With the popularity of flesh-eating zombies rising, a school in Michigan has decided to take advantage of the peaked interest in students. Michigan State University is offering a social work class called Surviving the Coming Zombie Apocalypse: Catastrophes & Human Behavior.

This two-credit summer class aims to combine ideas of a zombie apocalypse with catastrophes and human behavior research. In combining the fact and the fiction, the class hopes to explore the nature, scope and impact of catastrophic events on individuals, families, societies, civilizations and Earth itself. The course, created and taught by clinical instructor Glenn Stutzky, asks the question, How do humans behave in catastrophic times?

According to the class description on the Michigan State Web site, the course begins and ends with a catastrophic event simulation, such as zombie pandemic. The class separates students in survivor groups throughout the U.S., encouraging them to face the challenges of living and surviving together during a catastrophic event.

We are using the idea of a zombie apocalypse to attract attention to the important research and science on the topic of 'Catastrophes and Human Behavior,' said Stutzky in a press release from the University. Though the topic is serious and worthy of academic study, the challenges presented in surviving a hypothetical zombie pandemic have real-world applications. After all, zombies make everything more interesting.

The online class begins May 14 as a seven-week summer session.