The First Seminar (or FSP for short) is a small seminar-style class that all entering first-year students take during their first semester at TCNJ. The course enables entering students to work closely with a professor and their fellow students on a topic of their choosing outside of their major. It offers students an opportunity to engage in an intellectually exciting and challenging experience at the beginning of their college career.
| Keyword | Name/Description | Human Inquiry | Civic Responsibility |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Culture, Technology | Quantifying US Professional Sports: Science, Statistics, and Money
This course will focus on an analysis of an American obsession: the measurement of professional sports. The goal of the course is to develop critical thinking, analytical writing, and quantitative skill around a rich and fascinating topic. Special attention will be given to the physics and physiology of modern professional baseball, football, and basketball, including topical discussions on the current state of illegal performance enhancement and pharmaceutical detection, as well as controversies about player safety. The course will include readings, discussions, and calculation of traditional and novel statistical measures of player performance. Economic structures such as salary caps, team revenue production, revenue sharing, collective bargaining agreements, and venue financing will also be considered. Course materials will draw heavily from recent and current films, books, and websites. Course #: FSP 151-04 |
15 - Quantitative Reasoning | |
| American Culture, Social Justice | What's Fair? The Mathematics of Equity
This course considers the mathematics of social choice, that is, different methods for ways in which groups can arrive at decisions. The course topics include a) The Mathematics of Voting - ways to determine winners in elections and flaws in the methods; b) Weighted Voting Systems such as the Electoral College, c) Fair Division - how to divide assets in a way that is equitable; and d) Apportionment - how we determine how many congresspersons to allot to each state. In each topic real-world and historical situations are considered and analyzed. In this class students are expected to be able to do simple arithmetic with fractions and percentages, and solve algebra equations containing one variable. Course #: FSP 151-03 |
15 - Quantitative Reasoning | |
| Technology | The Duel and the Tango Between Man and Modern Technology
Modern computing has gone a long way in the areas of prediction and information extraction. This frontier has been ranked by MIT Technology Review (2001) as one of the ten emerging technologies that will change the world. In this course, we use a variety of videos and films to explore this component of modern technology that is used within the Google operation, Walmart online tracking, fraud detection, and many other areas of applications. In addition, we learn how this technology impacts our lives in both positive and detrimental manners. Furthermore, we use powerful computers to have fun with information extraction and the detection of high-tech crimes. Most importantly, the course engages students in the discussion of controversial issues such as privacy concerns, precautions, and the battles of humans vs. machines in the era of modern computing. The discussions are centered on a variety of studies in a 2007 book, Super Crunchers, by Ian Ayres, a professor at Yale University's School of Management. Course #: FSP 151-02 |
15 - Quantitative Reasoning | |
| Technology, Games | The Mathematics of Games and Gaming
This course is designed to be an introduction to the mathematics of various games, such as Texas Hold'em, Black Jack, Pocket Billards, and Baseball. In this seminar, we learn the rules of several games and then discuss the mathematics which underscore decision making in these games. The end purpose being that you should be able to make mathematically based decisions to improve your game play. Course #: FSP 151-01 |
15 - Quantitative Reasoning | |
| American Culture,Technology | Global Climate Change: The Science and the Debates
Why are scientists, politicians, and other concerned citizens concerned about the consequences of climatic change? This course addresses that question. Students will distinguish between short-term atmospheric phenomena (weather) and long-term trends in weather (climate.) The influence of ocean circulation on weather and climate is included. The changes we see in modern-day weather and climate will be compared to what happened in the past. Students will become knowledgeable about how scientists deduce past climates through such evidence as ice cores, sediment cores, coral reefs, the fossil record, and tree rings. Examination of causes of climatic change that will be discussed include plate tectonics, changes in the earth's orbit, changes in the earth's energy balance, variations in the sun's energy output, and historical human activities, especially since the beginning of the industrial revolution. An appreciation of how research in climate change is done will be gained by a qualitative review of climate models. After establishing the facts about climate change, discussion will include examining social (e.g. population migration and water supplies) , economic (e.g. production and supply of food), and environmental (e.g. sea-level rise and changing weather patterns) consequences of climate change. Course #: FSP 141-02; FSP 141-03 |
14 - Natural Science | |
| Fine Arts, Technology | The Art and Science of Color!
This course is designed to bridge the gap between those who use color (artists, designers) and those who understand the molecular level chemical structures of the compounds involved. This seminar explores the rich history and chemical structures of compounds of color, from ancient inorganic pigments to modern organic dyes. How is dye/pigment chemistry related to art history? How does an artist know which colorants are best for a given application? How do molecular structures relate to their colors? Can any student master chemical structures in one semester? From lipstick to house paint, we add color to everything around us, including ourselves. Learn to appreciate this one aspect of "better living through chemistry." Course #: FSP 141-01 |
14 - Natural Science | |
| Music & Dance, Identity | Music and the Holocaust: Culture, Identity, and Ideology
In early twentieth-century Germany, musical culture was a central component of national pride and identity. For many of Germany's Jews, this classical music heritage was a core element of their own identification as German citizens. Indeed, many of Germany's leading singers, conductors, violinists, and pianists were of Jewish background, not to mention such prominent composers as Felix Mendelssohn and Gustav Mahler. With the rise of religious and "racial" anti-Semitism in the later nineteenth century and the institution of anti-Semitic legislation by the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler music became a principal battleground of cultural and "racial" ideology. In short order classical music became, for some, an arbiter of what it meant to be German, and, for others, pushed to the point of extinction, what it meant to be a human being. This course begins by examining some of the controversies surrounding music as a means of commemorating the Holocaust before addressing the larger historical perspective of Jewish experience within German culture from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries. There follows an examination of the nature of right wing music ideology and the means by which it was transformed into state policy after 1933. The central focus of the course rests upon the years of the Nazi regime from 1933 to 1945, during which Jews were first ejected from public musical life and finally either forced into emigration or hiding, or herded into concentration camps. Throughout this period the Jews themselves continued to cultivate a vibrant musical life, first through the officially sanctioned Jewish Cultural Association in Germany (1933-1941) and then, after the annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939, within the concentration camps themselves, including the notorious death camp of Auschwitz. Particularly significant is the flowering of cultural activity in Theresienstadt near Prague, where the Nazis created a self governing "city for the Jews" intended to show the world that their racial policies were benign. Theresienstadt was in fact a potemkin village whose facade of normalcy masked the fact that it was little more than an antechamber to the death camps in the east. Nevertheless, under primitive conditions, the concerts, opera, theater, and cabaret within Theresienstadt were of the highest quality and give evidence of the way the inmates used culture as a form of spiritual resistance. The final section of the course returns to an examination of the role of music in post war commemorations of the Holocaust in film and concert life. Course #: FSP 134-02 |
13 - Social Change in Historical Perspective | Global Awareness |
| Fine Arts | Love, Friendship and Exile: Introduction to the Italian Renaissance
This course introduces students to the history, society, and culture of the Italian Renaissance, as reflected in the main literary works produced between the thirteenth and sixteenth century. By analyzing these literary works, students will develop a deep understanding of several important topics at the core of Western culture, such as the notion of the self, the link to a cultural past, and the discovery of man. Professor: Anichini, Federica |
13 - Social Change in Historical Perspective | Global Awareness |
| American Culture | Multicultural New York: The City From Its Beginnings to the Present
Is New York the capital of the world? How did it become such a great multicultural city? What does it mean to be a New Yorker? These are some of the questions that guide us as we study events that shaped New York's multicultural history from its beginning to the present. As we explore different periods of the city's history some of the areas considered are immigration, changing neighborhoods, crime, technology, quality of life, money, power, culture, and art. Seminar time is supplemented with real world experiences. Course #: FSP 132-01 |
13 - Social Change in Historical Perspective | Race and Ethnicity |
| Fine Arts, Technology | From Books to Bytes: The History of the Book and Nature of Reading
As we read this course description, what is it we're reading? Is this print the same as the print Gutenberg pressed into his pages when he started using movable type? Is the experience of reading a book on an ereader the same as the experience of turning pages? This seminar will explore these issues, as well as the ethics of reading, as it examines the history of the book (really, the codex) and the way that technology informs the way that we read. Course #: FSP 131-03 |
13 - Social Change in Historical Perspective | |
| Diversity, American Culture | Language in Society
In this course, we study what makes human language different from the communication systems used by other species and look at the systems that all languages use to build meaning. Then we take up the question of how we use language in social contexts - among friends, family, classmates, colleagues, supervisors, strangers, as well as with health care professionals. We consider what makes an accent an accent, that associations and impressions accents generate, and look at language-based bias and stereotyping. We also study how babies acquire the language of their parents, the nature of bilingualism, and how adults learn a second or foreign language. The course examines the relationship of language and ethnicity by analyzing particular languistic situations in depth. As part of this course, students engage in ESL tutoring in Trenton to fulfill the CEL requirement. Course #: FSP 125-02; FSP 125-03 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | Community Engagement Learning |
| Diversity, Ethics | The Tattooed Men: Organized Crime in Contemporary Japan and Beyond
Known for their striking full-body tattoos, and severed finger-tips, Japan's gangsters comprise a criminal class 90,000 strong-over four times the size of the American Mafia. Topics include: a global view of transnational organized crime; the Yakuza in historical/socio-cultural context; the Tokugawa period including Ronin and the transforming Meiji era; the Kodama years; the modern Boryokudan, the Bosozuko, and Snakeheads; and the Yakuzas moving abroad with their ties to Chinese Triads, American-based Chinese Tongs, Russian Mafia, and Thailand/Laos drugs gangs (The Golden Triangle and the Heroin Trade). |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | Global Awareness |
| Diversity, Technology | The Impact of Globalization
With the advancement of new technology, communications between people have been greatly enhanced. However, the initiatives and the practices of globalization, such as the results of exporting free market democracy, have created a complex series of economic, social, technological, cultural, and political changes in the world. This seminar addresses many relevant issues with respect to changes, conflicts, doubts, problems, and possible solutions. Students have a chance to read many resources as well as to watch many films to explore issues seriously, including the continuing struggle for development in poor countries; the relationship between globalization, inequality and poverty; the fate of cultural diversity in a globalizing world; and issues of gender, ethnicity, the environment, social justice, and human rights. Course #: FSP 124-01; FSP 124-02 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | Global Awareness |
| Social Justice, Diversity | LGBT and Popular Culture
This course will explore LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) identity, culture, and politics by way of their representations in documentaries and popular films. I often share with students that there are at least three major reasons for why there's been a significant shift globally in pro LGBT civil and human rights. First, many anti-gay laws are being repealed (e.g. anti-gay marriage laws and DADT). Second, many people now personally know friends, family members, and co-workers who are LGBT, thus personalizing the issue. Third - and related to the course theme - there's been an outpouring of LGBT popular culture, thus helping to globalize many LGBT concerns, issues, and topics to a wide variety of people and places. This course will explore the stories about LGBT identity, culture, and politics that are being told in popular culture - especially in light of the work they do in contributing to a global transformation on the issue of LGBT - by focusing on a number of themes/topics relevant to contemporary LGBT life: LGBT activism; marriage equality; LGBT and public schooling; LGBT and religion; transgender/genderqueer identity; intimacy and erotic life; the politics of "reparative therapy"; and the "coming out" process. Course #: FSP 123-01 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | Gender |
| Social Justice, Diversity | New Jersey's Urban Environment
Although regarded as the most urbanized of states, New Jersey's cities are somewhat peripheral to the state's dominant, suburban culture. In fact, NJ's cities are quite socially distant from other parts of the state, and have largely not experienced the revival and gentrification associated with cities in other states in the 1990s and early 2000s. Instead, the state's cities remain plagued by social and economic segregation, crime, troubled school districts, and polluted environments (among other social ills). This course will allow students to learn about New Jersey's cities in order to explain why so many have stagnated, why others have improved, and how non-urban communities continue to be linked to historic urban cores. This course involves an active component of community- engaged learning in Trenton. Course #: FSP 122-04; FSP 122-05 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | Race and Ethnicity |
| Social Justice, Diversity | Diversity and Its Responses
This seminar will explore diversity, broadly conceived, and the causes and consequences of individual, societal, and political responses to diversity. Course materials and discussions will focus primarily on economic and ethnic diversity within communities, both in the United States and abroad. As part of this course, we will compare the way that diversity has been understood differently in different societies. Primarily, however, we will concern ourselves with the way that different societies and polities respond to having various groups within their communities. Thus, the causes and consequences of individual responses (such as prejudice and community service), societal responses (such as ethnic conflict and harmony) and political responses (such as affirmative action and more assimilation-oriented policies) will be studied. There is a service-learning component to this course. Thus, all students will participate in service at a community institution that is in some way devoted to responding to community diversity (whether that be in the educational, nongovernmental or governmental realm, among others Course #: FSP 122-03 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | Race and Ethnicity |
| Diversity, Social Justice | Race & Ethnicity in Latin America & the Caribbean
This seminar examines race, ethnicity, class and gender as significant variables affecting people's lives in the Anglophone Caribbean. Categories of race, ethnicity, class and gender are used not only to create distinctions among human beings but they also justify the unequal distribution of wealth, resources, power and prestige among members of society and thus create inequalities. In this course, we seek to understand social inequalities in the Anglophone Caribbean and the consequences of those inequities on human experiences. Avoiding simplistic definitions of race, ethnicity, class and gender, we examine how these categories are socially constructed, contested, and negotiated among Caribbean peoples. We begin by examining race, ethnicity, class, and gender as social constructs. We then focus attention on how race, ethnicity, class and gender intersect in the Caribbean shaping societies and individual experiences in complex ways. Finally we examine how Afro-Caribbeans construct, interpret and negotiate racial, ethnic, class, and gender inequalities in their lives. Course #: FSP 122-02 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | Race and Ethnicity |
| Education, Social Justice | World on a Plate at an American Table
Food plays an important part in our identity construction, our religious practices, and our socialization. Food practices can tell us a lot about the society in which they play a part and the relationships between people and food. This course will address issues of culture, meaning, power, and ecology, all through a focus on food. Using food to address identity in a nation that is characterized by migration and cultural pluralism is one of the main goals of this course. Through research, media analysis and community engaged learning, students will gain skills in analyzing messages about food, culture, and power Course #: FSP 122-01 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | Race and Ethnicity |
| American Culture, Law | You have the right to remain silent (and other rights too)!
Understanding the Bill of Rights is an important aspect of being an informed citizen of the United States. The purpose of this course is to examine the Constitution, focusing on the first ten amendments (i.e. the Bill of Rights), and exploring complicated Constitutional Law issues. The course examines common legal phrases and concepts with which most students are familiar (e.g. “do you have a warrant?”, taking the fifth, making bail, a free press, the right to bear arms, “I want a lawyer,” a jury of your peers, States’ rights, separation of church and state, cruel and unusual punishment) and shows how they are connected to each of the Amendments. This is done in several ways. Current events that pertain to issues governed by the Amendments are examined. In class discussion, debate and through actual cases we illuminate issues within the framework of the Bill of Rights themselves. Attitudinal changes in the current social and cultural climate are explored. (e.g. allowing a police search without a warrant, restricting access to assault weapons, accepting restrictions on religious symbols). Many of the amendments are also explored through film, historical documents and literature to foster discussion about the actual application of the Bill of Rights in current social and practical circumstances. Course #: FSP 121-20 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | |
| Technology | Being Digital in 2012
How is the Internet, and more broadly technology, transforming society? A wide range of topics including social media, maker culture, art in Course #: FSP 121-19 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | |
| American Culture, Technology | Voting With our Fingers and Electing a President
Our seminar will look at the 2012 Presidential election through the lens of a wide range of media to determine how media can affect the outcome. The Democratic and Republican conventions will help us open the semester. Aided by guest speakers and unfolding events, we will then closely monitor the weeks leading up to the November election to explore all facets of the campaign, including the debates, political ads, speeches and candidates' websites, looking in particular for aims, messages, successes, failures and surprises. A highlight of this look at media is a look at the candidates themselves; we will travel to as many rallies as we can, most in Pennsylvania, seeing President Obama and his opponent up close to assess how well the media capture these appearances. How can YouTube, Twitter, and our immediate access to information help determine who gets to be President? Course #: FSP 121-18 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | |
| Technology | The Digital Domain
Is there any aspect of our lives that the Internet has NOT altered? From how we connect through social networking to how we listen to music, study, acquire the news and shop, our online interactions are profoundly shaping our daily existence. In this course, we examine the possibilities and the problems that technology poses. We also study those who do not have access to the technology that has become ubiquitous in our lives. Course #: FSP 121-17 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | |
| Education, American Culture | Life In, Out, and After College
Students often hear college will be "the best four years of your life," and it certainly can be. But most students fail to make the most of their college years, fall into common social patterns, rarely venture outside the "college bubble," and avoid thoughts of life after college. The reality, however, is that paths to adulthood have grown longer and more harrowing, and those who ignore these realities only make their path more difficult. This seminar will explore the sociology of American youth and young adults, examine changes to the social and cultural worlds that youth and young adults inhabit, and compare patterns of navigating our post-modern and globalizing world. Course #: FSP 121-16 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | |
| Health, Identity | Holistic Wellness and Mindfulness
This seminar provides first-year students an opportunity to explore and establish wellness and self-care practices. We learn about what it means to be engaged in one’s present moment experience through the practice of mindfulness meditation, which is practiced throughout the duration of the course. We will also strengthen our understanding of this practice by teaching basic mindfulness skills to children. A model of wellness is examined and students explore wellness from personal and interpersonal perspectives. Readings focus on the psychological foundations and clinical applications of mindfulness and wellness practices. We also examine mind-body science, the stress response, biofeedback, and illness and wellness in our culture as compared to other cultures. Students research and present a wellness topic. The semester concludes with a silent meditation “mini-retreat.” Course #: FSP 121-15 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | |
| Ethics, American Culture | Aging, Mortality, and Longevity: Humanity's (unsuccessful) quest for eternal life.
The aging process affects everyone and yet many people don't feel comfortable talking about getting older, becoming sick, and the end of life. Currently, many aspects of American society are focused on youth and perfect physical health but are these helpful perspectives for us? Is there a positive side to aging and dying? This seminar will look at the reality of everyday life for many "seniors" juxtaposed with our quest for eternal life. We'll explore issues of health, housing, faith and culture, identity, death, loss and grief. The subject matter is simultaneously personal and communal, theoretical and practical, discouraging and inspirational, and we may even discover how to live forever. Course #: FSP 121-14 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | |
| Education, Identity | How College Works: Higher Education, Learning, and American Society
The discussion about college in your family over the last year was personal: which college would you choose (and which ones would choose you), who was going to pay for your education, and what did you intend to study? There is widespread public debate about these issues too. Access to college, the costs of attendance, and the value of a degree are all being questioned by business and nonprofit executives, politicians, and educators. We examine this public debate about higher education; a debate that has intensified as the importance of college for individual success has increased and the resources available for higher education become more scarce. Course #: FSP 121-12 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | |
| American Culture, Social Justice | Does What We Eat Matter?: The Culture, Politics, and Science of Food
How do we choose what to eat and drink? What impact do these choices have on our bodies, our society, and the planet? Every aspect of food production from farm to table has received increased scrutiny over the past decade. This course examines these questions and other issues such as: why is American food so sweet (or how does culture determine what we eat?) and are genetically modified crops a solution to feeding the world's population? Course #: FSP 121-11 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | |
| American Culture | Violence in the United States
This course offers an in-depth examination of violence in the United States. The history of violence in the United States is traced from its establishment through to present day. Theoretical explanations of violence, measurement of violent crime, different types of violence, and factors related to violence, such as substance use and the media, is explored. We also assess the effectiveness of policies designed to prevent violence and punish violent offenders. Course #: FSP 121-10 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | |
| American Culture, Environment | The Price of Everything
How can we use our limited time, energy, and natural resources as effectively as possible to achieve our most important goals? In this seminar, we’ll examine principles from psychology, economics, law, and related disciplines to consider how to bring out the best in people to promote the type of society in which we’d like to live. We’ll begin with Russ Roberts’ book, “The Price of Everything,” which explores the apparent paradox that people’s activities can be coordinated most efficiently not through centralized planning, but through freedom to choose how to live their own lives. Specifically, the prices we are willing to pay--in time, effort, or other resources--determine the value of activities so that voluntary exchanges can then take place to mutual advantage. We’ll discuss a wide range of applications, including the smartest responses to environmental concerns. Emphasis will be placed on ways to actually do good rather than merely feeling good and rational reasons to be optimistic about our future. Course #: FSP 121-08; FSP 121-09 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | |
| Diversity, Identity | Normal? Issues of Identity and Difference
"Normal is nothing more than a cycle on a washing machine" (Whoopi Goldberg). This course explores the social, personal and political issues in the development of personal identity in relation to difference from 'normal.' Specifically we explore the 'differences' of gender, sexuality, race, culture,as well as physicality and cognitive abilities and how each affects the development of a positive personal identity. Course #: FSP 121-07 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | |
| American Culture, Social Justice | Ability and Dis/Ability: Deconstructing and Disrupting the Social and Cultural Gaze
Disability is ubiquitous and permeates literary narratives, medical narratives, films, television, common discourse and other spaces. Disability tends to be subjected to our "gaze" in some way or the other and continually captures our curiosity. Interestingly while it evokes fascination, it also disrupts closely held notions of health, normalcy, ability and the body. This disruption is typically dealt with by finding a way to "reign" in the difference, situate it in a specific space, or identify a rational explanation. Paradoxically, although disability is visible everywhere and evokes our curiosity, it is rendered invisible in other ways. This course is about the social and cultural gaze directed towards disability and what that tells us about our assumptions on binaries such as ability/disability, our notions of body and movement as well as our perceptions of normalcy. The course introduces students to the field of Disability Studies and encourages them to critically examine their gaze and challenge and deconstruct the taken for granted assumptions about disability. The course focuses on how disability is presented in literary narratives, films, as well as other forms of discourse. Issues of agency and citizenship are examined through personal narratives and the accounts of people with disabilities on the web and blogosphere. Embracing an interdisciplinary approach, the course traces the origins of disability studies in the UK and the US and the intersectional conversations with critical studies, feminist disability studies, post colonial disability studies and disability studies in education. Course #: FSP 121-06 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | |
| Education, Identity | Human Ability Unplugged
"Disability is not a 'brave struggle' or 'courage in the face of adversity' . . . disability is an art. It's an ingenious way to live." - Neil Marcus. This quote by Neil Marcus reflects the central focus of this seminar regarding the study of human ability and the struggle among people perceived as more different than alike. Mr. Marcus is a poet, humorist, writer, actor and a self proclaimed adventurer who is creatively endowed with disability. His disability denies his ability to speak, stand, walk and/or control sudden and bizarre movements. The study of disability as a key aspect of human experience equal with race, class, gender, sex, and sexual orientation is explored through an alternate post modern paradigm that views difference from a variety of angles. The course commences and terminates with an attempt to define "Human-ness" or the parameters of what makes us "human." This is compared to the human variability that we experience in our societies, communities and civilizations. This study of ability has important political, social, and economic import for society as a whole, including both disabled and non-disabled people. Course #: FSP 121-05 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | |
| American Culture, Religion | Exploring Amish Culture
This course is designed to be an introduction to Amish culture, more specifically, the Old Order Amish, the most conservative group of Amish living in the United States. Through course work designed to acquaint students with a social/historical/political and educational perspective of the Amish, students will gain a better understanding of this fascinating, complex culture and what makes it unique. Resisting change in a technological world is a constant struggle for the Amish who shun electricity, automobiles, and other modern conveniences. Since the Amish eschew individual accomplishment, this course will focus on the Amish as a "Little Community," how the Amish depend on the resources of the outside world, (the non-Amish community), and how they adapt to change. The course will also clarify some of the major differences between the Amish and Mennonite culture, differences that many outsiders are curious about but do not fully understand. Life ceremonies such as birth, marriage, and death will be investigated as well as social change and illness issues, for example, Amish medical behavior and problems, mental illness, and suicide patterns. Much of the content of this course will be learned by reading fiction and nonfiction books and articles about Amish culture, researching the culture on the Internet, viewing films and videos portraying Amish culture, participating in discussions and small group work in class at the College, and visiting an authentic, working Amish farm where students will be able to participate in discussions with an Amish family, experience a tour of an Amish farm, and sit down for a meal with the Fisher family (An Old Order Amish Family) in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Course #: FSP 121-03 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | |
| American Culture, Diversity | Language and Culture
This seminar draws on students' expertise in language to explore variation, change, and controversy in language use. Course readings focus on American English, but students are encouraged to use appropriate examples from any language in which they are fluent; all students are expected to consider how variation and change affect their native languages, and what specific controversies surround these languages. For example, some argue that current technologies such as instant messaging have a negative influence on English, while others defend the technologies and the linguistic changes they seem to be causing. Possible topics include dialects, gender and language, changing expectations concerning standard written English (SWE), and English as a global language. Course #: FSP 121-01; FSP 121-02 |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | |
| Diversity, Ethics | Islam and Politics
This FSP will introduce students to the Islamic faith and its teachings, as well as their impact on politics and society both historically and in the contemporary period. We will read from the religious texts and from some of the most prominent thinkers as they discuss the values of the faith and the code of conduct at its core. We will study and discuss the different teachings related to political authority, the economy, the position of women, and treatment of non-Muslims. We will focus in the final weeks on contemporary issues related to various forms of "Islamic activism." Course #: FSP 114-03 |
11 - Worldviews and Ways of Knowing | Global Awareness |
| Social Justice, Ethics | Humanity's Quest for Meaning and Justice
Since before recorded history, humanity has sought to shape and refine its moral and intellectual nature. The development and nurturing of civil communities have been at the center of this search. What does it mean to be moral and just? How has humanity defined morality and justice in different times and places? What is a community? Can a community exist without values shared in common? This seminar considers questions and issues of morality and justice in a variety of settings: pre-history, classical Greece, Islam in the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, modern China, and contemporary America. We explore characteristics common to all humans, and how those characteristics find expression in the development of cultures very different from one another. We seek answers to questions of morality and justice within Western and non-Western settings. We discuss the idea of a supreme being, giving special attention to contrasting views within Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Course #: FSP 114-01; FSP 114-02 |
11 - Worldviews and Ways of Knowing | Global Awareness |
| Social Justice | Environmental Justice
The question of justice who gets what and why has occupied humanity for millennia. Today, the problem of environmental justice who can (or cannot) live in healthy, sustainable environments and why has become a central concern of political activists, government bureaucrats, academic philosophers, and community organizations. These different actors and organizations have made the case that many environmental problems, such as pollution and climate change, are not only natural or technical problems, but are simultaneously problems of social justice that require political action to be addressed effectively. |
11 - Worldviews and Ways of Knowing | |
| Social Justice | Social Justice
This First Seminar will enable students to develop a better understanding of social justice issues and learn about practical strategies that can serve as means of advancing social justice in the world. We will study several social justice issues at both the local and global levels and work with community partners on projects in the local community that aim to promote social justice or redress social injustice. The emphasis in this course will be on understanding social justice mainly through the conceptual framework of human rights and studying global social entrepreneurship projects that are advancing the struggle for social justice around the world. Course #: FSP 111-08 |
11 - Worldviews and Ways of Knowing | |
| Ethics, Technology | Human Subjects in Research
This course examines the role of human subjects in research experiments from an historical perspective. Study begins with the treatment of civilian prisoners during World War II that lead to The Nuremberg Code in 1948. Additional study includes Willowbrook Hepatis Studies involving special needs children housed in a residential setting in the 1950s, pregnant subjects during The Talidomide Experience of 1962, the indigent, uneducated, African-American sharecroppers in Alabama in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study between 1932-1972, and other famous studies involving vulnerable populations. Course #: FSP 111-06 |
11 - Worldviews and Ways of Knowing | |
| Ethics | Mortality, Mind, and the Meaning of Life
This seminar explores some of the oldest, most profound, and most fascinating philosophical and religious questions that human beings have pondered. We focus on three main themes: Mortality: What is death? Is it a purely physical event? Is death nothing more than cessation of brain activity? Is death a separation of soul and body? Do you survive your physical death by being resurrected or reincarnated? Mind: What is mind? Is it a spirit or soul? Can it exist apart from your body? Is your mind something purely physical such as the brain? Meaning of Life: Is there a meaning or purpose to human life? Is it ultimately devoid of any purpose or meaning? Do we ourselves create whatever meaning or purpose our lives may have? Does human life have a meaning or purpose that we ourselves do not create? Course #: FSP 111-04; FSP 111-05 |
11 - Worldviews and Ways of Knowing | |
| Technology | Friendship in the Age of Facebook
What role do our friendships play in helping us figure out what is the meaning and purpose of life? How has the idea of friendship been affected by social media, technology and contemporary culture? What goes into the kind of friendships that we can carry with us through a lifetime? These are a few of the questions we consider together as we examine the ideas of friendship and finding meaning and purpose in life. We think through how to build substantive, content-filled, relationships as we explore how to make sense of life. Course #: FSP 111-03; FSP 111-09 |
11 - Worldviews and Ways of Knowing | |
| Identity, American Culture | Explorations in Time and Time Travel
What do you know about time? Does it move, or do we move in it? It is it constant or variable? Can we leave our present moment? These and many other questions are explored as we examine literature on the nature of time and time travel. Ideas and works by thinkers and writers such as Albert Einstein, H. G. Wells, Jack Finney, Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Heinlein, Stephen Hawking, Dean Koontz, and Stephen King are considered. Physics, philosophy, religion, literature and popular culture are brought to bear on considering meanings and definitions of time and their effects on human thought and consciousness. Course #: FSP 111-01 |
11 - Worldviews and Ways of Knowing | |
| Music & Dance | Rock N' Roll in Post-Mao China
This course seeks to study the 'Rock 'n' Roll' music and culture (also including hip-hop and punk) that emerged in the Post-Mao Mainland China from the early 1980s to the present. By situating Chinese Rock (C-rock) in the dramatically changing historical, cultural and political context, the seminar examines critically how 'Rock 'n' Roll' music shapes the heterogeneous identity of Post-Mao and Post-socialist China. Through careful analysis of the lyrics, musical style, MTV and films, we explore topics such as rebellious youth culture and political ideology, influence of Western music and traditional Chinese music, underground subculture and urban space, transgressive passion and censorship, band culture, performance poetics and global capital, and, gender, sexuality and body identity. NOTE: Students are invited to also enroll in CHI 151, Intensive Chinese. Course #: FSP 104-03 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | Global Awareness |
| Popular Culture, Film | Cinema and the City
This course examines the portrayal of metropolitan life in film, television, and other media. Using feature films, and still photography students look at ways in which cities and their inhabitants have been imagined and represented. Issues to be explored and examined include the following: What cinematic assumptions are made about contemporary cities and how are they imagined in cinema? What historical, cultural and political currents influence the particular way cities are represented in cinema and what is the nature of these images shown on the screen? Why have particular genres ex. film noir or neo-noir science fiction used the city as a site for its storytelling? We watch a number of films that explore the cities and their residents. As such we examine the meaning(s) of city life, and the nature of urban experience past and present (and future!) Course #: FSP 104-02 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | Global Awareness |
| Music & Dance | Music and The Natural World
This course introduces elementary topics and tools of music, aesthetics, philosophy, anthropology and other fields to examine aspects of the relationship between the natural world and the music of human society. Beginning with a discussion of the possible origins and purposes of music, we trace the thread of environmental influence in historical and contemporary styles. Examples from the Western Classical tradition are considered, including extensions into 20th- and 21st-Century compositions and sound installations, as well as non-Western traditions, folk styles and commercial music. Course #: FSP 104-01 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | Global Awareness |
| Music & Dance, Religion | The Evolution of African American Gospel Music
This course traces Black Gospel Music from its origins to its present day varied arrangements. Students come prepared to sing a little (as a group only) and attend at least two worship experiences (i.e., Sunday morning worship or a Gospel concert). Furthermore, our class participates with the Bonner Center and completes a community-engaged project that is course-related. Course #: FSP 102-03 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | Race and Ethnicity |
| American Culture, Social Justice | Becoming an American
This seminar examines the experiences of Hispanics in the U.S. during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries with a special emphasis on Hispanics living in New York and New Jersey. The course draws from a variety of readings and media including two novels, short stories, poetry, films, art, music, as well as non-fictional accounts, ethnographic studies and public policy regarding immigration. Themes we address include the border and notions of border-control, stereotypes, issues of identity, and the differing experiences of immigrants depending on their location, personal situations and country of origin. In addition, students experience the topic first-hand through a mandatory service-learning project in collaboration with the Bonner Center and Catholic Charities of Trenton. Students volunteer at the Family Resource Center (El Centro) to assist in teaching classes for Hispanic permanent residents who are studying for their citizenship test. Course #: FSP 102-01 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | Race and Ethnicity |
| Fine Arts, Film | The Trojan War in Art, Literature, and Film
This class will examine how and why the Trojan War has played a pivotal role in the cultural history of the Greco-Roman world and beyond, into our own times. In the course of our examination, we will be reading acknowledged masterpieces of ancient literature: Homer’s Iliad, as well as sections of works by Virgil, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. There will be occasional assigned readings of some more modern authors, including poets. In addition to reading about the Trojan War, we will look at how artists have portrayed the epic war in painting, sculpture and other visual arts from the ancient world down to modern times. The allure of the war and its stories has survived the Greeks and Romans and found its way into modern popular culture. This is evidenced in films on the war such as Troy of 2004, which served in part as commentary on contemporary wars, and others produced for mere entertainment. We will be watching portions of several films and documentaries, and students will be expected to assess video content in terms of its accuracy and quality, either verbally or in writing. Course: FSP 101-15 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | |
| Social Justice, Fine Arts | The Art of Protest
This course will explore the role of the visual arts in society -- the place and impact of the visual arts both in the workings of social power and in processes of social change. We will also consider the place of society in the arts -- the ways in which diverse forms of social and political engagement have shaped the history of art. We will discuss the role of artists, beginning in the Renaissance, as both supporters of and challengers to political, religious and aesthetic authority. We will then study specific examples of protest art from the 19th century to the present which address the subjects of politics, racism, bigotry, feminism, colonialism, war, AIDS, homophobia, the environment, and consumerism. Among the questions we will consider are: Should there be limits on creative expression? How should we judge art with an overt political/social message? What are the goals of protest art? Is its effectiveness a reasonable standard for judging success, and how do we judge its effectiveness? What is the distinction between protest and provocation? What is the audience for protest art? What is the relation between art and commerce (between the artist and the marketplace)? Course: FSP 101-14 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | |
| American Culture, Religion | American Supernaturalism
In this course we try to come to terms with America's ambivalent relationship with its supernatural literature by surveying the origins and evolution of such writing over the last 200-odd years. Readings are from such authors as Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Henry James, Edith Wharton, H. P. Lovecraft, Shirley Jackson, Toni Morrison, Joyce Carol Oates, Anne Rice, and Stephen King; we also consider a few filmed or televised 'texts.' To more fully explore the breadth of American supernatural literature, we discuss history, culture, religion, myth, race, and_especially_psychology, philosophy, gender, and sexuality. Course #: FSP 101-13 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | |
| Fine Arts | The Joys of Genre: Reading and Writing Fiction
Some of the most engaging literature can be found in specific categories, such as mystery, horror, science fiction, romance, and adventure. This class features classics of these and other categories, and assignments include reading and writing within the genres, as well as academic reflections on the literature. This class is ideal for readers who want to expand their libraries and for writers who want to experiment with their craft. Course #: FSP 101-12 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | |
| Popular Culture, Social Justice | The Tudor Obsession
Henry VIII lived five hundred years ago, yet in recent years he has become an obsession with popular culture. What is it about this time period and this family that captures the modern American's imagination? In this course we examine how the Tudor family is portrayed in today's media, including movies, television, and literature. We compare the modern perception of one of England's most notorious families with the facts. Students work in small research groups to present different aspects of the monarch's life based on historical and primary sources. Students also read and discuss fictional accounts of the Tudor family written by some of the most popular fictional authors of our time (e.g., Philippa Gregory, Rosalind Miles, Jean Plaidy, and non-fiction by Alison Weir). They use the knowledge from their historical research and presentations to compare the various perspectives on this family. Key points for discussion revolves around what makes this topic so popular among readers and audiences today. Students also have the ability to compare slightly older films (e.g., Ann of the Thousand Days - 1969 and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex - 1939) to more modern takes on this fascinating family (e.g., Showtime drama, The Tudors, Elizabeth I - 2005, and Elizabeth - 1998). Course #: FSP 101-11 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | |
| Ethics, Identity | Once Upon a Time: The Story of Story
A baby cries. Its mother feeds it. The baby feels contented. The first story, experienced by all of us, complete with beginning, middle, and end. Humans have used story and narrative structure to organize their experiences and memories since before the invention of language. This course looks at story from many angles, including exploration of of Mythology, Bible Stories, and Fairy Tales, and explores themes such as adaptation, multiple perspectives, and plot theory. Among other tasks, participants will create fictional and non-fictional accounts and share these with a variety of audiences. Course #: FSP 101-10 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | |
| Ethics, Identity | Once Upon a Time: The Story of Story
A baby cries. Its mother feeds it. The baby feels contented. The first story, experienced by all of us, complete with beginning, middle, and end. Humans have used story and narrative structure to organize their experiences and memories since before the invention of language. This course looks at story from many angles, including exploration of of Mythology, Bible Stories, and Fairy Tales, and explores themes such as adaptation, multiple perspectives, and plot theory. Among other tasks, participants will create fictional and non-fictional accounts and share these with a variety of audiences. Course #: FSP 101-09 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | |
| Social Justice, Fine Arts | Incarceration Nation: The Literature of the Prison
This course explores literature by and about prisoners from 600 AD to the present. In addition to reading a variety of sources written across the centuries, we help current-day prisoners in the production of their own autobiographical writings. Interdisciplinary in nature, this course weaves together the study of gender, criminology, psychology, sociology, and, most notably, literary analysis of such groundbreaking, provocative material written by one of the most neglected, silenced, but all-too-critical sectors of our population -- the prisoners. Course #: FSP 101-08 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | |
| Fine Arts, Identity | Reading Bleak House
In this First Seminar, we focus on the act of reading. What happens when we read? How do we make sense of what we read? Is reading a literary text different from reading other things? Why do we sometimes misunderstand what we read? What do we need to know in order to understand what we read? In exploring these questions, we read some recent theories about reading and comprehension from the disciplines of literary studies, education, psychology, and linguistics. As a test case, we also read Bleak House, a novel by Charles Dickens. I, the professor, read the novel for the very first time with you - so that I do not have the advantage that professors usually have over their students of having already read the entire literary work assigned in class before the semester starts. Instead, we all explore reading Bleak House together from start to finish, all the while monitoring and analyzing our preconceptions, responses, questions, misunderstandings, and interpretations of the book. Course #: FSP 101-07 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | |
| Popular Culture | The Cultural Phenomenon of Harry Potter
There is much debate about the literary merits of the Harry Potter series. This course investigates those debates and focuses on the novels as a cultural phenomenon. The books have become symbols in larger cultural battles about religious values, literacy and the role of children's literature in shaping the next generation's beliefs about gender, social class, race, imperialism, capitalism and spirituality. Students engage in discussions about complex cultural artifacts that affect ideology and about the ways we define literary merit within contemporary consumer contexts. Course #: FSP 101-06 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | |
| Social Justice | How was Latin American Turned into a Third World Region?
This course will analyze the different aspects that have shaped the economical history of Latin America, as a Third World Region. It will start with the Indigenous World View, continue with the different Colonizations and finish with Globalization and Free Trade Agreements. Course #: FSP 101-05 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | |
| Fine Arts, Environment | Literature Saves the Earth
Beginning with the premise that our planet’s health is in a state of grave crisis, this seminar focuses on literature and techniques of literary analysis that can help us understand and address that crisis. Sub-topics covered include food and agriculture, cyborgs and genetic modification, wilderness preservation, and human/animal relations. Texts include novels such as Frankenstein and Prodigal Summer, non-fiction such as The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Never Cry Wolf, and films such as Into the Wild and Blade Runner. Course #: FSP 101-04 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | |
| Fine Arts, Identity | Refractions of Character and Narrative: Variations in Fiction/Poetry, Drama and Opera
In 1898, Henry James wrote a famous novella, “The Turn of the Screw.” Critics have argued since then about the nature of the narrative: is it a ghost story or is it a story of psychiatric distortion. The story so mesmerized artists from different disciplines that it was re-told in 1954 by British composer Benjamin Britten as an opera of the same name, in 1959 by John Frankenhaimer as a live TV play and in 1961 as a full length film renamed “The Innocents.” This very interesting triple is not that unique. Indeed, there are many “stories” that were born as pieces of narrative literature which later creative artists turned into dramas and operas. Experiencing, analyzing, and discussing some of these multiple versions and views of a single story line provides a powerful foundation for enhancing critical skills, appreciating different art forms, and understanding human beings and human culture. Other narratives we shall work with: Orpheus, Oedipus, Othello, Candide, Manon Lescaut, and The Lady with the Camellias. Course #: FSP 101-03 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | |
| Fine Arts, Popular Culture | Constructing/Deconstructing An Icon: Che Guevara in Art & Visual Culture
Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Bob Marley, John F. Kennedy, Gandhi, Barack Obama--icons of popular and political culture litter the popular imagination. This seminar selects Ernesto 'Che' Guevara as its icon of choice. History has given Guevara many guises, among them revolutionary, guerilla fighter, murderer, doctor, political theorist, and writer. This seminar examines the man *and* the t-shirt to analyze how Guevara crafted his own political image, and how, in turn, Guevara became an iconic image in fashion, art, cinema, and other forms of popular and material culture. We ask: What is the 'iconization' process and how does it take place, particular in the realm of the visual? Course #: FSP 101-02 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | |
| Fine Arts, Ethics | Novels of Kurt Vonnegut
We read, discuss, and write about nine novels by the satirist Kurt Vonnegut. In studying these books (from Player Piano through Cat's Cradle and Breakfast of Champions to Timequake) we look at what makes them fine novels (character, theme, structure), revel in the satire, and deal with Vonnegut's philosophy, his criticism of life, and his views on religion and government. Also, we might become Bokononists and tell a lot of foma. Course #: FSP 101-01 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts |
Honors Courses
| Keyword | Name/Description | Human Inquiry | Civic Responsibility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Music & Dance, Popular Culture | Springsteen's Lyrics as Literature
Bruce Springsteen is arguably the most important American music artist, at least in the Rock genre, of the second half of the twentieth century. From his appearance the same week on the covers of Time and Newsweek in 1977, he has been hailed as more than just an entertainer. Like Bob Dylan before him, Springsteen has been recognized as a poet and short story writer working in popular music. In this class, the lyrics of Springsteen's recorded songs are analyzed as examples of literary writing. Themes in his songs we examine include timeless universal issues such as growing up, love, death, political power, religious faith and doubt, etc. In addition, because of the upheaval of American society during Springsteen's apprenticeship in the 1960s and his early career in the 1970s, we examine Springsteen's lyrics for how they manifest cultural issues of these decades (e.g., Vietnam, civil rights movements, recession's effect on the working class, etc.) and of the '80s and '00s as well (e.g., his 2002 album The Rising as a self-conscious response to 9/11). The course also treats albums as analogous to books, each with a unifying principle of theme or type of music rather than a random collection of Springsteen's latest songs; thus, we study the albums in chronological order so that it will be possible to gain insights into the shape of Springsteen's career and the development of the ideas and techniques in his oeuvre. This section of First Seminar is meant to appeal to anyone who is interested in the writing of Bruce Springsteen. Course #: FSP 101-H1 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | |
| Fine Arts, Ethics | Mark Twain & Kurt Vonnegut Twain and Vonnegut, two authors whose lives span almost two centuries of American culture, wrote about that culture satirically. They found much to make fun of - American vices, stupidities, and absurdities - American ways with money, politics (Congress can be particularly funny), business, prejudice, and even religion (especially, the pretense thereof). Vonnegut's satire is usually gentle, but Twain's is often not so gentle (he spoke of his "pen warmed up in hell"). We will read and compare some of their works of satire and smile with the authors at people's faults (other people's, of course --never our own - even if we have any - which we don't). We will explore their different methods and techniques and perhaps imitate them. Course #: FSP 101-H2 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | |
| Film | Irish Cinema
An introduction to films made by Irish filmmakers. We will study certain aspects and important issues of 20th century Irish history and culture as represented in these films and consider Ireland's place in the global landscape. Course #: FSP 104-H1 |
10 - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts | Global Awareness |
| Ethics | Mortality, God, and Free Will
This seminar is a philosophical examination of humanity's quest to understand what it means to be human. Beliefs in morality, divinity, and free will are three of the things commonly cited as distinctive marks of being human. Most human beings take for granted that some actions are right and others wrong. Most think that they have the power to choose between right and wrong and are responsible for the choices they make. Many, if not most, believe in God or gods of one kind or another and assume that there are intimate connections between divinity, morality, and responsibility. Yet despite the prevalence of such belief among humans, morality, divinity, and responsibility are difficult to understand. For over two thousand years, philosophers have struggled to determine the nature of morality, the reality of God, and the relationship between free will and responsibility. Our task in this seminar is to examine and critique some of the most important insights and controversies that have emerged from their efforts. Course #: FSP 111-H1; FSP 111-H2 |
11 - Worldviews and Ways of Knowing | |
| Religion | Buddhism and Hinduism
In response to a strong interest in learning about Buddhism and Hinduism this seminar provides, in historical depth, a study of the evolution of the two religions. Through reading religious documents and literature, students learn the origins, reformations, and mutual borrowing of the two biggest religions in South Asia. They also explore the imprints of Buddhism and Hinduism on concepts of the universe and life and death in modern societies of the world. Course #: FSP 114-H1; FSP 114-H2 |
11 - Worldviews and Ways of Knowing | Global Awareness |
| Diversity, Social Justice | Understanding Modern Iran
It's hard to read an American newspaper or watch TV news without hearing the mention of Iran, and it is most often in a negative context. However, beyond the sound bites and political rhetoric, how much do you really know about the history, politics, culture and society of Iran, not to mention the history of US-Iranian relations? This seminar will use the lens of history, literature and film to move beyond media-based images to gain a more grounded understanding of the complex history of modern Iran from the late nineteenth century to the present day Islamic Republic through the eyes of those who have experienced that history. Over the course of the semester will examine issues concerning Islam, politics, revolution, gender, modernization, marginality, exile, and popular culture through reading and discussing background historical texts and novels and viewing Iranian films. Course #: FSP 134-H1; FSP 134-H2 |
13 - Social Change in Historical Perspective | Global Awareness |
Bonner Scholars and W.I.L.L. Program
| Keyword | Name/Description | Human Inquiry | Civic Responsibility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Justice | Social Justice
This First Seminar will enable students to develop a better understanding of social justice issues and learn about practical strategies that can serve as means of advancing social justice in the world. We will study several social justice issues at both the local and global levels and work with community partners on projects in the local community that aim to promote social justice or redress social injustice. The emphasis in this course will be on understanding social justice mainly through the conceptual framework of human rights and studying global social entrepreneurship projects that are advancing the struggle for social justice around the world. |
11 - Worldviews and Ways of Knowing | |
| Social Justice, Diversity | Rebel Girls: Social Change and Leadership _ Girl Style
This course will examine how girls and young women 'do' activism and social change. We will consider historical and contemporary methods, tools, and strategies used to inspire or force social, cultural, and political change on the local, national, and international level. With an emphasis on girls and women as leaders, actors, and agents of change, we will explore what it means to 'girl' our activist efforts, looking at social media, blogs, web campaigns, zines, music, popular culture, protest, and satire. Students will have the opportunity to engage with female activists from within the local community; and will enhance their capacities and strengths as the leaders of today and of tomorrow. |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | Gender |
| American Culture, Social Justice | Leadership for Social Justice
This course examines the critical role of leadership in advancing social justice, with particular attention to successful and failed efforts to address social problems such as poverty, oppression, and civil rights in America. Students probe and critically evaluate various theories and models that attempt to define effective leadership for the public good. The course utilizes an evidence-based, case study analysis of selected leaders, including internationally recognized and lesser known citizen activists, elected public officials, and corporate entrepreneurs. Students investigate the values, traits and competencies demonstrated by effective and ineffectual leaders for positive social change. Texts and supplemental readings include non-fiction and fictional works examining complex problems rooted in social injustice, and the attempts of leaders to ameliorate or eliminate their symptoms. The course also integrates the community engaged learning experiences of students as part of their development as emerging leaders in the Bonner Community Scholars program. |
12 - Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives | Community Engagement Learning |