Saint Joseph College students playing violin

Course Selections

First Year Seminar Course Selections
for Fall 2010 Registration

Welcome First Year Student!

The following is a list of First Year Seminar (FYS) course offerings for the Fall 2010 semester. ALL First Year students are required to register for a First Year Seminar course of their choice. This course will help you:

  • ·         learn effective strategies while you transition from high school to college,
  • ·         explore an exciting topic of your choice in a small-group and collaborative setting,
  • ·        

As FYS instructors, we look forward to making this journey with you and getting to know you — both inside and outside of class.

Sincerely,
Karen F. Palmunen, First Year Seminar Coordinator
The 2010 First Year Seminar Team

**BE PREPARED TO COME TO ORIENTATION/REGISTRATION WITH YOUR FIRST YEAR SEMINAR COURSE CHOICES SELECTED**

 

Fall 2010 First Year Seminar

Course Descriptions

 

  1. “Beauty and the Beast” : Romance to Reality MWF 11:00-11:50

“Beauty and the Beast” is a story of emotional transition from adolescence to adulthood. It is a tale with enduring elements that remain constant, despite historical and cultural change. In this course, we will critically examine this story from its roots in the “Cupid and Psyche” myth, through its literary genesis as Beauty and the Beast in the French salon tale, and its twentieth-century translation into film. Using Beauty and the Beast as a model, you will learn to analyze fairy tales on a number of levels and from various critical perspectives and learn to write a fairy tale yourself. Through reflection on the story’s theme of personal growth and appreciation of self in a new context, you will reflect on your own transition needs as a first-year college student. Together we will help you develop important academic skills and support your social and emotional journey through the first year experience.

 

  1. Perfecting the Mind   T/R 12:30-1:45

How do our minds advance or hinder our learning? How do we learn to read faster and understand more? How do we achieve our learning potential? These and many other questions will be critically examined while assessing learning style preferences. In addition, this course is specifically designed to prepare first year college students to transition into college by working smarter, not harder.  “Perfecting the Mind” students discover the qualities to become a master college student and learn success skills that enhance their ability to listen effectively during lectures, take accurate notes, solve problematic situations, and most importantly, increase their reading speed and comprehension. Through innovative and hands-on experiences and a self-evaluation process, students will determine their learning, reading, and problem solving styles while becoming motivated to acquire, develop, and practice reading and academic skills needed to succeed in their college courses and personal lives. 

 

 

  1. War Through Women’s Eyes MWF 9:00-9:50

Why are we so haunted? I think it is because of the terrible irony of the War; the idealism and the high-mindedness that led men and boys in the hundreds of thousands to volunteer to fight and, often to die; the obscenity of the square miles of . . . shattered bodies . . . and the total imbalance between the causes for which the war was fought . . . and the scale of the human sacrifice.

Vera Brittain penned these words about World War I in 1933. In 2010, women are not only again grieving for sons, daughters, husbands, brothers and lovers lost to war, but also volunteering themselves to fight, and sometimes die, in wars no longer defined by clear battle lines. This course explores women’s perspectives on war through a selection of powerful movies, plays, memoirs, poetry and fiction. You will use the lens of psychological concepts to compare Achilles’ voiceless war prize Briseis in the Iliad with Brad Pitt’s spunky romantic interest Briseis in Troy; to understand young nurse Vera Brittain’s depression after the deaths of her fiancé, brother and friends in World War I; and to explore the evolution of the diagnosis and treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the Vietnam War to today.

 

  1. Together Everyone Achieves More – An Adventure Approach        T/H 11-12:15

classroom setting and immerse yourself in an outdoor environment. Through an exploration of the background, philosophical basis, ethical issues, and theories of adventure education, students learn the true meaning of trust in themselves and in their team members as they expand their minds and explore new opportunities.  Students will also learn to think critically as they write reflections about their own personal interactive styles, as well as about how they fit into the larger group. 
Course Goals: 
1) To provide the student with an understanding of the uniqueness of the adventure education model by using personal and group reflections as skills to transfer learning. 
2) To provide the student with the experience as a participant in a wide variety of adventure education activities. 
Fun is contagious.  Laughter creates an immediate sense of togetherness. 
Together we build teams and long lasting friendships.

 

  1. No Room at the Inn: Homelessness in America T/R 2:00-3:15

Did you know that during the course of a year in Connecticut, there are over 33,000 people, including 13,000 children with no place to call “home”?  There are many more CT residents at risk of homelessness.

This course uses a service-learning approach to help students understand the needs of this population and deepen their knowledge of the root causes of homelessness and the life experiences of homeless persons.

Students will have the opportunity for “hands on” service experiences in an area soup kitchen interacting with homeless individuals who are seeking supportive and health services.  There will be an emphasis on issues of ethics and social justice, as well as, the physical, emotional, social & spiritual wellbeing of the population through weekly discussions and reflection journals.

 

  1. 21st Century Plague: Is Humanity at Risk? MWF 1:00-1:50

 

HINI! Avian Flu! SARS! Media hype on the evening news or a looming catastrophe? This course will look at what history, literature and film have to say. Albert Camus’s novel The Plague will engage you as we explore the psychological effects and philosophical questions raised in the wake of a seemly unstoppable disease. We will also investigate how Hollywood envisions a post-plague world by examining recent films such as Children of Men, Blindness, and I Am Legend. Finally, we will examine past epidemics such as bubonic plague, smallpox, and the Influenza of 1918 and the world they helped shape to gain a better understanding of the causes and consequences of infectious disease, including the emergence of public health departments and medical professionals, the problems of containment, control and ethics, the dangers of misinformation, and the effects of fear. Most importantly, this course will explore the human condition in the wake of a devastating event like an infectious outbreak and seek to answer the question: how do we react to catastrophe events and why? Despite the lessons of past, will humanity survive if this threat is realized in the future?  

 

  1. Clean, Green, and Sustainable! MWF 11-11:50

 

A new energy paradigm has begun to captivate all peoples of Planet Earth, and it involves the development and use of clean, green and renewable/sustainable technologies such as solar, wind and geothermal. This course will allow you to determine your personal level of consumption of basic resources such as water and energy, and give you lots if ideas as to how you can personally move towards sustainable living through simple conservation and increasing energy efficiency. Solar electricity, wind electricity, solar hot water, solar home heating, and geothermal home heating will be explored in detail. Saint Joseph College's new solar systems, which help heat the 6-lane swimming pool and the domestic hot water at the O'Connell Center, will be a focal point of this course.

 

  1. Mercy Quest T/R 11-12:15

Mercy Quest is designed to help you find and live your passion, by exploring important questions about the meaning of your life, your world and your place in it. We will do this by asking questions, like “What is my best self?”, “What are my values?”, and “What do I want the future to look like?” We will use the college’s mission statement and core values to discover who you are and who you want to become. The course will be shaped around an exploration of the seven core values of the College: Catholic Identity; Commitment to Women; Compassionate Service; Academic Excellence; Respect/Integrity; Hospitality; and Multiculturalism/Diversity. In addition to reading, reflecting on, and writing about these ideas, we will learn by living them out in activities around and beyond the campus. We will participate in learning opportunities on- and off-campus that will help you to discover your particular gifts. Some of these will be service learning, like volunteering in an after-school tutoring program or in an assisted-living facility. Others will be field trips, which range from museum visits to attending a Japanese tea ceremony.

  1. The Salem Witch and American History T/R 9:30-10:45

Course Description: This course will examine the Salem Witch crisis of the 1690s as a way to understand various aspects of US history: gender roles, frontier life, warfare, and the place of ‘outside’ groups like slaves and Native Americans. We will examine the role of Salem in the public consciousness in American folklore, and how that story differs from the historical reality. We will also explore the idea of Salem as an example of public history: What does it mean to make Salem, a site of tragedy, a tourist destination? In addition to reading secondary and primary sources, we will also watch movies and take a field trip to Salem itself.

 

10.   Psychopaths and Maniacs: Mental Illness, Stigma, and Prisons T/R 9 :30-10:45

Society’s misconceptions and stigmas about mental illness have left aware of the plight of those with mental illness. Police officers have become crisis intervention workers. Correctional officers have become the new face of mental health care workers. Probation officers lack the needed resources to assist their clients. Prisons have become our new asylums.

This course will explore stigmas related to mental illness, society’s response to deinstitutionalization, and the lack or services available to those who suffer from mental illness.

 

11.   Creating Allies: Conversations about Diversity and Social Justice T/R 2:00-3:15           

 

This course is an exploration of diversity in our world, which specifically highlights the role of the ally as it relates to supporting matters of social justice. Students will share their thoughts and ideas within this course and learn through case studies, role plays, film analysis, guest speakers, social immersion experiences, and on-line resources. Over the course of the semester through self-exploration and reflection we will explore age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, etc. This class will provide a safe place to ask questions, share perspectives, and discuss issues of global diversity and social justice. Students in this course will have an opportunity to explore and practice techniques that will prepare them to live and work in a global society.

 

12.   The Evolution of Rock MWF 9:00-9:50
What would the soundtrack of your life sound like?  During today’s popular culture craze of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, iPods and iTunes, MTV and VH1, one can totally immerse herself in the music of her favorite band or artist.  Yet, the question remains, why are people attracted to the types of music they listen to?  Is one’s taste in music influenced by one’s culture or environment?  Can music really impact one’s actions and cognitive abilities?  Starting with the birth of rhythm and blues in the late 1940s, strong emphasis will be placed upon the social and political implications of the attitudes of people within The United States. Furthermore, this course will journey through the origins of rock n’ roll and explore various sub-cultures and genres, such as metal, grunge, punk, and alternative.  Finally, in order to better understand the music of today and tomorrow, students will listen to songs from various influential artists, watch and
 discuss clips from documentaries, read excerpts from memoirs of recording legends, and critically analyze song lyrics for meaning and rhetorical devices.     

 

13.    Creativity & Innovation:  Nurturing your right brain   T/R 11:00-12:15

The last few decades belonged to programmers who could crank computer code, lawyers who could craft contracts, and bankers who could make a snake oil salesman blush. But the future belongs to people with a different kind of mind and a different motivation – artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers and big picture thinkers.

In this class, we will learn about the coming of the “conceptual age” and how nurturing your creative side will help you seize opportunities that will enrich you and the communities in which you live. Using Daniel Pink’s bestselling book, “A Whole New Mind,” we will investigate the physiological, psychological and behavioral components of right brain thinking. As a result of this class, you will understand the difference between left and right brain thinking, nurture your innovative side, and practice using your right brain in exciting and fun exercises and projects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

June 1, 2010