Fall 2021
See Zagweb for days/times.
Sections open to all students: The sections listed below are open to all students: ongoing students, incoming freshmen, and incoming transfer students.
BIOL 193/THEA 193, FYS: Art and Science of Dance. This course explores scientific thinking and performing arts through embodied experience. We will explore human nature and diversity through these very different lenses. Students and faculty will engage with art and creative process through dancing and choreography. Simultaneously, they will explore through research physiological and evolutionary questions of how and why we create art and dance. By the end of this course, students will be incorporated into the scholarly community of Gonzaga, and they will be able to think and act like dancers and scientists. Co-taught by instructors Swanson & Ostersmith.
CLAS 193.01, FYS: From Marathon to March Madness -- Ancient and Modern Sport. This course will look at ancient Greek and Roman athletic competitions, including the Olympics, chariot racing, and gladiatorial combat, and trace their legacy up through the modern day. We will think specifically about how gender and race intersect with sports cultures, as well as the role that sports fandom plays in both ancient and modern societies. Instructor: Pistone.
COMM 193, FYS: Digital Media, Resistance, and Identity. This class will explore the ways in which digital technologies reflect, transform, and shift narratives around racial activism and identity(ies). We will explore the power-related elements of technologies, from smartphones and social media to algorithms, and connect them to the ways in which marginalized groups connect and survive on and offline. In the process, students will gain a better awareness of their own role in managing online identities toward the common good. Engages with issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Instructor: Maragh-Lloyd
ENGL 193, FYS: Creativity. This course will engage in questions about creativity, innovation, and what it means to be a creative person. We will look at links between creativity, conformity, mental illness, business, and art. Students will design a creative classroom, engage in creative projects, and come up with their own creativity theories. Instructor: Ciesla
ENGL 193, FYS: Being Human in Post Human World. This seminar will take an interdisciplinary approach to investigate “the Human” as both an idea and also an analytical category that a broad array of literary texts, works of art, religious ideologies, philosophical treatises, and scientific advances have sought to define throughout history. By tracing Humanism from its Renaissance roots to the present potential of Post-Humanism, we will consider what it has meant to be human, what being human might mean to us right now, and how the intersection between the Humanities and Sciences continues to shape the human experience. In this class, we will explore historical and current views of the place humans occupy in our world, examine the borders that separate the human from the inhuman, and extrapolate possible futures. Engages with issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Instructor: Roden.
ENGL 193, FYS: Everybody Has an Accent! Did you know that you have an accent? Did you know that there are many types of Englishes in the U.S. and around the World? Did you know that there are linguistic injustices around us? The seminar will explore language diversity in the U.S. The students will engage with various readings, videos, and conversations about language and its connection to social identity, linguistic authority, and language-based oppression. Engages with issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion and fulfills both a Social Justice (SJ) and a Writing-Enriched (WE) designation.* Instructor: Kang.
ENGL 193, FYS: The Time of Your Life. Time. Is it a measurement? A state of mind? Fluid? Who knows best— physicists? Computer Scientists, Poets? Philosophers? Monks? Shamans? Children? The questions about time are as infinite as time (purportedly) is itself. Still and yet, one central truth is undeniable: time matters. A lot. Students in this class will explore the concept of time from multiple perspectives, disciplines, and cultures. Students will manipulate their understanding of time and the value placed personally on how it is spent through student-led experiments and the experiments of others. Students will read, discuss, ask, and do. By semester’s end, students will consider the value of time as it relates to their future. Engages with issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion and fulfills both a Social Justice (SJ) and a Writing-Enriched (WE) designation.* Instructor: Halliday.
ENVS 193, FYS: STEM in Developing Countries. An introduction to the complex interaction of engineering technologies, the natural sciences, and the social sciences within the context of development projects focused in peaceful regions of developing countries. This course uses readings, project evaluation, and group discussion to explore the complex decisions and constraints involved in pursuing technical projects (e.g., water development/treatment, electrification, construction) in developing countries. The course examines: (i) multiple development strategies with emphasis on the interplay of technologies, culture, economics, and local participation, and (ii) multiple arguments regarding ethical underpinnings (or lack thereof) for various development strategies. Instructor: Silliman
MDLA 193, FYS: Multilingual Spokane. In this FYS, we will explore the linguistic landscape of Gonzaga and the Spokane community. You will begin by reflecting upon your own language experiences and identities and then collaborate in constructing a matrix of shared linguistic knowledge, while also deconstructing some commonly held assumptions about named languages and language acquisition. We will then explore specific speech communities and the intersections of language, power and privilege within the context of Gonzaga and Spokane. You will have opportunities to interact (virtually in Spring 2021) with diverse members of the community and bring information back to the group to add to our collective understanding of the spaces we create and occupy today. In a seminar course, participants explore and engage in dialogue around a topic. Each participant brings a unique perspective, identity and experience to the discussion of language and languaging, and this lived experience adds to our collective creation of knowledge. One of the themes running through this course will be an exploration of the role of language practices on our creation of knowledge. The intersections of languages and identities amplify the importance of establishing agreements early in the semester that will help us communicate in ways that we can all recognize as honest and respectful. Engages with issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion and fulfills a Global Studies (GS) designation.* Instructor: Akin.
MUSC 193, FYS: Music-A Human Obsession. The research presented in this course examines the evidence for the emergence of the capacities underlying musical behaviors, their interrelationship, development and ultimate manifestation in humans throughout history. A multidisciplinary approach is taken using archaeological, anthropological, cognitive, and behavioral evidence. Instructor: Hamlin.
NTAS 193, FYS: Sport and Culture in Native American Communities. This course will explore the significance of sports for Native American athletes and Native American communities. The course will begin with explorations of Native peoples in media and social media, in order to understand how perceptions of Native people are formed. We’ll consider sports as diverse as basketball, rugby, lacrosse, and surfing. Resources including documentary film, feature film, fiction and non-fiction, and disciplines including history, sociology, and literature, will help us develop more complex narratives about Native peoples. Engages with issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion and fulfills a Social Justice (SJ) designation.* Instructor: Arnold.
PHIL 193, FYS: Conversion & Transformation. Conversion is a process in which a person's core beliefs are significantly altered or replaced. This course will examine multiple forms of conversion—philosophical, existential, religious, antireligious, and aesthetic—and will seek to understand the nature of the conversion process. Using intellectual tools from a variety of disciplines, we will explore the roles that evidence and counter-evidence play in alteration of belief, and will consider extra-evidential factors such as emotion, group identity, and self-perception. Instructor: Calhoun.
PHIL 193, FYS: Loneliness & Community. It’s hard to imagine any person existing without at least some experience of feeling or being lonely. For many of us, loneliness is situational: it’s what we feel when we first immerse ourselves into a new community or when a relationship ends. For some, loneliness is a feeling they wrestle with more consistently. In this class, we will look at what it is to be and feel lonely. We won’t stop there, though. We’ll study how community and connection to other people (might) help alleviate loneliness. We’ll ask if the experience of loneliness today is unique to our time, or if there is something common to all human experiences of loneliness. We’ll ask how different scholars from diverse fields suggest we “deal” with the problem of loneliness and discover whether there are skills and practices we can adopt to lessen our own and others’ lonely feelings. Instructor: Howard.
PHYS 193, FYS: Pseudoscience & Conspiracies. This course is a deep dive into the basis of science and scientific knowledge. What is science and why should we accept it as a means of building knowledge? We will explore the idea of pseudoscience: ideas and beliefs that are packaged under a veil of science despite a lack of supporting scientific evidence. We will also explore the links between pseudoscience and conspiracy theories, with an emphasis on the similarities between the two. The understanding of how and why smart people may believe in different ideas, or even in unfounded ideas is of particular importance in our current age of information and dis-information. Instructor: Geske.
RELI 193, FYS: Jesuit Education: A Fire Kindling Other Fires. This first-year seminar addresses the first-year core question, “How do we pursue knowledge and cultivate understanding?” Through a multidisciplinary approach to Jesuit education by walking the cat back to St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Spiritual Exercises, and the Jesuit plan of learning (Ratio Studiorum), students will apply insights to modern educational and societal situations by placing texts and interpretations in dialogue with contemporary issues of faith, community, spirituality, learning, and social justice. Instructor: Kuder.
RELI 193, FYS: Para/Normal. By taking the categories “normal” and “paranormal” as our object of study, this class asks questions about how people see and experience the world, the ways in which humans make meaning of those experiences, and whether or not the supernatural still has a place in today’s modern world. Along the way, we’ll meet witches, ghosts, UFO abductees, mediums, and more. And we’ll see what Americans fear, what Americans believe, and what Americans love to debunk. Instructor: Clark.
RELI 193, FYS: Violence and the Humanities. What insights and tools do the humanities disciplines offer students who wish to grapple with the problem of violence today? Students In this course explore various academic perspectives from the humanities, enter in to discussion about different kinds of education, and apply humanities insights to unresolved conflicts. Engages with issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion and fulfills a Global Studies designation.* Instructor: Sheveland.
THEA 193/BIOL 193, FYS: Art and Science of Dance. This course is an interdisciplinary exploration of one of the quintessential human activities, dance. Students and faculty will engage with art and creative process through dancing and choreography. Simultaneously, we will explore physiological and evolutionary questions of how and why we dance by conducting scientific studies. By the end of this course, students will be incorporated into the scholarly community of Gonzaga, and they will be able to think and act like dancers and scientists. Co-taught by instructors Swanson & Ostersmith.
WGST 193, FYS: Feminist Activism in Latin America and the Caribbean. This seminar will examine women’s activism in relation to issues of social justice—such as immigration, poverty, environmental and civil rights, etc.—in Latin America and the Caribbean. By looking at this topic from feminist perspectives, we will explore the intersections of social justice and gender, race, class, sexuality, among other social identities. We will learn the historical, socio-political, economic, and cultural contexts of those countries and its relationship to women’s political actions and social justice. Engages with issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion and fulfills a Social Justice (SJ) designation.* Instructor: Rodriguez-Coss.
EDTE 201, Learning Theories/Epistemologies. This education course also fulfills the FYS core requirement. This course is designed to introduce the undergraduate student to the epistemology of various disciplines and to make them aware of their own personal epistemology. In addition, the contributions of behaviorism, humanistic psychology, and cognitive psychology will be examined in order to give a basis for critically analyzing how and why human growth and development occur in the teaching and learning act. Based on the dynamics of respect of individual differences within the learning community, prior learning and authentic scholarly exploration of historical and current literature, students will be able to articulate, develop and seek alternatives to their theories-in-use. Instructor: Cox. [PE]
Sections open to incoming freshmen only: The sections listed below are open to incoming freshmen only for pedagogical reasons or for the orientation-to-FYS program.
MDLA 193: FYS: Language and Identity. This course focuses on learning how the role of language plays a vital part in the construction of social identities, analyzing the way speakers of a language (or dialect) enact, legitimate and even dispute their culturally assigned place in society through communicative interactions. In the multicultural society of the United States different groups at times form their identities using distinct ways of speaking English. These groups include gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic class, and nationality among others. We will discuss the connection between language and identity through various forms of literature, media, court documents, and film. Engages with issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion and fulfills a Writing-Enriched (WE) designation.* Instructor: Isabelli.
PSYC 193, FYS: Coming of Age in a Global Context. This First-Year Seminar explores “coming of age” across diverse cultural contexts. Together we will explore emerging adulthood (i.e., the transition from adolescence into adulthood), focusing on topics such as identity exploration, relationships, college/work commitments, risk-taking, faith development, and so forth, and how this period of the life-course is shaped by culture. As participants in this multi-disciplinary FirstYear Seminar, we will approach our study of coming of age from multiple perspectives including social science (e.g., developmental and cultural psychology, sociology), biology, art, film, and/or literature. Engages with issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion and fulfills a Global Studies (GS) designation.* Instructor: Kretchmar-Hendricks.
RELI 193, FYS: The Depths: Psalms and the Human Condition. The Depths: Psalms and the Human Condition. Being a human being means at least, among many other things, to struggle with relationships; that is to struggle with one’s self intellectually and emotionally as well as to struggle with others and/or the “Other.” The psalms of the Hebrew Bible embrace this most human experience with startling honesty, urgency, humility, and empathy. This multi-disciplinary course allows students to creatively explore and then enter into the worlds of the psalmists while also giving voice to a student’s own developing self and engagement in the human condition. Engages with issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion and fulfills a Social Justice (SJ) designation * Instructor: Starbuck.
RELI 103, FYS: Indigenous Peoples and Global Issues. This course explores contemporary issues of indigenous peoples throughout the world. We begin by examining the concept of a "Fourth World." Who are indigenous peoples, and how have they been categorized about "ethnic groups," colonization, and the international system of states? We examine current debates within the United Nations about indigenous peoples and human rights. We look at the law and economics of colonialism and emerging issues of globalization. Through films, literature, and social science readings, this course looks at those issues and focuses on how indigenous peoples actively oppose their oppression and create sustainable futures. Engages with issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion and fulfills a Global Studies (GS) designation* Instructor: Baraza
* To fulfill university core requirements, students must complete 2 Writing-Enriched (WE) designated courses (in addition to Writing), 1 Global Studies (GS) designated course (in addition to World/Comparative Religion), and 1 Social Justice (SJ) designated course. Designations double-count. That is, students completing an FYS with a designation, get credit for the FYS and fulfill the designation it carries. Transfer students with 45 or more credits have a reduced designation requirement (1 WE, and 2 total of either 1 WE, 1 GS, and/or 1 SJ), and students with 60 or more credits, including AA/AS-T degree holders, are not required to fulfill the designation requirements.