Freshmen Seminars (see below)  |  Gateway to College Learning (UCOL 1002)

Freshman Seminars (UCOL 1022)

1. study of a topic of special interest to an outstanding professor who has a unique perspective on the subject and is enthusiastic about sharing knowledge with freshmen
2. a small class (maximum enrollment is 25 students)
3. personal interaction with an experienced and carefully selected professor
4. an opportunity to learn how to succeed as a college student by "learning how to learn" about a particular field

Seminars for Spring 2010, UCOL 1022

Section 001

Music in Film: From Beethoven to Star Wars
Instructor: Brian Nossaman, Tuesday/Thursday, 1:30 pm- 2:45 pm, Wagner Hall 235

The Empire Strikes Back, Forrest Gump and The Incredibles: Do you ever wonder why there is something more to movies than just acting, directing, or the visual aspect? Do you enjoy the music or soundtrack from the movies almost as much as the movie itself? Music has been linked with film since the beginning of the motion picture, and this type of music has developed into a serious and significant genre. The Seminar will present an overview of the different genres of music and film and how music affects the overall quality and importance of a film. Also, we will sample music that demonstrates how it can shape the involvement and influence the aesthetic experience for the viewer. No previous music experience is required.

Section 002

Lead Your Way: Leadership Training At OU
Instructors: Kate Stanton and Clarke Stroud, Tuesday/Thursday, 9:30 am-10:20 am, Wagner Hall 140

Take this opportunity to become a front-running freshman by exploring your pathway to leadership: 1) Get a handle on leadership training through exploration in teamwork and self-discovery; 2) Map out who’s who at OU and how to find your way; 3) Discover your leader within and increase your potential as a campus leader and in life beyond college; 4) Make a difference in the world around us via a service-learning project; 5) Learn the art of creating a resume, completing campus applications, and knowing the best way to represent yourself on paper; 6) Explore leadership in the “real world.” as you select a leader in your field of interest to interview; and 7) Get to know your peers in the class and be challenged to grow as a leader along the way.

This seminar also includes an out-of-class service learning component. Through this seminar, OU will come to life as a leadership laboratory waiting to be discovered by you. Join us in this challenge. (Not open to members of PLC or PCS.)

Section 003

Intro to Rehabilitative Services: Finding Your Future in Helping People
Instructors: Susan Tucker and Cyndy Robinson, Tuesday/Thursday, 9:30 am-10:20 am, Wagner Hall 135

Introduction to Rehabilitative Services is designed to provide information to undergraduate students regarding the role of Rehabilitative Services in quality of life and health. The course will guide students in discovering the professional competencies, shared theoretical models, historical foundations, and service delivery systems of Rehabilitative Services. Through exploration of careers in rehabilitation sciences, the course is also intended to recruit highly qualified students from diverse backgrounds into the occupational therapy and physical therapy professions. As a Freshman Seminar, this course thoroughly explores the impact of Rehabilitative Services on quality of life and health. The course specifically compares and contrasts the professions of occupational therapy and physical therapy over the 16-week semester and involves students in observation experiences of the two professions.

Section 004

Pre-Law 101
Instructor: Margaret Ellis, Monday/Wednesday, 8:30 am-9:20 am, Wagner Hall 145

This seminar provides an overview of the legal profession in the United States. The class will review the role of attorneys in private practice, as corporate legal counsel, criminal defense and prosecution, and judges. The course objective is to gain a fuller understanding of the opportunities available for students who are considering the pursuit of a law degree.

In analyzing this process, we will look for answers to three fundamental questions: (1) The legal profession: What do attorneys do besides argue cases in court? There are many things you can do with a law degree that do not require trial experience. Most students do not decide where to practice law until midway through law school. (2) Law School: What do I need to do now to get into law school; how do I apply to law school; what is law school really like? (3)Practicing Law: What is it really like to be an attorney? Practicing law is not exactly like it is portrayed on “Law and Order” and “The Practice”. The class will have several speakers from different areas of the profession who will share their real-life experiences with students. Also, because the purpose of this course is to gain a better understanding of how the American legal system works, students will participate in a mock trial and a moot court simulation at the end of the semester.

Section 005

Cartoons and Comics 
Instructor: Jeffrey Provine, Tuesday/Thursday, 2:30 pm- 3:20 pm, Wagner Hall 140

This course will look at the medium of comics and how they can be used for humor, storytelling, and even social change. First, the class will look into the historical development of comics from Revolutionary era political cartoons to the newspaper strips of the early 1900s, to comic books and their heyday in the mid-twentieth century. The first project, a research paper, will be focused on looking in-depth at a particular historical cartoonist. From there, the class will begin an analysis of what comics are today in newspapers, in graphic novels, and as the new phenomenon of web comics. The second project will be a group research project and presentation about a contemporary cartoonist, studying especially how he/she goes about creating works. Then with an idea of how the process works, students will begin to create their own comics as devices for themes and storytelling, providing a firsthand look at what it takes to generate knowledge, meet deadlines, and combine creativity and structure for productivity.

Section 006

Abnormal Psychology in Film
Professor: Dustin Adamo, Monday/Wednesday, 2:30 pm-3:20 pm, Wagner Hall 135

From Psycho to Fight Club, the fascinating aspects of abnormal psychology have been a popular topic of exciting, funny, and frightening Hollywood movies for decades. How are these movies beneficial for learning about abnormal psychology? How might they be harmful? Learn about abnormal psychology while exploring and analyzing how Hollywood movies have depicted the field and those who are affected by these disorders. Assignments will include viewing and critically analyzing films which feature characters affected by abnormal psychological disorders, as well as creating an “on-screen” character of your own.

Section 007

Robots, Mad Scientists, and the Man in the Moon: Exploring History, Science, and Science Fiction
Instructor: Katherine Pandora, Monday/Wednesday, 9:30 am-10:20 am, Wagner Hall 235

In this class we’ll take a fresh look at the history of modern science by seeing how its concepts were incorporated into science fiction stories, blending fact with speculation, skepticism and wonder, and social and intellectual critiques with a commitment to asking the question: what happens next? The terrain we’ll cover crosses numerous disciplines, including history, science, literature, sociology and philosophy. We’ll start with the very beginnings of the scientific revolution during the Renaissance by looking at tales about inhabitants of the moon by Johannes Kepler and other, move on the evolutionary theory and how these debates entered into the stories created by the Victorian-era writers who helped to establish modern science fiction as we now know it – our stories will range from considerations of new mathematical ideas about the fourth dimension, to imagining feminist utopias, to the morality of animal experimentation! – and then examine how ideas about an increasingly technological world of machines, robots, and computers intersected with psychological theories about the nature of the human mind and creative freedom in science fiction projects during the cold war years. Our overall goals are: to learn some fascinating history and science; to become better acquainted with how scientific ideas circulate within the wider culture; to analyze the connections between science and science fiction; and to help each one of you gain skill and confidence as thinkers and writers.

Section 008

Personal Finance: Nine Things Every College Student Should Know About Money.
Instructor: Brad Burnett, Tuesday/Thursday, 11:30 am-12:20 pm, Wagner Hall 135

This course is designed to give students a basic knowledge of personal finance and money management, covering topics such as saving, credit cards, investing, credit scores, buying a home, and other monetary issues that directly affect college students and graduates. Students will take an active role in the course by applying lessons and assignments to their own personal situations. Students will learn how to build and maintain a personal financial plan. The goal of the course is to develop financially literate students who will be fiscally secure today and in the future. 

Section 009

Do What You Are
Instructor: Sue Marshall, Tuesday/Thursday, 2:30 pm-3:45 pm, Wagner Hall 145

With so much information at our fingertips and so many choices to make, it can be difficult to decide on a major field of study and how to choose a career. This class will guide you through a step-by-step process that will help make these important decisions with confidence. We will use tools designed to assist you to understand yourself and your preferences, complete assignments that involve exploring options, look for opportunities to “try out” a career, and develop a plan that you can use to reach graduation with a planned and timely program.

Section 010

21st C. America: Rise or Fall?
Instructor: Fred Shelley, Tuesday/Thursday, 10:30 am-11:20 am, Wagner Hall 145

During the second half of the twentieth century, the United States was the strongest, most powerful country in the history of the world. The United States was not only the world’s strongest economic and political power, but American culture, fashion, and ideas influenced people across the planet. As the twenty-first century began, some critics began to predict that the United States would lose its predominant position in the rapidly changing world economy. What will life in the United States be like in the twenty-first century? What demographic, economic, political, cultural, and environmental changes might we anticipate, and why? The purpose of this seminar is to shed light on these questions by looking at American society in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries from a historical political and economic perspective. Sample questions that might be addressed are: To what extent should the U.S. government ration health care for the elderly? Should the United States take steps to reduce the number of legal and illegal immigrants moving into the country? Are the suburbs of today likely to become the slums of tomorrow? Should the United States expand its efforts to reduce global warming?

Section 011

Race, Class, and Gender in Sports
Instructor: Mark Yapelli, Monday/Wednesday, 9:30 am-10:20 am, Wagner Hall 135

It has been said that sports are a microcosm of society. This course will encourage students to think about ways in which sports reflect society’s social dynamics. We will discuss issues of access, equal opportunity and spectatorship as they relate to race and gender. Topics will include: the appropriateness of American Indian mascots, racial “stacking” of positions in various sports, the myth of sports as a meritocracy, and how masculinity and femininity are constructed in the context of sports. Topics will be presented in essays, articles, and film. This class may be of particular relevance to students majoring in or interested in Sociology, Health and Exercise Science, and/or Psychology. 

Section 012

Sexual Issues, Policies, and Practices in Contemporary Society
Instructor: Joe Marshall, Monday/Wednesday, 1:30 pm-2:45 pm, Wagner Hall 240

Each individual has a personal definition of the meaning of sex and that is as it should be. Often through reading, discussions with others, and introspections, however, new facets are added. Families, groups, and the culture in general influence the views of the individual. Society’s ideas of the meaning of sex tend to change over time, and different societies at the same time have different ideas. The importance of an individual’s definition of sex is played out in many situations such as the first sexual experience; sex before, during, and after marriage; the way we look at the sexual practices of our parents, our children and other family members; and our views of the sexual practices of public figures. There will be independent research, group activities, guest speakers, a cultural activity to attend, a final, and a term paper. The expectation is that the course will be academically challenging, yet fun and exciting. 
 

Section 013

(short course, TBA)

Section 014

The CIA and Congress: Can a democracy control its intelligence agencies, while at the same time
ensuring their effectiveness?
Instructor: David Ray, Tuesday/Thursday, 12:30 pm-1:20 pm, Wagner Hall 235

This course will examine : (1) Can a democracy control its intelligence agencies? (2) How can the U.S. increase the effectiveness of its current intelligence agencies? Most people would agree that, in the post 9/11 world, the United States needs intelligence agencies like the CIA, with the capacity to acquire information and conduct secret operations. But how can such clandestine organizations be monitored and controlled by a democratic and open institution like the U.S. Congress? We will attempt to answer that question by studying congressional oversight of U.S. intelligence agencies from 1947 to the present. We will give consideration to CIA covert operations at specific times in Iran, Cuba, Vietnam, and Nicaragua among others; we will also give detailed consideration to U.S. covert operations in Afghanistan from 1979-1990, in central Asia and Iraq during the 1990s, and in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks. Finally, the course examines two major recent intelligence failures: (a) the failure to predict and prevent the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, and (b) the incorrect assessment of Iraq’s access to weapons of mass destruction prior to the 2003 war. Each of these failures was the subject of two major investigations. The course will briefly consider the findings of these investigations and ask whether or not their concerns were fully addressed by the intelligence reorganization Congress enacted in December, 2004, and the appointment of the first National Intelligence Director in mid-2005.

Archive of Fall 2008 and Fall 2009 courses