REBECCA LARSEN portrait
  • Professor (Lecturer), Leap & Early College
  • Adjunct, Political Science Department
801-671-4846

Current Courses

Spring 2025

  • LEAP 1100-001
    Health Professions
    Location: GC 3660 (GC 3660)
  • LEAP 1100-002
    Health Professions
    Location: GC 3660 (GC 3660)
  • LEAP 1150-004
    Role of Law in Society
    Location: GC 3660 (GC 3660)

Fall 2024

Courses I Teach

  • POLS 3410 - European Politics
    This course will look at the governmental institutions and public policies of Europe in the 21st century. Our study of Europe will include the United Kingdom (the quintessential parliamentary system), France (nationalism, statism), Germany (interest group organization, consensus-building), Italy (pure bicameralism, patron-client politics) and Poland (democratic transition). We will compare systematically general historical patterns of social, economic and political conflict in the European region and how past events have affected current political culture in European countries. The course will also review the European Union with emphasis upon the organization’s historical development, its acquisition of member states’ governmental functions, and the prospects for the organization’s future as an international actor.
  • POLS 3620 - United Nations
    This course is an “[e]xamination of the structure and principal functions of the United Nations. Particular emphasis is placed on the maintenance of peace and security and U.N. economic and social activities concerning human rights, economic development, and environmental protection.” (University of Utah Catalog)
  • POLS 5420 - European Union
    This course is an upper level undergraduate course on the formation, functioning, and policies of the European Union (EU). Arguably, the main objective of the EU has been to create a common market by integrating the economies of each member state. In order to better understand the issues involved in creating a common market and the resulting balancing act that occurs between the interests of individual member states versus the interests of Europe as a whole this course will focus on the history of European integration, the institutions of the European Union system, and EU policy outcomes. Most importantly, the course will study international relations and comparative politics theories in order to better understand and explain the integration process going on in Europe. We will discuss these theories in relation to the history and policies of the EU. Students will be asked to critically assess if the current theories enlighten our understanding of the EU today.