First-Year Program Learning Community 2024
TH103: Script Analysis (Prof. Theresa McCarthy)
AH118: Introduction to Art History: The Ancient World from a Global Perspective (Dr. Sarah Scott)
RFT: Reflective Tutorial (Prof. McCarthy and Dr. Scott)
Embark on a multifaceted journey through human creativity using as a map the art of ancient civilizations and theatrical narratives. In the Reflective Tutorial, we delve into the material culture and visual expressions of ancient civilizations alongside the storytelling techniques employed by theatremakers across the ages. Through comparative analysis, we illuminate how the visual arts and dramatic narratives intersect, shaping and reflecting the societies from which they originate. By examining the artifacts and architecture alongside dramatic texts, we uncover the shared themes, motifs, and cultural influences that permeate both disciplines. What role did the form of the human body have in the minds of Greek artists and dramatists? How did competitions – athletic and musical – shape the myths of ancient Mesoamerica? Through critical reading, discussion, trips to New York CIty museums, and essay writing, students develop the ability to dissect not only the visual elements of ancient artworks but also the narrative structures of dramatic works, stimulating a deeper understanding of human creativity and expression across time and medium.
PS101: Introduction to Psychology (Dr. Amy Eshleman)
MU 209: Jazz and Blues (Dr. Jose Diaz)
RFT: Reflective Tutorial (Dr. Eshleman and Dr. Diaz)
This Learning Community introduces students to the history and cultural contexts of jazz and blues music, using behavioral research in psychology to understand identity, relationships, and prejudice and their intersectionality. The Reflective Tutorial focuses on developing skills in writing, critical thinking, and oral communication; examining research evidence through critical reading; and exploring offerings of jazz and blues in New York City. Trips and volunteer opportunities at performances throughout the city serve to enrich the experience and develop deeper understanding of the performers who are examined.
TH103: Script Analysis (Dr. Felicia Ruff)
AR100: Introduction to Studio Art (Prof. Jennifer Toth)
RFT: Reflective Tutorial (Dr. Ruff and Professor Toth)
Bringing together art and theatre through the theme of birds and flight in NYC, LC3 “Cloud Cuckoo Land” (an idealized world in Aristophanes’ classic comedy The Birds) will explore NYC’s galleries, museums, zoos, and theatres through field trips, reading, and artmaking. The theme of birds in plays such as Chekhov’s The Seagull and Posner’s Stupid FN Bird will connect to field trips to see live theatre on campus and in Manhattan. LC3 will also visit galleries in Manhattan to view new works as well as study birds from ancient art and non-western cultures at the Met and other museums. These trips will complement drawing from life at the Central Park Zoo’s aviary and a local bird rescue. LC3 will even focus on campus birds like the seahawk and free-roaming turkeys. The environment, consumption, navigating the city, themes of being caged and flying free will allow our learning community to discover how birds have served as inspiration for artists for centuries.
HI250: The History of Science and Medicine in America (Dr. Brett Palfreyman)
CH111: General Chemistry I (Dr. Yana Kosenkov)
RFT: Reflective Tutorial (Dr. Palfreyman and Dr. Kosenkov)
Science develops fast. New technologies might solve some of humanity’s greatest challenges – imagine unlimited clean energy from nuclear fusion, or gene editing tech with the power to eradicate congenital diseases. However, the scientific method, in itself, is only a tool. It can and has been used for purposes we see both as good and evil. The power to crack the atom can be applied to produce abundant electricity; it can also be used to make the deadliest weapons we know today. Combining the study of chemistry and history, this Learning Community will show students the awesome potential of what humans might accomplish through science, while also providing the historical perspective to consider whether and how we ought to use that tremendous power.
EN 111: World Literature (Dr. Steven Thomas)
MI 109: Plagues, Outbreaks, and Biological Warfare (Dr. Melissa Lamanna)
RFT: Reflective Tutorial (Dr. Thomas & Dr. Lamanna)
The plague, smallpox, cholera, TB, and the HIV epidemic are all examples of diseases that have historically engulfed society. In this learning community, we will not only examine how doctors and scientists have responded to outbreaks but also analyze the stories that society tells itself about disease. As citizen scientists, scholars, and makers of meaning, we will investigate the invisible social fabrics alongside the invisible molecular underpinnings of disease ecology. The world literature class will read short stories, novels, poetry, and plays from across the planet, while the microbiology class will introduce students to the history of how scientists have discovered, treated, and halted various epidemics. As a learning community, together we will also learn from community partners that address the economic, cultural, and political structures that affect how different communities experience disease.
FM101: Intro to Filmmaking (Dr. Philip Cartelli)
SP210: Border Lives: The American Illusion in the XXI Century (Dr. Margarita Sanchez)
RFT: Reflective Tutorial (Dr. Cartelli and Dr. Sanchez)
Much of our lives are defined by boundaries that allow us to create a sense of identity while simultaneously separating ourselves from others who may be more or less similar to us. This Learning Community combines an exploration of Latino literature in translation and an introduction to documentary and narrative filmmaking. The first focuses on the struggles of immigrants and refugees, and is more generally interested in how different cultures and ways of thinking enrich our world view. The second teaches a creative practice that bridges ways of understanding our and others’ lives and imaginations and which is grounded both in reality and fiction. The Reflective Tutorial will teach the rhetorical skills of writing and speaking persuasively and effectively, using readings that encourage interdisciplinary reflections upon questions of identity and belonging across geographic, cultural, and other borders. The RFT will also involve the completion of a community-based project.
ML316: International Filmmakers (taught in English) (Dr. Katica Urbanc)
AH213: From Impressionism to Surrealism (Dr. Laura Morowitz)
RFT: Reflective Tutorial (Dr. Urbanc and Dr. Morowitz)
In this LC we look at forms of expression in European art and film in the modern period. Students will have the opportunity to study major artistic movements from the Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century in France, Germany, Russia, and Italy and explore the works of contemporary film directors from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Turkey. In our RFT we examine the work and lives of important artists and writers in exile from their native countries, including poetry, novels, memoirs, and paintings. In all three courses, students will discover how language, culture, artistic works, social life, and political events are interrelated. Throughout the semester, students will also be exposed first-hand to the ideas and works discussed in class by visiting several museums in New York City and attending Wagner’s International Film Festival.
MU291: Expressions in Music (Dr. Thomas Juneau)
MG333: Managing Diversity in the Workforce (Dr. Frank DeSimone)
RFT: Reflective Tutorial (Dr. Juneau and Dr. DeSimone)
From the Beatles and Led Zeppelin to Jay Z and Taylor Swift, this community will explore diversity among stars in music and those in the business world through the lens of the music business. Individuals, bands, talent agents, band managers, and music executives express themselves in multiple ways, using various levels of creativity to develop, sell, and promote their musical art and critical thinking to succeed in this challenging field. Likewise, individuals, work teams, managers, and executives also express themselves in multiple ways, using various levels of creativity to develop, sell, and promote their products and/or services and critical thinking to maximize profits and returns in their organizations. We will study the music of diverse cultural artists with trips throughout New York City. Drawing upon the concepts and skills learned in MG333 Managing Diversity in the Workforce and MU291 Explorations in Music, students will engage in experiential learning through practical experiences involving the business of music and performance. We will learn how these two seemingly divergent worlds collide to create great musical artists from the past and present.
HI248: African American History from 1614 to the Civil War (Dr. Rita Reynolds)
MDS110: Educating for Democracy (Dr. Vannessa Smith-Washington)
RFT: Reflective Tutorial (Dr. Reynolds and Dr. Smith-Washington)
This learning community will explore historical events and the ways in which institutional and community organizations can work together to address specific needs related to amongst other things race, class, education, and community. Focusing on history and how it has impacted change, students will consider new ways to think, communicate, and make a difference in the world. The role of intercultural connections and culturally responsive practices will be discussed. In addition, students will have the opportunity to connect theory to practice by closely collaborating with local schools and community organizations on the development of action plans to address specific educational needs.
GOV236: Politics in Literature and Film (Dr. Steve Snow)
AA250: Introduction to Management and the Arts (TBD)
RFT: Reflective Tutorial (Dr. Snow)
This LC investigates the ways in which political issues might affect the business of art and culture as well as the ways in which artists express their viewpoints on political issues. Students will watch films and read literature that engages with political issues, while also learning the business and management side of arts administration.
PS212: Psychopathology (Dr. Jessica England)
SO103: American Society and Its Social Problems (TBD)
RFT: Reflective Tutorial: (Dr. England)
This learning community (LC) will study the theory and science behind personal and societal challenges that Americans face today and explore how to solve these challenges. Students will examine how cultural identity and context impact our understanding of individual, interpersonal, and collective challenges that we face and apply what they have learned to create projects to address these challenges. The LC will incorporate experiential learning through these projects that will encourage students to connect course content to their own lives and communities.
FR150: Intro to Contemporary French, Culture, and Thought (Dr. Dane Stalcup)
GOV104: Intro to Political Theory (Dr. Patricia Moynagh)
RFT Reflective Tutorial (Drs. Stalcup and Moynagh)
This LC investigates how to conceptualize freedom and the ways in which it is denied. We will study how bodies have been defined, regulated, and politicized, especially with regard to race, gender, and class. In addition, we will explore how space, particularly in cities, can perpetuate material and cultural inequalities. Finally, this LC invites its students to reimagine freedom in terms of beauty. Therefore, the experiential component of this LC will include visits to some of New York City’s various sites of artistic expression.
SO103: American Society and Its Social Problems (Dr. John Esser)
SA101: Introduction to Sports Administration (Dr. Margaret Wilkins)
RFT: Reflective Tutorial (Dr. Esser and Dr. Wilkins)
This Learning Community explores strategies to develop city growth, including the role that sports facilities and sports teams may or may not play in developing such growth. Such “urban development” is considered within a broader American social context characterized by race, gender, class, religious, and ethnic distinctions. It emphasizes the political and economic development of American cities and the intersection of public and private interests in urban policy-making, with a special focus on New York City. Students will conduct community-based research around economic development issues in several communities around New York City
EN291: Special Topics in English (Dr. Emily Barth)
HI226: History/Politics of Gender (Dr. Karim Malak)
RFT: Reflective Tutorial (Dr. Barth and Dr. Malak)
This Learning Community (LC) will give students a firm understanding of how gender and power intersect to give us mainstream culture today. Surveying early texts, epics, poems and Global Histories of gender and power, students will gain a novel understanding of how gender, race, sexuality and culture are products of power relations developed by the state, colonialism and Empire.
BI 213: Cells, Genes, and Evolution (Dr. Chris Marra)
PH202: Medical Ethics (Dr. Ting Cho Lau)
RFT: Reflective Tutorial (Dr. Marra and Dr. Lau)
Gene therapy has made a cure for sickle cell disease possible (though at a staggering price of $2.2 million per treatment). Kidney transplantation from pigs to humans could possibly spare hundreds of thousands of people from dialysis or dying without a kidney. In this LC, students will take courses that allow them to better understand and assess these topics from the scientific and ethical standpoint. In the philosophy PH202 class, students will explore how to apply foundational moral theories to issues as diverse as the patient-doctor relationship, abortion, the economics of healthcare, and human bio-enhancement. In the biology BI213 class, students will explore foundational biological principles with a focus on cellular chemistry, structure and function; Mendelian and population genetics. In the RFT, students will apply and develop their knowledge by exploring and debating recent discoveries in biology and the moral questions posed by them.
EN226: American Cultures and Literatures (Dr. Eric Dean Wilson)
AN291: People and the Environment (TBD)
RFT: Reflective Tutorial (Dr. Wilson)
This learning community explores our relationship with the environment through the interdisciplinary connections between language, literature, and political ecology. What cultural and aesthetic strategies can help us address the climate crisis? How have writers and artists depicted nature and the environment? What do we mean when we use words like “environment” and “nature” – and do we include ourselves? How do we engage with non-human life in the city? We will investigate how we understand and narrate the environment and ecological crises, and how our framing of them shapes the way we think and act. Our experiential learning will include working with community partner Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Gardens, who will teach us about wetland ecology, as well as working in the campus composting program. We will also take multiple trips to New York City public parks and eco-art galleries to reflect deeper on the themes of the course.
MI200: Microbiology (Dr. Katherine Moccia)
EC102: Microeconomics (Dr. Giacomo Di Pasquale)
RFT: Reflective Tutorial (Dr. Moccia and Dr. Pasquale)
Imagine you have discovered a potentially dangerous chemical that is leaking into the NYC water system. You need to share the news in a productive way, avoiding widespread panic. How might you get your message to the public in a way that is accurate and approachable to a variety of citizens? How could the presence of a dangerous chemical in the water system affect the economy of NYC? In this LC, we will explore the connection between data visualization, public health and economics and how to communicate data most effectively. We have partnered with a community group that examines health initiatives relevant to the residents of Staten Island. Students in this LC will have firsthand experience with public health initiatives relevant to microbiology, and will learn how to write and design factual and effective public health measures.
GOV251 International Politics (Dr. Shaohua Hu)
AR203 Graphic Design I (Dr. Markus Haala)
RFT: Reflective Tutorial (Dr. Hu and Dr. Haala)
This learning community seeks to explore the links and interactions between international politics and graphic design. Albeit rather different, the two subjects are prevalent in modern times. International politics is concerned with relations between and among countries. While they may take different forms, all involve interests, material or otherwise. Graphic design centers on developing and applying visual communication methods. It has a rich history of serving as a deliberate tool in the political arena to reflect ideologies, agendas, and power dynamics.
This LC not only describes their linkage, but examines why and how they are linked. Equally important, it helps students learn how to conduct research, how to think critically, and how to write and speak effectively. Field trips and/or volunteer activities are used to serve the purpose of this LC.