University College

Secret Societies and Civic Life

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This course will explore the origins, cultural significance, and civic impact of secret societies, fraternities, sororities, and civic organizations. The course will review significant historical examples—from ancient mystery cults to modern collegiate Greek systems—to understand how secrecy, ritual, identity, and exclusivity shape social behavior. Students will participate in individual presentations, group projects, and a community engagement assignment where they will better understand how membership organizations influence civic life and social belonging. This course will improve the students’ skills in analysis, evaluation, and the ability to synthesize complex ideas.

Course Details
Prefix: 
UCO
Course Number: 
1200
Section Number(s) and Day/Times Taught: 
141: TR 5:00pm- 6:15pm
Term: 
Fall 2026
Categories: 
Global Issues
Civic Engagement
Instructor(s)

Garrett Jackson

Garrett's career has included government, non-profit, and higher education. His teaching and work experience spans over two decades, at the local, state, federal, and international levels of government, presenting at conferences across the US, as well as the UK and the Russian Federation.

In 2014, he was invited by the U.S. Department of State as a Fulbright-Hays Act Cultural and Public Exchange Grant recipient, to lecture in Russia at three universities and as the keynote speaker at the Russian Federation Conference on Rural Settlements. There, he worked with Russian academics, and rural officials to develop relationships, as well as preliminary concepts for a proposed cultural heritage center and trail in the remote Ural and Chelyabinsk Oblast regions of the country.

Garrett earned his Doctor of Law and Policy (LP.D) at Northeastern University in Boston, where his dissertation focused on exploring the disparity gaps that exist for under-resourced individuals serving on boards of directors at community action agencies in the Commonwealth of Virginia. He continues to research this topic at the national level. He earned certificates in Higher Education Teaching from the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University; a Graduate Certificate in Public Administration from Virginia Tech; a M.A. in Community and Organizational Leadership from Emory & Henry College; a B.A. in Geography, and is a graduate of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia. Additionally, he holds Certifications in Digital Citizenship and Human Rights from the U.S. Institute for Diplomacy and Human Rights and a Certificate in Paralegal Studies.

Garrett serves as the Director of Public Affairs for a community action non-profit, responsible for the creation, maintenance, and furtherance of the agency's legislative agenda, government relations, and communications. His non-profit organization experience includes serving and holding offices on the boards of several non-profit organizations at the local, state, and national levels. In his "spare time," Garrett enjoys volunteering in the community, advocating for the incarcerated, and working with Ukrainian soldiers, students, and educators as an English Efficiency Coach.