First Year Experience At TCNJ

Page last revised: January 7, 2004

General Education        Society, Ethics and Technology       Athens to New York

MEETING THE CHALLENGE: THE FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE

The transition from high school to college marks the beginning of a new era in a student's life. For many, the journey is both challenging and exciting, filled with new choices and expectations. First-year college experiences can set the tone for an entire college career, so making sure the first semesters are valuable and enjoyable is vital. With this in mind, we have developed an innovative, award-winning program called the First-Year Experience, or FYE.

The living-learning environment of FYE provides a strong foundation for the student's entire college career. The program incorporates three interrelated components: the First Year Seminar or Interdisciplinary Core Course option, the Service Learning experience, and the Residence Life program.

The First Year Seminar and Interdisciplinary Core Course
The First-Year Seminar is designed to provide first-year students with an intellectually exciting and challenging experience taught by full time faculty.  Topics are selected by instructors and announced in advance so students can choose according to their interests.  Classes are speaking and writing intensive and limited to fifteen students each.  Above all, seminars pique students’ intellectual curiosity as they are led by faculty members intellectually engaged with the questions at hand. Students participate in a free exchange of ideas through discussion and oral presentations, and are involved in independent and group research. Professors teaching first year seminars have a strong mentoring role and will assist students in thinking about charting a path through college that prepares them for life.

The interdisciplinary core course, Athens to New York, is another way for students to complete the academic segment of the FYE.   Faculty members guide students in a virtual journey from ancient Greece to modern New York City, with at least one ‘stop’ in a non-Western location.  Each professor’s course has its own sub-theme, charting a unique route from Athens to New York.  The course is organized around four central questions:

Athens to New York meets twice a week in seminar classes of 24 students, with most sections taught in classrooms located in the first-year residence halls. This is the result of an intentional effort to integrate conventional classroom education with learning experiences in the residence life program.  The course is enhanced by occasional enrichment lectures, field trips, and other activities.

Service Learning
Service learning is a key component of the First Year Experience.  Students explore the meaning of citizenship by helping to meet community needs and participating in guided reflection.  Faculty, professional staff, or trained student leaders lead reflective discussions that critically examine community problems and civic responsibility.  Students may choose from more than 30 community agencies to complete a ten-hour service project.  A wide variety of service options are available, including school based tutoring programs, childcare services, low-income housing projects, soup kitchens, elder care facilities, special needs programs, environmental projects, and others.  Students attend an orientation session with their service agency prior to their service experience. Transportation is provided for agency sites beyond walking distance from the campus.

Residence Life
All first-year students who elect to live on campus are assigned to FYE residence halls. These residence halls offer first-year social and educational programming designed to complement the academic experience and meet the needs of students.  Each floor is staffed with two Community Advisers and a Peer Adviser to assist off-campus students affiliated with the floor, assist students by orienting them to The College as a residential community, and help them develop an understanding of community standards.  Programs are frequently presented on such topics as time management, study skills, decision-making, and such specialized areas as alcohol and drug education.

A crucial element of the FYE residential program is the connection of every floor with a Faculty Fellow.  These full-time faculty members provide a strong link with the academic mission of The College, and, through informal contact with the students, support the student's integration into the campus community.

THE FOLLOWING ARE LISTS OF FIRST YEAR SEMINAR AND ATHENS TO NEW YORK SECTIONS

FIRST YEAR SEMINARS (Spring 2004):

First Year Seminar Titles, Descriptions, Professors, and Meeting Times

Please note that all students in FSP 101 and IDSC 151 (Athens to New York) will meet in Kendall Auditorium, 11:00 to 12:20 on Wednesday, January 21st for orientation and instruction on service learning.  For that reason the Wednesday 11:00 to 12:20 time slot is blocked off for all students in both classes.  Since students enrolling in sections H3, 06, and 12 meet regularly Wednesdays 9:30 to 12:20 they are instructed to meet only until 10:50 on January 21st, and then go directly to Kendall Hall.

FSP 101 02: Belief, Faith, Law, and the Life and Work of Human Communities (Robert Anderson) – Social Sciences and History: Behavioral, Social, or Cultural Perspectives R 5:00 to 7:50
Focusing on communities, we explore relationships of belief, faith, law, and action from classical antiquity, through Biblical writings, the medieval Church, 18th and 19th century revolutionary movements, and contemporary experiences of absurdity and contradiction.  We seek to understand how our ideas and ideals affect the way we live.  Plato, Sophocles, Hebrew and Christian scriptures, Umberto Eco, Thomas Paine, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Franz Kafka, Jonathan Kozol, and others provide context.

FSP 101 03: Let Them Eat Cake?  Myths and Realities of Poverty in America (Stuart Carroll, Nino Scarpati) – Social Sciences and History: Behavioral, Social, and Cultural Perspectives  TF 2:00 to 3:20
This course examines the causes and effects of poverty, the various ways it has been conceived and defined, and the different approaches that communities and their agencies have utilized to address its symptoms.  Students integrate community engaged learning experiences with interdisciplinary readings. Texts include fictional and non-fictional accounts capturing experiences of people in poverty as well as theoretical/practical works drawn from the fields of sociology, education, political economy, and social work.  During spring break students are required to participate in a community engaged immersion experience with a social service agency serving the homeless and working poor.  In preparation for this experience, students participate in field trips to the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen.

FSP 101 04: Law, Film, and Literature (Daryl Fair) – Social Sciences and History: Behavioral, Social, or Cultural Perspectives W 5:00 to 7:50
The course examines the way various legal issues are depicted in film and literature, asking as well if certain legal communications can be treated as literature.  Among the topics to be considered are the role of lawyers, judges and juries; legal education; the trial as metaphor for life’s conflicts; race and gender and the law; law and culture; and legal issues such as libel and the death penalty.

FSP 101 05: Information, Language, and Computation: A Modern Trilogy(Nobo Komagata) – Arts and Humanities: Worldviews and Ways of Knowing MR 2:00 to 3:20
The impact of information, language, and computation (in a broad sense, including both machine and human computation) on our modern society is so strong that we cannot think of our existence without any one of these.  But do we really understand the essence of these three components and the connection among them?  This course explores this and related questions, in an attempt to apply the answers to the effective use of these three essential components in our lives.

FSP 101 06: Modern Educational Reform: Notions of Parental Choice and Political Power (Sarah Kern) – Social Sciences and History: Behavioral, Social, or Cultural Perspectives
How do you rate your K-12 education? This course is designed to explore the current trends in educational reform. Financing public education is the burden of the taxpayer and the system is under scrutiny because of the failure of many schools to provide an adequate and efficient education to all students with respect to the intellectual and technological needs of the 21st century. Analysis of theories of school reform, hands on site visits to educational institutions and case studies.

FSP 101 07: Multicultural New York: The City from its Beginnings to the Present (Matthew Winkel) – Social Sciences & History: Social Change in Historical Perspective  M 5:00 to 7:50
Is New York really the capital of the world?  How did it become such a great multicultural city?  What does it mean to be a New Yorker?  These are some of the questions that guide us as we study events that shaped New York’s multicultural history from its beginning to the present.  As we explore different periods of the city’s history some of the areas considered are immigration, changing neighborhoods, crime, technology, quality of life, money, power, culture, and art.  Course time is divided into lecture/presentation, in-class discussion, and real world experiences.

FSP 101 08: The Languages of New Jersey:  Standard English, Dialects, and Foreign Languages in the Garden State (Dale Coye) – Social Sciences and History: Behavioral, Social, or Cultural Perspectives MR 11:00 to 7:50
Students investigate various types of English and other languages spoken throughout New Jersey.  This includes an exploration of Standard English and the various dialects of English spoken within the state, from African-American Vernacular English to the regional accents of North and South Jersey.  While English is the primary focus, we also look at other languages spoken in the area by immigrant populations, and the loan words and mixed forms like "Spanglish" that sometimes result when languages come in contact.   Students are asked to conduct research that includes mapping dialect boundaries, investigating changing aspects of Standard American English, and compiling a current dictionary of slang.

FSP 101 09: The Tragic Vision  (Lincoln Konkle  – Arts and Humanities: Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts TF 9:30 to 10:50
For students intellectually stimulated by reading Shakespeare's tragedies in high school, or who ponder universal questions such as: Why is there suffering? Do we have free will or are we fated?  Will the truth set us free or is it terrifying?  In light of often sharply conflicting theories of tragedy by philosophers, literary scholars, and playwrights, we examine classical Greek, Shakespearean, and modern tragedies.  Seeking to discover what constitutes a 'tragic vision' of life, we consider the possibilities of writing tragedy in our own time.  In addition to reading plays, we examine a short novel, a selection of lyric poetry, and view a film to see if the tragic vision is manifested in genres or art forms other than drama.

FSP 101 11: Women Writing the Past: Fiction, History, and Autobiography (Lisa Ortiz) – Arts and Humanities: Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts MR 11:00 to 12:20
A study of fiction, poetry, film, autobiography, interviews, and essays by women of color whose work demonstrates the “presence of the past” in late twentieth century life.  We read a sampling of authors with origins in Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, China, and the US for specific ways they construct and reconstruct the past through literature.  We interrogate the myths and legends that have come to be known as “history” and look at methods, artifacts, and sources each author uses to acquaint readers with imaginative alternatives to “official records” of the past.  We also study lesser known personal histories of the authors’ lives as well as the personal lives of the lesser-known historical figures who are forgotten by the past but “remembered” by the authors.

FSP 101 12: Caribbean:  From Columbus to Globalization:  (Janet Gray) – Social Sciences and History: Behavioral, Social, or Cultural Perspectives  W 9:30 to 12:20
What really happened between Columbus and the Arawak people?  How does the tourist industry capture (and obscure) centuries of history in promoting the Caribbean as a mythic paradise on earth?  In all its cultural, political, and economic complexity, the Caribbean today bears a record of the deep history of “globalization”—the development of a system that, according to ecological feminist Maria Mies, “emerged, is built upon and maintains itself through the colonization of women, of ‘foreign’ peoples and their lands….”  With readings from a variety of disciplines—including environmental history, gender studies, cultural studies, and literature—students and faculty explore three major factors shaping the region’s relationships to the rest of the world: nature, gender, and race.

FSP 101 13: Exploring "The Other": Human Diversity and Culture Clash in Popular Literature – Arts and Humanities: Worldviews and Ways of Knowing (Patrick Roger-Gordon and Kira O’Brien) R 5:00 to 7:50
Diversity is a common theme in modern society.  Much attention is paid to diversity along racial, ethnic, religious and other lines.  In many ways, however, discussions of this issue can be superficial and cliché-like.  The course will use popular novels (The Poisonwood Bible, B. Kingsolver, Stranger in a Strange Land, R Heinlein, and others) to help students address issues related to cultural immersion.  We will discuss a range of related issues, including cultural arrogance/dominance, assimilation, and resistance, as demonstrated in literature and in real life.

FSP 101 14: Coming of Age in America (Chris Leichtliter) – Arts and Humanities: Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts  MR 3:30 to 4:50
This course explores the complex and unique situations that characterize the processes of growing up in America.  Through the fiction and non-fiction prose, song lyrics, poetry, television, and drama of such writers as Conroy, Angelou, Hughes, Fitzgerald, Williams, and others, students examine the individual and collective experiences and influences (social, economic, political, emotional, familial, etc.) that young people experience as they  "come of age" and define themselves as "adults" in American society.

FSP 101 15: The Parthenon Sculptures: Whose Art Is It Anyway? (Lee Ann Riccardi) – Arts and Humanities: Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts  MR 9:30 to 10:50
This course examines the Parthenon Sculptures, asking: What they are, why they matter, and who owns them?  More than half being removed in the early 19th century, these sculptures are now housed in the British Museum and are one of the major attractions of the collection.  International cultural property laws have supported Britain’s right to keep the sculptures, but the outcries of the Greeks and other members of the international community are growing, and the question of who should get them is far from settled.  The British Museum argues that they belong to the world and not to a single country.  But, the Greeks believe the Parthenon marbles represent a vital part of their heritage and that they should be displayed near the building they once adorned.  The fundamental questions of this course will spark passionate interest and debate over numerous historical, cultural, social, ethical, legal, and philosophical issues concerning Western civilization and its meaning and value.

FSP 101 16: Linguistics – An overview of the way humans use their language (Glenn Goldberg) – Social Science and History: Behavioral, Social, or Cultural Perspectives  T 5:00 to 7:50
The goal of the seminar is to encourage students to investigate the complexities, wonders, and vicissitudes of natural human language. We explore, among other things, the way human or natural language is put together (syntax), its words and affixes (morphology), its sound system (phonology), its meaning (semantics), its extra-linguistic features (pragmatics), its social constructs (sociolinguistics), its psychological component (psycholinguistics), its acquisition (as a first and as a subsequent language), and its historical aspects (philology and diachronic linguistics). Students, via group inquiry and collaborative projects, conduct linguistic research “in the field”—the Trenton area offers a rich, diverse linguistic community from which to compile valuable data.

FSP 101 17: America and Vietnam: The Trauma and the Telling (Larry McCauley) – Arts and Humanities: Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts TF 9:30 to 10:50
The course focuses on America’s attempts to deal with the experiences and ongoing effects of the Vietnam War through art and popular culture. It is less a study of political and military issues than a study of human lives and human tragedies—individual experiences and the collective need for expression of those experiences.  We read fiction, poetry, and prose—written during the war and since—by soldiers and civilians, women and men, Americans and Vietnamese; we view and discuss films concerned with the war and its aftermath; we consider how this country seeks to recuperate the war into its national mythology via diverse modes ranging from Sgt. Barry Sadler's 1960's hit song, "The Green Berets," to Rambo, to China Beach.

FSP 101 18: Art and Literature Respond to Authority (Lee Harrod) – Arts and Humanities: Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts MR 9:30 to 10:50
An examination of the ways art and literature responded to the church in Renaissance Florence (Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Michaelangelo and others) and to the government in prewar Germany (Brecht, Isherwood, and Expressionist painters).  Working independently, students will explore art and authority in other venues--Victorian England, 1950s USA, Cold-war Soviet Bloc, and post 9/11.

FSP 101 19: American Film and Society (Richard Kamber) – Arts and Humanities: Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts W 9:30 to 12:20
This course examines relationships between American films, arguably the dominant art in American life during the twentieth-century, and American society.  Goaded by economic necessity, movies have always sought to reflect the interests, cares, and values of the relatively large audiences they aimed to attract.   We focus primarily on films of artistic distinction by major filmmakers who deliberately chose to deal with broad social issues.  Among the issues we examine are: racism and the legacy of slavery, economic injustice and social reform during the Great Depression; American anti-Semitism; blacklisting, McCarthyism, and Cold War fever; dropping out of the American Dream: 60s counterculture; segregation, integration, black pride and power; remembering war crimes against American Indians; the nightmare of Vietnam; the politics of gender: feminism and backlash; and Latinos in America.

FSP 101 20: Linguistics – An overview of the way humans use their language (Glenn Goldberg) – Social Science and History: Behavioral, Social, or Cultural Perspectives  T 5:00 to 7:50
The goal of the seminar is to encourage students to investigate the complexities, wonders, and vicissitudes of natural human language. We explore, among other things, the way human or natural language is put together (syntax), its words and affixes (morphology), its sound system (phonology), its meaning (semantics), its extra-linguistic features (pragmatics), its social constructs (sociolinguistics), its psychological component (psycholinguistics), its acquisition (as a first and as a subsequent language), and its historical aspects (philology and diachronic linguistics). Students, via group inquiry and collaborative projects, conduct linguistic research “in the field”—the Trenton area offers a rich, diverse linguistic community from which to compile va
 
 

ATHENS TO NEW YORK CLASSES (Spring 2004):

Themes, Professors, and Meeting times:

IDSC 151-10, Athens to New York: Human Thought and Human Actions, Wayne Jackson, M 5:00 to 7:50 -- W 11:00 to 12:20, Kendall Auditorium

IDSC 151-11, Athens to New York: "Be simple, stay low." Humanity's Quest for Justice and Morality: Connecting Pre- historic Man, Classical Greece, Islam in the Middle East, Modern China and Contemporary New York, Harold Eickhoff, M/R 8:00 to 9:20 -- W 11:00 to 12:20, Kendall Auditorium

IDSC 151-12, Athens to New York: "Be simple, stay low." Humanity's Quest for Justice and Morality: Connecting Pre- historic Man, Classical Greece, Islam in the Middle East, Modern China and Contemporary New York, Harold Eickhoff, M/R 9:30 to 10:50 -- W 11:00 to 12:20, Kendall Auditorium

IDSC 151-14, Athens to New York: Understanding Social and Personal Responsibility, William Johnson, M/R 3:30 to 4:50 -- W 11:00 to 12:20, Kendall Auditorium

IDSC 151-15, Athens to New York: Cannibals, Outlaws, and Patriarchs: The Construction of Communities and Identities, Julie Sirkin, T/F 11:00 to 12:20 -- W 11:00 to 12:20, Kendall Auditorium

IDSC 151-16, Athens to New York: Cannibals, Outlaws, and Patriarchs: The Construction of Communities and Identities, Julie Sirkin, T/F 12:30 to 1:50 -- W 11:00 to 12:20, Kendall Auditorium

IDSC 151-18, Athens to New York: Making Sense of Life, for Life: Exploring and Building a Worldview through Literature and Philosophy, Pedro Govantes, M/R 9:30 to 10:50 -- W 11:00 to 12:20, Kendall Auditorium

IDSC 151-19, Athens to New York: Making Sense of Life, for Life: Exploring and Building a Worldview through Literature and Philosophy, Pedro Govantes, M/R 11:00 to 12:20 -- W 11:00 to 12:20, Kendall Auditorium

IDSC 151-21, Athens to New York: Recent Immigrants to New York City,  Robert Cobb, W 5:00 to 7:50 -- W 11:00 to 12:20, Kendall Auditorium

IDSC 151-22, Athens to New York: The Past, the Present and the Possibilities, Heath Boice-Pardee, M 5:00 to 7:50 -- W 11:00 to 12:20 Kendall Auditorium

IDSC 151-23 Athens to New York: The Past, the Present and the Possibilities, Heath Boice-Pardee, R 6:00 to 8:50 --W 11:00 to 12:20 Kendall Auditorium

IDSC 151-26, Athens to New York: Individuality, Dissent and The Struggle to Be, Joel Chernikoff, M/R 3:30 to 4:50 -- W 11:00 to 12:20, Kendall Auditorium

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