First-Year Courses

Using the shared inquiry method, this course considers works of philosophy, literature, religion, and political thought of the ancient world. Authors include Greek tragedians, Homer, Plato, Aristotle, and Virgil, among others. The course requires intensive work in writing and participation in discussion. Prerequisite: Eligibility for entry in English Composition 101. GSHU 121 substitutes for FOR 101 as a Seaver Core Foundations requirement.

A seminar focused on issues of social justice. Students examine how each of the following has affected social justice in the United States from the eighteenth century to the present: the social construction of racial identity, the role of gender in social equality, and the influence of socioeconomic background. The seminar actively promotes the development of academic and “real world” skills such as critical thinking, research, writing, oral presentation, and use of technology. Students explore strategies for promoting social justice and engage in service-learning experiences. 

This course is designed to strengthen students’ reasoning skills and advance their capacity to think clearly and deeply about important issues—like truth, goodness, justice, and meaning. Together, students and professors uncover and sharpen vital intellectual tools and then apply those tools to big ideas and to specific real-world situations. There is also an emphasis on developing arguments and engaging with others in civil fashion. This course must be taken within the first year of study at the College. FOR 101 fulfills a Seaver Core Foundations requirement.

This course is designed to strengthen incoming students’ thinking skills. Rather than tell students what to think, this course will teach students how to think. It will focus on the Western intellectual tradition using texts from the classical period to the Renaissance, showing how the texts were both shaped by their historical contexts and how they shaped those contexts in turn. Like other Foundations of Reasoning courses, this course will help build a student’s capacity to think clearly and deeply about important and enduring issues, such as truth, goodness, justice, and beauty. In addition, all sections of this course will address at least three of the following additional “big” topics: God, formal reasoning (logic), contingent truths (history), free will, and identity. Together, students and professors uncover and sharpen vital intellectual tools and then apply those tools to big ideas and to specific real-world situations. HUM 100 can substitute for FOR 101 as a Seaver Core Foundations requirement.

Students refine their use of idiomatic English through the study of the mass media and literary selections, discussion, computer-assisted instruction, sentence combining, and modeling. The course promotes cross-cultural understanding and develops the ability of non-native speakers to think and communicate clearly. Must be taken concurrently with ENG 100. 

* For International Students