By Lara Sokoloff

Six classes for the Kutler Center for Interdisciplinary Studies were approved by the Faculty Academic Committee at a meeting on Nov. 15.

Videogame design will be taught by math teacher Jacob Hazard with help from experts in the field. The class will emphasize collaboration between computer oriented kids to do the programming and creative artistic students to design the content, Head of the Department for Interdisciplinary Studies Larry Klein said.

Criminal Law and Criminal Advocacy, taught by science teacher David Hinden, will be offered as semester courses. Klein said he hopes the class will participate in the Innocence Project, which is dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals. Head Prefect Brooke Levin ’12 participated in the Innocence Project this summer, resulting in the release of Obie Anthony.

History teacher Dror Yaron will teach a course in Middle East Studies from a multi-discipline approach. The class will discuss religious, economic and political issues, in addition to some linguistics.

The Creative Process—from Inspiration to Fruition will be taught by dean coordinator Ryan Wilson. The class is intended to help students explore the creative process through various mediums, including music, art, writing or dance.

Chief Financial Officer Rob Levin will teach Business and Life with additional guest speakers. Klein said he hopes the class will expose students to core business principles, making student more business literate.

Performing arts teacher Ted Walch and math teacher Kevin Weis will team teach the Philosophy of Art and Science. Walch’s semester elective the Self and the Spirit will be removed from the curriculum to make room for the class. This class will be the first team-taught class in a decade and a half, Klein said.

A group of recent alumni was assembled to help give the faculty a sense of what students felt was missing from the curriculum. Classes were chosen from around 15 different ideas or proposals that had been submitted to Klein or floated by him, he said. Proposals were evaluated by a working group of various faculty and administrators on the degree to which the course was interdisciplinary in nature and to which the subject matter is not already a part of the current curriculum, and the amount of original research the course requires. 

The titles for all classes are still subject to change.