Composition I – ENGL 1301

Academic Inquiry and Democratic Engagement, Chris Berni

This course explores how curiosity fuels academic research and how research enters the public arena to affect our democracy. We will examine the recipe for a thriving democracy by looking at the role of universities, think tanks, political action committees, and media outlets old and new. Past case studies have included food insecurity among college students, twenty-first century mental health challenges, and climate science. Students will explore topics that they are passionate about via the academic ideal of engaged and open-minded debate, producing a range of written and multimodal texts.

Considering Tech, Susan Meigs

In Considering Tech, students examine their sometimes complex relationships with technology. Through discussions, readings, blog posts, and research, they develop positions about how technology relates to our world, and particularly to their areas of interest. Students have explored topics such as artificial intelligence, social media, autonomous vehicles, online privacy, immersive gaming, and the effects of digital devices on learning.

Critical Thinking in the Age of Information Overload, Anne-Marie Thomas

In “Critical Thinking in the Age of Information Overload,” students will learn how to sort the signals from the noise in our sometimes overwhelming cultural moment. Students will examine and reflect upon contemporary issues from a variety of angles, developing a critical lens that they employ in their analysis of essays, blogs, videos, memes, ads, podcasts, speeches, and other kinds of media. Topics include automation, artificial intelligence, digital technology, food production and culture, and American dreams and divisions.

Dignity and Global Human Rights, Carla Coleman

In Dignity and Global Human Rights, students will use the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its founding principle of human dignity to explore topics ranging from the way the language we use affects individual dignity to the local, national and global impact of various social and political policies, practices, and beliefs can have on the dignity of larger groups of people. Students will have significant input on the issues on which we will focus, and they will engage with these issues as a class and individually through discussion, informal writing, and formal essays.

Ethics and the Art of Persuasion, Heidi Juel

In Ethics and the Art of Persuasion you’ll develop and support your positions on various controversies with solid reasoning, evidence, and an appropriate persuasive style. We will read arguments that model the process for analyzing current problems in the world. We will expand on the analysis of the assigned readings to consider our duties and responsibilities as members of society. I ask that you listen to each other and to what the authors are saying. I encourage you to speak your mind and ask that you defend your opinions and interpretations with persuasive evidence and reasoning.

Exploring American Identities, Louisa Spaventa

In Exploring American Identities, students navigate unique concerns and challenges of underrepresented groups of people in the United States through readings, videos, music, visual art, and research. Individuals ponder the power of words to include or exclude people in a community by delving into themes such as citizenship, poverty, class, race, ethnicity, disability, gender, sexual orientation, and indigeneity. Coursework includes both creative and formal methods of communication and expression.

Food as Narrative, Jenifer Hernandez

Food as Narrative: We can’t live without food and it plays an important role in all areas of life on this planet as well as numerous areas of study: history, economics, health, science, art, literature, anthropology, sociology, and environmental science, to name a few. English 1301: Food as Narrative will focus on an exploration of food cultures and the depiction of food culture in local and national media. You will then be prompted to write your own food narratives, essays, short journal assignments, and a research paper, moving you from the position of consumer of food narratives to producer of this material.

Hot Topics and Cool Heads, Wendy Lym

In Hot Topics, Cool Heads, students use persuasive writing skills to tackle a local problem, by identifying a specific individual who can address their problem or concern and documenting a practical solution to the problem. Many share their work and have advocated for themselves and their community, arguing for such diverse things as better products to decontaminate fire-fighting gear, more equitable rules from managers at their public housing, and better accommodation for parents who work night shifts and want to eat breakfast with their elementary school kids on the school campus.

I am Social Justice, Diane Whitley Grote

In I Am Social Justice, students focus on social justice issues that they relate to and affect their lives. Students select issues to discuss during class and use as the focus for essays and video/visual journals, often in connection to their community.

Into the Wilderness, Lindsay Lawley

In “Into the Wilderness,” students begin with the legal definition of physical wilderness in the United States and then trace discussions of this type of wilderness in American literature, history, scholarship, and popular culture. From there, we consider how America’s interaction with wilderness as a place and a concept relates to its interaction with figurative kinds of wilderness: less obvious or tangible kinds of unknowns. As the course progresses, each student will be asked to formulate their own unique definition of wilderness and apply it analytically to a topic of their choice. Previous students have explored topics such as college as a wilderness for first-generation students and the teenage mind as a wilderness in adult-dominated discourse.

Professionals, Pandemics, and Panaceas: Exploring Current Issues in Healthcare, Diane Whitley Grote

In Professionals, Pandemics, and Panaceas: Exploring Current Issues in Healthcare, students explore various health-related issues. Through class discussions, essays, and video/visual journals, students express their understanding and concerns about these issues, especially in connection to their own lives.

Tell Your Story: How Research and Composition Construct Identity, Robert Crowl

What was the last thing you researched or felt compelled to understand, and what does that exploration say about the things you value, the belief systems you hold, or the goals you have for yourself? What aspects of your identity are on display through the clothes you wear, the organizations you support, the arenas you move through, or the stories you recycle? In “Tell Your Story: How Research and Composition Construct Identity,” we’ll explore the different methods, purposes, patterns, and styles authors choose when taking on the vulnerable task of penning narratives and texts that validate, diversify, or disrupt the human experience: events, relationships, genetics, cultures, politics, ethnicities, traumas, and triumphs that make up who we are and are becoming. In this course, we will read and investigate the craft and science of creative and informational nonfiction texts by identifying, imitating, and innovating famous writers’ techniques to suit our own stories.

The Power of Words, Kendall Dingee

In The Power of Words, students will study how impactful words are on our overall understanding as a society through the use of readings, documentaries, podcasts, music, and more. Students will take a deep dive into how language plays a roll in basic communication skills, music, bullying, fake news, motivation, and self-reflection. The course goal is to build responsible consumers of information that understand the power of their own words through the creation of writing assignments, podcasts, and various other products.

Composition II – ENGL 1302

 Adventures in Theory, Jill Bosche

In Adventures in Theory, students will use ideas that act as different lenses to view and talk about texts. For example, if you are working with Gender Studies and Queer  Theory, you might focus on the masculine/feminine binary or the problematics of sexual identity within a given text. If you are working with Critical Disability Studies, you might consider the same text but look at how disability is represented and “normalcy” reinforced. As we look through different lenses, we will use different sets of questions to interrogate cultural artifacts ranging from literature to music to television and film.

 Diverse Modes of Storytelling: Healing the World Through the Stories We Tell, Brinda Roy

In Diverse Modes of Storytelling students explore global gender issues within the broader framework of storytelling. Through short fiction, spoken word poetry, memoirs, TED Talks, a StoryCorps-style recording project, and research, we explore the myriad ways in which storytelling often becomes the only way for us to bridge political, gender, and/or cultural differences. Course readings and assignments emphasize critical thinking, collaborative learning, and above all to be open-minded and embracing of our diverse humanities.

Exploring the Unexplained in Selected Literature, Diane Whitely Grote

In Zombies, Vampires, and Ghosts, Oh My! The Supernatural in Selected Literature, students watch videos, listen to podcasts, read works, and view images associated with the supernatural based on different countries’ portrayals. Students address these traits through discussions, essays, and a creative final project.

Fiction and the Brain, Lindsay Lawley Rerecich

This course explores fiction through the lens of cognitive literary theory, which considers ways in which stories depict consciousness: the individualized internal world of distinct characters and how different layers of consciousness can be present within a single work. It will also consider scientific research on how reading fiction can affect our brains and shape our theory of mind: the ability to conceive of others’ minds as distinct from our own and to make predictions about how we think others think and feel. If you’ve ever wondered what place literature has in a STEM-oriented society or how reading your favorite fantasy novel could be good for you in the real world, this may be the class for you.

Food and Place, Jenifer Hamilton Hernandez

Food and Place will focus on the ways in which food is linked to place (or terroir) and the way in which food and the places and cultures from which foods originated are depicted in poetry, short stories, a novel, and film. This will enable us to discuss questions of representation (i.e. who gets to tell stories and who is left out) while sharpening writing, critical thinking, and analysis skills over the course of the semester. We’ll take a deep dive into individual works of poetry, fiction, and film, but we’ll also make connections between these works, linking them thematically.

Human/Animal/Monster/Machine, Chris Berni

This course involves students in an exploration of what it means to be human. How have thinkers past and present addressed this question? What are the implications of separating humans from animals? Who defines monsters? What do monsters teach us about ourselves and our societies? What happens when machines begin to challenge our ideas of the human? We will address these questions and more through a range of readings, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and film, and student will produce a range written and multimodal texts.

Human as Spectacle, Louisa Spaventa

“Human as Spectacle” will provoke questions about the way we experience other humans and ourselves. Whether we like it or not, every person is on display in society. It behooves us to analyze not only how people present themselves, and whether these statements are intentional or not, but what their perceptions of others say about them. Through fiction, poetry, film, music, and video, we will explore ways to understand and appreciate otherness, as well as ways to rectify societal alienation.

Introduction to Women and Gender Studies, Brinda Roy

Introduction to Women and Gender Studies is designed to help students explore issues related to social, gender, and cultural identities within the broader framework of feminist thought. We will examine a variety of texts from different media, spanning traditional literary materials like short stories, novels, drama, and poetry, to popular media like StoryCorps, and TED Talks, in order to explore the central theme of the course – the myriad ways in which gender, race, culture, and class intersect in women’s lived realities.

Literature & Film: How Authors & Filmmakers Frame the Scene, Robert Crowl 

Authors and filmmakers use similar devices when telling stories. Authors use crafted points of view and vivid imagery; whereas, directors and filmmakers use language and a diverse arsenal of visual elements. Despite their unique mediums, both artforms share elements of storytelling. In this age, when visual media is at its peak in terms of technological capabilities, authors and visual artists are constantly teaming up to bring literature to the silver screen. Writers transform some of our most influential and iconic literature into film adaptations & movie scripts. Even social media platforms have evolved in such a way that many users are constantly prioritizing stories: crafting micro-narratives about their lives to connect with followers, to share their personal slice of the human experience. In “Literature & Film: How Authors & Filmmakers Frame the Scene,” students will analyze classical and contemporary authors, so they can grasp the fundamental building blocks of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Students will also watch various films and visual media, and the course will culminate in students creating their own short stories, film adaptations, and short films.

Literature in Conflict, Carla Coleman

In “Literature and Conflict,” students will read, discuss and analyze the various ways authors use their works to help us (their readers) engage with important “real world” conflicts of the past and present. Our topics are varied and may range from segregation and social oppression as explored in the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance, to rebellion against unjust laws in Ancient Greek drama, to environmental destruction and artificial intelligence as explored through the lens of global science fiction.

NCIS: New Orleans Culture in Selected Literature, Diane Whitley Grote

In NCIS: New Orleans Culture in Selected Literature, students learn how culture is conveyed in music, festivals, spirituality, food (and various other areas). They listen to music, review visual arts, watch videos, and read specific works which serve as the focus of personal responses, class discussions, essays, and a creative final project.

New Voices, New Vistas, Sean Nighbert

New Voices, New Vistas: By accessing different forms of art, we will explore what it means to be alive in this world. By exploring new and evolving genres in fiction, poetry, and non-Western oriented films, we will develop a better understanding of our place and others in this world.

Purpose, Passion, and Power, Wendy Lym

In Purpose, Passion, and Power, students examine the rhetoric of social justice by applying Prof. Molefi Kete Asante’s Language Strategies from Rhetoric of Black Revolution to analyze the political and protest writing in the United States in the 19th and 20th Century.

Realities and (Im)mortality, Heidi Juel

We will focus on two themes: Realities and (Im)mortality. As part of the Realities unit, we will analyze problems and discuss controversies in education, technology, and environmental justice.  We’ll also discuss mental health and read about the diverse realities of the human experience.  In the (Im)mortality unit, we’ll read and discuss cultural beliefs regarding death and take a look at the subject from a magical realism perspective.  Both of these units contain difficult and sometimes controversial subjects, but we are studying the human condition; we all are touched in some way by these realities.  Through your peers’ experiences and those that the authors share with us, you will learn and grow, as a scholar and as a person.  Students have said that this class is eye-opening, therapeutic and helpful in developing a sense of community–that no one is alone in their experiences.

Speculative Fiction: Imagining “What If?, Rebekah Starnes

In this class, we will be reading and discussing “Speculative Fiction”: stories that contain futuristic, fantastic, magical, or supernatural elements. The stories we will read feature diverse authors and characters who engage “real world” arguments and controversies in sometimes fantastic ways. The assignments allow you a great deal of leeway to consider and respond to controversies and fantastic ideas, as well as the opportunity to connect the material to your own lives and to the “real world” in interesting, creative, and (I hope) fun ways.

Stories as a Reflection of Ourselves, Rebekah Starnes

Students will explore stories from different modes, from films, short stories, podcasts, and social media, to build a deeper understanding of the narratives that surround us. By understanding different models of cultural influences, students will discover the significance of the media they consume and create work that reflects their own cultural identity.

Transitions: Coming of Age, Roy Ruane

A young person coming-of-age experiences dramatic emotional and psychological changes that are shaped by social and cultural influences. The course explores how literature reveals and comments upon these influences, some of which facilitate the maturation process while others can impede or even derail the journey to adulthood.

Your Semester’s Guide to Surviving the Dystopia, Arun John

In Your Semester’s Guide to Surviving the Dystopia, students explore what it means to be human while living in an increasingly dystopian world. The class reads a wide range of texts that includes a graphic novel and a film to short stories and poetry that examine the nature of dystopias as well as the ability of human beings to resist dystopian realities. Students develop a survival guide over the course of the semester and even create original academic works inspired by the texts and in-class discussions.

 

British Literature II – ENGL 2323

A Survey of Women Writers from 1800-The Present, Brinda Roy

A Survey of Woman Writers uses an interdisciplinary approach to survey English women writers from 1800 to the present. Through the careful study of different genres like fiction, poetry, prose, memoirs, essays, and literary criticism,  we will explore the larger question of the relationship between literary forms and women’s writing. What were the socio-historical conditions under which women wrote? What obstacles did they have to overcome to even get published? More generally, what is the relation between modes of narration (how women wrote), subject matter (what they wrote about), and the tremendously exciting developments in the fields of science, commerce, trade, education, medicine, law, technology, that were taking place all around them? Plotting the “how-what” connection will lead us to consider the following crucial post-1800 aesthetic and social formations: English Literature, subjectivity, modernity, evolutionism, slavery, capitalism, imperialism, colonialism, feminism, industrialism, sexual labor, and the family. We will look at how works written by and about women were crucial in the creation of early feminist values in post-1800 Britain. These works compelled English audiences to rethink marriage, gender, sexuality, and their own class positioning, even as they encouraged English women writers to balance their own claims against those of other groups like the working class, prostitutes, the colonized, and the disabled, among others.

Additional Liberal Arts Gateway Offerings from Previous Semesters

• Conspiracy, Myth, Propaganda, and the Inequities of Truth, Ryan Davidson
• Gender Dynamics of Global Parenting Strategies, Ryan Davidson
• Rhetoric and Critical Thought, Texas-Style, David Dettmer
• Amazing Teenagers, Valerie Fulton
• Choose Your Own Adventure, Jennifer Sapio
• Healers, Harbingers, and Heroes: An Exploration of the Nurse in Literature, Allegra Villarreal
  
• The Self and Society, Allegra Villarreal
• The Rhetoric of Outsiders and Subcultures, Lydia Cdebaca-Cruz
  
• Looking Beyond Language, Lauren Watson

Philosophy 2306 – Ethics

Ethics with Global Studies Focus, Linda Cox

In this Global Ethics course, students will delve into challenging and complex moral questions and explore possible solutions from a variety of global perspectives.  They’ll build an ethical toolbox to look at global approaches to social issues such as criminal justice, animal rights and interests, healthcare, and hunger.  And then they’ll collaborate in a game where groups use their creative and critical thinking skills to build an ethical society–and then encounter unforeseen crises that challenge their ethical thinking along the way!

 

Justice and Equality: Theory and Practice, J. Wade Allen

Students will be introduced to the principles of morality through a critical examination of various ethical theories. In this particular course, we will be looking to apply those theories to issues of justice and equality, with a particular focus on racial justice. We will (1) be addressing the philosophical tools to solve ethical problems, while also reviewing the topic of moral skepticism and an analysis of justice from Plato’s Republic, (2) we’ll address a number of traditional and non-traditional ethical theories and think about their impact on issues related to justice, (3) we will address philosophical concepts of justice and how they apply to issues concerning race, and, finally, (4) students will make use of what they have learned to create their own group or individual arguments about particular issues related to racial injustice, which they will present to the rest of the class.

 

Racial Justice: Theory and Practice, Sherry Blum

 

Humanities 1302 – Humanities: Renaissance to Present

Exploring Global Influence in the Western World, Kerri Pope

This course explores the global influences on Western culture, innovation, and art.  Students in this course make connections between European innovations and artworks and explore the role Colonialism plays in the dissemination and discussion of global culture.  

What is Freedom? Kathleen Reeves

“What is Freedom?” surveys cultural works from the Renaissance to the present that are concerned with the nature of freedom, broadly defined. How is freedom achieved? Is it a quality or an action? How is it related to individuals and communities? Is freedom ever undesirable (do people ever desire to be free of freedom)? Possible texts range from Renaissance sonnets which ask how romantic love (or divine love) is related to freedom, to utopias, to paintings depicting national revolutionary struggles, to essays, visual art, and literature related to the many freedom struggles of the 20th and 21st centuries. 

Humanities 1315 – The Arts in Contemporary Society

Strategies for Diversifying Exhibition, Jean Lauer

An introductory course designed to enhance a student’s understanding and appreciation of the modes of communicating ideas and emotions through the visual and performing arts. This section focuses on how contemporary museums, festivals, and archives engage the public in arts and culture.

Humanities 1301 – Humanities: Renaissance to Present

Great Questions Seminar, multiple Professors

The Great Questions Seminar is a discussion-based course focused on the study of Great Books, and it serves both as a section of Introduction to Humanities and as a student success course. It satisfies the student success requirement for students entering ACC with fewer than 12 credit hours and meets the Language, Philosophy, and Culture or Component Area requirement in the core curriculum. 

Russian I 1411

Adventures in Russian: Discover the Fascinating World of Russian Language and Culture

Welcome to the exciting world of Russian language and culture! In Russian 1411, you will embark on a fascinating linguistic journey while immersing yourself in a supportive and engaging class environment. Through hands-on activities and interactive discussions, you’ll have the opportunity to connect with fellow students, embrace cultural experiences that will broaden your horizons, and celebrate the beauty of Russian culture and language together. Join us on this captivating journey and unlock the doors to a new language and culture.

JAPN 1411

Discovery of Japanese

In this LAG course, students will experience a distinct linguistic journey while immersing themselves in a supportive and engaging class environment.  They will have the opportunity to connect with fellow students, embrace cultural experiences that will broaden their horizons, and celebrate the beauty of Japanese culture and language together.  We will cover basic vocabulary, grammar rules, simple conversation, and culture.  Specifically, students will discover the appropriate usage of three types of Japanese writing systems while they practice writing sentences and reading short stories.

French 1411

Journey to the Center of All Things French. Discover a fashionable, delicious, and revolutionary culture through language.

In this French 1411 you will learn the fundamentals of French: basic writing, listening and reading
comprehension, pronunciation, vocabulary building, grammar, and culture with a focus on French food
and the French revolutions.

This course incorporates the LAG principles of Dialogue, Equity, Personal Engagement, and Cultural
Exploration. In practice, this means that you will be given the chance to take an active role in your
learning and find out how to incorporate your personal strengths into the learning process in order to
make it more relevant to your life. It will make you a more active, happy and confident student.
This is a beginning level course.  There is no prerequisite for this course.

 

EDUC 1300 – Learning Framework: Effective Strategies for College Success

Mindfulness-Based Learning and Living, Eva Thomsen

This EDUC-1300 section includes a unique focus on the use of research-based mindfulness approaches to support student success and well-being. Among other benefits, mindfulness has been shown to decrease stress and anxiety; increase focus, attentional control, memory, cognition and creativity; and improve mood, emotional regulation, and self-regulation. Throughout the course, students will be invited to experience and experiment with formal and informal mindfulness practices.

“Mindfulness is the awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally, to things as they are.” – Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn

Motivation, Mindset, and Cognition, Edgar Granillo

What factors influence students’ motivation?  While there are nuances that change from student to student, there are models of motivation that serve as tools for thinking through and enhancing motivation.  In this course students will have the opportunity to:

• Define motivation, and understand the connection between motivation and mindset.
• Illustrate how culture and prior experiences impact motivation, emotion, and brain development
• Develop helpful techniques and strategies for increasing motivation

Learn how mindset and effort can help students navigate through challenging moments during the postsecondary experience.

Navigating the College Experience through Community, Purpose, and Belonging, Dr. Amber Sarker

Students will have an opportunity to learn how utilizing their purpose as a guiding compass can assist in cultivating a college experience and career path aligned with one’s values, preferences, and skill sets. Moreover, students will learn how creating (and maintaining) a sense of belonging and community can help them navigate through challenging moments during the postsecondary experience. Course readings and assignments will be customizable so students have the flexibility and autonomy to learn more about their compass and how it can guide them through the semester and beyond. There will also be a Service Learning component to this course.