Freshman Center

Catalog

The list of available learning communities continues to grow. Check back soon for new additions!

• African-Americans in U.S. History and Literature
• Bronco Men I and II
• Bronco Women
• Chemicals in the Environment
• Community Ethics and Literature
• Current Health-Related Issues
• Critical Approaches to Criminal Justice
• Diversity Amid Globalization
• Drugs and Law Enforcement
• The Power of Social Work and Psychology
• Values in Action

African Americans in U.S. History and Literature

How did African Americans use literature to express themselves throught history? What role has literature played historically in the African American community? What does literature by and about African Americans tell you about their circumstances during certain periods in American history? This learning community will explore these and other questions about the African American experience. Two semesters.

Bronco Men

The Bronco Men Learning Community initiative is designed to engage students in higher education by offering a supportive environment and alternative pedagogies that address their specific learning styles. Designed to address pedagogical issues most frequently associated with males, the community is open to any students who feel they could benefit from a learning environment that stresses responsibility, active learning, and peer support. Two semesters.

Students will be placed in Bronco Men I or II based on placement scores.

Bronco Men I: Critical Thinking and Current Issues
Students will engage current issues using the tools of critical thinking and information technology.  Students will analyze critically the arguments surrounding current events and examine the evidence for different positions through Internet-based research.

Bronco Men II: Language and Identity in African-American Culture

This community will explore African American culture and identity through an examination of the distinctive language patterns and experience of African American males.  Students will learn how African American Vernacular (AAV) dialects originated, the curcumstances under which they have endured and flourished, and their long-term connections to social identity and larger power structures.  By examining their individual connections to AAV, identity and power, students will examine the challenges faced by African American men in the effort to master and claim "standard" English.  Learning standard English presents African American men with the oppositional choice between success in the larger society and the cultural need to "keep it real," a choice that often contributes to the gender gap in academic success of African Americans.

Bronco Women

The Bronco Women Initiative is a program designed to explore experiences of women of color to improve their success by integrating social and academic activities, formally and informally. This class will emphasize positive self-images and

encourage social networking. Students will engage in practical problem solving and the function of power on an individual and or group setting. Students will learn to articulate their own social identities.

Chemicals in the Environment

This learning community will discuss common chemicals in our environment: how they are formed, metabolized, and analyzed. Understanding how mathematics play an important role in the kinetics, redox reactions, and quantitative analysis

of environmental contaminants will also be examined.  One semester.

Community Ethics and Literature

Courses in this learning community will allow students to examine the ethics of citizenship or citizens' actions in the workplace, academic and general communites.  Students will define and examine definitions of (un)ethical behavior in a variety of community contexts.  What are the causes and effects of the new "cheating" culture in education, business, and/or sports?  What is academic dishonesty? Two semesters.

Critical Approaches to Criminal Justice

Why does the criminal justice system in America work the way it does? Why are minorities over-represented in the criminal justice system? How can this situation be changed?  This learning community will address the resolution of moral dilemmas that typically occur in the administration of criminal

justice by applying the skills of critical thinking.  One semester.

Current Health-Related Issues

The learning community will explore the biological basis of specific diseases and how drugs work in the body. Various health-related issues will be discussed as well as an understanding of how mathematics play an important role in

understanding biology.  One semester.

Diversity Amid Globalization

This learning community will use a seminar format to explore the socio-political dimensions of globalization as seen by both supporters and critics alike. The goal is not only for a better understanding of this process but participants will be challenged into thinking about their place or niche in this

evolving global marketplace where rules of social economic survival are constantly changing. The courses will be organized around three important dimensions of globalization that are occurring at an ever increasing rate today: (1) globalization of the economy, (2) globalization of culture, and (3) globalization of environmental change. One semester.

Drugs and Law Enforcement

This learning community will examine the organic, economic, and aesthetic impact of the legalization of drugs in the United States.  One semester.

Pre-Nursing

This section of Freshman Seminar will examine advising, major, and career issues of interest to pre-nursing students.  Two semesters.

The Power of Social Work and Psychology

Social work and Psychology are uniquely compelling and exciting professions that can provide you with numerous opportunities for a really "impactful" career. For example, you may decide to provide counseling services to persons in

needs of ways to help themselves feel better about who they are as people, or you may decide to explore newer and innovative approaches to helping people that our society sometimes regards as "throw-away" people. The fields of Social Work and Psychology truly represent the very best of cutting-edge arenas, and your interest, input, and participation will help to ensure that these professions will remain at the forefront of efforts to transform the lives of many persons. Please join us!

Values in Action

This learning community will study the connections between values and language, including the values we inherit through our learned language and those reflected in our individual choices. Students will examine the societal and individual values inherent in choosing to pursue higher education and

throughout the educational process. They will explore the process of developing principles that direct our lives, including those from family, peers, spirituality, economics, and other relevant areas. And they will analyze and reflect upon how choices mirror values