First-Year Seminar Course Descriptions

Spring 2026

FS 122 Music and the Human Experience

This First Year Seminar explores the power of song as it relates to the human condition. The class will examine music’s many dimensions – cultural, social, political, etc. – and how music can address and engage in issues from gender, identity, healing, and spirituality to stereotypes, oppression, solidarity, and the “other.” CORE: First‐Year Seminar

FS 163 Climate Crisis: Visions of Sustainability and Justice

In this course, we will analyze the deep roots of the climate crisis, understanding what has brought it about. We will ask, then, what it would take to change our ways of living in response to its demands. To do this, we will engage a visionary horizon – imagining radically different ways of living that might not only avert the worst of climate change, but create far more just and more satisfying societies as well. CORE: First‐Year Seminar

FS168: Envisioning Environments: School & the Natural World

Throughout the history of public education, the natural world has been framed using a certain lens, or not taught at all. How were you taught about the environment in school? Through classroom discussions and field explorations, we ask how to pursue a holistic understanding of the natural world, and we investigate how schools today prepare students to think about the environment. CORE: First‐Year Seminar

Fall 2025

FS 102 The Afterlife (Honors)

This seminar explores how cultures in different times and places have imagined what happens to human beings after death. It will also examine how beliefs about the afterlife are related to questions of power, authority, and ethics in this life. All major world religions, and some localized indigenous traditions will be covered. CORE: First‐Year Seminar; Honors Students Only

FS‐111 The Examined Life

In this course we will examine our lives by writing about them, using “lenses” from various fields (literature, history, philosophy, or psychology, for instance) to see ourselves from different angles. We will write personal narratives/memoirs of our own, using what we have learned to further explore the writing process and examine our own lives. CORE: First‐Year Seminar

FS 113 Tries: Creative Writing

This is a course in creative writing. An essay (from the French essayer, to try) is a try, an attempt to articulate a world. We will read models in a variety of genres and then write our own tries, in a workshop format. No previous experience in creative writing is required. CORE: First‐Year Seminar

FS 115 American Environmental Imagination

This course is designed to introduce students to American literary and cultural representations of the natural environment, examining a variety of writings that have shaped the way that we understand and treat nature. We will consider a number of relevant disciplines, including environmental philosophy, politics, aesthetics, and ethics. CORE: First‐Year Seminar

FS128: Journey Stories

We use stories to make sense of our world and to share that understanding with others. This seminar reads, examines, and listens to the stories people tell. Students will tell their own stories, attend a Moth Story Slam, and interview other people to give them an opportunity to tell their own story. We will use these stories to develop a common language and understand both the inner and outer landscapes of our lives. CORE: First‐Year Seminar

FS 139 – Resistance and Empowerment

This seminar will explore the theme of resistance and empowerment in significant works of writing and films to better understand how words and images can be used as artistic, social, and political tools to give voice to those who are otherwise forgotten, ignored, discriminated against, or excluded. CORE: First‐Year Seminar

FS‐140 Place and Placelessness (Honors)

This seminar examines conceptions and experiences of place. We live in a world of distinct, memorable, and meaning‐infused places. By exploring spaces and places which seem to resonate with meaning, we will probe how the essence of the meaning of place can be imposed and maintained (or resisted and denied?), and how we define ourselves and others through and within places. CORE: First‐Year Seminar; Honors Students Only

FS 161 Technology and Ethics in Society

This seminar investigates the interplay of technology and ethics. The impact of technological innovations on human society and the ethical challenges which have arisen because of them will also be discussed. Readings may include selections from fields such as philosophy and the social sciences as well as topics related to biotechnology and genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, surveillance and security, and the consequences of social media. (Topics will vary every semester.) CORE: First‐Year Seminar

FS 163 Climate Crisis

FS 164 Birds of the World

This seminar explores the stunning diversity of the world’s birds. We will learn about bird biology, behavior, evolutionary history, ecological roles, artistic and cultural significance, and conservation challenges. Through a combination of classroom discussions and field explorations, students will gain a holistic understanding of birds in both natural and human contexts. CORE: First‐Year Seminar

FS165: Math & Social Justice

In this course we will analyze how math can be used to assess problems pertaining to social justice and what it means to use mathematics ethically. We will consider political topics like gerrymandering and will discuss how big data and algorithms can amplify social inequalities. There are no specific math skill requirements for this course. CORE: First‐Year Seminar

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