Three Credits, One BTS Leader: Inside Stanford's Namjooning Seminar for Freshmen

Stanford University is offering a three-credit introductory seminar titled "Namjooning, and Other Well-Being Inspiration from BTS," taking a fan term for RM's favorite ways of unwinding into the classroom. Coming months after BTS played Stanford Stadium, it is the latest sign of how far the group's cultural reach now extends into American institutions.

"Namjooning" was coined by ARMY, BTS's fandom, and named for RM's real name, Kim Namjoon. It describes the slower habits he is known for: visiting art museums, reading, cycling and spending time in nature. The seminar is listed as PSYC 65N, a first-year course running in the autumn 2026 term from Sep. 22 to Dec. 4. It is taught by James R. Jacobs, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and students can take it for a letter grade or on a credit/no-credit basis.

A fan term with a research syllabus

Despite the name, the course is not a semester of gallery visits and park benches. According to Stanford's course description, it examines well-being through scientific research, covering sleep, anxiety and creative blocks, self-love, exercise, nutritional supplements, psychotherapy and coaching.

The pitch is rigor. Rather than telling students to get more sleep, the seminar asks how much sleep people actually need, whether different kinds of rest offer the same benefits and which questions scientists are still debating. Readings pair fiction and peer-reviewed papers with visual art and video, and assignments include short presentations, written reflections and quantitative analysis. The final project draws on RM's 2022 solo album Indigo. As for prerequisites, the listing names a desire to flourish, an appetite for data and "a healthy respect for BTS."

How the course came together

The campus connection is recent. BTS brought their Arirang world tour to the 54,000-seat Stanford Stadium for sold-out shows in May, and those concerts also prompted a separate summer K-pop course through Stanford Continuing Studies. RM is also co-curating an exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which opened in October.

In an Oct. 2 interview with the public broadcaster KQED, Jacobs said the idea emerged after the Stanford concerts and the announcement of the museum exhibition. RM has also spoken publicly about self-doubt and the value of slowing down, which makes him a fitting reference point for a course about looking after oneself.

Universities have long built courses around pop culture to draw students into serious material, and an introductory seminar is a low-risk place to try it. What distinguishes this one is that the star supplies the theme while the evidence does the teaching.

https://exploreintrosems.stanford.edu/opportunities/namjooning-and-other-well-being-inspiration-bts