These courses are designed to develop students’ abilities in writing, critical thinking, and information literacy through critical inquiry on a specific topic. FYS 110 courses also include an orientation component to help students adjust to Augustana and learn about resources and opportunities that are available.
Fall 2024 FYS 110: First Year Seminar
Course Descriptions
Rhetoric and the Social Fabric
What is the value of a college education? What does it mean to lead a good life? What do we collectively value as US citizens? People gather to celebrate, mourn, and reflect on regular occasions. We will examine commencement speeches, eulogies, and Presidential speeches during national crises in which people collectively reflect on national values. We will study rhetoric, critique it, and produce it.
In one of Plato’s dialogues, Meno asks Socrates, “How will you go about finding the thing whose nature is totally unknown to you?” Wandering in the unknown has occupied the minds of explorers, philosophers, artists, and writers for centuries, yet we are often expected to know exactly where we are going and how we will get there. In this course, we will consider connotations and social constructions of wandering, being lost, and purposeful traveling; orientation and disorientation; crossable borders and impenetrable barriers. Examining the writings of those who brave the wilderness, map the unreadable, lose themselves in the unfamiliar, and wander the landscape of the mind, we will ultimately explore what wandering and getting lost have to do with vocation, education, inquiry, and discovery.
Rhyme & Reason: Social Impact through Hip Hop Culture ** Journey Scholars**
Willette Capers
The Rise and Fall of Nations
Cory Conover
What makes a country great? What factors cause the decay or even collapse of societies? To understand the dynamics of creation and destruction, this class analyzes examples drawn from history--including the Greeks, Romans, and Nazi Germany. We will think broadly to consider culture, economy, military, politics, and natural resources. With these lessons, we examine the present to assess the fates of nations today.
Responsibility. Courage. Compassion. Honesty. Friendship. Faith. Persistence. As students begin their educational journey at Augustana, they will delve into the virtues and values that have guided individuals and communities throughout history. This seminar will highlight writings from Teddy Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, William J Bennett, the Dalai Lama, Krista Tippett, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mother Teresa, Margaret Edson, and pastor Paul Rohde. We will analyze how traits of good character fit with Augustana’s five core values: Christian, Liberal Arts, Excellence, Community, and Service. We will discuss how these values build a sturdy foundation and become a compass for the way we wish to live our lives.
The Internet, AI, and the Law
David Golemboski
The internet has transformed our social, political, and economic lives over the past three decades, but the law has struggled to keep pace with both the opportunities and the challenges of the digital era. As artificial intelligence grows more powerful and ubiquitous, the need for law to adapt will become even more urgent. This course explores the dynamics of regulating the digital world and the array of new issues raised by the rise of AI.
Keep Calm and Solve for X
Martha Gregg
Math: what has it done for you lately? Math is essential to many of the technological advances that make our modern lives longer, better, and richer. We’ll learn about some of those advances and the mathematical engines that drive them – how game theory saves lives by optimizing kidney exchanges, how graph theory makes your internet searches more efficient, why understanding conditional probability is important to making decisions about medical treatment. Disclaimer: this is not a math class; there is no mathematical prerequisite, and no computational work will be graded (although we may actually compute a few things)!
Who Are You? The Science of the Self
Lucas Hamilton
A general scientific definition of "self": the guiding principles an organism has regarding its actions for survival, preservation, and perpetuation. The self may perhaps be the underlying principle of all living things, a driving force that propels life forward yet is subjected to external and internal pressures. Yet, many questions remain about our human selves, not the least of which is "who am I?" - a core question in many emerging adults. Through key readings, in class activities, and writing assignments, students will strive toward answering that question while they learn to navigate the complexity of life as a college student.
The Power of Video Game Music
Andrew Hayward
As we play our favorite games, music and sound are crucial to defining our experience. Video game music has developed from simplistic background sounds to fully composed orchestral works capable of controlling the emotional quality of the story being told. Modern artists are even using games as a means to introduce a large market to new music. Alongside with the musical changes, we’ll explore what technological advances have been pivotal in the development of this musical genre.
Who really holds the Major League Baseball home run record? Why do the 1999-2005 Tour de France races still have no official winner? Why does the NCAA say it’s perfectly fine to have 480 mg of caffeine prior to a competition, but absolutely illegal to consume 500 mg? Is it really cheating if everyone is doing it? For nearly as long as modern sports have existed, athletes have been bending and breaking the rules. This course will explore the eternal battle between developers of ergogenic aids and the World Anti-Doping Agency, what pushes athletes to test the boundaries of legality, and the often-arbitrary distinctions of what constitutes cheating versus gamesmanship in the first place.
Ubuntu: I Am Because We Are
Nick Jackson
In today’s world, criminal behavior affects everyone, from victims, families of victims, first responders, law enforcement, and witnesses, to the criminals themselves. The legal system has a backlog of unprosecuted criminal cases, contributing to community unrest and fear. Approximately 18,500,000 crimes are committed annually in the United States, but only 11,206,000 result in arrests and even fewer in convictions.
In this course students will read accounts and experience videos of different types of real-life crimes and discuss pertinent elements of each crime and the behavior of the perpetrators, identifying similarities and differences in personalities, upbringing, motives, operandi, and victim selection. This in-depth exploration of the criminal process will challenge students to critically analyze the ethical implications concerning the crimes, the criminals, the victims, and those involved in the apprehension of suspects and the conviction of perpetrators, as well as the possible means to reduce the number of crimes and the recidivism rate among offenders. Students will explore the ethics of for-profit re-creations of crimes for entertainment purposes when compared with the actual accounts of the crimes. Students will pursue their own investigations through questioning, hypothesizing, conducting research, and presenting valid, reliable support to convincingly defend their discoveries and conclusions..
Today, more than ever, young people determining the next step after high school are consumed by choices. While some will go straight into industry, others will matriculate at public universities or at two-year schools; but you chose to attend a liberal arts university, an education stemming back to ancient Greece. But what does that mean? What does it mean when we say that Augustana’s Liberal Arts core value seeks to provide students with “an education of enduring worth”? And can this education endure in the face of AI and machine learning? This course aims to unpack the very meaning of a liberal arts education, the goals at the heart of its definition, and what it looks like at Augustana with the use of AI at the very center. The works we read will help inform us of the liberal arts tradition and invite us to reflect on why we chose this place, this space, and what we can expect by embracing a liberal education.
Prioritizing psychological well-being is a critical component of a successful college experience. But negotiating the stressful context of college can be daunting for students who are juggling multiple responsibilities in addition to academics. As we develop a self-care practice for our mind, body, and spirit, we discover that we perform at our peak, inside and outside the classroom. This course will be both reflective and interactive as we build self-awareness and share what works in applying self-care practices in our daily lives. We will explore aspects of resilience and psychological wellness techniques for processing stress and promoting positive lifestyles.
This course will explore the fundamental questions of life with ancient thinkers like Plato, Confucius, and the Buddha, and modern movements like rationalism, romanticism, and postmodernity. What does it mean to be human? What matters in life? What’s our relationship to others, to society, and to the world? How should we live? We will explore and reflect on a variety of answers to these questions as we learn to think through them deeply for ourselves.
The year 1968 saw America “come apart” over a variety of issues such as the Vietnam War, Civil Rights, the environment, and sexual freedom. Those early culture wars continue today. This course explores how the issues of the late 1960s continue to shape American society in 2024.
Why do people use drugs when they are so dangerous? Why are some drugs legal and others are not? Why is there so much violence surrounding drug use and trafficking? Why is el Chapo in prison while the Sacklers sip martinis in their mansions? What does it mean to talk about a “runner’s high,” or to be addicted to shopping? These are a few of the myriad questions that animate this course, which will allow us to scratch the surface of a complex of problems that humanity has just barely begun to grapple with in earnest. The term “psychotropy” will allow us to explore a wide range of phenomena that encompass both drugs and cultural practices, from life-saving cures to deadly poisons.
In this section of FYS, students will develop their writing skills while considering the way we look at and interpret visuals. As citizens of a digital world, several thousand times a day we assimilate visual imagery at high speed. This course will investigate the complex dynamic between world and image in our visually mediated society. We will think critically about the sociological, historical, and cultural construction of our understanding of images and discuss topics as diverse as the censorship of social media; the portrayal of violence; representation of race, gender, and religion; advertising; propaganda; and the image-text relationship.
A “crime junkie” is someone addicted to crime stories. Sherlock Holmes was the original “crime junkie”; he was addicted to solving crimes and taking drugs, and since 1888, he has hooked millions on fictional and real detective stories. What is the appeal of Sherlock Holmes, and why has he endured for over 100 years? Further, how is his influence felt in the current craze for true crime podcasts (such as Crime Junkie), series, and documentaries? This course will explore these questions by reading and considering the appeal of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories about Holmes.
Why do so many people attend Renaissance fairs, play Dungeons and Dragons, or enjoy fantasy series? As much as we enjoy the conveniences of the modern world, we also have a strange fascination with the medieval European past. In this class, we will examine several artifacts of medievalism including TV shows (e.g., Game of Thrones), board games (Settlers of Catan, Shadows over Camelot), fantasy novels (The Hobbit), and even the costuming and rhetoric of political protest. We will explore how these medievalisms strategically employ ideas about the Middle Ages, and how they help to shape the modern world.
What does it mean to be not quite human, to be a monster? Philosophers have long discussed the boundaries between humanity and inhumanity. Understanding the strategies used to deem people sub-human is crucial to recognizing and resisting such determinations today. Students follow philosophers’ footsteps, tracing shifts in defining monstrosity. Moving from the ancient period to the modern day, students explore the ways in which certain types of people—women, for example—have been described as monstrous; assignments and projects give students the chance to critique and respond to the methods used to determine the monstrous.
Why is a cash bonus for a ‘job well done’ great if it’s from your boss, but offensive if it’s from your romantic partner? Why does the Mona Lisa have enormous economic value, while a sketch of the family dog has only emotional value? In this course, we examine why money means different things in different contexts, and how this shapes our decisions, perceptions, and even broad economic systems and policy. We investigate the social processes that shape how we assign value, establish norms of gift giving, and set the terms of economic exchange across areas of social life.
Increasingly, people are pushing the boundaries of what they think is possible, testing themselves in a sport that demands an incredible amount of physical and mental grit. As such, the world of ultramarathoning is exploding, with new races created and distances achieved every weekend. An ultramarathon is any race longer than the marathon’s 26 miles and 385 yards, but typically range from 50 kilometers to 100 miles. This course will explore a number of facets of ultra running, from the history and evolution of the sport to the science of training and race strategy, iconic races and athletes, and “the why” behind the whole thing.
Does art imitate life or does life imitate art? This class will use four plays, and theatrical performances to examine and analyze some of the moral implications of politics. We will seek to understand the point of view of the playwright and identify the major dramatic question in each work. We will use the current political landscape to compare and contrast the ideological, thematic, ethical, and moral standards presented by the playwrights, and to examine our own moral codes.
Billboards tell us that "hunting is conservation," but what does that mean today and historically? How did hunters and anglers become a political force for setting aside land for wildlife? When have hunters/anglers expressed "instrumental value"--only conserving the elk or rainbow trout they pursue at the expense of wolves or whirling disease? And when have they embraced "systemic value"--caring for the life-supporting systems that undergird their favored species? This course explores the history, politics, and ethics of wildlife conservation to understand how the priorities of hunting/fishing communities change over time.
Last year
The R.M.S. Titanic, the largest passenger liner in the world, set sail on April 10, 1912. On April 14, the ship struck an iceberg and sank; like most passenger liners of the day, the Titanic did not have enough lifeboats. This course will discuss the myth and history of the Titanic. This is a story of the class divisions that characterized British society and featured on the ship. The Titanic was constructed at Harland and Wolff, located in Belfast, Northern Ireland, a city characterized by religious sectarianism—another part of the Titanic’s story.
Members of the Curie family were awarded a total of three Nobel Prizes in nuclear physics and chemistry. In addition to their scientific research, the Curies were very engaged in the world around them. They felt a deep civic responsibility to France and Marie’s native Poland. As we trace this remarkable family’s history, we will discuss the responsibility of scientists for the uses of their research, the effect of honors on research, the challenges faced by women scientists, the strength gained through family ties and other topics. We will also discuss the science behind the many discoveries of the Curies.
Our bodies are home to a zoo of microbes, some well-known and some unnamed, all in an intimate relationship with us. We depend on these partners to feed us, protect us, and make us who we are. Yet, the relationship is not perfect. When the balance is disrupted, things can go terribly wrong. In this course, we will examine the contribution of our symbiotic partners to human health and disease, and our means to maintain the upper hand.
With the release of ChatGPT last fall, the world of artificial intelligence (AI) has suddenly become more accessible to the average person. In this course, we will explore questions such as what AI is, how it works, and how it has influenced various industries including education, healthcare, finance, and entertainment. We will probe the ethical implications of AI such as job displacement, privacy concerns, bias and discrimination, and academic integrity. Course material will include short stories by Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov, movies like Blade Runner and M3GAN, and case studies of AI in action—from self-driving cars to policing major cities. By the end of the course, students will have a deeper understanding of AI and how it is transforming the modern world.
Who doesn't want to make the world a better place? But better for who? How do we provide resources and tools for locally perceived needs rather than imposing our own values on another culture? It turns out that what may seem foreign, strange, or broken to one group is perfectly normal to another. Anthropology provides a perspective that makes the world safe for human difference. Through the lens of anthropology students will explore concepts of cultural relativism, historical particularism, and ethnocentrism. Applied Anthropology seeks to better communities and organizations from the inside out. How can we truly make the world better for everyone? Anthropology will help us pave a way.
Have you ever wished for the ability to see into the future? Contemporary playwrights imagine the future in a variety of ways—from sci-fi crime thrillers to dystopian dark comedies—and use drama to pose complex questions about our relationship to technology, our responsibility to our communities, our treatment of natural resources, and our definitions of home, love, freedom, and personhood. By exploring new performance texts including Mr. Burns: a postelectric play, Urinetown: The Musical, and The Nether, we will think together about how staging the future might impact the way we live today.
In this course we explore the tension between the peaceful and not so peaceful uses of nuclear energy. We will review this history of the development of atomic weapons and their non-proliferation, the use of nuclear power along with their safety, and healing powers of nuclear medicine.
Are you listening? As we play our favorite games, we might not realize how important music is in defining our experience. Video game music has produced iconic melodies, controlled the emotional quality of the story being told, and has allowed composers to introduce their music to a larger audience. Video games can be the first access point children have to classical music and the symphony orchestra. Modern artists are even using games as a venue to hold live concert events. We’ll also explore how advances in technology parallel the changes in video game musical scores.
Over 90% of undergraduates use one or more social media sites (e.g., Instagram, TikTok, Facebook), making the impacts of social media use a worthy topic of investigation. Social media differs from mainstream media in an important way given that people typically interact with friends, family, and people they know on these sites. Therefore, social media sites provide an accessible platform for engaging in social comparison (i.e., using other people as sources of information to determine how well they are doing) and reassurance seeking (i.e., seeking feedback and validation from others). A burgeoning literature suggests the way social media sites are used, not the amount of time spent on social media, predicts a variety of health outcomes, including body dissatisfaction, depression, and anxiety. This class will explore the psychological impacts of social media use and how social media might be used in both adaptive and maladaptive ways
In his essay Thinking Like a Mountain, Aldo Leopold reflects on modern society and the writing of Henry David Thoreau. He states, “We all strive for safety, prosperity, comfort, long life, and dullness … A measure of success in this is all well enough, and perhaps is a requisite to objective thinking, but too much safety seems to yield only danger in the long run. Perhaps this is behind Thoreau's dictum: In wildness is the salvation of the world”. In this course, we will examine the concept of wildness and our relationship with wilderness. We will seek to understand, care for and sometimes heal the wild places around us to become more attentive students of our natural world.
Our world of progress offers all the modern conveniences one can imagine – from cars that govern themselves to cell phone control of our household appliances. But in this world of innovation, where does tradition fit? Companies like Ancestry.com remind us that knowing one’s heritage is back in fashion. Following trends, this course examines diverse traditions (e.g. familial, cultural, educational) and determines where is tradition’s place in a modern world. The works we read will help inform us of our own traditions and invite us to reflect on this peculiar space we occupy between remembering the past and embracing the future.
This FYS course will utilize the tools of critical thinking, communication and effective writing to analyze conspiracy theories. We discuss how conspiratorial thinking works. We will search for conspiracies wherever they may be found, from grocery store magazines to the maze of the Internet. We will place particular attention on how conspiracies are communicated, with the media being a special focus. We will assert that not all conspiracies are false. We will use famous/infamous conspiracies as case studies to apply class concepts. At the end of class, the hope is students will be more literate consumers of conspiracies.
Wicked problems are problems that are especially difficult to solve because of factors like incomplete information, changing environments, and complex or interdependent systems. Often the solutions to complex problems generate new problems. This course considers several “wicked” problems concerning nature and the resources we extract from it. Students will learn to analyze the problems, examine proposed solutions, and apply interdisciplinary resources from literature, philosophy, religion, and law to formulate ethical and practical approaches to these problems.
Sherlock Holmes remains one of the most famous characters in literature and popular culture. First created in 1888 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the great detective lives on in film, television, and print, and has inspired countless imitators, from House to CSI. What is the appeal of Sherlock Holmes, and why has he endured for over 100 years? This course will explore this question by returning to the original Doyle stories, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. We will see how critical thinking, the focus of FYS110, is essential to Holmes’s allure in print and on screen.
Health and wellness can be achieved by many different approaches. Holistic health practices can accentuate and potentiate traditional medical treatments used today. This course will explore some holistic health practices and their impact on health and wellness.