All LLS Courses, IDs, Faculty, and Description Catalog Description: Liberal Learning Seminars (LLS) are designed to introduce freshmen students to broad questions faced by academe towards offering them an opportunity to hone the General Education learning outcomes of critical reading, critical thinking, and either written or oral communication. The seminars place emphasis on active learning modalities where students engage these topics through hands-‐on and applied pedagogies. Each of the LLS will serve as an option towards fulfilling core general education requirements. New students will be allowed to choose one such seminar in his/her freshman year. Grading is Pass/Fail. Pre-‐requisite: Students must be freshmen (students with < 30 hours) to enroll in this course. Title
Blame It On the Boogie
Alternative Futures
Dynamics of Language and Globalization
Course ID
LLS1301
Faculty
LLS Course Descriptions
Coco-‐Ripp/ Wiggins
NEWS FLASH! "Hip-‐Hop Blamed for Rise in Crime"…”Music Reduces Stress During Surgery"…"Piano Lessons Improve Children's Math and Science Skills." What do you think? Blame It On the Boogie: Exploring the Music and Health Connection is a course designed to give you the opportunity to ask questions about music and its effect on general health. You will participate in music activities and review research to discover the effect music has on social behaviors, physical condition, and ways of thinking. Groups will formulate music and health research questions for a specific population and then locate and critically examine information scholars have to share about the topic. A student-‐designed service learning activity focused on the specific population will assist in answering questions about the music and health connection.
LLS1303 Lewis, T
Where are the nuclear fusion power plants and ‘free’ energy? The moon bases and missions to Mars? All these, and much more, were ‘predicted’ by experts in 1955 to be reality by 2000. Obviously, the future cannot be predicted, but we must still plan for it as we will all live in there. How can that be done, even for the short term? The seminar will cover the basics for future projections and require you to create a research project based which will offer alternative paths for the trend. While any student with an interest in preparing for the future is welcome, students with interests in business, social science (sociology, political science, and economics), history, philosophy, and IT may find the class particularly appealing.
LLS1304 Muaka
Imagine for a moment a world without language! What makes human language unique from other species’ ways of communication? What are the underlying similarities in human languages? How does the language we speak define us? Does the internet bring the world’s languages together? Does globalization threaten or safeguard the world’s languages? This seminar invites you to discuss the role of language in the 21st century by critically examining current communication issues across cultural, political and geographical boundaries. Among the topics discussed to answer these questions are issues of identity; the spread of English and its acculturation to local contexts of use; youths’ creativity in language mixing; language in global pop cultures; language in cyberspace; as well as minority language experiences and loss of indigenous languages.
All LLS Courses, IDs, Faculty, and Description Catalog Description: Liberal Learning Seminars (LLS) are designed to introduce freshmen students to broad questions faced by academe towards offering them an opportunity to hone the General Education learning outcomes of critical reading, critical thinking, and either written or oral communication. The seminars place emphasis on active learning modalities where students engage these topics through hands-‐on and applied pedagogies. Each of the LLS will serve as an option towards fulfilling core general education requirements. New students will be allowed to choose one such seminar in his/her freshman year. Grading is Pass/Fail. Pre-‐requisite: Students must be freshmen (students with < 30 hours) to enroll in this course. Title
Course ID
One World United in Health
If you found yourself saddened by the news of injuries in Haiti (or anywhere else on the globe) but asked yourself the question, What does that have to do with me?, then this course will help answer that question. Globalization of healthcare is one of the most current and controversial topics because while people understand there are global health issues, they do LLS1305 Penn/Moussa not know exactly what can be done. This course will help you understand the connections between societal inequalities in housing, finance, safety, and education and poor health outcomes both at home and across the globe. You will cultivate the notion of global citizenship and explore challenges to engaging in transnational efforts to improve global health.
Scientific Visualization
War
Faculty
LLS Course Descriptions
LLS1306 Betz/Hristov
Since data is the new currency of our global community, we need dynamic yet clear and informative representations of the immense and diverse information that surrounds us. This studio-‐seminar focuses on the quantitative, artistic and technical aspects of communicating through the power of the image. Scientific Visualization is about converting numerical spreadsheets into a beautiful, storys telling, piece of art. Drawings, Designs and Interactive Projects will be constructed, presented and discussed throughout the semester.
LLS1307 Muiu/Martin
What is war? Why do countries engage in war? When is war necessary? Can war be just? Can war be profitable? In answering these questions we will analyze the economic, ideological, moral, political and religious reasons for engaging in war. We will focus on diverse case studies (specific examination of wars): the 2 World War; Israel/Palestine conflict; Cuban revolution; the Algerian War of Liberation; the Vietnam War; La Violencia-‐Columbia; the Rwanda Genocide of 1994 and the Iraq war. This focus will allow us to learn not only about the wars but also about the culture of the specific country which is crucial in understanding war.
All LLS Courses, IDs, Faculty, and Description Catalog Description: Liberal Learning Seminars (LLS) are designed to introduce freshmen students to broad questions faced by academe towards offering them an opportunity to hone the General Education learning outcomes of critical reading, critical thinking, and either written or oral communication. The seminars place emphasis on active learning modalities where students engage these topics through hands-‐on and applied pedagogies. Each of the LLS will serve as an option towards fulfilling core general education requirements. New students will be allowed to choose one such seminar in his/her freshman year. Grading is Pass/Fail. Pre-‐requisite: Students must be freshmen (students with < 30 hours) to enroll in this course. Title
Controversies in Science and Technology
New Media Fusion
Bring the Noise
Course ID
Faculty
LLS Course Descriptions
LLS1309 Brown, K
Should scientists clone human cells? Are there long-‐term health concerns associated with eating genetically modified foods? Is nuclear energy a safe and viable means of energy production? As science continues to push the boundaries of what was once thought possible, the line between what can be done and what should be done has become increasingly blurred. By exploring the details of current controversies, you will become better consumers of information and more informed decision makers, with the realization that conclusions reached today could result in unforeseen consequences in the future. In studying these controversial topics, you will be asked to read and critique articles from opposing sides. Through classroom discussions and debates, you will present the key points of each position and logically defend your own views.
LLS1310 Priest
Are you tired of the same-‐old writing assignments? Would you like to transform your writing with the wizardry of new digital media? “Writing” no longer means that you are limited to static text on the printed page. Now you can combine words, sound, video, and images to create blogs, wikis, and multimedia digital projects. In this seminar, you will explore culture and identity while developing essential written communication, technology, and research skills. You will plan, write, and edit new media projects with user-‐friendly Web 2.0 technology. No previous technology experience is required; whether a techie or technophobe, all are welcome.
LLS1312 Melton
Literature and music are a major component of any culture. In this seminar you will walk with the instructors through the history of African-‐Americans to see how the music and literature of each era mirror one another while at the same time reflect the climate of their respective time period. Comparisons will be made between the slave song and the slave narrative, jazz and the Harlem Renaissance as well as Hip Hop/Rap and urban poetry. At the end of the course, you will create a sampling of music and literature that provides a glimpse at the current issues of the African-‐American condition and/or summarizes your lived experiences.
All LLS Courses, IDs, Faculty, and Description Catalog Description: Liberal Learning Seminars (LLS) are designed to introduce freshmen students to broad questions faced by academe towards offering them an opportunity to hone the General Education learning outcomes of critical reading, critical thinking, and either written or oral communication. The seminars place emphasis on active learning modalities where students engage these topics through hands-‐on and applied pedagogies. Each of the LLS will serve as an option towards fulfilling core general education requirements. New students will be allowed to choose one such seminar in his/her freshman year. Grading is Pass/Fail. Pre-‐requisite: Students must be freshmen (students with < 30 hours) to enroll in this course. Title
In Between the Rhymes
Pop Culture
Deeper than Rap: Explorations in Hip Hop Analysis, Discourse, and Criticism
Course ID
Faculty
LLS Course Descriptions
LLS1314 Lewis, N
Does hip hop music cause or perpetuate violence and criminality? Does it exacerbate the maltreatment of women? Can hip hop promote social change? Why is it such a relevant force? After all, “it’s only entertainment” – Jay-‐Z. This seminar examines the true power of language, how it assists in the construction of realities, identities, influences behavior and simultaneously creates and divides localities. The seminar is also concerned with the unspoken language of videography and the subconscious messages articulated to the consumer. Hence, you will utilize a triangulation of audio, visual and written forms of hip hop music to address the prevailing inquiries regarding the role and function of hip hop in societies.
LLS1315 Roundtree
You have now been transformed into junior editors at the Acme Publishing Corporation. You will create one of four Pop Culture magazines for one of the decades including the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and the 2000s. Your magazine will cover topics such as iconography, notable biographies, popular advertisements, politics, current events of the period, and entertainment. During this seminar our overall objective will be to uncover the subtle messages and meanings within Pop Culture.
LLS1318
Boone
Do you like to argue? Are you interested in exploring the issues, themes, thinkers, common theories and debates surrounding hip hop scholarship? Would you like to dialogue about the impact of race, class and gender on hip hop texts? Deeper than Rap: Explorations in Hip Hop Analysis, Discourse, and Criticism is a multidisciplinary course which investigates the social, cultural, racial, political, aesthetic and historical dimensions of hip-‐hop, as well as its impact on American (Popular) Culture. This course explores contemporary texts and debates within hip-‐hop studies and examines the African, American and African American influences that pre-‐date hip hop.
Walker, Tanya
What is gender? How are gender and thoughts on gender depicted in 20 century literature and film? What social, political, and economic implications impact sexual identity and (accepted) expressions of sexuality? How are these implications th depicted as well? This seminar investigates how we “talked” about sexuality and gender in the 20 century and what we st may anticipate in the 21 century. Central to the course is the identification of setting, social attitudes, and cultural beliefs as key determinants of gender and sexuality discourses found in literature and film. At times, we will read or view other pieces – scholarly and popular writings, plays, and music videos – to measure any continuities or disruptions in the depictions of subjects such as sex versus gender, gender roles, power / control, homoeroticism / homosexuality, marriage, Black female sexuality, Black masculinity, and empowerment. Expected assignments include blogs, a literature review, a debate, and a “Talk Back” Journal.
th
Gender and th Sexuality in 20 Century Texts
LLS1316
All LLS Courses, IDs, Faculty, and Description Catalog Description: Liberal Learning Seminars (LLS) are designed to introduce freshmen students to broad questions faced by academe towards offering them an opportunity to hone the General Education learning outcomes of critical reading, critical thinking, and either written or oral communication. The seminars place emphasis on active learning modalities where students engage these topics through hands-‐on and applied pedagogies. Each of the LLS will serve as an option towards fulfilling core general education requirements. New students will be allowed to choose one such seminar in his/her freshman year. Grading is Pass/Fail. Pre-‐requisite: Students must be freshmen (students with < 30 hours) to enroll in this course. Title The Middle East: Myth Versus Reality
Course ID
LLS1320
Faculty
LLS Course Descriptions
Villagomez/ Muiu
We will examine some popular images of the Middle East and the intersection between culture, politics, and religion to answer the following questions. What is the link between perceptions and reality? Does the modern history of the Middle East demonstrate that religion inevitably leads to political and ethnic conflict? Can common culture act as a unifying factor in the context of religious division? What is the role of institutions and ideologies in developing political affiliations and nationalist identities? Can peace be achieved in the Middle East?
New Landscapes of identity: Feminism LLS1321 Sackeyfio in African Women's Writing
AIDS in Society
Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? Writing with Benefits: The Maya Angelou Model Black Issues in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Psychology
Have you ever wondered how the lives of women of color in America might be similar to women in Africa? Do you think that the image of strong black women is merely a stereotype? These questions will be addressed in the seminar that will introduce students to the short fiction and poetry of African women writers as they explore feminist themes in their works. It will offer students the opportunity to explore cross-‐cultural content from the rich cultural heritage of African women through the lens of gender dynamics in Post-‐Colonial Africa through the modern era. Students will read literary texts that examine social, economic and political forces that shape the lives of African women as they grapple with patriarchy, urbanization, colonization, gender conflict and traditional customs and practices
Yancu/ LLS1322 Duren-‐ Winfield
If we know how to prevent HIV why do so many people have it? This is your opportunity to tackle the tough questions such as, why do some treatment and prevention strategies work better than others? This course challenges you to think about HIV/AIDS in the same way as a scientist would; that means explaining the “whys” of a specific phenomenon. As scientists, your job is to learn how to separate HIV fact from myth by evaluating evidence. In your role as junior scientists you will learn how to use available data to craft plausible explanations for questions such as, why was society’s response to HIV/AIDS less than aggressive? Why is there still a stigma surrounding the disease? Should testing be mandatory? Why is the impact of HIV/AIDS greater on communities of color? We will explore how the practical realities of finite resources and cultural st beliefs shape what it means to live with HIV/AIDS in the 21 century or know someone who does.
LLS1323 Simmons, P
You have a way with words! You deserve to have your voice heard through effective writing and speaking. This communication seminar offers techniques to write, explicate, evaluate, retain, use, and effectively communicate written and spoken words. You will cultivate the skills, values, and attitudes to become a confident, capable writer and orator. You will have the opportunity for great self-‐expression through various writing and speaking assignments: poetry, narration, autobiography and dramatic interpretation (dance, song, costumes, and props) to write your own monologue.
LLS1317 Lewis, M
Imagine that one day your future child tells you that he/she is gay/lesbian. What if one of your friends comes to understand that “he” is actually transgender? Being black and gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender raises issues of family, religion, cultural connectedness, and gender. We will critically think about how psychological issues of gender, race and oppression, and religion relate to black churches, HBCUs, and segments of black populations being reluctant to openly address this subject. Critical reading, critical thought, and scientific literacy will be taught using major and minor assignments covering
All LLS Courses, IDs, Faculty, and Description Catalog Description: Liberal Learning Seminars (LLS) are designed to introduce freshmen students to broad questions faced by academe towards offering them an opportunity to hone the General Education learning outcomes of critical reading, critical thinking, and either written or oral communication. The seminars place emphasis on active learning modalities where students engage these topics through hands-‐on and applied pedagogies. Each of the LLS will serve as an option towards fulfilling core general education requirements. New students will be allowed to choose one such seminar in his/her freshman year. Grading is Pass/Fail. Pre-‐requisite: Students must be freshmen (students with < 30 hours) to enroll in this course. Title
Course ID
Faculty
LLS Course Descriptions qualitative research, design of research questions, critical thinking in response to independent films, critical readings of literature, and critical analysis of scientific writings in psychology.
YOUR DIGITAL WORLD
Cinema for Global Culture
LLS1325
LLS1324
Bembry/ Anderson
Your Digital World is a unique hybrid learning seminar designed to capture the best of both information-‐delivery worlds – print and online. The cutting-‐edge content will be split between the printed page and various digital media which allow active learning and will be different from tradition online supplements or selected exercises online. In addition, face-‐to-‐face oral communication activities will accomplished along with services and resources via the Internet. This course is about connecting with others and conducting the business of daily life in a technology-‐based environment that gives a digital experience.
Brookshaw, M
Do you like movies? Are you interested in other cultures? Do you want to learn more about yourself? Then, Cinema for Global Culture is the course for you! Short of visiting or living in a foreign country, film is one of the best ways to increase cross-‐cultural awareness and knowledge about the 6, 912 cultures that currently comprise our interconnected world. Cinema for Global Culture will explore the socio-‐cultural and political issues through film that impact the six billion people that inhabit our planet. This seminar is based on the ancient Chinese proverb “A picture is worth ten thousand words.” st Hence, it underscores 21 century visual literacy skills and will serve as an active forum for engaging discussion and cultural communication. It will promote self-‐discovery by viewing the world through the eyes of others. It will help you to speak the universal language—cinema. Films, topics and themes will vary according to the interest of the instructor(s) and students. The seminar will be taught in English and all films will be in English or have subtitles. There is no prerequisite for this class.
Unsolved North Carolina Mysteries
LLS1319 Kasee, C
The Death of the Death Penalty
LLS1327 Martin, G
Do you love a good unsolved mystery? Our state is full of them! The popularity of forensic science has piqued Americans’ interest in solving mysteries, old and new. Become an historical detective, seeking to solve North Carolina’s four greatest mysteries. Delve into primary research materials, artistic depictions of the events studied, travel to the sites where two of these stories took place. We will examine the Lost Colony of Roanoke, the life of Afro-‐American Indian actor Buffalo Child Long Lance, the truth behind the death of Z. Smith Reynolds, and the story behind Stokes County’s Lawson Family Massacre, the state’s worst mass murder. This seminar will lead you through the process of identifying the question, offering a hypothesis, selecting sources, synthesizing material from such, articulating a solution, then re-‐stating original or revised hypothesis, as you try to solve baffling enigmas! Many of us don’t think about the death penalty and see it as something far removed from ordinary people. In fact, the death penalty should concern every U.S. citizen. In this seminar, we shall examine the evolution of the death penalty in America, from the founding of the Republic to the present. Toward that end, we shall consider arguments for and against the death penalty. We shall conclude the seminar by asking whether the death penalty is still legally necessary and morally justified in today’s America.
All LLS Courses, IDs, Faculty, and Description Catalog Description: Liberal Learning Seminars (LLS) are designed to introduce freshmen students to broad questions faced by academe towards offering them an opportunity to hone the General Education learning outcomes of critical reading, critical thinking, and either written or oral communication. The seminars place emphasis on active learning modalities where students engage these topics through hands-‐on and applied pedagogies. Each of the LLS will serve as an option towards fulfilling core general education requirements. New students will be allowed to choose one such seminar in his/her freshman year. Grading is Pass/Fail. Pre-‐requisite: Students must be freshmen (students with < 30 hours) to enroll in this course. Title
Course ID
International Humanitarian Intervention
Martin, G/ LLS1328 Muiu
Peacekeeping in Africa
LLS1329 Martin, G
Life is about Chemistry-‐ Inorganic Perspectives
LLS1330
Meixner, A/ Harwell, G
Black Church Culture
LLS1331
Melton, S
Politics and Society in South Africa
LLS1332
Faculty
Martin, G/ Muiu, M
Economics: It is not LLS1333 about Money, It is about Everything
Madjd-‐ Sadjadi, Z/ Richardson, C
Emerging African Literary Voices
Muaka, L
LLS1334
LLS Course Descriptions In what circumstances and under what conditions do countries and international agencies intervene or not? What is the responsibility of the international community in times of crisis? How do international non-‐governmental organizations (INGOs) help affected people in times of natural or man-‐made disasters? Some of the case studies examined will be the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and the war in Sudan/Darfur. In this seminar, we shall examine the role of the United Nations (U.N.) and of the African Union (A.U.) in mediating and resolving ethnic conflict, conflict over natural resources and civil wars in Africa. The 1994 Genocide in Rwanda offers a textbook case study of a failed peacekeeping operation, due to lack of political will and narrowly-‐defined rules of engagement. The on-‐going conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (Ituri, and North & South Kivu) provides another case-‐study of partial failure, due to under-‐staffing and an ill-‐defined mandate. The conflict in Sudan/Darfur is the only instance of a moderately-‐successful joint AU/UN peacekeeping operation.
From the raised index finger used to excuse oneself from service to the hum of the Hammond B3 organ, Black Church culture transcends church denominations, church sizes and regional location. This seminar will explore how the music, rhetoric, rituals and costumes within the Black Church connect Black people. What explains politics and society in South Africa today? How do nationalism, class, race and gender intersect and continue to shape contemporary South Africa? What political, economic and social challenges does the African National Congress (ANC) Government faces as it tries to transform a society based on inequality, exclusion and racial discrimination into a just and democratic society based on equality and inclusion? What should the ANC Government do to bring the previously-‐ disadvantaged and marginalized African majority fully into the new political, economic and social order? Did you realize we can increase life expectancy by increasing inheritance taxes? Did you know when you make cars safer for drivers, you increase deaths of pedestrians? Did you know you can save more lives by executing white collar criminals than mass murderers? Perhaps more importantly, did you realize more sex is safer sex and if you want to stay married, you better hope for a son, not a daughter? We will explore all of these issues and by the end of the course, you will have the tools to solve problems that you see in the everyday world. How are gender roles negotiated in African cultures? How does the traditional African lifestyle fit in the current global setup? What are the major concerns of emerging African writers? How does globalization facilitate or impede the vitality of African traditional values? Selected literary works will be used to open conversations that trigger fresh and bold questions revolving around important political, socio-‐cultural, and economic issues in Africa. Throughout the semester, you will investigate these questions and emerge with a better understanding of African people and their cultures.
All LLS Courses, IDs, Faculty, and Description Catalog Description: Liberal Learning Seminars (LLS) are designed to introduce freshmen students to broad questions faced by academe towards offering them an opportunity to hone the General Education learning outcomes of critical reading, critical thinking, and either written or oral communication. The seminars place emphasis on active learning modalities where students engage these topics through hands-‐on and applied pedagogies. Each of the LLS will serve as an option towards fulfilling core general education requirements. New students will be allowed to choose one such seminar in his/her freshman year. Grading is Pass/Fail. Pre-‐requisite: Students must be freshmen (students with < 30 hours) to enroll in this course. Title
Course ID
Faculty
Language and Media
LLS1335
Oh No, She Didn’t!
LLS1337 Leverett, M
Sex, Drugs, and Booze -‐ Illicit Chemistry
LLS1338 Ebert, E
Passport, Visa, Bon Voyage!
LLS1339
Poetry and the Brain
LLS1340
Muaka, L
LLS Course Descriptions How do writers and media presenters capture their audience’s attention and how does the audience interpret media discourse? We will investigate whether people use language differently in media from the way they do in everyday interactions. How can media language affect audience socially, economically and politically? We critically examine issues such as audience design, visual designs and modern media design, to be able to see the interplay between language and different forms of media. You will engage in critical reading of texts, watch news, listen and watch speeches (e.g., presidential) and determine how language is crafted to achieve its intended goals. Fill in the blank: “___________ _____________ are eye rolling, neck twirling, finger-‐pointing, loud talking, ‘ghetto-‐fabulous’ creatures.” If you answered “black females,” then you, along with a large population of society, have identified many of the main stereotypes and negative behaviors that have plagued black women for years. Oh, No….She Didn’t! An Exploration of the Negative and Stereotypical Behaviors of Black Females, tackles this controversial topic. The seminar explores the rationale behind the labels and what truly defines a black woman. When people consume alcohol or drugs, their bodies have to interact with and process those compounds. STDs often result from viruses or micro-‐organisms, which again must have a method of interacting with the host’s cells. Even sexual activity produces hormones and other small signaling compounds. How those processes of metabolism occur depends on organic and biochemistry. This course will use what are often considered prurient topics to illustrate everyday chemistry and biochemistry and provide students with the ability to find and assimilate scientific information and have basic knowledge of how the human body functions and responds to challenges.
Do you think you want to travel to another country during your time at WSSU? Participate in a student experience in a foreign country? Join us as we explore culture and language survival skills, academic culture abroad, stereotypes, challenges presented by intercultural encounters, culture shock and adaptation, cultural identity, and maintaining motivation in intercultural settings. This course will help you prepare emotionally, intellectually, and practically for an immersion Patterson, A/ experience another country. You will be exposed to a variety of study abroad opportunities on campus and the challenges Anderson, R and the opportunities one may encounter while abroad. Learn from students who have traveled and studied abroad. Gain insight from professionals who travel internationally for their organizations. You will learn how to become effective oral communicator across cross-‐cultural boundaries.
Omgba, B
We will explore the interactions between poetry and the brain using a concept called “synesthesia” which illuminates how the left hemisphere of the brain generates poetry. We will study poets who have used synesthesia in their texts (Baudelaire, Rodenbach, Rimbaud, etc) and scientists who have analyzed synesthesia (Ramachadran, Cytowic, Cretien, etc). We will also examine the impact of synesthesia on the perception of reality and its ability to bridge gaps between several areas of human
All LLS Courses, IDs, Faculty, and Description Catalog Description: Liberal Learning Seminars (LLS) are designed to introduce freshmen students to broad questions faced by academe towards offering them an opportunity to hone the General Education learning outcomes of critical reading, critical thinking, and either written or oral communication. The seminars place emphasis on active learning modalities where students engage these topics through hands-‐on and applied pedagogies. Each of the LLS will serve as an option towards fulfilling core general education requirements. New students will be allowed to choose one such seminar in his/her freshman year. Grading is Pass/Fail. Pre-‐requisite: Students must be freshmen (students with < 30 hours) to enroll in this course. Title
Course ID
Faculty
LLS Course Descriptions knowledge. You will then explore how synesthesia serves as a catalyst for artistic creativity.
Minding your Own Business: the Business of “The LLS1341 Minkins, A Arts” and the Art of Business
Are you Really Smarter than a 5th Grader
LLS1342 Roundtree, F
Developing Characters
LLS1344
Huggins, G
Looking at the Gaze in Post-‐ Colonial Literature
LLS1345
McCovery, A
Game
LLS1346 Betz, S
Do you someday want to own your own business? Do you have an interest in the Creative Arts or Scientific Arts and want to someday pursue that as a way to earn a living? This seminar will expose you to a variety of scenarios of talented and creative people in business and the entrepreneur in general. Topics may include: being creative is a business, having gifts and talent make you a prime candidate for entrepreneurship, the challenges to having a successful business, the cultural and gender barriers of doing business, the state of Black businesses today, how to mind your own business, the meaning of entrepreneurship, the rules of owning your own business, bad or dangerous habits that can kill your businesses, politics and business, and maintaining the motivation to continue in business when all seems stacked against you. During the seminar you will develop a business proposal and/or plan for a successful business using your talents and/or creativity. Are You “Really” Smarter Than a 5th Grader? We will use the game show’s culture and practices as the mode by which we challenge ourselves during our class periods. We will also revisit and explore Kindergarten through 5th grade curriculum, visit actual 5th grade classrooms, and ask questions concerning what it really means to be smart. What does it mean for us individually if we are or if we are not smarter than 5th graders? The answers to these questions await those who would dare to take on this challenge. Are you ready to play the game? Character reveals much about who we are and something about who we can become. Character and character development are important elements in defining, refining and/or redefining our personal identity. We will study ‘character’ in stories/books, movies/plays, speeches, profiles, letters from diverse settings and environments and examine lessons for our own character. “Developing Characters” should impact your personal and academic success. Who engages in the ‘gaze’ or sustained, direct looking and seeing is a critical question that will drive investigations in works by select authors such as Jamaica Kincaid, Edwidge Danticat, Jean Rhys, Claude McKay, Derek Walcott, and V. S. Niapaul. Concepts such as masquerade, hybridity, hegemony, homoeroticism, and power relationships will be analyzed through a postcolonial lens in an attempt to locate and “look” at the gaze differently. The visual culture that informs the gaze of the readers, authors and the characters they imagine will also be explored through films and other visual media. In large immersive games, game design refers to the central theme or point, as well as the story and plot and the characters' back-‐stories. In smaller games and in games in which there are no significant characters or plot (for example, in a racing game), game design refers to how one plays the game. You will learn to use state-‐of-‐the-‐art computer software to create interactive programs with visual representations and sound. Working in teams and through public displays, you will develop skills in collaboration and communication while gaining knowledge of the importance of planning and logical workflow.
All LLS Courses, IDs, Faculty, and Description Catalog Description: Liberal Learning Seminars (LLS) are designed to introduce freshmen students to broad questions faced by academe towards offering them an opportunity to hone the General Education learning outcomes of critical reading, critical thinking, and either written or oral communication. The seminars place emphasis on active learning modalities where students engage these topics through hands-‐on and applied pedagogies. Each of the LLS will serve as an option towards fulfilling core general education requirements. New students will be allowed to choose one such seminar in his/her freshman year. Grading is Pass/Fail. Pre-‐requisite: Students must be freshmen (students with < 30 hours) to enroll in this course. Title
Course ID
Faculty
Creativity
LLS1347 Betz, S
I, Too, Sing America!
LLS1348 Martin, G
Civil Liberties in Times of War
LLS1349 Martin, G
Science of Survival
LLS1350
Pekarek, N / McIntosh, L
What’s Going On? Issues Forums in the Classroom
LLS1351
Huggins, G/ Massey, A
LLS Course Descriptions “We are all creative, but by the time we are three or four years old someone has knocked creativity out of us. Some people shut up the kids who start to tell stores. Kids dance in their cribs, but someone will insist they sit still. By the time the creative people are ten or twelve, they want to be like everyone else."-‐ Maya Angelou. Often, people do not think of themselves as creative because they are only familiar with narrow definitions of the word. You will engage in hands-‐on, minds-‐on activities that illustrate the processes and products of creative thought. By working in teams generating "problem lists" and displaying your proposed creative solutions publicly, you will develop skills in collaboration and communication while gaining knowledge of the importance of planning a logical workflow. What does it mean to be “American”? In this seminar, we shall focus on groups that have been excluded from full citizenship rights in America based on race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, and sexual orientation, with particular attention to the struggle of African Americans. The first part of the seminar will focus on the first Civil Rights Acts (1866 & 1875), ending with the Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Supreme Court decision legalizing racial discrimination. The second part of the seminar shall focus on the civil rights struggle of the 1950s, leading up to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education (1954) Supreme Court decision making racial discrimination illegal, as well as the keystone civil rights legislation (1964 Civil Rights Act, renewed in 2004). Finally, we will examine what civil rights issues still confront African Americans and other groups today. How much of our individual rights and freedoms are U.S. citizens willing to give up in exchange for more security? Case studies covered will range from the 1798 Alien & Sedition Act to the 2001 USA PATRIOT Act. Other case studies will include the suspension of Habeas Corpus by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War; the internment of Japanese-‐Americans in concentration camps during World War II; and the treatment of prisoners of war and Arab-‐Americans after September 11, 2001, with particular focus on the Guantanamo Bay U.S. detention facility and the practice of “Extraordinary Rendition.” Do you want to thrive and survive? Join in a discussion that leads to understanding of how you can obtain and maintain good health. We will explore nutrition and fitness, basics of infectious disease, cancer, and genetics. You will measure your own body mass index and ABO typing, explore genetics and gain understanding of how who you are and the health decisions you make contribute to your long term survival. American citizens need to become more informed about common problems that affect the nation and to have a voice in how policymakers deal with difficult issues. Issues Forums will provide you with the opportunity to learn about issues that affect you at the local and national level, to carefully examine and discuss choices or ways to deal with issues, and to have your opinions included in reports that inform others. The class will name and frame a local issue for public deliberation. You will explore issue books from the National Issues Forum Institute, information from the media and from the book, America Now.
All LLS Courses, IDs, Faculty, and Description Catalog Description: Liberal Learning Seminars (LLS) are designed to introduce freshmen students to broad questions faced by academe towards offering them an opportunity to hone the General Education learning outcomes of critical reading, critical thinking, and either written or oral communication. The seminars place emphasis on active learning modalities where students engage these topics through hands-‐on and applied pedagogies. Each of the LLS will serve as an option towards fulfilling core general education requirements. New students will be allowed to choose one such seminar in his/her freshman year. Grading is Pass/Fail. Pre-‐requisite: Students must be freshmen (students with < 30 hours) to enroll in this course. Title
Course ID
Faculty
Motion Capture for Hristov, N/ Art, Research and LLS1352 Betz, S the Health Sciences
The Science of Addiction
LLS1353 Logan, E
What’s your story?
African-‐American Fiction
LLS1354 Saddler, V
Greek Mythology
LLS1355 Melton, S
Cultural Competence: Dealing with the elephant in the
LLS1356 Bradford, A
LLS Course Descriptions Motion capture, or MoCap, represents the diversity of methodologies and equipment that enable recording, analyzing and representing movement for applications such as visualizations and animations for entertainment, education, communication, health care and the general sciences. You will interact with faculty and experts in the use of MoCap to learn various techniques and applications for capturing and studying movement. You will have access to state-‐of-‐the-‐art equipment like stop-‐motion stroboscopy, high-‐resolution technical photography, high-‐speed video, 3D reconstruction with multi-‐camera arrays, etc. We will look at examples of athletic movement, dance choreography, the flight of animals and many others. Our explorations will take us from the design studio setting to the MoCap lab to the Filmmaking stage and beyond into the field. Have you ever wondered about the stages and characteristics of addiction, its course, prevalence, and familial patterns, and symptoms of addictive disorders? Join in an exploration of the neuroanatomical and physiological causes of addiction and the process of addictive disorders. Examine the multi-‐dimensional issues of addiction including the sociological and psychological implications of addictive behavior. Everybody has a story to tell. Have you told yours? You will explore, question, and narrate your own life experiences and those of others through digital storytelling. Using classic storytelling elements of narration, you will compose powerful visual memoirs, profiles, and research reports, including personal, family, cultural, and historical stories. Throughout the semester, digital multimedia projects will be peer critiqued using evaluative rubrics. The course will conclude with a final reflective digital storytelling portfolio. YOU do enjoy reading…don’t YOU? If you answered yes to this question, then this is the seminar for you! In this seminar we will read “urban fiction” novels written by African-‐American authors, including four Winston-‐Salem State University graduates: Trice Hickman, ’91; Stephanie Feggins, ’08; Joel McIver, ’93; and AlTonya Washington, ’94. We will also read works written by other authors including, but not limited to: Omar Tyree, Kimberla Lawson Roby, Eric Jerome Dickey, Trey Ellis, Carl Webber, Michelle Andrea Bowen, Bertice Berry, Donna Hill, E. Lynn Harris, and Parry “Ebony Satin” Brown. Ancient Greek gods and goddesses lorded over their subjects with selfish intent. Mortals were often pawns in elaborate schemes and the objects of deception. Mortals had to walk a delicate line of respect (in relation to the gods) in order not to cause offense and suffer the consequence of heresy. The curse of Medusa, the 12 labors of Hercules, the toil of Sisyphus and the anguish of Tantalus are examples of the life changing judgments made by the gods against mortals. This seminar will use films as a tool to learn about Greek Mythology and explore the judgments made by the gods and how these judgments mirror the values/beliefs of Ancient Greece. Join your colleagues in an exploration of race, racism, and racial diversity as we all deal with the elephant in the room. You will review literature and theory and engage in role-‐playing, discussions, oral presentations, and reflective writing to address the gain an understanding of the issues and to effectively address them no matter what your experience has been. You will emerge from the course better able to communicate in a multicultural society and world.
All LLS Courses, IDs, Faculty, and Description Catalog Description: Liberal Learning Seminars (LLS) are designed to introduce freshmen students to broad questions faced by academe towards offering them an opportunity to hone the General Education learning outcomes of critical reading, critical thinking, and either written or oral communication. The seminars place emphasis on active learning modalities where students engage these topics through hands-‐on and applied pedagogies. Each of the LLS will serve as an option towards fulfilling core general education requirements. New students will be allowed to choose one such seminar in his/her freshman year. Grading is Pass/Fail. Pre-‐requisite: Students must be freshmen (students with < 30 hours) to enroll in this course. Title
Course ID
Faculty
LLS Course Descriptions
room.
The Monster Within: Green Eyes Watching You African American Images in the Media
Express Yourself
The Apprentice: Black Sexual Politics and the Media
LLS1357 Edwards, R
In a society where self-‐expression and collective expression are encouraged, multiple ways of viewing the world are bound to emerge. Undeniably, the mediated landscape (film, television, video, music, etc.) is an expressive arena where multiple Montgomery, ways of viewing the world are obvious. This course invites in-‐depth exploration of the evolution, growth, arrested LLS1358 S development, historical assaults, even deep-‐seated hostility of African American images in various mediated forms. At its core, this course centers intentionally on films and television shows by and about African Americans. Attention is devoted to the social and historical construction of mediated images of African Americans. You are about to enter the new world of journalism. You will create newspaper columns, present them to your peers incorporating photographs and other visuals, and publish them to a blog (and other social media) for comments and interaction with those on campus and around the world. Your columns will range from reflections about yourself, the LLL1359 Alston, N campus and student life, to exploration of current issues facing you and the community. At the end of the seminar you will put a summary of your reflections together using Pecha Kucha.
LLS1360
Patterson, A, and Frazier, P
Family Matters: Discovering One’s Roots
Do you think you are the only one who gets jealous? In this course we will explore the theme of jealously and its many manifestations in literature from across time and cultures. Using this background you will be given the opportunity to connect and to reflect on how jealousy manifest in your life and times.
LLS1365
Garner, Andrea
There has been a shake up on a major urban television network. Your bosses have been fired. You are now assistant producers assigned to develop and and pitch to the new network four cutting edge documentaries that examine issues that surrounding Black sexual politics including: race, gender, sexuality, social class, nationality, capitalism. The demographic is the 18-‐25 year old television audience. In this course you will learn to effectively use written and oral communication skills to develop, write, edit, and produce a videotape “pitching a new documentary” to the network executives. The winning apprentice team will produce a television show. In this seminar you will examine critical race theory, critical theory, gender, globalization, black sexual politics, and images. Who am I and where am I from? More and more, these questions have caused people of all ethnicities to question their roots and the essence of their being. This seminar is designed to provide participants the opportunity to seek answers to those questions. Learners will engage in genealogical research via face-‐to-‐face interviews, the campus library research, online databases and public and family records, as well as view recent documentaries of personalities who have completed
All LLS Courses, IDs, Faculty, and Description Catalog Description: Liberal Learning Seminars (LLS) are designed to introduce freshmen students to broad questions faced by academe towards offering them an opportunity to hone the General Education learning outcomes of critical reading, critical thinking, and either written or oral communication. The seminars place emphasis on active learning modalities where students engage these topics through hands-‐on and applied pedagogies. Each of the LLS will serve as an option towards fulfilling core general education requirements. New students will be allowed to choose one such seminar in his/her freshman year. Grading is Pass/Fail. Pre-‐requisite: Students must be freshmen (students with < 30 hours) to enroll in this course. Title
Course ID
Faculty
LLS Course Descriptions the process of researching their roots. The course will culminate in a Family Tree design, a narrative (oral tradition), an original poem and a digital storybook. The products will prove useful to share at family gatherings and as records for posterity.
