First-Year Experience
The First-year Experience (FYE) at LVC introduces our students to the best of the college: intensive intellectual questioning, meaningful relationships with faculty and students in a close community setting, and focused development of the competencies necessary for success at college and beyond.
Your FYE will develop your critical thinking and communication skills, while also supporting you through your transition into college life. FYE classes have two components: first, a core 3-credit class focused on traditional academic skills like writing and analysis, and, second, a companion 1-credit class focused on transitional skills like coping with stress, planning for your career, managing time, and understanding major and general education (here called “Constellation”) requirements. Transfer students will take a different version of this 1-credit class that is tailored to supporting their successful transition to LVC.
Your FYE will provide you not only with the skills necessary to succeed academically at LVC, but also the community and relationships necessary to thrive here so that you will be ready to take advantage of the many opportunities LVC offers.
Please take a few minutes to review the FYE requirements and sections that are scheduled for Fall 2022. You will make your FYE selections in advance of New Student Advising, which begins in May.
FYE 111H First-year Experience I (4 credits) – Special-Purpose Courses
Students who have enrolled in the honors program are asked to select one of the following FYE courses.
On Thought, Action, and Sustainability
This course is reserved for incoming Honors students. The readings and assignments will be built around the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals that aim to provide “a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.” Class discussions will tap into students’ own curiosity, passion, creativity, and sense of responsibility to include a distinctive learner-directed environment and philosophy that are the hallmarks of an Honors program.
Instructor: J.Robbins
Day/Time: TTH 8–9:20 a.m.
Companion: M 12–12:50 p.m.
On Thought, Action, and Sustainability
This course is reserved for incoming Honors students. The readings and assignments will be built around the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals that aim to provide “a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.” Class discussions will tap into students’ own curiosity, passion, creativity, and sense of responsibility to include a distinctive learner-directed environment and philosophy that are the hallmarks of an Honors program.
Instructor: J.Robbins
Day/Time: TTH 9:30–10:50 a.m.
Companion: W 3–3:50 p.m.
The following FYE may be taken by Exploratory (undecided) majors.
Do you feel you are the only student undecided about your college major? Would you like to have an answer to the nagging question “So, what’s your major?” It’s normal to feel a little overwhelmed about how you will make this decision. This course will help students to understand the connection between major and career. Your college major opens the doorway to many career possibilities, but it’s up to you to make the most of your experience both in and out of the classroom. The world of work today is complex and dynamic. Through applied learning including interactive experiences, texts, film, and podcasts, students will critically examine and explore academic majors available at LVC. This course is restricted for Exploratory majors only.
Instructor: E. Julian & S. Bartz
Day/Time: TTH 12:30–1:50 p.m.
Companion: W 12–12:50 p.m.
FYE 111 First-year Experience I (4 credits) – General-Purpose Courses
The following courses are open to all students who are required to take FYE 111, and who are not assigned to one of the special-purpose sections.
Even in our modern automobile-dependent society, almost everyone walks for exercise, for stress relief, in political protest, for meditation, or just as a spur to thinking and creativity. In this class, we will design our own walking-based contemplative and/or creative practices and will use these practices as a spur to various kinds of writing, discussion, and artmaking. In the process, we’ll read, watch, and look at the work of writers, thinkers, and artists for whom walking has been an important part of their process. We’ll also ask questions: what do thinkers gain by integrating a walking practice into their creative and intellectual work? What happens when we draw parallels between our inner landscapes and the landscapes we inhabit or pass through? How do people with different bodies, backgrounds, and abilities “take a walk”?
Instructor: MC. Hyland
Day/Time: MWF 12–12:50 p.m.
Companion: T 8:30–9:20 a.m.
Our human body defines our species. Our complex living system is the seat of consciousness and the machine that replicates and transmits our code for continued life. As the physical extension and stored repository of our worldly experiences, our body is crucial to self-identity. It is no surprise, then, that the depiction of the body is central to art. Our desires, our self-doubts, and our prejudices are all found in the way we represent ourselves. Through various modes of critical thinking, writing, and artmaking we will uncover, complicate, and question the history of human embodiment in the visual arts.
Instructor: G. Taylor
Day/Time: MWF 1–1:50 p.m.
Companion: W 12–12:50 p.m.
Our human body defines our species. Our complex living system is the seat of consciousness and the machine that replicates and transmits our code for continued life. As the physical extension and stored repository of our worldly experiences, our body is crucial to self-identity. It is no surprise, then, that the depiction of the body is central to art. Our desires, our self-doubts, and our prejudices are all found in the way we represent ourselves. Through various modes of critical thinking, writing, and artmaking we will uncover, complicate, and question the history of human embodiment in the visual arts.
Instructor: G. Taylor
Day/Time: MWF 2–2:50 p.m.
Companion: TH 8:30–9:20 a.m.
In this seminar, we will investigate race as a social, cultural, and political phenomenon in the contemporary United States. By examining a variety of materials, including television, film, novels, and essays (e.g., Dear White People, Black Panther, Underground Railroad, Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility) we will analyze how the concept of race is perceived, experienced, challenged, and constructed in this historical moment. First semester will focus on history and theory. Themes and topics to be covered in FYE 111 include race and identity, and race and social relations.
Instructor: C. Romagnolo
Day/Time: MW 2–3:20 p.m.
Companion: M 8–8:50 a.m.
In this seminar, we will investigate race as a social, cultural, and political phenomenon in the contemporary United States. By examining a variety of materials, including television, film, novels, and essays (e.g., Dear White People, Black Panther, Underground Railroad, Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility) we will analyze how the concept of race is perceived, experienced, challenged, and constructed in this historical moment. First semester will focus on history and theory. Themes and topics to be covered in FYE 111 include race and identity, and race and social relations.
Instructor: C. Romagnolo
Day/Time: MW 3:30–4:50 p.m.
Companion: W 8–8:50 a.m.
Asking good questions lies at the foundation of every serious academic discipline, along with the ability to articulate follow-up questions, potential answers, and challenges to those questions and answers. In this seminar we’ll read, discuss, and write about four books—Janet Lewis’s The Wife of Martin Guerre (about a historical mystery), John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids (a 1950s science fiction novel), Plato’s Symposium (a late-night party at which Socrates and his friends drink a fair amount of wine and try to define “love”), and Shakespeare’s The Tempest (a play about justice and power, betrayal and forgiveness)—each of which raises these kinds of questions and asks us what we think.
Instructor: G. Grieve-Carlson
Day/Time: TTH 9:30–10:50 a.m.
Companion: F 12–12:50 p.m.
What is the “good life?” Does wearing the motto saying so make it so? Does going to college for a better life make it so? In a world where just about everything is for sale, how is the good life not also? Questions concerning the good and the good life have long been explored. In this course, we will examine how our understanding of what makes a good life may be shaped or derailed by social media, modern lifestyles, globalization, branding, racism, or the desire to have it all! We’ll read different types of texts, from philosophy to fiction to op-eds. We’ll also watch big screen and TV films. Foremost, we will emphasize how writing is not just for papers and grades, but for finding one’s voice and learning how to think. Class will be discussion-based, around a text or a film, to promote dialogue and understanding. Writing assignments will promote the intellectual skills of inquiry and analysis and encourage you to examine your own moral commitments and vision for social responsibility.
Instructor: N. Vahanian
Day/Time: TTH 9:30–10:50 a.m.
Companion: TH 8:30–9:20 a.m.
In this course, we will discuss ways in which music and storytelling interact. We will review classic techniques, such as Leitmotif (like John Williams’s scores for films like Jaws and Star Wars) and program music (such as “Great Gig in the Sky” by Pink Floyd). We also will discuss narrative songs such as “Love Story” by Taylor Swift and albums with political and social messages like Beyonce’s Lemonade. Students will be encouraged to bring their own examples and interpretations of music and stories to their writing assignments and class discussions.
Instructor: Renee Norris
Day/Time: TTH 12:30–1:50 p.m.
Companion: Mon 8–8:50 a.m.
In this course, we will discuss ways in which music and storytelling interact. We will review classic techniques, such as Leitmotif (like John Williams’s scores for films like Jaws and Star Wars) and program music (such as “Great Gig in the Sky” by Pink Floyd). We also will discuss narrative songs such as “Love Story” by Taylor Swift and albums with political and social messages like Beyonce’s Lemonade. Students will be encouraged to bring their own examples and interpretations of music and stories to their writing assignments and class discussions.
Instructor: Renee Norris
Day/Time: TTH 2–3:30 p.m.
Companion: Wed 3–3:50 p.m.
FYE 112 First-year Experience II (3-4 credits)
The following courses are open to first-year students who are required to take FYE 112 (3 credits). A 1-credit FYE 112C companion course is also required.
When working to develop personal leadership skills, we can use films to understand and further develop authentic leadership beliefs. This course focuses on the attributes, nuances, and quandaries of leadership. We will watch films throughout the course and analyze, critically review, and discuss the various leaders we observe. We will debate the value of the leader’s skills and determine which, if any, we would adopt as our own. Much of the course is dialogue and analysis in large group discussions and debate.
Instructor: B. Bertram
Day/Time: TTH 9:30–10:50 a.m.
Companion: TH 8:30–9:20 a.m.
Amish and similar groups have been a part of Pennsylvania for a long time, but they also live in 30 other states and beyond. They are often seen as outsiders, imagined as saints, or as a group with dark secrets. They have become a part of pop culture, from tourism and furniture to romance novels. In this course, we will explore the main ideas and beliefs of Amish and the main ways how non-Amish perceive them. We will analyze how Amish are depicted in pop culture, for example, literature, television, and movies, to answer the questions: why do the Amish live that way, and why are they so fascinating to many of us?
Instructor: J. Meindl
Day/Time: MWF 11–11:50 a.m.
Companion: M 8–8:50 a.m.
Social media is omnipresent; few companies would miss out on the opportunity to brand themselves via social media and few people are resolute enough to quit social media or never start using it. Social media connects us and divides us, and we are only just beginning to see the impact this latest human communications revolution is having on our lives and our world. In this class, we’ll look at how to leverage the productive parts of social media and critique the more troublesome aspects. We’ll consider data gathering, targeted advertising, censorship, and propaganda and how each affects social media users worldwide. Students learn how we arrived at the present collection of social media platforms and develop hypotheses regarding where the future will take us, technologically and socially.
Instructor: M. Pettice
Day/Time: TTH 8:00–9:20 a.m.
Companion: W 3–3:50 p.m.
The following course is open to transfer students who are required to take FYE 112 (3 credits). Transfer students may also take FYE 112 in the spring semester, when more options will be offered. Students must also take FYE 113 (1 credit), which can be scheduled independently from FYE 112.
Playing games is one of the most popular leisure activities in the world, however, there is a great link between games learning. In this course, we will explore the role and function of games for learning with a focus on design, to ultimately create a game to use as a learning tool based on research. Students will play and analyze games while reading current research and theory from a variety of sources in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and industry.
Instructor: J. Laferriere
Day/Time: MWF 10–10:50 a.m.
FYE 113 Introduction to the First-year Experience (1 credit)
The following courses are open to transfer students who are required to take FYE 113.
Instructor: J. Tindall
Day/Time: T 8:30–9:20 a.m.
Instructor: E. Maisto
Day/Time: W 12–12:50 p.m.