All students in the College of Arts and Sciences take a First-Year Seminar during the first semester developed around a particular topic. Courses fall under three categories: AI and Technology, Media, Communication and Pop Culture, and Psychological or Sociological Exploration.
You register for the course that is of most interest to you. The purpose of the seminar is to help you improve your writing and presentation skills, while you learn to work in small groups and adjust to the expectations of college. At the end of the semester, you and your team present a final project to faculty, staff, students, and alumni, at the annual First-Year Seminar Symposium.
Fall 2025 First-Year Seminar Topics
The following First-Year Seminar courses (FYS 100P) are scheduled for the Fall 2025 semester.
AI and Technology
TR 11:20 a.m.-12:35 p.m.
In this course, we will learn about the dual nature of advancements in computing, highlighting both the opportunities and challenges they present. We will talk about efficiency of modern computing capabilities, advancements in healthcare, digital tools and online platforms that transformed the modern educational system. However, “with great power comes great responsibility." With computing technology advancement, there are growing concerns about data privacy and cybersecurity, over-reliance on technology, potential job displacement, and the digital inequality that leads to disparity in opportunities and resources. We will explore these topics in depth, providing students with a comprehensive understanding of how computing advancements shape our world and the critical thinking skills needed to navigate their complexities
MW 2:10–3:25 p.m.
Generative AI is disrupting work in all communication professions. This course explores how generative AI is transforming media content creation in advertising and public relations, video (television/film), audio (podcasts), social media, and journalism. Through readings, discussions, and projects we’ll learn what generative AI is, how it’s being used across media applications, and the ethical and societal implications. Students will gain hands-on experience with AI tools and a critical understanding of AI's role in shaping the future of media.
TR 9:55–11:10 a.m.
This course will explore how artificial intelligence is transforming creative fields like art, music, communication, writing, and design. Students will get hands-on experience using and experimenting with AI tools and programs. They will examine the use of AI as they develop and produce creative projects and discuss the ethical implications of AI’s role in these areas. The class will engage in discussion around questions like: Are humans the driving force of creativity and innovation? How will AI impact our ability to create and innovate? Are there creative limits to AI’s power? …and more!
TR 8:30–9:45 a.m.
This course will get us thinking about how humans and machines are alike—and how they differ—by focusing on recent imaginary accounts of the relationship between us humans and the things we have made to look, behave, or perform like us, such as appliances, robots, AI, and the original virtual people, fictional characters. I will select some fiction for us to read together, but I will also solicit input from you about movies we might screen and topics of interest that we can research together. With my guidance, students will work in groups to identify a topic for a final project and to prepare a presentation on their chosen subject.
TR 11:20 a.m.–12:35 p.m.
This course will explore how people build community with those who are far away and how definitions and technologies of community have changed over time. When students leave for college their freshman year, they have various tools at their disposal to stay connected with friends or family at home, including smart phones, social media, email, and many other platforms. But there is a longer history of people using various forms of technology to build or maintain connections with those who are far away. Exploring the history of various media, including newspaper advice columns, chat rooms, and letter-writing networks, this course will encourage students to think critically about the role communities play in their lives and how they define communities for themselves.
Media, Communication, and Pop Culture
TR 2:10–3:25 p.m.
What's scarier than a serial slasher chasing you down in the woods? Feminism. In this class we will create a feminism that terrifies patriarchy. We will read about feminist practices, media practices, and produce our own media (a comic, graphic novel, a podcast, a zine, a video) that inspires the next generation of feminists.
TR 12:45–2 p.m.
In this course, students will explore the socio-cultural, politico-economic, and digital context of media audiences’ consumption of information, misinformation, and disinformation. In exploring the dynamics that determine such media consumption and subsequent social and political behavior, students will investigate various dimensions of the audience’s ability to distinguish factual and other information while understanding how search engines and algorithms guide media audiences down a rabbit hole and promote irrational and baseless fears of the unknown. The reasons why and how audiences populate and live in echo chambers without exposure to contradicting views and the impact on participation in a vibrant civil society will also be explored.
MW 2:10–3:25 p.m.
U.S. teenagers spend an average of over seven hours each day using media for entertainment and tweens devote almost five hours a day. This large amount of time raises important questions about the role of media in the lives of young people like you. What kind of values and ideas are presented in media? What underlying ideas do media convey about sex, relationships, success, wealth, social responsibility, freedom, individualism, crime, and poverty? Do media present cues about what people should look like and how they should act? How are various groups in society are portrayed in media such as different economic classes, racial and ethnic minorities, genders and sexual orientations? We will explore these questions from several directions, examining media production, media content, and viewer interpretation.
Nicholas Ealy
MW 11:20 a.m.–12:35 p.m.
What exactly is love and how have artists and writers explored and defined it? Why is it still a popular topic in movies, songs and novels? Can new love stories ever say something “unique” about this human experience? In this course, we will explore these questions by looking at a variety of literature, songs, television shows and films, all the while seeking to understand why love continues to hold a prominent place in cultural production. We will also give special emphasis to creative writing, academic writing and the work it takes to "think through" topics worthy of analysis and discussion.
Branko Kovacic
MW 3:35-4:50 p.m.
Google has achieved consecrated status within the popular culture in the United States and many other countries. Google amplifies a belief that everything that is important is on the Web, and that all that is important to human beings can be achieved through information and communication networks. Google has become “the online Church of Google” that provides stability when everything seems to be in turmoil. And many of us have deep faith in Google. Why is it so? How did we live before Google? Were we better off? One way to answer these questions is to situate Google within a network of the four most powerful IT and communication companies in the world–Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple. Another way to answer these questions is to situate Google within a networked culture revolving around spreadable media. We need to examine Google’s cultural impact by focusing on the tensions between the economic/commercial and the social/noncommercial logics of media content production and exchange.
Psychological or Sociological Exploration
MW 9:55–11:10 a.m.
In this class, we will examine the impact of economic inequality on how we think, feel, and behave. We will examine research on economic inequality (e.g., income, wealth), as well as how different configurations of inequality (e.g., Black/White) shape psychological functioning. This class is designed to foster critical thinking, engage in scientific discourse, and promote student collaboration.
TR 3:35-4:50 p.m.
Monster tales have emerged in almost every culture as a way of entertaining us, defining our values, confronting our fears, and exploring how we understand ourselves. In this course, we will explore myths, novels, and films that represent monsters as the sinister double of the hero, the scientist, or the civilized self. How do the demons we battle tell us more about who we are?
MW 3:35-4:50 p.m.
From an intersectional perspective, we will examine the ways in which race, gender, sexuality, class, and ability shape cultural ideals of beauty and experiences of body image. We will also consider the cultural and political backlash against evolving beauty norms. We will pay particular attention patriarchy as a force that constructs these norms and feminist theories that help us deconstruct them. The course is designed to support close reading of interdisciplinary texts, writing, class discussion, experiential activities, and a collaborative class project.
MW 9:55-11:10 a.m.
What does it take to become a competitive speed jigsaw puzzler? How can jigsaw puzzles benefit our brains? In this course, students will work individually and in teams to improve their speed puzzling, do close reading and discussion of research articles related to the topic, and collect, analyze, and visualize data on their progress.