First-Year Seminar
The First-Year Seminar (FYS) is designed for and required of new students at the beginning of their college studies. It offers students the opportunity to learn in small classes through reading and regular discussion, writing and critical engagement with controversial ideas. Sections are taught by faculty representing every part of the college's liberal arts curriculum.
Each section focuses on a topic from current events or history or within one of the traditional areas of academic study which has generated controversy among the scholars, policy makers and others who have grappled with it. The role of controversy in shaping human understanding and motivating social and political action is the common theme which unites all sections. As students develop their own positions in the topics of their seminars, they learn how knowledge and understanding depend on the clash and synthesis of multiple points of view. They can also expect to develop a range of academic skills, including critical reading and thinking, writing and oral presentation, library research and the use of electronic technology for their learning.
Section topics and descriptions vary from year to year and are available below. Recent sections have covered topics in the arts, ecology, international relations, social and public policy, personal development, the sciences and history. Students typically are placed in a FYS section by late June before registering for other first-semester courses. The instructor of their FYS section is normally their faculty advisor for the first year.
First Year Seminar Sections
(see also Spring 2010 Semester sections)
FYS Sections for Fall 2009
In Search of the Muse: Why Do We Make Music?
Professor Tim Harbold (MW)
Section A02
The Economics of Sports
Professor James Freeman (TTh)
Section A03
Energy and Civilization
Professor Jason Goodman (MW)
Section A04
Television
Professor Talitha Espiritu (MW)
Section A05
American Cities/American Suburbs
Professor Scott Gelber (TTh)
Section A06
Plagues, Pandemics and Pestilence
Professor Shari Ackerman-Morris (TTh)
Section A07
On the Nature of Friendship
Professor Nancy Kendrick (TTh)
Section A08
The Art of Observation-Perception in Practice
Professor Jake Mahaffy (TTh)
Section A09
Storytelling Through Computer Animation
Professor Marc LeBlanc (MW)
Section A10
The Inner Lives of Animals
Professor David Wulff (MW)
Section A11
Psychology and Horror
Professor Jason Reiss (MW)
Section A12
Border Crossers: Immigrants, Nations and a Multicultural World
Professor Michael Mezzano (MW)
Section A13
Social Empowerment through the Performing Arts
Professor Julie Searles (MW)
Section A14
Rituals of Dinner
Professor Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus (TTh)
Section A15
The Dreams We See: Film in Society
Professor John Grady (MW)
Section A17
la dolce vita
Professor David Vogler (TTh)
Section A18
Fear in the Making of the Americas
Professor M. Gabriela Torres (MW)
Section A19
Truth, Reconciliation and Forgiveness
Professor Dolita Cathcart (TTh)
Section A20
The Complete Amateur Naturalist
Professor Betsy Dyer (MW)
Section A21
Russia in Crisis
Professor David E. Powell (TTh)
Section A22
Class Matters
Professor Hyun Kim (TTh)
Section A23
Water, Water Everywhere: The Legacy of the 1927 Flood of the Mississippi River and Hurricane Katrina
Professor Thomas Ratliff (MW)
Section A24
Children's Literature in a Multicultural Society
Professor Bev Clark (MW)
Section A25
Too Much Information? Knowledge and Cultural Citizenship on the Internet
Professor Josh Stenger (TTh)
Section A26
Asian American Visual Culture
Professor Sean McPherson (TTh)
Section A27
On Democracy
Professor Alireza Shomali (WM)
Section A28
Sports, Schools and Society
Professor Paula Krebs (WM)
FYS Sections for Spring 2010
"Trouble is My Business:" Mystery and Detective Fiction
Dean James Mancall (TTh)
Section B02
WATER
Professor Matthew Evans (MW)