Updated On:11/13/2018 1
CAS Freshman Seminar CoursesFall 2008
CRN # / Course Number / Day / Time / Room # / Professor
36186 / ART 111-FR1 / T / 1800-2050 / PH 2415 / Taylor
37185 / ART 111-FR2 / R / 1800-2050 / PH 0302 / Taylor
This new freshman seminar will be a guided discovery experience whereby students will form definitions of "the Imagination" through guided readings, reflections, and discussions based on personal encounters with a variety and number (15 - 20) of art forms. Each weekly session will explore exhibitions, performances, screenings, works and other forms either through observation or active participation. Assigned readings will prepare the student to fully engage in these experiences and locate the experience in a broader framework of "imaginative" experience. A phenomenological (philosophical) approach will be employed. Students will emerge with a heightened awareness of imagination in its various forms including the uncommon. A few classes will meet off-campus at cultural sites in the St. Louis area. There is a written descriptive component to this course as well as guided discussion. This course favors the open and explorative individual.
37357 / ANTH 170-FR1 / MW / 0900-0950 / PH 0403 / Rehg
Conservation and Sustainability: Local and Global Perspectives
With a growing human population and increasing globalization, human activities have ever greater effects on ecosystems and resources locally, in distant regions of the world, and globally. The types and magnitudes of these effects depends on many factors, including how societies value different natural resources, perspectives on the scarcity or abundance of resources and how best to utilize them, traditional cultural ideas and practices, and practical socioeconomic and political factors. This course examines key issues related to conservation and sustainable use on local and global scales, including human population growth, ecosystem quality, biodiversity, food production, water use, pollution, and harvesting of natural resources. We will examine the effects of our own perspectives and behaviors on both local and global ecosystems and resources, and investigate ways to improve conservation of resources and develop approaches for sustainable use.
MUST BE RESIDENT OF STUDENTS IMPROVING SOCIETY LEARNING COMMUNITY
37358 / ANTH 170-FR2 / TR / 1100-1215 / PH 0405 / Willmott
This section of ANTH 170: Freshman Seminar will use ethnographic methods to make the familiar strange, and the strange familiar. With a general emphasis on American culture, students will study university culture through the eyes of professional anthropologists, foreigners viewing American culture for the first time, and through portrayals in popular films. Students will also be introduced to cultural and academic resources around the SIUE campus.
35921 / BIOL 111-FR1 / MWF / 0800-0850 / SL 0226 / McCracken
Biology and Society
Many people have very strong, but not necessarily well-informed, opinions about topics of biological relevance, including evolution, stem-cell research, vaccine safety, and a wide array of other topics. In this Freshman Seminar course students will be introduced to biological concepts in the context of their relevance at a personal and a societal level. In addition to learning about basic biological concepts, we will discuss the importance of scientific method, the peer-review process, and sources of scientific information to help students make informed decisions based on their scientific literacy. Students will also be introduced to University-based resources that may help in this process. NOT A PRE-REQUISITE FOR BIOL 240A OR BIOL 250.
36834 / BIOL 111-FR2 / TR / 1100-1215 / EB 0012 / Retzlaff
University Campuses – Sustainable Leaders for the 21st Century
In our race for technological advancement, the arrogance of humankind is depleting natural resources, reducing biodiversity, and altering climate. We will examine current sustainability/environmental issues and evaluate how students, faculty, and staff on college campuses may develop and implement unique sustainable solutions. We will also examine sustainable practices on campuses that are noted for their “green” or sustainable efforts. Our objective will be to develop skills and knowledge so that we may become sustainable campus leaders. MUST BE RESIDENT OF STUDENTS IMPROVING SOCIETY LEARNING COMMUNITY – NOT A PRE-REQUISITE FOR BIOL 240A OR BIOL 250
34529 / CHEM 111-FR1 / MWF / 0800-0850 / SL 2224 / Dixon
This course is designed for non-science majors. Chemical principles and theories are presented in the context of social, political, and economic issues. Since these real-world societal issues have a significant chemical basis, chemical principles are introduced on a need-to-know basis during the discussion of these issues. You will be encouraged to apply these chemical principles during both creative and critical thinking activities related to the topics we discuss.
33711 / ENG 101-FR1 / TR / 1400-1515 / PH 3306 / Sullivan
This course will focus on expository writing (writing that analyzes, describes, or persuades) as the first step in preparing students for college-level writing. It is designed to expand students’ critical thinking and writing skills as well as to expose them to the intellectual and cultural life of SIUE. Out-of-class activities will be used as experiences to inform students’ research and writing. In-class activates will acquaint students with the resources of SIUE. Most of this year's readings will be on language/language use as a marker of identity and power. Multifaceted readings on human language will be used to heighten participants’ awareness of and respect for diversity in language.
33725 / ENG 101-EDU / MW / 1200-1315 / PH 3306 / Garrison
English 101-EDU is a Freshman Seminar course recommended for studentsplanning a career in Education. In addition to assignments designed to help thestudents enter into the conversation of and become a part of the education community, the class will also engage in activities to help them become more familiar with SIUE and the surrounding area. Plans for the class include on-campus "field trips" to such places as The Childcare Center, with follow-up writing assignments. Students will be asked to begin thinking of themselves as educators and will explore problems facing both the University community and problems facing the education community, in general.
37265 / GEOG 111-FR2 / M / 1700-1950 / AH 1316 / Shaw
Development Issues
This course will focus on issues related to development in both Less Developed Countries (LDCs) and More Developed Countries MDCs. The course will utilize selected readings including items currently in the news. In addition to discussion of topics based on readings, the course will include a student debate, writing assignments, a photographic project, an oral presentation, an interview, and the production of a development atlas. Students will be given the option of engaging in service learning as a part of the course. These activities will require students to make use of library resources, to gather, analyze, and present data, to acquire some very basic skills using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to display and analyze spatial patterns, and to utilize a variety of campus resources.
34714 / FL 111B-FR1 / MWF / 1000-1050 / PH 3313 / Simms
Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Snow White, Rumpelstilzken, Little Red Riding-Hood, and Sleeping Beauty – these are characters we have known since childhood. But, do you know the real stories? During this course we will read a number of the Grimms’ fairy tales and use them to introduce us to German culture of the modern era, and the influence German culture has had on American culture. Most Americans have grown up exposed only to certain retellings of these tales. From Disney films, The Wizard of Oz and Star Wars, to heavy-metal pop-music, the Grimms’ fairy tales have become inseparable parts of our culture. The originals as gathered by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm in the early 1800’s, however, often differ considerably from the stories we are familiar with. The original fairy tales are hardly child’s play. Some tales are characterized by gruesome bodily mutilation, bloody vengeance, and trauma of numerous varieties inflicted upon children and adults alike. In addition to learning about German history and culture, we will also explore issues of what makes fairy tales timeless. Through these texts we will confront perennially important issues such as morality, (in) justice, and gender equality. What we will find in the end, I hope, is that fairy tales are not always childish and hold lessons for all to learn.
36071 / PHIL 106-FR1 / MW / 1200-1315 / PH 2409 / Stone
36073 / PHIL 106-FR2 / MW / 1330-1445 / PH 2412 / Stone
Taking its cue from the Freshman Seminar initiative’s intended purpose to introduce students to university life and expectations
this particular seminar will ask foundational questions into the nature and purpose of education. Seminar participants will study
major philosophical theories of epistemology and education. The relationship between education and society will be explored in
depth by reading such thinkers as: Plato, Aristotle, John Dewey, and Paulo Freire, to name but a few. Basic critical thinking,
reading and writing skills will be developed through carefully designed assignments.
36074 / PHIL 106-FR3 / TR / 1230-1345 / PH 2409 / Schallert
36075 / PHIL 106-FR4 / TR / 1530-1645 / PH 0314 / Schallert
This course will employ classical and contemporary readings, along with a writing component; just like Phil 111 courses do now. However this course has a decidedly narrower focus than Phil 111; that focus is more akin to the spirit of Phil 106. For example, Plato wrote of the educational journey in life in his Republic. It is a first-rate example of mature intellectual exchange, in the face of its opposite, that is a valuable model for discourse at the university level. The course will highlight readings from the history of philosophy that involve challenging uncritically held beliefs, considering alternative views, and removing unwelcome dogmas, while entertaining the hope of creating and establishing more fully developed, meaningful, and valuable beliefs. This course will survey the usefulness of doubt and skepticism as a tool for hope in achieving greater understanding.
36915 / PHIL 106-FR5 / TR / 0930-1045 / PH 2409 / Pearson
36991 / PHIL 106-FR6 / TR / 1100-1215 / ER 284 / Pearson
This course aims to develop students' critical thinking skills through coming to a better appreciation of the reasoning used in science. To this aim, the course not only exposes students to the reasoning characteristic of scientific practice, but teaches students themselves how to reason scientifically. The course is also careful to demonstrate how this sort of reasoning is not exclusive to scientific matters, but is representative of good reasoning generally.
37432 / PHIL 106-FR7 / TR / 1530-1645 / PH 2417 / Littmann
37433 / PHIL 106-FR8 / TR / 1100-1215 / ER 283 / Littmann
The course will focus on learning to identify good and bad arguments. There will be special emphasis on learning the logical fallacies and engaging inin-class debate.
35510 / PHIL 111-FR1 / TR / 1400-1515 / PH 3311 / Ware
36076 / PHIL 111-FR2 / TR / 1230-1345 / PH 0307 / Ware
This course surveys the philosophical history of individualism over more than 2800 years, beginning in 800 BC. We study the political culture and institutions of ancient Athens (ca. Pericles), in order to understand the naïve, unreflective collectivism of Greek society, and the corrosive effects of Socrates’ redefinition of arete, with its challenges of self-reflection and moral autonomy. Next the course examines Plato’s attempt to rescue the traditional life of the polis by suppressing emergent individualism. The philosopher rulers are enabled to make moral decisions, but are restricted from marriage, family, property and any other expression of individualism. The latter are permitted to members of the producing class, who are, however, denied moral autonomy. We briefly survey individualistic themes in Hellenistic Philosophy, and consider Jesus as going beyond Socrates and the Hellenistics to finally give reasons why the individual is important. Descartes is considered as reestablishing philosophy on the foundation of individual consciousness. Machiavelli, Luther, Calvin, Hobbes, Locke, and Mill are regarded as formulating themes that flourish in liberal ideology. Ideological conservatism, Marxism, fascism, and Islamism are considered as reactions against the individualism of liberalism. Finally, we focus on individualistic themes in the development of existentialism from Nietzsche to Camus and Sartre.
34427 / POLS 112-FR1 / TR / 0930-1045 / AH 3402 / Foster
Political Power
Who current has political power in the US, and who does not? Does it matter who holds political power? What factors help explain inequalities in political power? This freshman seminar will introduce students to the study of American National Government and Politics by focusing on the underlying issue of political power, paying special attention to historically marginalized voices.
34439 / POLS 112-FR2 / TR / 1230-1345 / PH 0304 / Rice
The Good Citizen
We are members of multiple layers of communities. We are citizens in a classroom, citizens in a university, and citizens of a city, state, and nation. In this course we will explore aspects of what it means to be a good citizen in each of these contexts. As a section of POLS 112, this course provides a broad survey of American political processes, institutions, and behavior. We will examine not just how these processes and institutions work but why they work this way and their consequences for the behavior of both political officials and the public. Many of these topics have parallels at the university level and, as a Freshman Seminar; we will explore those as well. As we will see, many people fail to meet ideal concepts of good citizens. We will discuss reasons and remedies for this failure and how the actions of ordinary people can help transform their communities.
34421 / POLS 112-FR3 / TR / 1800-1915 / PH 3404 / Moffett
Political Scandals in American Politics and Government
In 2006, the media uncovered at least five major scandals in American politics involving members of Congress, including Mark Foley, Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney, William Jefferson, and Tom DeLay. Last year, The Washington Post was the first major news outlet to report about scandals that relate to WalterReedArmyMedicalCenter and the Bush Administration's firing of several U.S. Attorneys. Despite the prevalence of scandals over the last year and a half, political science classes usually cover such events tangentially and do not go into depth about what constitutes a scandal, why some events become scandals and others do not, the anatomy of the scandal itself, and how scandals affect public perceptions about politicians and American politics, broadly speaking. This seminar will cover these questions and investigate the major scandals that have shaped American politics, especially those that have occurred more recently.
34606 / SPC 103-FR1 / TR / 0930-1045 / AH 2401 / Grant
34613 / SPC 103-FR2 / TR / 1100-1215 / AH 3401 / Grant
Making the I a We to succeed at SIUE
To successfully transition from high school to college, one must develop interpersonal relationships inside and outside of the classroom. Research supports that students who feel connected to others in their institutions are more likely to stay until graduation, are happier while they’re here and are more apt to give back to the university once they’ve graduated. The following SPC 103 themes will be studied as they relate to students’ relationships at SIUE during their freshmen year of college: self-concept, conflict, culture, perception, listening, power and relationships.
34615 / SPC 103-FR3 / MW / 1330-1445 / AH 1301 / Bumpers
34618 / SPC 103-FR4 / MW / 1630-1745 / AH 1301 / Bumpers
Cultivation analysis theory (Gerbner, 1998) predicts that the development of one’s perceptions, understandings and beliefs about the world are influenced by exposure to media messages, especially television. Media, Communication, and Relationships is a freshman seminar that will use current media depictions of relationships and maintenance strategies as a vehicle to discuss and deconstruct student’s ideas about identity, societal roles, conflict resolution strategies, and relationship ideology.
34627 / SPC 105-FR1 / TR / 0930-1045 / AH 3403 / Shiller
34650 / SPC 105-FR2 / TR / 1100-1215 / FH 3115 / Shiller
This public speaking course will emphasize various factors of source credibility. Students will concentrate their efforts on enhancing their competence, trustworthiness, goodwill and dynamism while speaking. The end result is a more confident speaker.
37212 / SPC 105-FR3 / TR / 1230-1345 / AH 3401 / Fussell
37217 / SPC 105-FR4 / TR / 1530-1645 / AH 3401 / Fussell
35505 / THEA 111-FR1 / TR / 0930-1045 / DH 2041 / Hanson
The objective of this course is to introduce the art, craft, and enjoyment of the theatre, to increase aesthetic awareness of theatre as an art form, and appreciate the role of the arts in society. The course also explores the question of why people across cultures have sought to express their thoughts and questions about the human experience through the arts.
35506 / THEA 111-FR2 / TR / 1230-1345 / DH 1042 / Wulfsong
My seminar for the fall will focus on theater, performance, and collaboration as part of everyday life. I will show that we are all actors in our own way - from the job interview to family roles. I will also help the students to understand that in both theater design and performance choices are made to help them understand the story and to manipulate their emotions. This is no different than the ads they see on TV or what they encounter in politics. Every aspect of life caries hidden meaning.
35507 / THEA 111-FR3 / TR / 1400-1515 / PH 0409 / Sol
35938 / THEA 111-FR4 / TR / 1230-1345 / PH 0409 / Sol
Life in the Theater
The seminar will provideincoming freshman with an opportunity to explore, experience, and evaluate the various facets of theater by applying particular comparisons and occurrences from life experiences. While studying the many aspects of theater arts, the course will emphasize activities and assignments to aid freshman in the transition to the rigor and expectations of college life, including strengthening critical thinking and writing skills, visiting facilities and exhibits to support learning and life experiences, and applying these experiences to their role in the college community.
35939 / THEA 111-FR5 / TR / 1100-1215 / PH 0409 / Hagan
This course will lead the students through the process of opening a theatrical production and the realities of hard deadlines, drawing parallels between this and college life. It will show them how theater companies and personnel juggle several shows and the availability of resources (shop labor, money, time in rehearsal space) while factoring in time for unforeseen problems. There will be focus on critical thinking skills both during discussion as well as in the required writing. Students will have the opportunity to see theatrical performances both on this campus and in the St Louis area.
36789 / THEA 111-FR6 / MWF / 0900-0950 / ER284 / Schmitz
33229 / THEA 111-FR7 / MWF / 1000-1050 / ER284 / Schmitz
This freshman seminar will study both conventional and unconventional theater in performance from the point of view of the audience member and the critic. Students will attend performances on campus and, if supported by an EUE grant, the Fox Theatre in St. Louis.The course will include an overview of theater studies including classical tragedy and modern comedy as well as an introduction to the implications of performance and critical theory.A consideration of the avant-garde in contemporary performance and culture will constitute a major portion of the work of the semester.