notes while improving your abilities through drafts and revision. You will strengthen your information literacy skills by identifying biases and fallacies and establishing credibility through proper citation, formatting, and well-communicated conclusions. Explore your creative and analytical talents and prepare for the nextpart of your career, whether in work or further study, with more robust tools and expertise. Prerequisites: WTG191 or transfer credit or passing writing placement test scores.
Onsite and online.

SAMPLER BLOCK COURSES

This list includes courses that used to be required Gen Ed courses

FALL 2024 (09A–09D) SEPTEMBER

WTG 191 Writing for Career and Community 1: Consciousness in and Beyond the Classroom (4 credits)

In this course, you will gain the skills essential for academic and professional success by exploring the practical aspects of writing, creative expression, and communication. You will learn how rhetoric intersects with everyday communication by reading and analyzing creative and professional texts. You will practice giving and receiving supportive feedback through workshops and instructor notes while improving your abilities through drafts and revision. In addition, you will craft compelling resumes, engage in social media and information literacy, and hone your persuasive speech-writing skills.
Onsite and online.

AG 315 Regenerative Farming Systems and Nature-Based Solutions: Exploring Natural Law (4 credits)

We explore holistic management strategies and natural techniques used in regenerative farming systems. Along with daily farm activities, you’ll learn the fundamental concepts and applications of Biodynamics®, including how to make and apply Biodynamic preparations. You’ll also learn about Vedic organic agriculture, livestock management, and honeybee science. Prerequisite AG200

FA 245 Sculpture: Methods and Materials — Bringing Consciousness into Matter (4 credits)

In this course, you’ll dive into artistic materials — wood, metal, plaster, plexiglass — and learn how to transform them into shapes and forms. With hands-on studio time guided by demonstrations and faculty mentoring, you’ll learn the ways possibilities of these materials along with basic methods for shaping, mold making, and constructing. This course prepares you for the Sculpture Studio course (FA 352), but you may also find interesting applications outside the art studio. Open to non-art majors – noprior experience necessary. Lab fee $40-60.
Onsite.

RL P250 Designing a Peaceful, Prosperous, Self-Regenerating World: Living in Harmony with Natural Law (4 credits) (formerly “Global Sustainability”)

Can we design a world that provides health and abundance for all future generations? What is the big picture that drives the global sustainable living agenda? What are the major challenges we face as a species? How can we transform the current trends around population growth, biodiversity, climate, energy, food and water security, and other threats to sustainability? What kind of shift in mindset or consciousness do we need to move from seeing the environment as an expendable resource to treasuring it as our natural habitat with which we must live in harmony? These are the topics we explore in this course. The knowledge and experience you gain will further empower you to be an agent of positive change.
Onsite and online.

MGT 382 Working with People: Inspiring Maximum Achievement and Fulfillment in Your Team or
Organization (formerly “Management and Organization”)

If you want to manage anything successfully, you need to understand the principles of human behavior at every level — individual, group, and organization. With this knowledge, you’ll be able to plan, organize, and implement your ideas effectively. In this course, we explore the dynamics of individual and group achievement from both theoretical and practical perspectives. We examine the latest in general management theory, leadership, delegation, coordination, planning, problem-solving, organizational structure, and organizational change. Prepare to navigate the complexities of the modern business environment, where cutting-edge theory is integrated with practical application for optimalperformance. This course is built around a dynamic community project.

WTG 244 Creative Process: Curving Back on Ourselves We Create Again and Again (4 credits)

Dive into your own creative process while also hearing what other artists, writers, and filmmakers say about their own creative inspiration. Break boundaries and connect more deeply with your inner muse. The primary textbook is Julia Cameron’s best-selling book The Artist’s Way. We’ll also engage with a wide range of authors — Annie Dillard, Jorge Luis Borges, Eudora Welty, Ann Patchett, Patricia Hampl, William Saroyan, John Ciardi, Frank Conroy, Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, William Stafford, Rainer Maria Rilke, Lu Chi, Mark Strand, Jane Hirshfield, Billy Collins, and Elizabeth Gilbert as well material from creativity experts Anne Lamott and Natalie Goldberg. Writers in different media will visit the class to discuss their work, career paths, and creative process. You’ll keep a daily journal and engage in various creative projects during the course. As your final project, you’ll produce a portfolio and, if you wish, participate in a group installation/exhibit on creativity.
Lab fee: $35 for materials. Prerequisites: English, Art, or Cinematic Arts and New Media major, or consent of the instructor.
Onsite and online.

SPRING 2025 (1A-1D) JANUARY

WTG 191 Writing for Career and Community 1: Consciousness in and Beyond the Classroom (4 credits)

In this course, you will gain the skills essential for academic and professional success by exploring the practical aspects of writing, creative expression, and communication. You will learn how rhetoric intersects with everyday communication by reading and analyzing creative and professional texts. You will practice giving and receiving supportive feedback through workshops and instructor notes while improving your abilities through drafts and revision. In addition, you will craft compelling resumes, engage in social media and information literacy, and hone your persuasive speech-writing skills.
Onsite and online

PHYS 310 Foundations of Physics and Consciousness

MIU president Dr. John Hagelin is a world-renowned quantum physicist, and in this course, he will personally share with you the latest groundbreaking advances in our understanding of the universe — and how those discoveries relate to your own life and the depths of your own consciousness. He will take you from the surface boundaries of our universe — the classical level of “billiard-ball” physics — to the molecular and atomic and subatomic descriptions of nature, the worlds within worlds that exist on deeper levels of creation, and ultimately to the unified field, the one, ultimate universal field of intelligence and energy that gives rise to all things.

He will show you how this unified field is identical with your own consciousness, as you experience it at the depth of your TM practice. And then he will take you on a tour of the vast expanses of the universe revealed by astronomy and cosmology — the structure of black holes, the life cycle of stars, dark matter and energy — to reveal that we are all made of stardust and inextricably linked to everything in creation.

Finally, he will show you how your own TM practice gives you access to the ocean of existence that is simultaneously the unified field and your own pure consciousness — setting the stage for the growth of higher states of consciousness and the transformation of society. You’ll come away from this course with a profound appreciation for the world around you and profound insight into the ultimate truth that the world is within you — that consciousness is all that there is.
Comments from students:

• “Dr. Hagelin’s lectures were truly enlightening.”
• “This course was amazing and truly will never end.”
• “I loved everything about this course. It is possibly the most enlightening course I have ever taken, and I feel that I have a deeply articulated understanding of how the universe works and where I am in it.”
• “This course was really great. Mind-blowing in many ways. It expanded my knowledge of our universe and opened up new ways of thinking about how everything is so interrelated.
• “By far the most amazing MIU course I’ve ever taken. I had never taken Physics before, so it was all new and profoundly fascinating.”
• “Q & As with Dr. Hagelin were amazing!! He’s so interesting and funny, I could listen to him speak all day. He has an amazing talent of holding my attention and teaching me the most awesome information.”

MVS 243 Thinking with Depth, Creativity, Empathy: An exploration of human knowing (4 credits)

How do we know what we know? Where do thoughts come from? Is there a way to get beyond the internet’s diverging echo chambers? Simplistic answers won’t do. A genuine commitment to curiosity and clarity, articulated through precise and thoughtful questions, provides a fertile environment where deeper ways of knowing can blossom. We study thinkers of various cultures and identify unspoken assumptions, analyze the strength of arguments and listen with fierce compassion to those who hold alternative perspectives, evaluate sources of evidence and detect bias, reason by analogy and dare to question established thinking practices (including our own). What really matters to you? Prerequisite: STC 108.

FA 340 Ceramics Studio: Shaping the Unmanifest (4 credits)

Exploring the potential of clay, including the processes of forming, glazing and firing, lets each find unique possibilities. Every time your hands meet clay you imbue the form with consciousness — creating a synchronicity that powerfully connects potter and pot, energy and matter, in the process of creation.

• Develop various processes of hand-building in clay, from delicate tea bowls to large sculptural forms.
• Experiment with color and texture through glazes, underglazes, and slips.
• Explore the tradition and history of ceramics that continue to emerge in contemporary work worldwide.
• Our hands-on studio training includes clay mixing, glaze preparation, and understanding and firing kilns.

Ceramics Studio can be taken for repeated credit, with course content evolving each time to potentially include intermediate and advanced topics like wheel-throwing, glaze chemistry, firing methods, and so on. This evolving studio format lends itself to students of any skill level. Lab fee.
Onsite.

MGT 379 Social Media Marketing and AI (4 credits)

Social media marketing and artificial intelligence continue to play a game-changing role in our lives. This impact is especially evident in the social media landscape. From automatic content moderation and personalized recommendations to the ads we watch and beyond, AI is reshaping the way we interact online via social media. In this course, you will learn to harness the power of online marketing with the infusion of AI in social media platforms — YouTube, Facebook, X, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, TikTok — and other current trends. We explore social apps and building communities, social content and brand storytelling, designing creative social content, and AI tools in social media. Prerequisite: Basic computer skills.
Onsite.

SL-G140 Earth Systems: The Story of an Exquisite Blue Planet and the Natural Laws That Keep it in
Balance (4 credits)

What are the complex and dynamic systems that make our planet the livable place that it is? In this comprehensive interdisciplinary course, we delve into the intricate relationships between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere, with a special emphasis on the principles of sustainability. How do these interconnected systems support life on Earth? How have human activities impacted these systems? What strategies do we need to develop sustainable practices that ensure the health of our planet and all its living species? These are the topics we’ll explore together. Through lectures, collaborative research, and hands-on projects — including creating your own strategies for planet Earth — you’ll gain the knowledge and skills you need to become an informed steward of the Earth and an advocate for a sustainable, regenerative future. (4 credits)

SPRING 2025 (3A-3D)

WTG 191 Writing for Career and Community 1: Consciousness in and Beyond the Classroom (4 credits)

In this course, you will gain the skills essential for academic and professional success by exploring the practical aspects of writing, creative expression, and communication. You will learn how rhetoric intersects with everyday communication by reading and analyzing creative and professional texts. You will practice giving and receiving supportive feedback through workshops and instructor notes while improving your abilities through drafts and revision. In addition, you will craft compelling resumes, engage in social media and information literacy, and hone your persuasive speech-writing skills.
Onsite and online.

PH 101 Physiology Is Consciousness: You Create Your Reality (4 credits)

The human brain has 100 billion neurons and 100 trillion connections among them, creating the most complex and sophisticated structure in the known universe. Your brain is the interface between you and your world, and your brain changes with every experience you have — your decisions today create the brain circuits you have tomorrow.

How does your brain change from birth to adulthood? How can you resolve adverse childhood experiences? How do the microbes in your gut influence your brain? Why do we sleep and dream? How do TM brain patterns differ from EEG during other meditation practices? What effect do psychedelics and cannabis have on the brain? What happens in near-death experiences? How do our inner experiences and brain patterns change as we grow in higher states of consciousness? These are the main topics we explore together.

You’ll finish this course knowing that you create your reality and how you can enrich and improve it. The course instructor, Dr. Fred Travis, director of MIU’s Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition, is the world’s leading expert on brain functioning in higher states of consciousness and one of our most engaging classroom teachers. Prerequisites: STC 108. Materials fee: $10.
Onsite.

AG 200 Introduction to Regenerative Organic Agriculture: Harnessing the Regenerative Power of
Natural Law (4 credits)

Modern industrial farming is fundamentally at odds with human and environmental health. It depletes soil health and requires intensive use of fossil fuels. It produces greenhouse gas emissions, pollutes air and water, and destroys wildlife, with an estimated environmental cost of $3 trillion each year. Regenerative organic agriculture is just the opposite. It is a systems-based approach to farming that leverages natural ecology to build soil, improve water efficiency, and increase biodiversity while emphasizing local food, feed, and fiber as the foundation of a strong community. In this course, we learn about the principles and practices of regenerative organic agriculture, including organic certification, crop planning, and holistic farm management. With the knowledge and skills you gain in this course, you’ll be able to directly apply what you’ve learned in the fields of regenerative and organic agriculture.
Onsite and online.

CANM 275 Digital Photography: Unlocking the Power of Light (4 credits)

Digital photography strengthens the connection between the photographer’s vision and the resulting images by providing nearly instant feedback and furnishing ever-subtler tools for self-expression. In this course, you’ll learn foundational principles of digital photography and use principles of consciousness to consolidate your experience and understanding. You’ll learn to master the digital camera, manage a digital workflow, use principles of composition and lighting, and express your vision in the digital darkroom using Lightroom and Photoshop. $20 lab fee. Prerequisites: Basic computer skills.
Onsite.

FA 217 Drawing 1: Drawing from Within: Enhancing Perception through Observational Drawing (4 credits)

Observational drawing means drawing what you see — looking at a subject and then creating a representation of that subject through drawing. In this course we focus on observational drawing to activate seeing and strengthen perception. You’ll learn a variety of basic observational drawing approaches and techniques for creating convincing drawings from life, including how to perceive and accurately depict proportion, light and shadow, and perspective. Through exercises, drawing assignments, readings, and discussions, you’ll also learn how to apply principles of line, texture, and composition. Discover for yourself the power of drawing to deepen your appreciation of the world around you and to capture that appreciation on paper. No prior drawing experience is necessary.

MGT 231 Creative Entrepreneur I: Harnessing Nature’s Infinite Creativity to Plan and Start a
Sustainable Business (4 credits)

Do you have an idea for a product or service you’d like to develop or a business you’d like to launch? Would you like the opportunity to develop your ideas? In this course, each student identifies a business idea and then develops, writes, and presents a summary of that idea in their final presentation. Students may work alone or in teams. Businesses thrive on creativity, and in this course, you’ll learn how to transform creative ideas into life-supporting, sustainable products or services that fulfill needs and enhance satisfaction in society. Appropriate for all majors.
Onsite and online

MATH 166 Geometry for the Artist: Applying Abstractions of Shape and Form to Create Beautiful
Concrete Images (4 credits)

When we think of art, we don’t usually think of mathematics. Yet Renaissance painters like Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael meticulously studied geometry to create their lifelike masterpieces. Geometry, the study of shape and form, is an essential tool for the visual artist. In this course, we look at how artists employ geometric principles to create realistic perspectives and proportions in their compositions. You’ll learn about symmetry, vanishing points, foreshortening, and the golden ratio, which artists use to accurately depict depth and spatial relationships. You’ll also learn about symmetry, Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry, perspective and projective geometry, and fractals. This course will give you a new lens for looking at art and the world. Materials fee: $10.
Onsite and online.

FOREST BLOCK COURSES

FOR 431 Higher States of Consciousness: The Awakening of Total Knowledge in Human Awareness

This course is about you — and the limitless potential that you embody. Higher States is foundational to education at MIU, because the knowledge of higher states underlies all the classes you’ll take here. There’s so much more to life than your ordinary waking, dreaming, and sleeping experiences. With your TM practice you’re now diving into Transcendental Consciousness, the fourth state, the unbounded ocean of your own consciousness. But what happens when you keep having this experience—and your mind and body are transformed by it?

In this course you’ll dive into higher states and how they unfold, as described by Maharishi and experienced by countless TM practitioners and by people across history and cultures. You’ll explore the growth of your own inner silence, the transformation of your perception of the world to enjoy subtler realms, and the recognition that your own limitless Self and the entire universe are ultimately one and the same — the infinite totality of consciousness.

You’ll get to ask any and all questions about this natural growth in the context of your own unfolding experiences — and to examine the research and historical reports that support the existence of these universal states of life and their practical effects. You’ll also have a chance to deepen and strengthen your own experience of transcendence on a mid-course retreat. And you’ll gain a profound understanding of higher states that will support your own lifelong growth of consciousness, long after you graduate. Higher states of consciousness are your birthright, and this course offers a deeply fulfilling opportunity to explore the infinite range of your own existence. Don’t miss it!
Comments from students:

• “Wow! Mind blown in a very good way. Now I’m just trying to incorporate the wealth of knowledge in daily life. Outstanding!”
• “I learned so much about higher states and that it is my birthright as a human being to live these states of consciousness. It was so nice to have these highly abstract ideas fleshed out with concrete and detailed descriptions.”
• “Learning specifically about higher states and how to get there was super enlightening. The course completely covered each level of consciousness in detail, making it easy to understand and realize what I am currently experiencing.”
• “I really recommend it for everyone.”
• “Fantastic! A chance to really dive in and grasp where we are hopefully going in our journey to higher states of consciousness.”
• “This was the most experiential course I have ever taken. This is a must for all TM meditators. It will transform your own practice and acts as nourishment for all activities throughout your day.”
• “Amazing awakening.”

SAMPLER BLOCK COURSES NOT SCHEDULED ON CAMPUS NEXT YEAR

MATH 130 Essential Math for Your Life: Developing Skill in Action (formerly “Quantitative
Reasoning”)

How do I tell the difference between good debt and bad debt? How can I minimize the effects of inflation and tax? How do I use the stock market wisely? How can I make my savings work for me? How do I distinguish between good and bad numerical and graphical information in the media, and make wise decisions about it? How can I use spreadsheets to organize my life — to create a budget, plan a vacation or event, track my health and fitness goals?

In this course, you’ll learn these things and more. If you think, “I don’t need math,” please think again — these skills can really help you. And if you think, “I’m not good at math,” this course is designed with you in mind. This isn’t just math — it’s your toolkit for navigating the numbers that shape our lives.
Comments from students:

• “Thank you for everything you have taught me. I feel a lot more empowered when it comes to money.”
• “I learned a lot in this course and genuinely enjoyed the challenge.
• “Thank you for helping to unlock my inner mathematician — even my new interest in stock investments!”
• “This class has opened my eyes and attuned me to where I can see math within my own life.”
• “What I have gained from this course is the ability to use excel spreadsheets, when before I was intimidated by it.”
• “Grateful for this class!”