Fall 2011 — First-Year Experience Courses
FYE 101A: LEADERS IN SPORTS ... LEADERS IN LIFE?
What lessons for life can we learn by studying the success of leaders at the highest level of collegiate basketball? This class will study the methods and personalities of Mike Krzyzewski from Duke University and Pat Summit, legendary coach at the University of Tennessee. How are they alike and how do they differ? We will explore together to see if it makes a difference if you are recruiting and motivating young men versus young women. Let's discuss if their success is something we can employ in being successful in our life.
FYE 101B: RAGS TO RICHES - AMERICAN SUCCESS STORIES
Although dramatic "rags to riches" success stories are embraced by American culture, such rises are often followed by devastating falls. The class will read and reflect upon accounts and stories about individuals that have achieved success and/or fame. Most importantly this class will challenge students to self assess their values-driven goals and determine individual definitions of success.
FYE 101C: WORLD WAR II: THE GREATEST GENERATION
WWII was the last world, "total" war which means that every man, woman and child alive at that time had a role to play and now memories to relive. Your grandparents, other relatives or friends in your home town fought as soldiers, sailors, airmen; worked in war factories or volunteered for wartime assignments on the home front. Mothers had to become economists to figure out rationing and magicians to keep their families fed. Children held scrape drives and bought stamps in schools which eventually became liberty bonds. This course will provide you with an opportunity to review oral histories and, if you wish, conduct interviews with survivors and learn how typical their experiences were. Before we focus on individual people, we must examine the political, economic, military and social aspects of WWII from the perspective of American, Allies, and the Axis Powers.
FYE 101D: LIKE A ROARING LION: IMAGES OF THE DEVIL IN POPULAR AMERICAN HORROR FICTION AND FILM
The devil has stalked the American psyche since the Pilgrims first set foot on the Plymouth Rock in 1620. Our fascination with him has been the subject of countless artistic works, and that fascination continues today. We will be reading popular books like The Omen and The Exorcist and films like End of Days and Rosemary's Babyas well as examining why Americans are so fascinated with the devil. Advisory warning: Some of the books we read and films we watch may contain disturbing content.
FYE 101E: THINKING LIKE EINSTEIN: EXPLORATIONS INTO CREATIVE THINKING AND PROBLEM-SOLVING
Thinking outside the box (or outside the cave, in Plato's case) is what great minds do. Call it creative thinking. We will explore what it takes to think creatively, gaining inspiration from the ways great minds like those of Plato, Galileo, Einstein, and others creatively applied themselves to the problems they were determined to solve. NOTE: Students in this course will be using college-supplied iPads for readings, research, and presentations. Students will need to purchase and download an e-text from Amazon costing about $10 for which a credit card will be needed.
FYE 101F: FROM STAR SHIPS TO SUPERHEROES: FINDING PHYSICS IN FICTION
We will explore science fiction and super heroes through books, TV, and movies and use them as a frame work form which to discuss physics. No physics knowledge is required, and only a very basic understanding of high school algebra will be assumed.
FYE 101G: BODY LEARNING - DEVELOPING INTO A MASTER STUDENT FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION
The class will focus on the question "How do our bodies affect how we learn?" The class will explore various answers to this question while actively engaging in physical fitness approaches and techniques. So, PLAN TO WEAR YOUR GYM CLOTHES!
Students will read about, explore, and try out very helpful strategies for becoming the most effective learners and thinkers they can be, but will do so while contemplating the effects the body has on this process - all the way from our body postures when sitting in class, to the "non-verbal" messages our bodies send to instructors and other students, to the effects of good cardiovascular and muscular fitness on attentiveness and attention span.
FYE 101I: WRITING IN THE DIGITAL AGE
A workshop-based course that will use technology to look at your writing process and to examine how people will write as we move forward into the 21st century. Wikis, Tweets, Blogs and a focus on discovering your individual writing process will be prominent features of the course. You don't have to be an English major to enjoy this course; everyone has a writing style, and anyone who will write in the 21st century needs to learn how to tweet about his blog on our class wiki. Required text: A Community of Writers Revisited by Peter Elbow and Pat Belanoff
FYE 101J: SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH LITERATURE AND ACTION
Though the course, we will get to know our campus and surrounding community by reading the classics and current literature around the social, economic, and environmental aspects of sustainability. We will investigate the ways that we are helping and hurting our environment and propose a plan of action.
FYE 101K: YOU SPIN ME 'ROUND ROUND": FROM "RAPPER'S DELIGHT" TO "WHIP IT" THE "ROCK OF AGES" OF THE 1980s
It's hard to turn on the radio today without hearing a song that has sampled a 1980's song. But why? Why is 1980's music so influential in today's popular culture. This course will explore the music of the 1980's and how it became more commercialized and began to accommodate various styles of music in mainstream culture. From new wave to hair metal and hip hop, the 1980s changed the way American society consumes music. We will examine the various styles of music and particularly influential artists such as Michael Jackson, Prince, and Madonna.
FYE 101M: PSYCHOLOGY AND THE SOCIAL NETWORK
The digital world is relentlessly enthusiastic in its embrace of the latest and the greatest. Most recently, the most influential has bee the social network. Between FAcebook, MySpace, Craiglist, Twitter and scores of other lesser known start-ups, social networking is flooding the digital world. This class will explore the social network as it plays in current time. We will discuss various aspects of the pros and cons of being plugged in.
While many classes will require the students to turn off all electronics, this class will encourage you to bring them and put them to constructive use. This class will be interactive with each other as well as the digital world.
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