First-Year and Transfer Student Seminars

Monday and Wednesday, 11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

WGST 1111-002: Queer Histories, Queer Lives: Introduction to LGBTQ+ Studies

Core Area: Humanities, Professor: Katherine Mohrman

As an introduction to LGBTQ/queer studies, this class will give students the opportunity to engage in the histories, experiences, and perspectives of various queer people, communities, and ideas. We will focus on identity and politics in relation to gender and sexuality and other social categories such as race/ethnicity, socio-economic class, nationality, dis/ability, and religion. We will also explore together what it means to “be queer” and what it means to view history, culture, and politics from a queer perspective.

Monday and Wednesday, 2:00 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.

INTB 1111-001: International Social Entrepreneurship

Core Area: International Perspectives,Professor: Jon Wilkerson

The end of the 20th Century saw the rise of a powerful new force: the International Social Entrepreneur. Leveraging the power of market forces, social media, the Internet, and the desire to make the world better, these people have developed powerful ways to tackle the social, economic, and environmental problems that confront us all. In this class, we will study the rise of international social entrepreneurship and the innovative tools international social entrepreneurs have developed to address some of our most dire challenges.

MUSC 1111-001: The Beatles, Popular Music, and Society

Core Area: Arts, Professor: Storm Gloor

Explore the impact of the Beatles and their music on popular music, our culture, and society, both in their time and today. The academic content portion of the course is an introduction to the music of the Beatles and their influence on culture. The academic skills portion of the course is designed to assist students in making a successful transition from high school to college.

Monday and Wednesday - 3:30 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.

FITV 1111-001: Anime Goes to College

Core Area: International Perspectives, Professor: Emilie Waggoner

This is a first-year experiences (FYE) seminar designed to help students understand, appreciate, and analyze character development in Japanese anime. Japanese manga and anime has quickly risen in the United States as a popular storytelling format, with many large companies like Netflix and Hulu beginning to release anime titles on their streaming platforms. The purpose of this course is to provide a history to Japanese anime while focusing on character stereotypes, identities, and development in a variety of popular anime shows, and how that connects to student development theories. 

Tuesday and Thursday, 11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

FINE 1111-001: Your Photographic Journal

Core Area: Arts, Professor: Carol Golemboski

Improve your photographic skills while creating several dynamic, personal projects. Using a camera phone, learn basic camera functions, digital formats, visual journaling, as well as fundamental principles of light and composition. Investigate photography as a mode of visual communication while examining its creative possibilities and exploring the history of the medium.

PHIL 1111-001: Why Follow the Laws? 

Core Area: Humanities, Professor: Jeff Golub

We usually assume that what defines our society and our politics are the laws. But this assumption introduces two sets of questions. On the one hand, what makes a law right? What makes it binding on us? And at what point might law lose such binding force? Does our answer apply to different countries with different laws? Indeed, if their laws are right for them—but not for us—what does that tell us about the limits of law as a force that legitimately constrains or permits human actions? On the other hand, what about our assumptions that certain laws are clearly immoral? Consider the laws that sanction slavery, or those that prevent women from voting, or those that dictate the terms of torture? There is a way in which we cannot get along without laws -- but given that there are laws humans create which are clearly wrong, we need to figure out where the force of law comes from.

Tuesday and Thursday, 12:30 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.

WGST 1111-001: Good Girls Gone Bad

Core Area: Humanities,  Professor: Jody Thomas

Women historically have been subject to male authority and required to uphold societal standards of “good” behavior.  Subsequently, these women had little voice in the communities in which they live or in the world at large.  Some attempted to break out of this “good” girl mold and use their voice in creative ways, but those who did were often judged by society as “bad.”  This First-Year Seminar course will examine how women throughout history combated subjugation through their art, literature, music, and dance, in order to speak to the truth of their lived experience, challenge social inequalities, and make contributions in their respective fields. 

This course will be remote, meaning all classes will occur via Zoom.

Tuesday and Thursday, 2:00 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.

PSYC 1111-001: How to Think like a Psychologist 

Core Area: Behavioral Sciences, Professor: Mitch Handelsman

We will explore how psychologists apply critical, empirical, and ethical thinking to a variety of issues. We will develop and apply thinking skills and will assess learning by participating in class discussions, graded exercises, writing papers, and collaboration with one another to address complex problems.

Friday Only 9:00am-11:45am

ETST1111-002: Food Culture and AAPI Identity

Core Area: Social Sciences,  Professor: Sothary Chea

This course provides a better understanding of the historical, social, and cultural aspects of the AAPI community specifically through food culture. Students will be able to investigate the politics and address critically, AAPI foodways by examining social habits, rituals, private versus public venues, and the connections to the AAPI identity. The AAPI community have always been intimately connected to food practices and institutions in the American imagination.

Check back March 2025 for more information.