NEWS

New General Education Course GEL004 "Emotion Across Disciplines" Kickoff Event

Update: November 9, 2026

In the Winter Term of Academic Year 2026, a new General Education course will be launched, team-taught by three faculty members: Christian, Chan (Professor, Psychology Major), Kei Nasu (Professor, History Major), and Hiroki Tanaka (Assistant Professor, Information Science Major). Ahead of the pre-registration period, a talk event introducing the class took place during lunchtime on November 5 at the Troyer Memorial Arts and Sciences Hall.

The theme of this new course is "Emotion." Rather than treating emotions merely as psychological states, the course examines them interdisciplinarily as phenomena that transform within history, culture, and human relationships. In a wide range of perspectives — from psychology and history to information science — this ambitious course explores topics such as the comparison between Western and Asian views of emotion, as well as the impact of AI and digital media on modern emotions and interpersonal connections.

With faculty members from these three fields as guest speakers, and Associate Dean of the CLA in charge of Curriculum, Tomoo Matsumura (Associate Professor, Mathematics Major), as the facilitator, the event featured a discussion on how the course was conceived, each instructor's passion for the subject, and the unique appeal of this class.

Key questions were shared with the audience in anticipation of the course offering, including:

"What exactly are emotions, and how do they influence human behavior?"

"Have human emotions evolved over historical time?"

"How can emotions be represented and realized through computer technology?"

What are GEL Liberal Arts Special Topic courses?

The general education course series "Liberal Arts Special Topic" was newly introduced in 2023. Among them, GEL002 "Debating the Posthuman: Liberal Arts Perspectives" has been offered for four consecutive years up to this academic year. Starting in AY2026, in addition to GEL004 "Emotion Across Disciplines" offered in the winter term, GEL003 "Diversity and Imagination" has also been offered in the autumn term.

In this course series, full-time faculty members from the three academic categories — Humanities, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences — come together to address timely issues facing society today. Each instructor applies their own expertise, research methodology, and conceptual framework to approach the topic from multiple angles.

"To make the world a better place, experts from different fields cross-apply their knowledge."

This captures the very essence of intellect that ICU's liberal arts education has pursued since its founding. Over the course of a single term, faculty and students bring this vision to life through ongoing dialogue. It represents a new liberal arts adventure embarked upon together by ICU faculty and students living in the "here and now."