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 2023. 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.
Law and Justice explores the centrality of human rights within the rule of law. With a comparative focus on the US and British legal systems, this FYE examines the protection of civil liberties and rights (including those concerning reproduction, intimacy, and healthcare), the role and constitutional position of judges (and relatedly, the importance of judicial independence and diversity), the evolving development of the common law through precedent cases, and the obligations that arise under criminal and contract law, and torts.
Instructor: P. Benesch
Day/Time: MWF 1–1:50 p.m.
Companion: TH 8:30–9:20 a.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 8–9:20 a.m.
Companion: W 3–3:50 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 12–12:50 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 9:30–10:50 a.m.
Companion: T 8:30–9:20 a.m.
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 9:30–10:50 a.m.
Companion: TH 8:30–9:20 a.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.
Why are human beings fascinated with the unknown and the dangerous? Why will some people take enormous risks in the world’s most forbidding environments, just to reach the extreme limits of human endurance? This seminar invites students into the story of polar expeditions and the often-fatal attraction that exploration as organized risk-taking exerts on our fellow humans. Will skill, luck, organizing ability, and determination combine to find the fabled Northwest Passage, win the races to be first at the North and South Poles, and come back alive, or will carelessness, lack of foresight, and character flaws be exposed ruthlessly and lead to defeat, disgrace, destruction, and even (shudder!) cannibalism?
Instructor: K. Pry
Day/Time: MWF 8–8:50 a.m.
Companion: M 12–12:50 p.m.
Why are human beings fascinated with the unknown and the dangerous? Why will some people take enormous risks in the world’s most forbidding environments, just to reach the extreme limits of human endurance? This seminar invites students into the story of polar expeditions and the often-fatal attraction that exploration as organized risk-taking exerts on our fellow humans. Will skill, luck, organizing ability, and determination combine to find the fabled Northwest Passage, win the races to be first at the North and South Poles, and come back alive, or will carelessness, lack of foresight, and character flaws be exposed ruthlessly and lead to defeat, disgrace, destruction, and even (shudder!) cannibalism?
Instructor: K. Pry
Day/Time: MWF 9–9:50 a.m.
Companion: M 3–3:50 p.m.
This class seeks to empower students to move beyond notions of “common sense” and mere opinion on ideas of social justice. Drawing on academic literature, popular culture, and experiences in their own lives, students will critically engage fundamental ideas of justice, freedom, and society and complex issues of social inequality, oppression, and structural violence. Students will explore issues of justice that impact our social identities (race, gender, ethnicity, class, religion, sexualities, ability, and body image) and show up in every level of culture education, politics, social media, entertainment, and religious/spiritual life). Students will develop the skills to not only engage these issues intellectually, but reflect on how these concepts operate in their daily lives intellectually, emotionally, and bodily.
Instructor: M. Sayers
Day/Time: MWF 9–9:50 a.m.
Companion: F 12-12:50 p.m.
The American Dream. Is it still attainable for most people in the US? This course will continually pose and attempt to answer this question through the examination of a selection of artifacts including literature, sociological research, and film. Specific readings, which include authors such as Malcolm Gladwell, Sherry Turkle, and Jean Anyon, will provide ample points of discussion specifically considering the impact of education, socioeconomic class, technology, and identities on our ability to achieve individual success. Frequent viewings of media including The Pursuit of Happyness and Humans will provide more touchpoints to extend the conversation.
Instructor: T. Rosenberg
Day/Time: MWF 10–10:50 a.m.
Companion: T 8:30–9:20 a.m.
This class seeks to empower students to move beyond notions of “common sense” and mere opinion on ideas of social justice. Drawing on academic literature, popular culture, and experiences in their own lives, students will critically engage fundamental ideas of justice, freedom, and society and complex issues of social inequality, oppression, and structural violence. Students will explore issues of justice that impact our social identities (race, gender, ethnicity, class, religion, sexualities, ability, and body image) and show up in every level of culture education, politics, social media, entertainment, and religious/spiritual life). Students will develop the skills to not only engage these issues intellectually, but reflect on how these concepts operate in their daily lives intellectually, emotionally, and bodily.
Instructor: M. Sayers
Day/Time: MWF 10–10:50 a.m.
Companion: TH 8:30–9:20 a.m.
The Middle Ages have long fascinated modern people, so much so that we’re constantly revisiting and reinventing them, in books, movies, and video games, and through the lenses of history and fantasy. In this course, we’ll delve into medieval history and literature to separate fact from fiction and show how vibrant the “dark ages” actually were. We’ll also consider both books and films in popular culture to explore the ways in which medieval lore and tropes are used in contemporary contexts.
Instructor: H. Wendt
Day/Time: MWF 11–11:50 a.m.
Companion: T 8:30–9:20 a.m.
Beer, wine, and bread. Civilization would not have developed without these everyday items. Ancient peoples may not have known it, but all of these items are products of biotechnology. Today, biotechnology influences our health, what we eat, what we wear, how we heat our homes, and many other things we take for granted. Civilization as we know it has been brought to you by several thousand years of advances in biotechnology.
Instructor: W. Patton
Day/Time: MWF 11–11:50 a.m.
Companion: F 12–12:50 p.m.
Our brain makes us who we are. It regulates how we think, what we remember, how we react to situations, how we speak, and how we move. This seminar explores the brain from a dysfunction perspective by incorporating how brain diseases and injury affect behavior and function. There are many famous cases such as those of Phineas Gage and Louis Victor Leborgne and stories illustrated by Oliver Sacks and others that have provided great insight into the relationship between brain anatomy and function. In this seminar, will use books, short stories, research articles, and films to discuss this relationship and also explore how recent advances in neuroscience have helped us to better understand how the brain works.
Instructor: E. Unger
Day/Time: MWF 11–11:50 a.m.
Companion: F 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 art-making 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 3–3:50 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 art-making 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: M 3–3:50 p.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: T 8:30–9:20 a.m.
This course separates fact from fiction by bringing students on a journey through the past, present, and future of spying, deception, and disinformation. It provides a history of U.S. intelligence from George Washington’s Revolutionary War spies to today. The course focuses on deadly forms of deception and explores how traitors, covert action, and surveillance shape intelligence and national security.
Instructor: C. Dolan
Day/Time: TTH 8–9:20 a.m.
Companion: W 3–3:50 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: M 12–12:50 p.m.
Students will study how sports have impacted our society and how the media has shaped the relationship. We will study the history of sports journalism, and students will read and analyze a variety of writing styles from sportswriters in all media, including broadcast, print and the web. We will also analyze how sports feature stories attract an audience who may not be avid sports fans; it’s the power of words that brings us together.
Instructor: J. Fettrow-Alderfer
Day/Time: TTH 9:30–10:50 a.m.
Companion: F 12–12:50 p.m.
A musical subculture characterized by noise, rage, and rebellion. This course explores the diverse history and contemporary implications of punk rock, beginning with its origins in the 1970s as a raw form of rock and roll that challenged the status quo of commercial rock music. We examine the early punk underground as an era of musical experimentation and cultural hybridity that paralleled the development of hip hop and thrash metal. Building on this foundation, we analyze the importance of punk to the 1990s girl power movement and-in the two decades since-as a form of resistance and independence in an era of corporate domination, political corruption, and increasing threats to human rights.
Instructor: M. Pittari
Day/Time: TTH 12:30–1:50 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: TTH 9:30–10:50 a.m.
Companion: TH 8:30–9:20 a.m.
And they lived happily ever after… Whether there be ogres, monsters, princes, witches, talking frogs, evil stepmothers or magic beans; almost every fairy tale has one thing in common – the happily ever after. But if fairy tales are the stuff of childhood why do they crop up in the adult world through films like the steam punk gore rendition of Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters or the feminist retelling Maleficent, procedural TV shows like Grimm and Beauty and the Beast, or ads for Chanel No.5 and Adidas? We will explore the frame narratives of the “classic” fairy tales of the Grimm brothers and Charles Perrault in the hands of twentieth century writers to reflect on modern renditions of the “ever after” myth. The class will investigate the validity of fairytales in an era of reworkings and adaptations through various readings, music videos, films, ads etc.
Instructor: S. Bhattacharya
Day/Time: TTH 12:30–1:50 p.m.
Companion: W 8–8:50 a.m.
This course seeks to develop the sociological imagination through an examination of the way in which film both influences, and is influenced by, dominant social and cultural ideology. Integral to the course is an analysis of the role of the filmmaker as artist, investigating the figure’s historically dichotomous role as both social subversive and propagandist. This semester especial focus will be given the portrayal of the monster in science fiction, horror, and comedy.
Instructor: A. Owen
Day/Time: TTH 2–3:20 p.m.
Companion: W 12–12:50 p.m.
From the Beowulf to The Walking Dead, art has expressed people’s fascination with monsters and violent mayhem. Though the horror genre has always been popular, it is also often dismissed as lowbrow, even exploitative, entertainment that caters to humanity’s baser instincts. In this class, we will confront that point of view by looking at the ways in which horror entertainment both reflects and challenges the cultures in which it is produced. We will analyze a variety of texts, including Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein and George Romero’s film Night of the Living Dead. Students will learn about milestones in the development of the horror genre in film and literature, gain an understanding of introductory terminology in film and literary analysis, and discover the main theories about why audiences enjoy horror.
Instructor: L. Eldred
Day/Time: TTH 8–9:20 a.m.
Companion: M 12–12:50 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.
Law and Justice explores the centrality of human rights within the rule of law. With a comparative focus on the US and British legal systems, this FYE examines the protection of civil liberties and rights (including those concerning reproduction, intimacy, and healthcare), the role and constitutional position of judges (and relatedly, the importance of judicial independence and diversity), the evolving development of the common law through precedent cases, and the obligations that arise under criminal and contract law, and torts.
Instructor: P. Benesch
Day/Time: MWF 10–10:50 a.m.
Companion: M 8–8:50 a.m.
Using scientific information is key to meeting society’s challenges, including those related to social equity and environmental sustainability. This class will train you to communicate science efficiently and engagingly with a variety of audiences. We’ll use improv games, written work, research, and creative projects to help you learn to become an expert on a subject and share that expertise with others to solve problems and build a better future.
Instructor: L. Sterner
Day/Time: TTH 12:30–1:50 p.m.
Companion: M 3–3:50 p.m.
A spunky heroine meets a handsome, wealthy man–and they really don’t hit it off. But as they’re thrown into each other’s company more and more, they come to appreciate each other–and, eventually, through a set of complications, they fall in love. If this sounds like a familiar plot to you, maybe you’ve watched a bunch of romantic comedies–or maybe you’ve read Jane Austen’s 1813 novel, Pride and Prejudice. In this course, we’ll do both, considering how Austen and her adaptors think about gender, social class and social conventions, marriage, property, and more. Finally, we’ll also ask how a two-hundred-year-old novel became a mainstay of film and TV, inspiring movies from Bridget Jones’ Diary and You’ve Got Mail to the Bollywood-Inspired Bride and Prejudice and the recent queer romcom Fire Island, and we’ll research and write about the story genre of enemies-to-lovers through the window of popular culture, psychology, or sociology. NOTE: This course will include regularly scheduled movie nights.
Instructor: MC Hyland
Day/Time: TTH 2–3:20 p.m.
Companion: W 12–12:50 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.
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 3:30–4:50 p.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: E. Maisto
Day/Time: W 12–12:50 p.m.
Instructor: K. Gonzalez
Day/Time: W 3–3:50 p.m.
Instructor: J. Tindall
Day/Time: F 8–8:50 a.m.