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SoCo 2026 Courses

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Spend the last three weeks of summer focusing on a single class. Classes are 10-15 students, live together, and emphasize field trips and hands-on activities to forge faculty relationships beyond the classroom.

Check out the SoCo Photo Gallery for a peek inside past classes.

For frosh and first-year transfers, SoCo 2026 runs from Sunday August 30 to Friday September 18. Check out the Calendar to see how SoCo fits into your summer.

The American Voices Project: Building a New Tool for Listening to the People

David Grusky

We live in a democracy that’s supposed to heed the voices of everyone, not just the voices of the rich and privileged, but the voices of everyone. Join this class to help the United States listen better.

The Bizarre Story of Prion Disease

Bob Siegel

Take a deep dive into the history, epidemiology, clinical features, pathology, patients, politics, prevention, and researchers of prion diseases affecting the brain.

palace of fine arts in san francisco reflecting in the lake

Classical California

Grant Parker

How many ways do ancient Greece and Rome still show up in our lives today?

a village next to an icy river

Culture, Climate, and Food Security in the Alaskan Arctic

Rosamond (Roz) Naylor

What does it mean to eat, live, and thrive in the northernmost corner of the US?

Discover Monterey Bay through Oceanography, Ecology, and Literature

William Gilly & Chris Francis

Study spawning squid and feeding whales while spending some time aboard the newly renovated research ship—Steinbeck's the Western Flyer!

Photo of performers on stage.

Learning Theater: From Audience to Critic at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Rush Rehm & Linda Paulson

From the audience seats to backstage, immerse yourself in theater right at the heart of it.

Parks and Peoples in Patagonia: Dilemmas of Protected Area Conservation

Bill Durham

How do countries find a balance between land conservation and the rights and needs of local inhabitants?

Reason and Faith: Questions of Political Theology

Russell Berman & Ruth Starkman

How does belief respond to doubt? Is reason compatible with religion? How can political choices follow from religious teachings?

Close up of hands using a mixing board

Remix | Writing and Reading the DJ

Adam Banks

Learn why sampling and remixing is today's unique artform—and learn to remix on a turntable.