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2021 Fall FYS Courses
FYS 001 (CRN 2931) - Law, Rules & Norms
TBD
MW 12:30pm - 1:45pm
FYS 002 (CRN 3212) – Memory, History, and Identity
Dina Smith
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 003 (CRN 6453) – Lovecraft: Horror & Madness
Kyle McCord
MW 8:00am-9:15am
FYS 005 (CRN 6959) – Science in Sport
Nathan Newman
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 006 (CRN 6456) – American Dreams, American Identities
Joe Van Haecke
MW 8:30am-9:45 am
FYS 007 (CRN 1129) – American Dreams, American Identities
Joe Van Haecke
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 008 (CRN 7469) – Magic, Monsters and Medievalism
Gabriel Ford
TR 3:30pm-4:45pm
FYS 009 (CRN 6479) – Lovecraft: Horror & Madness
Kyle McCord
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 010 (CRN 6481) - The Fairy Tale in Contemporary Literature
Elizabeth Brinsfield
TR 12:30 pm - 1:45 pm
FYS 012 (CRN 6967) – Comics & Social Diversity
Jeff Karnicky
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 013 (CRN 6484) – Adventure Journalists
Lee Jollife
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 015 (CRN 6515) – Religious Traditions of the World
TBD
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 016 (CRN 6486) – Conversation
Amy Letter
MW12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 019 (CRN 6964) – What Is a Book?
Leah Huizar
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 020 (CRN 6507) – Leadership, Personality, and the Hunger Games
Cristina Wildermuth
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
Online - Synchronous
FYS 023 (CRN 4098) – The Art of Problem Solving
Adam Case
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
Hybrid (Online/Face to Face)
FYS 024 (CRN 6962) – Toxic Charity: A critical look at Service-Learning & Volunteering
Ryan Arnold
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 026 (CRN 6593) – Nature, People, and Plants
Nanci Ross
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 027 (CRN 3437) – Energy for Future Presidents
Klaus Bartschat
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 028 (CRN 3006) – FLIGHT: Do You See What I See?
Ted Hatten
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 029 (CRN 7907) –FLIGHT
Ted Hatten
TR 3:15pm-4:45pm
FYS 030 (CRN 6963) – Adaptation -- Reading Films and their Sources
Nick Renkoski
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 031 (CRN 7002) – Chivalry
Gabriel Ford
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 032 (CRN 6973) – New York, New York
Mary Beth Holtey
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 033 (CRN 6974) – Science Fiction & Philosophy
Martin Roth
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 035 (CRN 5176) – HAPPINESS 101
Molly Shepard
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 036 (CRN 3663) – Conspiracy Theories in the U.S.
Bart Schmidt
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 037 (CRN 6490) – Adaptation -- Reading Films and their Sources
Nick Renkoski
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 038 (CRN 1916) – Exploring the Portrayal of Mental Illness and Intellectual Disabilities in the Media
Anisa Hansen
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 039 (CRN 6977) – A Small Dose of Toxicology
James Sacco
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 040 (CRN 9949) – Vote Smart!
FYS 041 (CRN 6978) – Vote Smart! Internship
Rachel Paine Caufield
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 043 (CRN 7503) – Music as Political Expressions in the "U.S."
Marc Pinheiro-Cadd
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 044 (CRN 7058) – Daring to Dream: The Stories of Business
Debra Bishop
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 045 (CRN 6980) – Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Character & Culture
Michael Couvillon
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
Hybrid (Online/Face to Face)
FYS 046 (CRN 7041) – The Italian Mosaic
Stefano Vignati
TR 12:30pm – 1:45 pm
FYS 047 (CRN 6982) – The Myth and Reality of the Salem Witch Trials
Erin Wegleitner
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 048 (CRN 6983) – Science Fiction, Science Fact
Dan Chibnall
TR 3:30pm-4:45pm
FYS 049 (CRN 6984) – Sexual Health Initiatives
Lynne Cornelius
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 050 (CRN 7952) – The Florida Project: The Inside Story Behind the Creation of Walt Disney World
James McNab
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
FYS 001 (CRN 2931) - Laws, Rules & Norms
TBD
MW 12:30pm - 1:45pm
Does law change with the times? Or do the times change with law? In this class, we will look at the relationship between formal state-made law, the rules that private organizations have and enforce, and the norms of any given society and culture. We'll look at the ways that changing social norms around issues like same sex marriage and legalization of marijuana have contributed to changing laws - as well as the ways that private organizations make rules that enforce social norms while avoiding or evading law.
FYS 002 (CRN 3212) – Memory, History, and Identity
Dina Smith
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
American writer William Faulkner famously wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Here he alludes to how, as we move about our present, memory ties us to a personal and collective history. Literature is uniquely suited to archiving memory and exploring how individuals have experienced the past through the present lens of writing and remembering. The seminar will take as its particular focus late-20th-century American literature and the rise of multi-cultural voices (Asian-American, African-American, Indian, Jewish, and poor southern white) that redefined constructions of “American identity.” We will linger on selected works that remember and, in the process, rewrite the past.
FYS 003 (CRN 6453) – Lovecraft: Horror & Madness
Kyle McCord
MW 8:00am-9:15am
This course introduces students to the horrifying writing of Howard Phillips Lovecraft. Students produce their own works of horror, consider Lovecraft in the context of contemporary scholarship, and analyze his themes and their contemporary horror on the page and screen. Discussions center on expanding students’ understanding of the connection between this bright but troubled author and the world of post-WWI America.
FYS 005 (CRN 6959) – Science in Sport
Nathan Newman
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
Science and sport are two common fields of interest in the American culture. While they can coexist separately, combining these two fields has produced a variety of successes and failures that have furthered the knowledge, enjoyment, and experiences of many. Concussions, injury treatment, performance enhancing drugs, and career longevity are some of the areas where science and sport have more recently overlapped. These areas will be the focus while introducing students to critical thinking, college writing, and the liberal arts.
FYS 006 (CRN 6456) – American Dreams, American Identities
Joe Van Haecke
MW 8:00am-9:15 am
What do you think of when you hear the phrase “American Dream”? A house in the suburbs with a white picket fence? A family with two kids and a golden retriever? Moving up the ladder from an entry-level job to the top manager role in your workplace? Moving to any town you wish in any state you wish? Perhaps something less specific—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? This course will ask you to think about why we define the American Dream in the various ways we do, and to consider how ideas of the American Dream can shape our viewpoints and behavior. We will also focus on the benefits and drawbacks of the American Dream—how might the idea help us as people, and how might it harm us?
FYS 007 (CRN 1129) –American Dreams, American Identities
Joe Van Haecke
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
What do you think of when you hear the phrase “American Dream”? A house in the suburbs with a white picket fence? A family with two kids and a golden retriever? Moving up the ladder from an entry-level job to the top manager role in your workplace? Moving to any town you wish in any state you wish? Perhaps something less specific—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? This course will ask you to think about why we define the American Dream in the various ways we do, and to consider how ideas of the American Dream can shape our viewpoints and behavior. We will also focus on the benefits and drawbacks of the American Dream—how might the idea help us as people, and how might it harm us?
FYS 008 (CRN 7469) – Magic, Monsters and Medievalism
Gabriel Ford
TR 3:15pm-4:45pm
Medievalism—the use of medieval images, motifs, narrative traditions, and social configurations in post-medieval texts—pervades our current pop cultural moment. Game of Thrones—until very recently—anchored a major network. Peter Jackson’s two Middle-earth trilogies are watched and re-watched by adoring fans. If anything, J.R.R. Tolkien’s celebrated and genre-defining fantasy novels inspire more devotion even than the film adaptations. Even J.K. Rowling’s unprecedentedly popular Harry Potter series regularly world-builds from medieval materials. This course takes its cue from this cultural prominence of medievalism and sets its task as the exploration of the development and deployment of medieval tropes in post-medieval fiction. How did medievalist types—wizard, dragon, swordsman, enchanted ring, wicked king, damsel in distress—make their way into our own imagination? Why do they resonate so powerfully with so many?
The course will work towards answering these and like questions as it proceeds in reverse chronology, backwards from fantasy literature published within the last twelve months and into the deep past. It will proceed through influential twentieth-century fantasy novels, nineteenth-century ideological medievalism, eighteenth-century pseudo-philologial fiction, and the Middle Ages’ own use of fantasy modes.
After doing so, it will return to twenty-first century fantasy literature to apply our retrospective work to the present moment and its medievalisms. We will focus particularly on the uses the monstrous and the magical, not just because they are fun and interesting (they are), but also because these kinds of distortions often open narrative and imaginative possibilities for world-building and social commentary.
Students are encouraged to develop projects that interpret the medievalisms of other pop cultural genres and forms: comics, genre fiction, television, film, tabletop games, and video games.
FYS 009 (CRN 6479) – Lovecraft: Horror & Madness
Kyle McCord
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
This course introduces students to the horrifying writing of Howard Phillips Lovecraft. Students produce their own works of horror, consider Lovecraft in the context of contemporary scholarship, and analyze his themes and their contemporary horror on the page and screen. Discussions center on expanding students’ understanding of the connection between this bright but troubled author and the world of post-WWI America.
FYS 010 (CRN 6481) - The Fairy Tale in Contemporary Literature
Elizabeth Brinsfield
TR 12:30 pm - 1:45 pm
This course explores classic fairy tales and fairy tale form in contemporary literature. We consider the evolution of the fairy tale and its comeback in this cultural moment by examining stories in depth, from original versions and revisions to modern adaptations, critical theory, and brand-new fairy tales. Students write analytical essays as well as an original fairy tale or retelling.
FYS 012 (CRN 6967) – Comics & Social Diversity
Jeff Karnicky
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
In this course, we will look at how comic books have portrayed social difference, and more recently, how diversity in comics’ creators and audiences has affected the production of contemporary comics.
FYS 013 (CRN 6484) – Adventure Journalists
Lee Jollife
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
The journey or adventure tale is among humanity’s greatest archetypal tales, manifest throughout history in fictional and nonfictional works, taking on a variety of narrative forms. Epics such as Homer’s Odyssey established the journey motif as well as the traveler-hero figure, embodied with the bravery, intelligence, and resourcefulness needed to wrestle with the natural world and its inhabitants.
Adventure journalists in the Gilded Age were sent out by newspaper publishers to provide day-by-day accounts of their journeys. Unlike the "objective" reporting we value most in our news, these writers placed themselves onstage as actors in the drama, writing in the first person. They sought out new, exotic, often dangerous locales specifically in order to send home tales of their own derring-do to an audience hungry for their stories. They brought skills of observation, an investigative mind, a commitment to truth-telling, description and details, and a sense of news – what in this day’s adventure was important, unique, etc.
FYS 015 (CRN 6515) – Religious Traditions of the World
TBD
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
This course will use an exploration of the sacred writings, traditions, practices, and beliefs of the various religions of the world (and the diversity within those religions) to introduce students to the methods and topics in the study of religion.
FYS 016 (CRN 6486) – Conversation
Amy Letter
MW12:30pm-1:45pm
This seminar focuses on conversation — not “argument,” or “communication,” but conversation: the creative-yet-critical open-ended exploration of ideas and experiences in exchange with our fellow human beings. Our readings will focus on the subject of in-person and online conversation, and our routine goal in the classroom and online will be to hold meaningful and rewarding conversations with one another. We will also converse in writing, through our essays, and collaborate on a final project.
FYS 019 (CRN 6964) – What Is a Book?
Leah Huizar
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
What makes a book a book? What does a book do? Is a book essentially a material record of paper and ink or does it also fulfill some other societal role? In this class, we read books about books, we make books, and we explore its many forms, including handmade pamphlets, audiobooks, and interactive texts.
FYS 020 (CRN 6507) – Leadership, Personality, and the Hunger Games
Cristina Wildermuth
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
Online - Synchronous
This multidisciplinary course helps students understand the impact of personality on leadership styles. We will use characters from young adult literature – especially, the Hunger Games series – to explore different personality traits and leadership approaches. Students will assess their own personality traits as per the Five Factor Model, identify their leadership strengths, trace a development plan, and use Hunger Games characters as metaphors for lessons learned. Students will also work, together, on a class blog, exploring multiple leadership styles and personality traits as illustrated by characters in popular books and movies.
FYS 023 (CRN 4098) – The Art of Problem Solving
Adam Case
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
Hybrid (Online/Face to Face)
A “problem” can be many things: a tip that needs to be calculated at a restaurant, a puzzle that we want to solve, a painting that an artist is trying to create, or a scientific question that needs an answer. In this first-year seminar, students will learn how to become better problem solvers by studying how humans reason about problems across various disciplines within the arts and sciences. Some of the topics that will be discussed include procedural thinking, intuition, heuristics, creativity, and artistic thinking. We will learn techniques that professionals use to identify, reason about, and solve problems within their fields of study. We will also learn how to apply these techniques in order to solve interactive puzzles from a computer game!
Course will meet online on Mondays and face to face on Wednesdays.
FYS 024 (CRN 6962) – Toxic Charity: A critical look at Service-Learning & Volunteering
Ryan Arnold
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
Drake's mission is to provide an exceptional learning environment that prepares students for meaningful personal lives, professional accomplishments, and responsible global citizenship. As entering first year students selected for the Engaged Citizen Corps, students will address concepts, issues, and practices of charity, service-learning, and volunteerism. Utilizing their weekly service placement as an extension of the classroom learning, various articles, and the textbook, students will spend time in reflective observation and active participatory research to understand their individual contributions towards society as a whole. We will wrestle with the notion that not all good intentions lead to what is best for organizations or people – and that, in fact, some charity can be toxic.
FYS 026 (CRN 6593) – Nature, People, and Plants
Nanci Ross
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
The way we perceive nature is, in many ways, inherited from our culture that leads to fascinating, weird, and intriguing insights. In this class we will explore the connection between science, nature, and human cultures.
FYS 027 (CRN 3437) – Energy for Future Presidents
Klaus Bartschat
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
We discuss the book "Energy for Future Presidents: The Science Behind the Headlines", which deals with "Energy Catastrophes", the current "Energy Landscape", and "Alternative Energy". The seminar is meant for the non-scientist (most politicians and lawmakers) who needs to make sensible energy decisions without detailed knowledge of the underlying science.
FYS 028 (CRN 3006) – FLIGHT : Do You See What I See?
Ted Hatten
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
Through this course, students will explore culture and society and how issues social justice work to provide a framework for an equitable community. Students will explore how culture forms and shifts over time, and look at inequalities that can be addressed through principles of social justice. Students will engage in a hands-on community based research project that brings to light the principles of culture, society and social justice, as well as providing a bridge to the student to become a part of the Drake and Des Moines Community. Our inquiry will be both academic and experiential, as we explore questions about how to sustain a commitment to personal well-being and academic success while simultaneously engaging larger questions about social justice.
FYS 029 (CRN 7907) –FLIGHT
Ted Hatten
TR 3:30pm-4:45pm
Through this course, students will explore culture and society and how issues of social justice work to provide a framework for an equitable community. Students will explore how culture forms and shifts over time, and look at inequalities that can be addressed through principles of social justice. Students will engage in a hands-on community-based research project that brings to light the principles of culture, society and social justice, as well as providing a bridge to the students to become a part of the Drake and Des Moines Communities.
FYS 030 (CRN 6963) – Adaptation -- Reading Films and their Sources
Nick Renkoski
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
More than half of current Hollywood movies are based on other sources but what is the process of bringing a story from page or stage to the screen? What things are gained, and what things are lost? This FYS examines the range and forms these transformations can take.
FYS 031 (CRN 7002) – Chivalry
Gabriel Ford
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
Chivalry is a set of expectations and postures that emerge out of the courtly and military cultures of the Western European Middle Ages. In this course, we will study chivalry’s origins and configurations in King Arthur narratives and related texts while examining critically its persistence into the present day.
FYS 032 (CRN 6973) – New York, New York
Mary Beth Holtey
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
New York City has served as the backdrop for countless books, movies and television shows. It’s a cultural icon. But how did New York City make the leap from Dutch colony to one of the world’s most influential cities? In this course we will examine the city’s early and modern history in the context of location and reform. Focus will be given to the large influx of people who entered the United States through Ellis Island, the ramifications of events such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, the rise of muckraking journalism and the political machine, Tammany Hall.
FYS 033 (CRN 6974) – Science Fiction & Philosophy
Martin Roth
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
Science fiction and philosophy each has a venerable history of using the strange and fantastic to examine and challenge the familiar, and in this course we will use works of science fiction to explore a number of philosophical issues, including knowledge, free will, and the mind.
FYS 035 (CRN 5176) – HAPPINESS 101
Molly Shepard
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
This course will delve into the field of positive psychology and the study of mental health to cultivate happiness, learn important life skills, and decrease stress. We will explore the science behind happiness and the link between happiness and success. We will research and discover tools for creating positive lifelong habits and develop a model for thriving in college and beyond. Through this lens, students will be asked to reflect on three questions: Who am I? Who do I want to be? How do I want to interact with the world around me?
FYS 036 (CRN 3663) – Conspiracy Theories in the U.S.
Bart Schmidt
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
From the Salem Witch Trials to present-day headlines about the Deep State, Americans have embraced conspiracy theories to explain the sometimes unexplainable. This course will explore a sample of conspiracy theories in the United States history, focusing primarily on the past century.
FYS 037 (CRN 6490) – Adaptation -- Reading Films and their Sources
Nick Renkoski
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
More than half of current Hollywood movies are based on other sources but what is the process of bringing a story from page or stage to the screen? What things are gained, and what things are lost? This FYS examines the range and forms these transformations can take.
FYS 038 (CRN 1916) – Exploring the Portrayal of Mental Illness and Intellectual Disabilities in the Media
Anisa Hansen
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
Stigmatization of mental illness and intellectual disabilities is readily apparent in the media. Class will focus on recognizing stigma, factual knowledge of different disorders, and locating resources. Students complete a service-learning project outside regular class time at a special education high school, participating in classroom activities with students with disabilities.
FYS 039 (CRN 6977) – A Small Dose of Toxicology
James Sacco
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
Rapid advances in science and technology have produced enormous benefits but have also created undesirable dangers that impact human health and the environment. How do we deal with products that make our lives better but that also harbor a potential for harm? Why are we still confronted, on a daily basis, by toxins in our food, air and water? Through selected readings and movies, class discussions, presentations, and simulation games, students will study and research the controversial impact of poisons on our society.
FYS 040 (CRN 9949) – Vote Smart!
FYS 041 (CRN 6978) – Vote Smart! Internship
Rachel Paine Caufield
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
What does it mean to be an “informed” voter? In an age of instant communication, echo chambers, ideological bubbles, and fake news, where can voters go to get reliable information that will allow them to make meaningful decisions? Vote Smart, a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization headquartered at Drake University, provides the tools for voters to learn about elected officials and candidates. All students will do an internship with Vote Smart, supplemented by course readings and guest speakers to gain insight into the ways that citizens can make sense of politics – from interest group assessments, campaign finance disclosures, candidate speeches, and voting records.
Students will complete an internship with Vote Smart (additional 3 credits), supplemented by readings and guest speakers to understand the ways that citizens can make sense of politics.
FYS 043 (CRN 7503) – Music as Political Expressions in the "U.S."
Marc Pinheiro-Cadd
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
This first-year seminar is organized both historically and by genre to examine the implicit and explicit nature of political music and its relationship to political and politicized situations. Students examine how individuals, communities, and governments have imagined music to be integral to expressing political thought and civil society. How do people respond to politics in the songs they write and performances they give? What are the various forms of political music? How does music as politics expression vary both historically and by ethnicity/social group. Further, students will analyze how popular music informs our understandings of patriotism, racial relations, gender norms, censorship, and political allegiance. Using the music itself and other forms of media and research, students will examine the various ways performers transform conventional notions of “being political.” These are just some of the questions to be explored.
FYS 044 (CRN 7058) – Daring to Dream: The Stories of Business
Debra Bishop
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
Many aspects of business success were, in fact, the path-breaking innovations of pioneering entrepreneurial leaders. Passion, timing, connections – what makes for either business or personal success? We will ponder business success using both well-known and fascinating little-known stories. Along the way, you will have an opportunity to dream; developing your personal mission and strategy for success, while discovering the impact culture and experiences play in defining success.
FYS 045 (CRN 6980) – Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Character & Culture
Michael Couvillon
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm
Hybrid (Online/Face to Face)
“I hear of Sherlock Holmes everywhere…” were the prophetic words spoken by his brother Mycroft, as recorded in the story “The Greek Interpreter”. Created in 1887, by Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock
Holmes, and his companion Dr. John Watson continue to be the most enduring fictional characters of all time. Enormously popular from the outset, the sixty original story adventures of Sherlock Holmes, written by Conan Doyle, along with adaptations and extensions across virtually all forms of media, are the basis of an encompassing global cultural phenomenon. Why do Holmes and the stories endure and continue to thrive? This course will be an investigation of seven factors that have sustained the popularity of Sherlock Holmes, with special focus on the character traits of Sherlock and Watson through the original stories, the historical and social context of Doyle’s life and times, and the continuing cultural presence and bonds that Holmes has inspired. "Come, Watson, come – the game is afoot!”
FYS 046 (CRN 7041) – The Italian Mosaic
Stefano Vignati
TR 12:30pm – 1:45 pm
This seminar steams from the idea to give all students the opportunity to know a different culture and learn a language in a more interesting way. The Italian Mosaic course will teach students the basic elements of the Italian language using a different approach than traditional: starting from the culture to arrive at the grammar. It is a non-traditional process, but it will stimulate more their curiosity.
The main goal of this seminar is to stimulate the students to reflect on and analyze the differences between Italian and American Culture. Critical reflections, essays, writing assignments (in English), and additionally grammar homework (in Italian) will be assigned to the students. It will be very important even to discuss in class whether their perspectives have changed after lectures, readings, and videos.
Besides knowing in depth, the Italian Culture, students will begin to speak, read, write, and understand spoken Italian through a variety of activities, like learning games, movies, cultural videos, and audio-conversations selected by the teacher.
Course topics will go from Art to cooking, from traveling to Opera, from sport to fashion, letting the students know all the mosaic tiles up to compose the final picture of an extraordinary Country.
Last, but not least, The Italian Mosaic will prepare the students for the Italian 001 and 002 courses, offered every other year by World Culture and Languages department. (Fall 2022/Spring 2023).
FYS 047 (CRN 6982) – The Myth and Reality of the Salem Witch Trials
Erin Wegleitner
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
The story of the infamous Salem Witch Trials has been twisted in its retelling throughout time. This class will focus on distinguishing fact from fiction and why it matters. Within the course students will examine artistic representation, metaphor, historical context, and historical research. Students will practice identifying reliable research and bias. The course will address how an event like the Salem Witch Trials could occur and examples of history repeating itself.
FYS 048 (CRN 6983) – Science Fiction, Science Fact
Dan Chibnall
TR 3:30pm-4:45pm
Science fiction storytelling often predicts scientific achievements, warns of darker scientific efforts, illuminates facts in the face of pseudoscience, and helps us navigate social problems. We will use science fiction stories and films to understand scientific principles and achievements, separate facts and falsehoods, and explore our future for scientific discoveries.
FYS 049 (CRN 6984) – Sexual Health Initiatives
Lynne Cornelius
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
In order to prevent sexual assaults on our campus we must first understand how we got here. We need to take a look at the social and environmental factors that continue to contribute to harmful situations on college campuses. In this course we will take a nuanced approach to the age-old conversations of sexual relationships and consent. We will also examine personal and social concepts of healthy sexual relationships. The conversations and course work will be grounded in empathy, mutual respect and bodily autonomy. Once we have gained an understanding of the problems in front of us we will utilize an adaptive leadership approach to formulate solutions to address campus sexual assaults here at Drake.
FYS 050 (CRN 7952) – The Florida Project: The Inside Story Behind the Creation of Walt Disney World
James McNab
MW 12:30pm-1:45pm
The Florida Project will explore the development, construction, and operation of Walt Disney World as both an ideal and a reality and begin to answer the question of what Disney World means to us as a society.
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