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University of Florida

Spring 2025 Quest 2 Courses

ABOUT UF

UF Quest invites students to consider why the world is the way it is and what they can do about it. Students examine questions that are difficult to answer and hard to ignore in a world that is swiftly changing and becoming increasingly more complex. In UF Quest 2, students draw upon the biological, physical or social and behavioral sciences to explore pressing questions about human societies and/or the planet.

THE UF QUEST 2 REQUIREMENT

Students who enter UF in or after Summer B 2021 are required take one UF Quest 2 course to complete the UF Quest 2 requirement and to satisfy 3 credits of the General Education requirement in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, the Biological Sciences, or the Physical Sciences (see the  UF Quest Requirement page for more information). Students must first complete the UF Quest 1 requirement before taking a UF Quest 2 course. Some UF Quest 2 courses may also fulfill the International (N) requirement and/or count toward the Writing requirement. 

UF QUEST 2 COURSES

Click on the links below to learn more about the individual courses and to access course syllabi, which will be posted at least 3 days before the semester begins. Click the Campus or UF Online button to filter by program or type in the search field to look for a particular subject, topic, instructor, etc.

For the day and periods that the classes meet, please consult the Schedule of Courses.

CAMPUS HONORS UF ONLINE

        CAMPUS

  • Instructor: Brian Harfe, Biology
  • Format: 100% Online, Asynchronous
  •  Gen Ed: Biological Sciences, International
  • The Pressing Question: 

    Humans can be created with specific “designer” characteristics, but should we? We will examine the technologies behind how the human genome can be modified and discuss the controversies surrounding these technologies.

  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Katherine Serafin, Geography 
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Physical Science
  • The Pressing Question: How can humanity adapt to sea level rise?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Beth Gankofskie, Food Science and Human Nutrition
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences, International
  • The Pressing Question: How do we feed a growing global population in the face of nutritional, environmental, and economic challenges?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Misti Sharp, Food and Resource Economics
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences, International
  • The Pressing Question: How might we reconnect the world with agriculture and food systems through Agritourism?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Tenisha Riley, Family, Youth and Community Sciences
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences, Diversity
  • The Pressing Question:
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: ​Anita Anantharam, Religion
  • Format: 100% Online
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2000 Words
  • The Pressing Question: Is it possible to lead without compromising your values? Is an authentic leadership style which emphasizes cardinal virtues (prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude, etc.) profitable for business or is it better suited for social justice movements and non-profit contexts? How can we discern which leadership style has worked best for what contexts – and why is authentic leadership important now? 
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Jennifer Weeks, Entomology and Nematology
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Biological Sciences, International
  • The Pressing Question: How are humans altering the number, relative abundance, and distribution of species on Earth via changing land use, urbanization, globalization, and climate change and how are these changes impacting ecosystem services and the human experience?
  • Instructor: Estelle Martin, Entomology and Nematology
  • Format: 100% Online, Asynchronous
  •  Gen Ed: Biological Sciences, International 
  • The Pressing Question: What are the emerging issues in vector biology and disease epidemiology? What can be done to manage or prevent the occurrence of arthropod-borne diseases?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Geraldine Klarenberg, Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Biological Sciences
  • The Pressing Question:
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Melissa Mellon, University Writing Program
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences, 4000 Words
  • The Pressing Question: 

    In this course, students will explore their ability to address problems in clothing production and promotion. They will ask the questions “how might consumers write to advocate for sustainable strategies in the fashion industry?” and “to which target readers might consumers communicate their concerns?

  • Instructor:  Amy Martinelli, Dial Center
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  • Gen Ed: Social Sciences, 2000 Words
  • The Pressing Question: 

    How can everyday people use effective communication to better understand and engage with civic life?

  • Instructor: Dennis McCarty, Dial Center
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • The Pressing Question: When am I in a community, and when am I in a cult? When is conformity good for me, and when is it not?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor:  Agata Kowalewska, European Studies
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • The Pressing Question: 

    Can Europeans sustain traditional food culture, competitive levels of food production, and improve population health while achieving the goals of Agenda 2023 and the European Green Deal?

  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Anna Gardner, Applied Physiology & Kinesiology 
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  • Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • The Pressing Questions: If exercise is medicine, why is our society plagued by inactivity and its associated negative health consequences? What entities do or should play a role in promoting an active lifestyle among Americans? What should this role be?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Maria Watson, Construction Management
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2000 Words
  • The Pressing Question: What is the relationship between society, the built environment, and the natural environment, and what does it mean to develop in a sustainable way?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Kelsi & Keri Matwick, Journalism
  • Format: 100% Online, Asynchronous
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • The Pressing Question: 

    What do we eat, and how can we eat for a more sustainable future?

  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Ravi Ghadge, Sociology
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  • Gen Ed: Social Sciences, International 
  • The Pressing Question: How do we understand social problems from a global perspective? How can we create a globally informed policy framework to address global social problems?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Amber Emanuel, Health Education and Behavior
  • Format: 100% Online
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • The Pressing Question: How can we navigate and debunk prevalent health myths to make informed and evidence-based choices for our well-being?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Emily Hind,Spanish & Portuguese
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  • Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences, International
  • The Pressing Question: How do we take care of ourselves and one another on the planet now?
  • Instructor: Xumin Zhang, Food and Resource Economics
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  • Gen Ed: Social Sciences, International
  • The Pressing Question: What is poverty, and how can we eradicate it through the synergy of economics, human capital, the environment, and human well-being?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Joseph Rivera, Sociology
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  • Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • The Pressing Question: 

    How does the law help us to conserve and protect wildlife populations in the United States?

  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Alessandro Forte, Geological Sciences
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  • Gen Ed: Physical Sciences
  • The Pressing Question: Is the severity of the current global loss of biota sufficiently great to be regarded as a “mass extinction”, comparable to other “great dying” episodes that are identifiable in the geological record of the past 550 million years of Earth’s history?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor:  Kim Walsh-Childers, Journalism
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  • Gen Ed: Social Sciences, 2000 Words
  • The Pressing Question: How can citizens identify and use high quality news coverage of local and state governments to foster their own and others’ effective participation in democracy in their communities and their states?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor:   Paul Sell, Astronomy
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  • Gen Ed: Physical Sciences, International
  • The Pressing Question: How can different people view the same evidence yet form or retain different conclusions?
  • Instructor:  Sarah Moeller, Linguistics
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2000 Words
  • The Pressing Question:
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Moodjalin Sudcharoen, Anthropology
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  • Gen Ed: Social and Behavioral Sciences, Diversity
  • The Pressing Question: How is foreignness created by ideologies about language? How do nation-states and institutions of power manage foreigners, foreignness, and foreign voices? How do such projects lead to social inequality, discrimination, and resistance?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Emily Hind & Meg Weeks, Spanish & Portuguese
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  • Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences, International, 4000 Words
  • The Pressing Question: How do we take care of ourselves and one another on the planet now?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: William Whitham, Hamilton Center
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2000 words
  • The Pressing Question: What is political violence? Why can defining “terrorism” be so difficult and morally charged? What sort of person becomes a terrorist and why? How do terrorists maintain organizations, exploit media attention, and (in some cases) come to power? How can societies and states prevent political violence?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Angela Bacsik, University Writing Program
  • Format: 100% Classroom 
  • Gen Ed: Social Sciences, 2000 Words
  • The Pressing Question: 

    Whose interests are served by privacy protection and whose interests are served by surveillance? How does ubiquitous data collection and use create challenges for individuals and for social structures? What kinds of limitations might be needed and why?

  • Instructor: Stephanie Bogart, Anthropology
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  • Gen Ed: Social and Behavioral Sciences, Diversity
  • The Pressing Question: What are the main controversies surrounding human sexuality and how do these intersect with a person, society, culture, and government? 
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Michael Harmon, Dial Center
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • The Pressing Question: How do we with communicate with AI, as explored through the ideas of who is a communicator, who is a mediator, and what is intelligence?
  • Instructor: Drew Brown, African-American Studies
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  • Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences, Diversity
  • The Pressing Question: 
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Noah Rashkind and Elizabeth Lada, Astronomy
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Physical Sciences
  • The Pressing Question: How do the disciplines of art and science converge in astrophotography to help us explore and express our relationship with the cosmos?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Gabriela Hamerlinck, Geography
  • Format: 100% Online, Asynchronous 
  •  Gen Ed: Biological Sciences, International
  • The Pressing Questions: What social, political, biological, and environmental factors led to historic disease outbreaks? What would happen if our planet experienced a pandemic today? How can we prepare for the next disease pandemic?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Monika Ardelt, Sociology
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • The Pressing Question: How does wisdom promote human flourishing in individuals, organizations, and societies and why is wisdom not more prevalent in modern life?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Neil Rogachevsky, Hamilton Center
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Social and Behavioral Sciences
  • The Pressing Question: What is constitutional government? When can a state be called constitutional? Does a state require a formal written constitution to be constitutional? What are the political, legal, and moral factors required for constitutional government, and how might these differ across space and time?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Yang Lin, Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Sciences
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Physical Sciences, International
  • The Pressing Question: Why do human decisions often result in unintended consequences on the environment, and how can we better predict and prevent them?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Amanda Subalusky, Biology
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Biological Sciences
  • The Pressing Question:
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: John Krigbaum, Anthropology
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  • Gen Ed: Biological Sciences
  • The Pressing Question: How does knowledge of vertebrate biodiversity contribute to what we know about our skeletons and ourselves?
  • Instructor:  J. Brodie Roland, Human Development and Organizational Studies
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2000 Words
  • The Pressing Question: What if there was no stigma related to mental health problems in the U.S.? How would our lived experiences be changed and what outcomes would improve? 
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Jessica-Jean Stonecipher, University Writing Program
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2,000 Words
  • The Pressing Question: 

    What is romantic love, and how do the experiences, expectations, discourses, and desires related to romantic love help us to understand ourselves and others?

  • Instructor: Ryan Good, School of Natural Resources and Environment
  • Format: Hybrid
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • The Pressing Question: How can we more critically consume maps to increase our understanding of the world we inhabit?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Jared Gars, Food and Resource Economics 
  • Format: 100% Online, Asynchronous
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences, International
  • The Pressing Question: 

    How can agricultural and environmental policy be used to address emerging food security and environmental threats around the world? 

  • Instructor: Shawn Weatherford, Physics
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Physical Sciences
  • The Pressing Question: How will we meet our energy needs based on available resources in a way that is environmentally friendly, economically viable, fair, and politically attainable?a
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Samuel Martins, Plant Pathology
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Biological Sciences
  • The Pressing Question: 

    Are plants crying out for help and we can’t hear? Do plants talk? Do plants remember? Do plants see?

HONORS

  • Instructor: Naibi Marinas, Astronomy
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Physical Sciences, International
  • The Pressing Question: What is life, what are the conditions necessary for life, and where can we find those conditions in the universe?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Won-Ki Moon, Advertising
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Social and Behavioral Sciences, International
  • The Pressing Question: How can experts/scientists apply AI-powered services and programs in communicating (social) scientific problems for the public?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor:  Elizabeth Johnson, Statistics
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • The Pressing Question: Do people overestimate how much they know about the world and underestimate the role of chance in our lives? Are our subjective judgements biased? Are we too willing to believe findings based on too few observations and inadequate evidence?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor:  Rosalie Koenig, Agronomy
  • Format: 100% Classroom
  •  Gen Ed: Biological Sciences and International
  • The Pressing Question: Can science create new technologies that will address present bottlenecks in agricultural production while securing a healthy, equitable diet and minimizing impacts to the environment?

UF ONLINE

  • Instructor: ​Anita Anantharam, Religion
  • Format: 100% Online
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2000 Words
  • The Pressing Question: Is it possible to lead without compromising your values? Is an authentic leadership style which emphasizes cardinal virtues (prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude, etc.) profitable for business or is it better suited for social justice movements and non-profit contexts? How can we discern which leadership style has worked best for what contexts – and why is authentic leadership important now? 
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Estelle Martin, Entomology and Nematology
  • Format: 100% Online, Asynchronous
  •  Gen Ed: Biological Sciences, International 
  • The Pressing Question: What are the emerging issues in vector biology and disease epidemiology? What can be done to manage or prevent the occurrence of arthropod-borne diseases?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Kelsi & Keri Matwick, Journalism
  • Format: 100% Online, Asynchronous
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • The Pressing Question: 

    What do we eat, and how can we eat for a more sustainable future?

  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Michael Harmon, Dial Center
  • Format: 100% Online, Asynchronous
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • The Pressing Question: How do we with communicate with AI, as explored through the ideas of who is a communicator, who is a mediator, and what is intelligence?
  • Instructor: Gabriela Hamerlinck, Geography
  • Format: 100% Online, Asynchronous 
  •  Gen Ed: Biological Sciences, International
  • The Pressing Questions: What social, political, biological, and environmental factors led to historic disease outbreaks? What would happen if our planet experienced a pandemic today? How can we prepare for the next disease pandemic?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Ryan Good, School of Natural Resources and Environment
  • Format: 100% Online
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • The Pressing Question: How can we more critically consume maps to increase our understanding of the world we inhabit?
  • Syllabus
  • Instructor: Jared Gars, Food and Resource Economics 
  • Format: 100% Online, Asynchronous
  •  Gen Ed: Social & Behavioral Sciences, International
  • The Pressing Question: How can agricultural and environmental policy be used to address emerging food security and environmental threats around the world?