University professors use the biographies and lives of famous people in their classes.
Celebrity-themed college classes aren’t an entirely new idea: in recent years, it’s become common for college professors to create their own classes centered around a particular celebrity.
For example, Taylor Swift has taken numerous college classes focused on her lyrics, songs, fandom, and overall fame.
From left: Miley Cyrus, Harry Styles and Taylor Swift are among the stars who are inspiring college classes across the country. (Timothy Norris/FilmMagic | Dave J. Hogan/Getty Images | John Shearer/TAS24/Getty Images via TAS Rights Management)
Celebrities who taught at university, including Matthew McConaughey and Spike Lee
Harry Styles is also one of the people being studied by college students.
Let’s take a look at 10 famous people who were taught about them in college classes.
- Taylor Swift
- Harry Styles
- Lana Del Rey
- Nicki Minaj
- Jay Z
- Beyoncé
- Bruce Springsteen
- Miley Cyrus
- lady gaga
- Michael jackson
1. Taylor Swift
Given Swift’s immense popularity, it’s no wonder that she’s been the subject of not one, not two, but countless conversations in college classes across the country over the past few years.
One example is a course offered at Arizona State University called “The Psychology of Taylor Swift – Advanced Topics in Social Psychology.”
The course was led by psychologist Alexandra Wormley and involved exploring albums related to psychology.
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“The course is basically a semester-long look at different phenomena like gossip, relationships, revenge, and the like, using Taylor Swift as an example,” Wormley said when the course’s launch in 2023 was announced on the Arizona State University website. She also emphasized that “this class is not a seminar to tell us how much we love or hate her. We want to teach you the psychology of her.”
College students across the country are taking notes on Taylor Swift’s career in class. (Marcelo Endelli/TAS23/Getty Images via TAS Rights Management)
The University of Texas at Austin is offering a Swift-centric class in 2022 called “Taylor Swift Songbook,” taught by Elizabeth Scala.
“Students in this course will study Swift’s songs alongside the traditional canon of Western literature – Shakespeare, Keats and Frost,” Scala said in a statement about the course at the university. “They will be challenged to analyze and contextualize common practices and issues that span the centuries.”
The Clive Davis Institute at Harvard University and New York University also offer courses on Swift.
2. Harry Styles
The former boy band member has continued to achieve global success through his career as a solo artist.
Styles’ background was explored in more detail in a course at Texas State University called “Harry Styles and the Cult of Celebrity: Identity, the Internet, and European Pop Culture.”
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It has been announced that the class will begin in spring 2023 and will be taught by Dr. Louis Dean Valencia.
3. Lana Del Rey
Students at the Clive Davis Institute at New York University had the opportunity to study Lana Del Rey.
The university announced that it will offer a class in September 2022 called “Topics in Recorded Music: Lana Del Rey.”
Shortly after NYU’s Taylor Swift course came the introduction of the Lana Del Rey class. (Christie Sparrow/Getty Images)
The class follows a Swift course that was offered at the university earlier this year.
4. Nicki Minaj
At the University of California, Berkeley, students had the opportunity to take a Nicki Minaj-themed course called “Black Barbie Feminism and Hip Hop Feminism.”
This course was offered in the Spring 2023 semester.
The class focused on hip-hop stars and was offered through the African American Studies department.
5. Jay-Z
In 2011, Georgetown University offered a course focused on Jay-Z.
The class was titled “Sociology of Hip Hop: Jay-Z.”
The course was taught by Michael Eric Dyson, and one of the required texts for students was Jay-Z’s book “Decoded.”
6. Beyoncé
The other half of Hollywood’s power couple, Beyoncé, was also the focus of college classes.
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Rutgers University is offering a class for its students called “The Politicization of Beyoncé.”
Both Beyonce and Jay-Z have taken classes on them in college. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images, courtesy of Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 Years)
Kevin Allred created a lesson on the “Single Ladies” singer in 2010.
7. Bruce Springsteen
Another celebrity course previously offered at Rutgers University was “The Theology of Bruce Springsteen.”
Springsteen, a New Jersey native, had his lyrics judged through the course.
When the class was introduced in 2013, the description emphasized that it would explore “Springsteen’s reinterpretation of Biblical motifs, the possibility of salvation through worldly means (women, cars, music), and the interweaving of the secular and sacred.”
8. Miley Cyrus
Skidmore College in New York offered a course on Miley Cyrus in 2014.
The special lecture was titled “Sociology of Miley Cyrus: Race, Class, Gender, and Media” and was taught by Carolyn Chernoff.
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At the time the class was announced, Chernoff told TODAY.com that the course would offer an opportunity to “gain a deeper understanding of how social issues play out through mass media and how even something as minor as entertainment reflects larger cultural conflicts about race, class and social inequality.”
9. Lady Gaga
In 2010, the University of South Carolina offered a course on Lady Gaga called “Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame.”
“The central objective is to elucidate some of the sociologically significant aspects of Lady Gaga’s fame,” the course description reads, according to The New York Times.
Lady Gaga was the subject of a college course offered at the University of South Carolina. (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
The class was taught by Mathieu Deflem, a professor of sociology and longtime Gaga fan.
10. Michael Jackson
Professors who teach college courses on celebrity draw lessons from every aspect of a star’s life.
“Michael Jackson: The Music Business” was an MBA-level class at Clark Atlanta University.
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The course focused not only on Jackson’s music but also his business endeavors.
The curriculum included topics such as “how he negotiated, toured, recorded records and merchandised, and how he revolutionized the legal practice of entertainment copyright, trademark, licensing and more,” People reports.
