Tutorials

In the tutorial every entering student explores a topic of interest to the student and the instructor in a small group, discussion-intensive setting. The objectives of the tutorial are to illuminate methods of inquiry rather than to cover topics comprehensively, focusing particularly on writing, critical reading and oral communication. In addition, the tutorial initiates the process of planning for a liberal education at Grinnell through advising conversations between students and their instructors. By promoting close working relationships between tutorial instructors and their students and by combining the roles of instructor and academic adviser, the College provides students with academic advisers attuned to the interests and abilities of their advisees.

A tutorial (4 credits) is required of all students who enter Grinnell as first-year students and of all transfer students below third-year student standing whose previous work does not qualify them for an exemption. A student must complete the tutorial with a grade of C or higher to meet the tutorial graduation requirement and to be eligible to enroll in a “Plus-2” or independent project. Students who receive a D or F in the tutorial must earn a grade of C or better in a course designated or approved by the dean’s office as Intensive Writing (IW).

The following tutorials are offered in 2023–24: 

• Telling Tales (Aparicio)
• Food Stories (Armstrong)
• Linguistic Justice (Arner)
• Conspiracies, Misinformation, and Disinformation in Science (Burson)
• Global Medieval Texts: Human Connections (Clayton)
• Humanities I: The Ancient Greek World (M. Cummins)
• On the Path to Finding Your Authentic Self (W. Freeman)
• Measuring the World (Guenther)
• Montaigne’s Questions (Harrison)
• Making Sense of Succession (Herold)
• Manhood and Masculinity in American Culture (Hills)
• The Power of Water: Connecting, Dividing, Healing (Hurley)
• Totally Bananas! (Hutchison)
• Disadvantaged Childhoods: Orphans, Foster, and Street Children (Kulstad)
• Still Bored? A Golden Age of Board Games (L. Lee)
• Chasing Pathogens: The Rise and Fall of Epidemics (Leggans)
• M’m! M’m! Good! Food Choices and Their Consequences (Levandoski)
• Songs of Achilles (Mercado)
• Data, Decisions, and Uncertainty (R. Miller)
• Coping with Climate Change: How Science, Politics and Ethics Interact (Moyer)
• Film & Philosophy (Neisser)
• Performing Difference (Perman)
• Escapism (Prevost)
• Contested Commemorations (Purcell)
• “Blah, blah, blah:” Environmental Discourse and Changing the World (Queathem)
• Follow the Taco Truck: Understanding Culture and Society through Street Food (Quinsaat)
• …And the Rest is Drag (Rivera)
• Animal Music (Rommereim)
• The ART of Baby Making (Sandquist)
• Rest & Dreamwork (Shook)
• Word and Image (Simpson)
• Old English Re-Imagined (Smith)
• Place (Strangfeld)
• Arab Women: Challenges and Resistance (Youssef)