» First-Year Focus Courses

Priority registration will be given to majors in Schmid College of Science and Technology, and in the Fowler School of Engineering. Some seats will be available to all other majors.

Please direct your inquiries to Gregory Goldsmith, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, and Program Director of the Grand Challenges Initiative.

FFC 100B-01 (T TH 8:30 - 9:45 a.m.)

Can we predict critical medical conditions before they occur? How do we stem the loss of biodiversity? What is the role of artificial intelligence in creating a safer future? Solving these “grand challenges” will require breakthroughs that leverage innovative thinking across disciplines. In this course, small teams of students work together to understand a current challenge facing society, propose a potential solution, and effectively communicate what they have learned.

Taylor Greene – Chair of Instructional Services, Performing Arts Librarian, Leatherby Library

FFC 100A-07 (T TH 5:30 - 6:45 p.m.)

The truth is out there... and so are the lies. Every day, we are bombarded with information. We follow YouTubers and social media influencers, click news headlines, scan Twitter feeds, and maybe even read books. Who can we trust to tell us the truth, and where do we look for authoritative information? How can we overcome our unconscious biases that filter our information? How can we know if our worldview is being distorted by misinformation? In this class, we’ll seek to develop information skepticism to become savvy information consumers, fact-checkers, researchers, and informed producers of information in order to answer these questions.

Walter Tschacher, Ph.D. - Professor of Languages, Department of World Languages and Cultures, Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

FFC 100A-06 (T TH 8:30 - 9:45 a.m.)

In this course students will critically examine films in relation to their source material (both English and in translation) and the social, historical, and cultural contexts of both. Possible texts/films include Death in Venice (Thomas Mann/Visconti) and Room with a View (E. M. Forster/J. Ivory). We will consider not only the adaptation of literary works but also the inverse process, called novelization (i.e., the film serves as the basis for literature; for instance, some James Bond and Star War films underwent novelization). The course will take up such questions as: How does the change in medium produce a new text/meaning? When comparing and contrasting literature and film, what are their relative strengths and weaknesses? How is literary and visual art affected by commerce, and vice-versa—how, for example, is "popular" art coded as more or less authentic than "high" art?

Lilia Monzo, Ph.D. - Associate Professor, Attallah College of Educational Studies

FFC 100A-02 (T TH 10:00-11:15 a.m.)

FFC 100A-03 (T TH 11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m.)

This course aims to have students see themselves as active agents in our world. Students will learn about and reflect on current social problems, their structural dimensions and their relationship to capitalism. The course surveys contemporary social movements and engages students in questions of leadership, collective action, and organizing for social change, as well as placing movements within historical contexts and analyzing gains and losses. Students are introduced to Marx’s philosophy of revolution, research humanist alternatives to capitalism, and learn about the revolutionary potential of humanizing education. Specific revolutionary movements discussed may include the Paris Commune, Civil Rights, The Zapatistas, The Cuban Revolution, and Black Lives Matter.

Michael Shermer, Ph.D. - Presidential Fellow, Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

FFC 100A-04 (M 4:00-6:50 p.m.)

In this unique course that teaches you how to think, not just what to think, Chapman Presidential Fellow and founding publisher of Skeptic magazine will introduce you to the world of science and skepticism through some of the most controversial ideas of our time: science and pseudoscience, superstition and the paranormal, evolution and creationism, pseudo-history and Holocaust denial, UFOs and alien abductions, the afterlife and reincarnation, science and religion, God and faith, morality and politics, and conspiracies and conspiracy theories. You will learn why truth matters, how to determine what is true, why extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, how scientists determine causality, correlation and causation, Bayesian reasoning, how to think about coincidences, miracles, conspiracies, morality, meaning, and the unknown. The course includes numerous in-class discussions and demonstrations, videos, magic, and illusions, and examples from pop culture along with rigorous scientific research. Be prepared to learn how to use science, reason, and rationality to determine what is truth.

Priority registration will be given to majors in Creative Producing, Film and Television Production, and Writing for Film and Television in the Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. Some seats will be available to all other majors.

FFC 100C-01 (T 7:00-9:50 p.m.)

FFC 100C-02 (M 7:00-9:50 p.m.)

This First-year Foundations course aims to engage students in university-level critical inquiry and reflection. The focus is on critical engagement, exploration and communication related to analyzing story in its myriad of forms. The class will give students a strong foundation in one of the key goals of entertainment, media and cinema: to communicate a story for the multi-faceted purposes of informing, persuading, entertaining and transforming individuals, society, culture, and humanity. All of the arts will be used as inspiration for understanding the contemporary tools required for creating media and movies in today’s society. The study of “form” in other arts, such as poetry and music, will be applied to movie structure; the study of classic heroes and heroines from opera and literature will be applied to character development in modern media. Additionally, innovative storytelling models, such as non-linear storytelling, will also be explored.

Jody Brown - Lecturer, Attallah College of Educational Studies

FFC 100A-01 (T TH 10:00-11:15 a.m.)

This course explores some of the key concepts and questions involved in leading a compassionate life. Some of the issues addressed in this course include the following: What is kindness? What is compassion? What does it mean to be a compassionate person? What is the science of compassion and kindness? How does exploring profiles in compassion give rise to action? How does an examination of compassion lead us to become more compassionate in our daily lives? As students examine the ideas about how compassion is defined and developed, and analyze case studies of compassion and courage in the face of great need or atrocities, they learn to make the connections between awareness and action, and consider how they might exhibit compassion in their own lives.

James Brown, Ph.D. - Professor of Teaching, Attallah College of Educational Studies, and Department of Peace Studies, Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

FFC 100A-05 (M W 1:00 – 2:15 p.m.)

“Who are you and what will you fight for?” Noble Peace Laureate Nadia Murad asks us to examine our humanity and then act to make the world more humane. Too often, humans turn to violence and make the choice to commit great harm. In the face of atrocities and other forms of injustice, it has become all too common for many of us to be passive and complicit bystanders. But we also have the potential for courage and resilience if at crucible moments we carefully consider our beliefs and how they are linked to our readiness and willingness to act. In this FFC, we read accounts, view documentaries, and talk face-to-face with the people who may have been survivors and rescuers and who had to make choices in response to atrocities.  As students study the lessons of “difficult” histories, reflect on their identity, and consider postmodern perspectives and critical alternatives to the dominant narratives that perpetuate violence and injustice, they learn to make the essential connections between historical decisions and the moral choices they confront in their own lives.