Upper School Intersession 2025

In this class, I will share with students how, in the words of the scholar Ruth Benedict, anthropology can help "make the world safe for human difference." I will describe how and why I became an anthropologist, and I will discuss in detail my experiences living and researching in South Africa. The class will also include a brief overview of what anthropology is and how an anthropological perspective can speak to social justice, climate change, the pandemic, and other critical issues of our time. I will include plenty of time for questions and discussion!

What do self-driving cars, Alexa, iPhone's face recognition technology, and ChatGPT have in common? They are driven by modern advances in artificial intelligence. Whether you’re interested in law, healthcare, art, or economics, AI is poised to transform every discipline and industry in the future. AI is already all around us today, and by the end of the program, students will understand the underlying concepts and motivations behind technology such as computer vision, natural language processing, and neural networks.
 
In this course, we will explore the foundations of machine learning and explore different applications of machine learning models. In the first half of the course, students learn AI’s core technologies including applications, foundational concepts, and programming tools through live lectures and coding labs. Students will not only learn about different types of machine learning models but also apply those models to real data sets. In the second half of the course, students will complete an instructor-led group project applying AI to the discipline of their choice (e.g., music, healthcare, astrophysics, finance, etc.), utilizing the programming skills they developed in the first half.

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Course Structure

Machine Learning Talks
Learn about machine learning algorithms and techniques in a uniquely interactive, engaging format, before you apply that knowledge in live coding labs.

Hands-On Python Coding
Develop valuable skills in Python, machine learning, and artificial intelligence in our hands-on coding labs, using cutting-edge research to solve real-world problems like breast cancer diagnosis, building self-driving cars, and more.

Project-Based Learning
In our AI for Social Good project, students will be able to apply their newly acquired talents in a collaborative, challenging environment, applying AI to a domain they’re passionate about (e.g., music, healthcare, astrophysics, finance, etc.). Students can use these projects in their résumés and college applications.

An examination of the founding and expansion of Islam. We will explore a number of topics: the pre-Islamic environment in Arabia and the Near East; the biography of the Prophet Muhammad; the first Muslim community in Medina; the theological foundations of Islam; the era of the four rightly-guided caliphs; the Umayyad period and the Abbasid Empire. In addition, the course weighs in on key themes related to philosophy, culture, sectarianism, law, gender rights, and statecraft.

I will talk about why there is often a shift which states are "swing states" over time, as well as how politicians choose certain topics & themes to focus on in their campaigns based on what is politically viable. Example questions include: How did Barack Obama carry several states that are now considered strongly Republican? Aside from purely just changes in public opinion, why do political parties shift their political stances over time? This session will be taught in a non-partisan fashion and is intended to teach students about the salience of political issues and how campaigning works from a calculated standpoint.

There could not be a better time to study our criminal justice system. We are experiencing a time of significant change (much of it long in coming frankly). Each of you, as community members, can be a part of making those changes positive ones and I hope this seminar will help to inspire you to do just that. So... on to a few basic pieces of information about the seminar:

1. What are we going to be talking about?
The session will cover two primary areas: crime and criminal justice and our criminal justice system. We will be discussing things like: "why does crime exist?" and “is crime getting worse” and "why is there such a disconnect between communities and their police" and "do we really need police” and “do district attorneys and defense attorneys hate each other as much as they seem to on TV?" and, if time allows, "what on earth is going on with our prisons in the United States!? Why do we lock more people up than any other country?"...

Are you intrigued? Good!

We will be talking about current events and I recommend that you start plugging into news feeds from a variety of sources and perspectives. If you take the time to check out the news what we discuss will mean a whole lot more to you.

2. Will Professor Raffaelli just be a talking head?
I sure hope not! Bring on those questions and we will dig into them… I welcome and appreciate student participation and hope you save me (and yourself) from me just prattling on the whole time by myself. The criminal justice system is interesting (really!) and I look forward to hearing from you. I also hope that this class will result in more than a few of you looking further into a career in criminal justice. It is one of the places in this world that gives you an opportunity to make a difference in your community and society. Corny as it sounds there really is no better satisfaction than finding ways to help other people.

Political cartoons have been part of public debates around the world for more than 250 years. Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist David Horsey will take students on a visual journey through the history of political cartoons and then talk about his own career; how he creates cartoons, the presidents he has lampooned, the readers he has angered, the wild scenes he has observed -- all illustrated with copious examples of his award-winning cartoons.

Sarah Shourd is a lifelong social justice activist, somatic practitioner and a leader in the movement to create safer communities through Reimagining Justice outside prisons and jails. She is an award-winning investigative journalist, acclaimed Pulitzer-presented playwright, author, producer and filmmaker. In 2009, Sarah was living in Syria when she was captured near the unmarked Iran-Iraq border and imprisoned by the Iranian government incommunicado in solitary confinement for 410 days. Learn how this horrific experience became a springboard for Sarah’s work for healing, justice and collective liberation for the last 15 years, delving into the deeper implications of mass incarceration and the widespread use of solitary confinement in prisons across our country. How can we think outside of the harsh and brutal paradigm of punishment and control? How can we heal our communities and ourselves? See http://www.sarahshourd.com for more information.

I will talk about why there is often a shift which states are "swing states" over time, as well as how politicians choose certain topics & themes to focus on in their campaigns based on what is politically viable. Example questions include: How did Barack Obama carry several states that are now considered strongly Republican? Aside from purely just changes in public opinion, why do political parties shift their political stances over time? This session will be taught in a non-partisan fashion and is intended to teach students about the salience of political issues and how campaigning works from a calculated standpoint.

In this interactive session, participants will discuss some of the legal and policy issues underlying free speech and privacy rights, and the potential conflicts between the two with the rise of new technologies like the Internet.  Real-life cases brought by the ACLU will be used to illustrate how public interest litigation cases are developed to create and change laws, and the potential clashes that can occur between competing civil rights and policy goals.

Prepare to practice the art of politics in the Civic Mirror® political role-playing game. You will inhabit a country modeled after the U.S. and will have an opportunity to manage a business, run for office, and serve on a jury. If someone sues you or charges you with a crime, you will be put on trial. You will need to find a way to keep the members of your family alive (provide them with food, shelter, medical care, etc.) while pursuing your "hidden agenda" (secret goals). You will work through the real-life challenges and trade-offs necessary to enact legislation in a country where people's goals are often in conflict.

The climate crisis does not affect all people equally. In this session, we will cover how climate emergencies and extremes magnify pre-existing vulnerabilities, increasing migration and expanding health disparities. We will define three types of climate migrants who are arriving in the United States and evaluate the health risks that they face before, during, and after their migrations.

American society has become so politically divided that some people talk seriously about the possibility of a second civil war. How did a once united country get to this crisis point? As a journalist and cartoonist, David Horsey has observed the evolution of politics in the United States since the election of Ronald Reagan. With his political cartoons as satiric guideposts, he will lay out the descending path Americans have taken into the political chasm -- essential knowledge for anyone who wants to understand contemporary political life in the United States.

Museums curate and display human remains in order to research the past and to educate the public. But it has come to light that many of the individuals on display might not have considered the museum to be their ideal final resting place. Adding in individual and indigenous voices problematises the concept of curation of human remains, but many archaeologists see us on a path we can’t retreat from without radically changing the field. Museum visitors also expect to see skeletons, and most find it part of their education - and often inspires them to go into research of medicine. Additionally, ancient cultures and modern society have radically different views of the afterlife, consent, and burial practices that are often at odds with each other. In this session we’ll learn about and debate these differing views.

Key questions: How can we as curators and archaeologists balance these different value systems? Do the dead have a voice, and what would they argue for? What are some of the arguments for and against keeping human remains on a case-by-case basis? How can we develop more complex arguments than "I wouldn't want that to happen to my body" when all of our ideas of our bodies are different?

Part of a series: “Ethical issues in archaeology." Students are invited to attend one or more sessions in this series by Stacy.

In this session, we will be viewing images of ancient human remains and will be discussing death.

The Global Justice Center is a feminist human rights organization started by the late reproductive rights advocate Janet Benshoof. GJC’s mandate is to leverage international law to advance gender equality. Toward that end, GJC focuses on two main areas: advancing reproductive autonomy as an international human right and ensuring justice for mass atrocities involving sexual and gender-based crimes. Learn how Global Justice Center conducts this crucial work, including through innovative legal analysis, advocacy with governments, and press work. Signature campaigns--including to achieve a global convention on crimes against humanity, pierce pervasive impunity for widespread sexual and gender based crimes in Myanmar, and for access to safe abortion is a fundamental right--will be discussed.

Learn from activists across disciplines, from political leadership to social justice, as they reflect on their decades of experience and their perspectives on the future of social equity. If you’re interested in learning about grassroots organizing, community activism, or a career in public service, this panel is for you! Our speakers will include the executive director of Women’s Building SF, founder of FundHer Valerie McGinty, a local director of Public Allies (former collaborators with Michelle Obama), and other E&I leaders!

Can you pick the next president via looks alone? This course will explore whether voters can accurately predict politician competence and performance in office based on facial appearance alone. Research indicates that quick judgments about candidate appearance often predict election outcomes. Voters' response to facial appeal fits into broader concerns that citizens do not base their decisions on things that matter —policy and talent—but what appeals to their basic instincts.

You will investigate this facial phenomenon by examining recent studies and engaging in an in-class facial appearance study. We will ultimately review our own study and examine what it means for the future of democracy and what it tells us about our own concepts of fairness, prejudice, and leadership.

Some basic knowledge of the U.S. electoral process is helpful but not required.

How does the brain, a three-pound organ, give rise to all of the thoughts and feelings we experience everyday? How can new technologies such as virtual reality contribute to our understanding of the brain and human behavior?

This course will be an introduction to novel methods that scientists are using to learn about human cognition, emotion, and motivation. We begin the session by examining the the structure and function of the brain, and how scientists use neuroimaging to gain insight into the biological basis of behavior. We will then explore current methods like immersive virtual reality (VR), psychophysiological methods, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI). We will conclude with a discussion about how to apply these new methods to open questions in psychology and neuroscience, as well as some crucial ethical considerations that arise when utilizing such approaches.

This workshop explores magic and witchcraft as tools of the radical imagination—experimental and empowering methods for challenging the dominant narratives and systems of control in our lives and “rewiring” reality itself. Together, we’ll examine these multifaceted concepts, tracing their evolution, cultural significance, and philosophical relevance to our world today. Students will explore the intersections of magic with politics, art, and psychology, and have a chance to craft their own “spells” to confront and transform the limiting structures they encounter in their lives. No previous knowledge of the subject matter will be expected. All are welcome.

The witch’s hat, towers and turrets, gingerbread latticework, and the attic. In the Victorian era, houses with these architectural details represented all the comforts associated with the American Dream. But by the 20th century, ornate Victorian homes began to warn us: something’s not right in there; something nefarious is lurking inside.
Why? 
In this session, we’ll take a ghost tour through the cultural history of Victorian architecture in America. With a little help from the Brothers Grimm, Shirley Jackson, Tim Burton, Alfred Hitchcock, and Sarah Winchester, we’ll explore what made these structures so iconically creepy.

It takes an average of $1.3 billion and more than 10 years to bring a new medicine to the point of applying for FDA approval. After pursuing this long and often tortuous path, the prospects are risky, and the FDA faces a binary choice: Grant marketing authorization, or reject the application?

What does the drug development process entail, and why is it so long, expensive, and complex? What is FDA's role in protecting American consumers and the public? How are the concepts of "benefit" and "risk" used to provide a framework for these decisions?

In this interactive session, you will learn the basics of the drug development process, including the role of the FDA in deciding whether to allow access to new drugs. Students will work in groups to evaluate whether a new drug should be "approved", and, if so, under what conditions.

This session will modestly attempt to explain some of the forces that shape today's world through the study of maps. We will likely focus on 20th century and recent conflicts and look into their geography for answers to why these conflicts took place.