First Year Seminar Course Selections for Fall 2008 Registration Welcome First Year Student! The following is a list of First Year Seminar (FYS) course offerings for the Fall 2008 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,
• strengthen your academic skills while learning how to make the most of your new environment and the possibilities it offers.
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 2008 First Year Seminar Team **BE PREPARED TO COME TO ORIENTATION/REGISTRATION WITH YOUR FIRST YEAR SEMINAR COURSE SELECTED** Fall 2008 First Year Seminar
Course Descriptions 1.Beauty and the Beast: Romance to Reality: 2:00 MWF “Beauty and the Beast” is a story of transition and initiation—as is your own story as a first year student. Like Beauty, you must leave the comfort of your past environment, negotiate new relationships, face fear and uncertainty, manage new freedoms, define your priorities, and meet new challenges. 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. You will also develop important skills that support your academic, social and emotional journey through the first year experience.
2.War Through Women’s Eyes: 9:00 MWF “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. What has changed in the last 75 years? What has not?
In this course, we will not only explore plays, memoirs, poetry, film and fiction about women and war but also “react to the past” using innovative new methods of experiential learning. We will also explore psychological concepts that can help us explain the meaning and impact of war for both men and women. The course begins with the Trojan War, where women were viewed mainly as spoils of war; and ends with women’s active participation in the current war on terrorism.
3. No Room at the Inn: Homelessness in America: T/R 2:00-3:15
Did you know that in 2007, 33,000 people in Connecticut were homeless at some point during the year and that 13,000 were children? This course uses a service-learning approach to help students understand the needs of this population and deepen their knowledge of the roots of homelessness and the life experiences of homeless persons. Students will have the opportunity to work with homeless people who are seeking support and health services. There will be an emphasis on issues of ethics, social justice, mental and physical and spiritual wellbeing in weekly discussions and reflections. 4. What Makes You Tick: An Exploration of Motivation: T/R 11:00-12:15
Why do people engage in certain activities? Why are some people drawn to danger and adventure while others do everything possible to remain where they believe they will be safe and secure? Why do some people go out of their way to help others while others look the other way? The answer to all the preceding questions rests in understanding human motivation. This course has been designed to introduce first year students to the concepts that help explain the reasons behind individual behavior. Over the course of the semester students will be involved in a series of individual and small group activities aimed at bringing principles of motivation to life. As the semester progresses students will explore behavior-related areas that include: eating, aggression, expressions of love, response to stress and anxiety, creativity, achievement, risk taking, and self control. This is a great course for any student who wishes to understand themselves and those around them better. 5. Hollywood’s Rebels and Justice Seekers: T/R 2:00-3:15 “Hollywood’s Rebels and Justice Seekers” delves into award-winning movies depicting individuals fighting tremendous odds to achieve social justice. Film classics like Erin Brockovich, Norma Rae, Mississippi Burning, A Time to Kill, Shawshank Redemption and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest are viewed to analyze themes and cinematic techniques, as well as acting and directing styles. In examining the relationship among these elements, students develop a heightened appreciation of movies as an artistic medium as well as increase their sensitivity to issues regarding social injustice and what they might do to improve the world we live in. The films we study look at some examples of how people who have been downtrodden have fought back. In Erin Brockovich, a local community of people suffering life-threatening sicknesses galvanizes to confront the mega-corporation polluting their groundwater. Through Norma Rae, we learn of the real-life struggle of one strong woman to rally her co-workers to fight for deserved wage increases and better working conditions, thereby, improving the lives of their children. Both Mississippi Burning and a Time to Kill teach us valuable lessons about the civil rights struggles in the Deep South to overcome racial injustice through the work and commitment of the FBI and the court system. Shawshank Redemption, a long favorite among students taking the course, and Cuckoo’s Nest reveal not only the injustices found in our prison and psychiatric facilities, but also the power and strength of human souls to prevail over evil forces.
This course is specifically appropriate for Honors students. 6. Clean, Green, and Sustainable! 11:00-11:50 MWF 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 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, energy and materials, and give you lots of ideas as to how you can personally move towards sustainable living. Solar electricity, solar hot water, solar home heating, wind electricity, geothermal home heating and other 'clean and green' technologies will be explored in detail with emphasis on their personal economic and environmental impacts. 7. Focus on your healthy body: The power of happiness: T/R 2:00-3:15 Your physical well-being may depend on your mental health. Happy people are healthier. Positive emotions can improve your health by reducing stress and disease. The realization that our attitude has such as a significant impact on our health has led to a new movement in psychology called “positive psychology” where optimism is seen as a key factor in maintaining not only our mental health but our physical health as well. How can we learn to be optimistic? What other factors contribute to our wellness? How can positive stress not only increase a person’s self-esteem but also protect against the damaging effects of negative stress? Stress management can make a real difference in one’s life—especially that of a first-year college student! In this course we’ll help you learn to manage your stress and to be healthier. 8. Discovering Ourselves and Encountering "the Other:" T/R 11:00-12:15 Who are you? Have you ever thought of yourself as “the Other?” What does it mean to be “the Other?” Can understanding “the Other” help determine who you are? Figuring out who you are, especially in relationship to other people, is a particularly crucial task for young adults as you try to define yourselves as individuals and as members of different groups and communities. In this course, we will help you explore this important personal issue through in-class and online discussion, readings (including your summer reading, A Thousand Splendid Suns), films and television and field trips to cultural events in the Hartford area. You will share ideas with guest speakers, as well as with your classmates, Peer Mentor, and instructor and gain a greater understanding of those in the world around you and of yourself as an individual. 9. Together Everyone Achieves More – An Adventure Approach: T/R 11:00-12:15 Get out of the typical classroom setting and immerse yourself in an outdoor environment.
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 reflect on their own personal interactive styles, as well as 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. 10. Perfecting the Mind: T/R 12:30-1:45 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, personal lives, and careers. 11. 21st Century Plague: Is Humanity at Risk? MWF 2:00 Avian Flu! SARS! Pandemic Influenza! 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, V for Vendetta, and I Am Legend. Fascinating and chilling excerpts from historical nonfiction about the infamous bubonic plague, the deadly 1918 Influenza, and the (almost) eradication of smallpox and its ominous threat as a biological weapon will be the basis for discussions on the emergence of public health departments and medical professionals, ethics, methods of containment, old and new, the importance of disease control, and the dangers of misinformation. But despite the lessons of past, will humanity survive if this threat is realized in the future? 12. EveryBODY's Talking : 9:00-9:50 MWF Have you ever considered how many ways you communicate on a daily basis? Do men and women communicate differently? What helps and hinders personal communication with friends? Do our bodies talk more than our mouths? Can body language send the wrong message to potential employers? This course will explore the answers to these questions and more. Emphasis will be placed on the work of sociolinguist Deborah Tannen and her book That's Not What I Meant! Further, students will closely examine excerpts from magazines and the big screen in order to detect patterns in communication, both spoken and unspoken. For example films, such as Mean Girls, Bend It Like Beckham, She’s The Man, Scent of a Woman, Million Dollar Baby, and others will be analyzed. By acquiring a better understanding of the various ways of communicating, students will improve their communication skills and their abilities to articulate critical observations.
Updated 06/09/08. | 
