Fall First Year Seminars
The following seminars are open to all incoming students in the College of Arts & Sciences.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- n/a
- Instructors:
- Dr. Alisa Slaughter
Description :
Writing is a cheap and efficient way to develop ideas and create community. It requires no special training or elaborate equipment. It is one of the most demanding and intimidating skills for new college students, but also one of the most rewarding. This semester, we will read and discuss works that address heavy topics: climate change, violent conflict, and the recent pandemic. The authors are journalists and creative writers from around the world who rely on their own curiosity and powers of observation. They carefully build context and develop their research and critical thinking skills to test and deepen their writing. We will study and write about these examples, and also use their techniques to craft our own observations, ideas, and responses.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- n/a
- Instructors:
- Dr. Samantha Sterba
Description :
The economy is often described as an impossibly large, technical, and complex system that is best left to study by the experts. As a result, many people perceive studying the economy as intimidating or tedious. However, the economy critically affects many aspects of our lives including our jobs, communities, health, education, taxes, and climate. Anyone interested in these issues must understand how the economy works.
In this course, students will be introduced to the major theoretical frameworks needed to understand and participate in the economy. Our analysis will be rooted in understanding capitalism as a system that changes over time and is interdependent on a society’s political and cultural features. Topics include the principles of a capitalist economy, the economic role of the government, environmental problems, unemployment, and economic alternatives.
- Meeting Time:
- Mon/Wed. 9:25am - 10:40am
- Special Required Features:
- n/a
- Instructors:
- Dr. Rudi Whitmore
Description :
This course offers a comprehensive examination of sexual education with an emphasis on consent and an analytical approach to identifying and debunking misinformation. Through readings, discussions, research projects, and practical exercises, students will develop a deep understanding of sexual health, consent culture, and critical thinking skills to assess and address misinformation in the realm of sex and sexuality.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- Field Trip(s) with alternative assignments as an option for students unable to participate in off-campus field trips.
- Instructors:
- Dr. Lei Lani Stelle
Description :
This course will examine the relationships of humans with other animals: from early evolution through domestication, to modern times. This course takes a science-based, multi-disciplinary approach to understanding the nature, diversity, and functions of human-animal interrelationships that have developed over time, geographic region, and cultural contexts. Readings, videos, and class discussions will show how this approach puts into fresh perspective many current topics and related issues in the field of Human-Animal Studies, including the diverse pathways to domestication, animal behavior, and the ethics and welfare of animals in various settings. Classes will consist mainly of brief lectures, discussions, video, and field trips. As a First Year Seminar, class time will also regularly be used to check in with students and foster a successful transition from high school to college.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- Possible moderate physical activity. All students can be accommodated.
- Instructors:
- Professor Tom Whittemore
Description :
Life is a succession of journeys, including the one you are embarking on right now as a first-year college student. Through reading (both fiction and non-fiction), writing, and discussion, we will explore spiritual and physical journeys as a tool for personal growth. Whether the journey’s outcome is triumphant or tragic, we will reflect on the lessons learned on each journey and the impact of those lessons on our own wellness, mindfulness, and the formation of a personal life code.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- Weekends: 2 out of 3 off-campus hikes required, trip to Pasadena.
Evenings: 2 out of three movie nights required.
- Instructors:
- Dr. Heather King
Description :
Speculative fiction, the fancy name for the literary category that includes Science Fiction, is often concerned with predicting the future. The worlds authors predict shed light on our shared reality in the process, raising questions central to the humanities, the cluster of academic disciplines concerned with what it means to be human. What might get better? What might get worse? What unintended consequences might we incur? We ll focus on Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower, Nalo Hopkinson’s Brown Girl in the Ring, and other examples of speculative fiction. We’ll use mapping, close reading, writing, and other humanist approaches to unpack the novels and short stories, and predict our own futures in response. Campus activities, like Banned Books Week, a Marathon Read of Parable of the Sower, movie nights, garden visits, and other activities will help launch your journey into your own future at the University of Redlands and beyond.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- n/a
- Instructors:
- Dr. Steven Morics
Description :
What is the best way to run an election? Does the method used to count the votes potentially affect the outcome? Is the Electoral College the best way to choose a president? Is there a best election method? And, what could a mathematician have to say about any of this? In this course, we will consider many different methods used across the country and around the world to turn individual preferences into a group decision. Beyond elections, these methods might be used on hiring committees, or in budgeting, or resource allocation. Mathematics provides tools to analyze these methods. No mathematical skill beyond some simple algebra will be required, but we will be able to discuss results that have been discovered within your lifetime.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- • Utilize tools and machinery in the makerspace.
• One off campus field trip
- Instructors:
- Dr. Iyan Barrera-Sandri
Students would read the Parable of the Sower and then using the makerspace tools create an artifact that would fit in the world.
Description :
The maker movement has been growing in popularity in the last few years. Makerspaces are cross disciplinary spaces with various machines, such as 3D printers and laser cutters. In these spaces people can design and create art, entrepreneur products, items for entertainment, tchotchke/trinkets, and more. In this course students will learn how to use the various machines found in the University of Redlands makerspace, learn about, and develop a maker and design mindset, and connect the makerspace to their academic and personal interests. This will be done in parallel to the University wide project on The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. Using the skills learned from the course and their goals, students will imagen themselves in the world created by Butler and make something for that world. This FYS would be useful for students thinking about being future educators, engineers, entrepreneurs, artists, and storytellers.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- Required Museum Field Trip
- Instructors:
- Dr. Althea Sircar
Description :
We are living through a moment of political turmoil and planetary change. Whether it’s climate change, disease, or economic struggle, the conditions of life seem to be unsustainable for humans and other living things. What does it mean to live and act with others today in ways that can help all beings flourish and thrive? In other words, what does it mean to engage with the politics of survival while not settling for merely surviving? Taking the Afro-futurist writer Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower as our starting point, we will explore together how to be a political being in moments of political and social challenge and conflict. Readings will draw from BIPOC feminist and queer theory, the disability justice movement, and classical texts of political and literary theory.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- Potential Field Trip(s). Laptop encouraged but not required.
- Instructors:
- Dr. John Glover
Description :
A novel set in a dystopian California future that eerily resembles our present, racial segregation in the modern U.S., and the journey of a soldier through the Civil War. These three topics are at the heart of this course which serves as an introduction to applying Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to history and the humanities. We will learn how to engage in close critical reading and spatial analysis beginning with Octavia Butler s novel The Parable of the Sower. The class will then explore the businesses that were willing to serve African-American travelers in The Green Book from 1937-67. Finally, we will research about 30 letters held in the archives of The Lincoln Shrine here in Redlands to trace one Union soldier s experiences. We will then learn the basics of web-based software to map and display each project such as Esri s Map Viewer and Story Maps. No prior GIS experience expected.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- Local Field Trips - Walking off campus or riding the Arrow Train.
- Instructors:
- Dr. Shellie Zias-Roe
Description :
Civic ecology is the study of community-driven environmental stewardship practices, their outcomes for individuals, communities, and ecosystems, and their interactions with the governance institutions and social-ecological systems in which they take place.
This course is designed to explore the people, places, and practices that restore nature and neighborhoods through a community learning service project. By engaging people in working with nature, civic ecology practices foster psychological and physical wellbeing. By reflecting local history, cultures, and aspects of the built and natural environment, civic ecology practices foster a sense of place.
Experiential activities will include field trips to local hiking trails and trail maintenance, working on local urban farms and a historical streambed that runs through campus.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- n/a
- Instructors:
- Dr. Ross Conkey
Description :
Ever wondered what the world would be like if zombies took over, or if climate change spiraled out of control? In “The Apocalypse in Media”, we dive headfirst into the wild, weird, and sometimes scary world of apocalyptic stories in film, television, literature, and video games. We ll ask important questions like: Why are we so obsessed with the end of the world? What can apocalyptic narratives teach us about society, humanity, and ourselves? And most importantly, what s your survival plan when the zombies come knocking? During the semester, we’ll participate in the community reading of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- n/a
- Instructors:
- Dr. William Southworth
Description :
The course will focus on the principles and techniques of effective communication in different business situations, and the development of interviewing and collaborative problem-solving skills. Emphasis will be placed on inter-personal communication in the age of social media in the corporate world; the nature of inter-group dynamics and communication; and the listening and speaking skills essential to communicate in the 21st Century business world. Fundamentally this is a basic speech class with emphasis placed on developing effective oral communication skills.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- Students will be assigned to a debate team to participate in, in-class debates. Students will be required to participate in a debate watch.
- Instructors:
- Dr. Renee Van Vechten
Description :
Is the U.S. president too powerful or not powerful enough? How should presidents define and prioritize national security threats and confront them? How much power can and should a president wield in an era of intense party polarization, and what “checks” can effectively hold presidents accountable? We confront these and other questions through study and debates about the separated powers system of U.S. government and the players within it. From a close look at the Founders’ expectations to the current election year environment, we’ll read about and discuss how the office has grown and evolves, and we’ll investigate how presidential power is assigned, inflated, squandered, and refashioned – all the while questioning and analyzing our core assumptions about governing while we follow the unfolding 2024 presidential election. A small team of peer advisors will guide first-year student debate teams, which form the main interactive component of the course.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues. 10:50-12:05 (LEC); TH 9:25-12:05 (LAB)
- Special Required Features:
- n/a
- Instructors:
- Dr. Alan DeWeerd
Description :
We get to know the world through our senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. Of the five senses, sight is particularly important because of the incredible amount of information that it can provide. However, we often take vision for granted and don’t think about how we see things. This course will examine the behavior of light with an emphasis on how that relates to visual perception. We’ll try to answer several questions: What is light? Where does light come from? How does light carry information to us? What happens inside the eye? Is the eye like a camera? How is the brain involved in vision? The class will involve frequent hands-on activities. Students are expected to be familiar with algebra and geometry, but math will be reviewed as needed.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- n/a
- Instructors:
- Dr. Eric McLaughlin
Description :
Democracy is under threat around the globe, including in the United States. But where does the threat come from? Why are democracies so vulnerable? And what’s so great about democracy anyway? In this course, students will take a broad, multi-disciplinary approach to explore what it means for human beings to govern themselves. A crucial part of the course will be an exploration of how institutions (“democratic” or otherwise) influence and channel human behavior. To this end, students will spend a portion of this class participating in competitive games (for extra credit!) designed to replicate the social dilemmas politics aims to solve. Together, we’ll find out when democracy works, when it doesn’t, and why it might just be worth defending all the same. Students do not need to be ruthless, politically conniving, or willfully deceptive to succeed in this course. That said, none of these attributes would necessarily hurt.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- Required attendance to Department Productions and some additional events to be determined.
- Instructors:
- Dr. Gregory Ramos
Description :
Solo Performance has been in existence since the earliest days of theatre, and even before when tradition and history were communicated through the individual storyteller. This class will investigate this tradition as it now exists in the contemporary theatre and connect the practice with culture, society, and self. The course is based on the premise that the live theatrical experience is transformative. We will be looking at specific contemporary theatre artists and how they have used solo performance as a way of expressing perspectives about society, culture, and/or personal experience with the goal of affecting productive social change. Using the artists we study as models of craft, students will learn about style, dramaturgical structure, theatrical conventions, and then create their own solo performance pieces based on their own lived experience.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 9:25 am - 12:05 pm
- Special Required Features:
- I plan to have a couple of labs involving dogs, so having an allergy to dogs may prevent you from participating in that.
- Instructors:
- Dr. Candace Glendening
Note the class is 2 hours 40 min long. At least part of each class will be spent doing some sort of lab activity. I plan to have a couple of labs involving dogs, so having an allergy to dogs may prevent you from participating in that.
Description :
The study of Genetics is the study of the molecule of life: DNA. We will study the basic structure and function of DNA, how we manipulate and manufacture DNA as well as the proteins coded for by the DNA. For specific examples, we will focus on the genetics of dog breeding; how humans were able to create over 200 different breeds in less than 300 years. We’ll study why and how dog breeders do what they do, and what problems result from their work. It is my hope that you will leave this class with a better understanding of the issues surrounding genetics in general, and this understanding will help you make informed choices in the grocery store, the doctor’s office and the voting booth. As we learn about the methods used to isolate and manipulate DNA, I also hope that this gives you a better understanding of how scientists approach problems and develop experiments to solve those problems.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 1:15pm - 2:30pm
- Special Required Features:
- n/a
- Instructors:
- Dr. James Spee
Description :
Examines various aspects of sustainability and options available to businesses to establish sustainable practices. Explores opportunities that businesses create, the challenges encountered, and the contributions toward protecting the environment while simultaneously sustaining a profit. The role of environmental policy, leadership, technology, and public opinion is also investigated.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- Please have laptop or tablet for class; some light physical activity included.
- Instructors:
- Professor Suzette Soboti
Description :
Everyone is called on to lead at some time in their lives – sometimes we are successful and sometimes we fail. There are lessons we can use to enhance the moments when we are called on to lead….lead ourselves or to lead others. The Leadership Moment by Micheal Useem will be explored and will be combined with lessons from other leaders from our campus and the sports world. This course will examine some of the tools that can enhance the preparation for leading and for life. No prior knowledge of leadership or sports is expected.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- Field trip to Pasadena in connection with "Parable of the Sower"
- Instructors:
- Dr. Kathryn Tucker
Description :
Education is a public good, recognized as essential to a well-functioning democratic society. However, there’s no real agreement about what education should look like and who should receive it. What should be covered? How should we facilitate and measure learning? Whose experiences and perspectives should be centered? What does it mean for education to be accessible considering such human diversity as race, ethnicity, class, ability, gender, sexuality?
We’ll explore these questions and how they’ve been answered through readings and reflections on our own experiences. We’ll focus on education in the U.S., and we’ll include public education in other nations and educational systems other than mainstream U.S. public education. Students with experience in non-U.S. schools or alternative education in the U.S. are welcome, and anyone with an interest in better understanding their own experiences in education or interested in working toward educational equity in the future will find this course meaningful.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- - some physical activity
- off campus trips
- opportunity to become familiar with spatial tools and state of the art mapping technologies.
- Instructors:
- Dr. Lillian Larsen
Description :
This course will use a Spatial Lens to explore the ways in which diverse religious worldviews have historically shaped (and been shaped by) Southern California’s complex cultural footprint. Through close reading (of maps and texts), hands-on research, and opportunities for conversation with a cohort of related First Year Seminars, we will examine the social, cultural and economic patterns that have shaped Southern California’s religious footprint of collaboration and contest, intersection and exchange. We will also explore the degree to which regional religious and cultural threads, reveal links with broader networks of national and global migration.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- n/a
- Instructors:
- Dr. Jennifer Nelson
Description :
In this course we will discuss how representations of imagined communities (science fiction novels and film) are intertwined with ideas about gender, sexuality, and racialized identities. One of the primary theoretical concepts we will discuss is “intersectionality,” or how race, gender, sexuality, and class intertwine in representation and experience. We will read several novels focused on dystopian or utopian imagined communities, both historical and contemporary. (Some possibilities include Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and Octavia Butler’s Kindred and Parable of the Sower). We will also analyze contemporary science fiction in film. (Some possibilities include Aliens, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, and Black Panther.) The course will include the opportunity to create your own utopian community “design” through a creative final project. Reading titles may change before you receive the final syllabus in the fall.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- Cell-phone-style camera and audio recording device, if possible.
- Instructors:
- Dr. Denise MacNeil
Description :
This course uses literature and film to examine critical perspectives, traits, and skills for leaders in fields such as business, not-for-profit organizations, government, healthcare, and education. Why does a leader do what they do? How does a leader make decisions? What are the thoughts and feelings of a leader as they decide – and after they decide? We examine questions such as these through observing and analyzing the inner worlds and experiences of others as they face challenging, complex leadership decisions. Students practice leadership and decision-making skills such as determining critical frameworks, problem definition and analysis, and scrutiny of the relationship of one’s foundational presumptions and the decision outcomes.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 9:25 am - 12:05 pm
- Special Required Features:
- n/a
- Instructors:
- Dr. Munro Galloway
Description :
In this course we will read, discuss and create comics and graphic novels. With a focus on alternative, apocalyptic and dystopian futures, we examine the narrative and visual forms of graphic novels including V is for Vendetta, Soft City, Parable of the Sower, Bitch Planet, and others. Through reading and discussion we will examine the relationship between fictional dystopian narratives and our lived social and political reality. In addition to reading, students will be introduced to the drawing and writing techniques used to create comics and graphic novels, culminating in a collaborative graphic novel project. This course satisfies the “C” general education requirement.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- n/a
- Instructors:
- Dr. Wes Bernardini
Description :
The pyramids were built by aliens. The Egyptian, Mayan, and Incan civilizations are derived from the lost city of Atlantis. Ancient North America was populated by a lost tribe of Israelites. There are a lot of fantastic ideas about human history, but how do we sort out the good from the bad? For that matter, how do we sort out competing knowledge claims on any topic? In this class, we’ll consider some of the more outlandish ideas about the past and see how they stand up to scrutiny, using this as an opportunity to build up our critical thinking skills. In archaeology, as in life, how you know what you know can be as important as knowing what isn’t so.
- Meeting Time:
- Mon/Wed. 9:25am - 10:40am
- Special Required Features:
- n/a
- Instructors:
- Dr. Arthur Svenson
Description :
This seminar explores the extraordinary world of both the creation and interpretation of American constitutional law. To that end, we will analyze the written works of influential political theorists and jurists. Our overarching objective is to acquire an enlightened appreciation of the principal tasks that confronted the Constitution’s Framers and those entrusted with their legacy: to organize and define governmental power, and to enumerate spheres of individual autonomy into which that power may not trespass.
As for power, questions about the human condition and the purposes of government will be raised, along with controversies focusing on the exercise of judicial power, on the conduct of war, and on tensions inherent in a federal republic. In terms of individual autonomy, we will explore doctrinal understandings of free speech, press, and religion, as well as issues involving criminal procedure, forms of punishment, and privacy claims linked to sex, marriage, drugs, and death.
- Meeting Time:
- Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm
- Special Required Features:
- May include 1-2 off campus field trips and optional tastings.
- Instructors:
- Dr. James Blauth
Description :
Stimulating beverages – naturally containing caffeine and related compounds – are both part of many cultures and globally traded commodities. In this seminar we will explore history, biology and production, marketing and trade and economics, processing and preparation, health effects, and cultural aspects of stimulating beverages. Other connections to stimulating beverages may be explored depending on the interests of the group. We will also learn about skills and on-campus resources for transitioning to college and thriving at the U of R.
Section |
Seminar Title |
Meeting Time |
Fee |
FS 10 |
The Writer as Witness |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
N/A |
FS 09 |
Demystifying Economics |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
n/a |
FS 30 |
Sexual Literacy in an Age of Misinformation |
Mon/Wed. 9:25am - 10:40am |
N/A |
FS 19 |
The Human-Animal Bond |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
n/a |
FS 16 |
Exploring Life Journeys |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
n/a |
FS 21 |
Telling our Futures |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
n/a |
FS 18 |
Mathematics and Political Choice |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
N/A |
FS 27 |
'Making' in College |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
n/a |
FS 13 |
Politics of Survival |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
N/A |
FS 06 |
Mapping History and the Humanities |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
N/A |
FS 05 |
Civic Ecological Practices |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
N/A |
FS 28 |
The Apocalypse in Media |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
n/a |
FS 07 |
Business Communication |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
N/A |
FS 31 |
Dynamics of Presidential Power |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
N/A |
FS 20 |
Seeing the Light |
Tues. 10:50-12:05 (LEC); TH 9:25-12:05 (LAB) |
n/a |
FS 12 |
Democracy in Dark Times |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
N/A |
FS 26 |
Solo Performance - Culture, Expression, Transformation |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
n/a |
FS 14 |
Using Dogs to Illustrate Genetic Principles |
Tues/Thurs 9:25 am - 12:05 pm |
n/a |
FS 32 |
Introduction to Sustainable Business |
Tues/Thurs 1:15pm - 2:30pm |
N/A |
FS 25 |
The Leadership Moment: Lessons for Life |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
N/A |
FS 24 |
Education and Equity |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
N/A |
FS 22 |
Redrawing the Map of Religion |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
N/A |
FS 03 |
Imagined Communities: Gender, Sexuality, and Race in Dystopia/Utopia |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
n/a |
FS 29 |
Literature, Leadership, & Business |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
N/A |
FS 23 |
Possible Endings: Graphic Novels, Dystopian Futures |
Tues/Thurs 9:25 am - 12:05 pm |
N/A |
FS 04 |
Atlantis, Aliens, and Archaeology |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
n/a |
FS 11 |
Take the Constitution Seriously |
Mon/Wed. 9:25am - 10:40am |
n/a |
FS 15 |
Stimulating Beverages: Coffee, Tea, Cocoa, etc. |
Tues/Thurs 10:50am - 12:05pm |
n/a |