Dive Brief:

• Rutgers is offering a course called "Politicizing Beyoncé," which will use the pop star's music to examine race, gender, and sexuality.
• The lecturer teaching the class states a noble goal; he told Rutgers Today that students need to "shift ... away from simply being consumers of media toward thinking more critically about what they’re engaging on a regular basis."
• Beyoncé is not the first in her family to have a college course revolve around her: Georgetown has offered a class about her husband called "Sociology of Hip-Hop—Urban Theodicy of Jay-Z."

Dive Insight:

Presenting students with complex topics by relating them to things in popular culture that they already understand can often facilitate a better learning experience for some. As Business Insider points out, the class on Beyoncé can be added to the long list of celeb-focused courses, which have included Bruce Springsteen, the Beatles, Lady Gaga, and more.