Walking Dead 101 and other Zombie College Courses

Right when some of us wondered whether college was a big waste of time, a course such as The Walking Dead at the University of California Irvine comes along. Not only is it fun, but it’s free. If you’re wondering whether you’ll leave college with nothing more than a lifetime of debt, consider brushing up on your post-apocalyptic survival skills with these zombie college courses.

(Photo Credit: George A. Romero/Wikimedia)

1.  The Walking Dead

If you happen to be about that zombie life, you’ll likely enjoy The Walking Dead course that AMC, the University of California Irvine and instructor are collaborating on. This course will be offered for free and will include real live teachers and physics, public health, and social sciences professors. Before you start planning the rest of your degree around this eight week course though, keep in mind that you will not earn credit for the course – it is only just for fun.

2.  Surviving Zombies College Course

Michigan State University offered a seven week course titled “Surviving the Coming Zombie Apocalypse: Catastrophes and Human Behavior.” This course covered the Great Plague, disastrous earthquakes, and of course the zombie invasion, and how humans behave in these situations.

3.  Zombies in Popular Media

Students at Columbia College Chicago can take “Zombies in Popular Media” which includes an exploration of the history and representation of zombies in media such as literature, comics, and films. Final projects in this course “foster thoughtful connections between student disciplines and the figure of the zombie.”

4.  Media Genres:  Zombies

Before The Walking Dead even appeared on AMC, the University of Baltimore offered its zombie course as part of a new minor in pop culture. The course included the study of a number of books, movies, and comic books, such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Patient Zero, The Walking Dead (as a comic book), and of course, Night of the Living Dead

While these zombie courses are often seen as “fun” courses, they are designed to inspire critical thinking and reading skills as well as a view of human behavior. Unfortunately, it is not clear whether students actually learn any hands on skills which might be helpful in the event of a real zombie apocalypse.

Tell Us What You Think

Have you taken an unconventional college course? Would you take a zombie college course? We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or join the discussion on Twitter.