University Seminar
Themes
What is University Seminar?
First-Year Experience Theme & Offerings for Academic year 2022-2023
University Seminar (USEM) is a three-term, 12-credit course sequence (USEM 101, 102, 103) that anchors SOU’s curriculum and learners’ academic careers. USEM’s mission is to engage learners, help them to build a strong connection with learning peers, and develop the communication, thinking and research skills that will meet the expectations of university study and their future careers.
USEM is required for all first-entry learners who are not transferring in relevant credits. Seminar topics vary by instructor design, but all focus on developing essential reading, writing, thinking and research skills. While texts, writing assignments, and activities explore a focused area of inquiry, the intent is to provide interdisciplinary perspectives. USEM instructors also serve as academic advisors, offering caring mentoring and consistent communication about navigating life at SOU.
A Sampling of Seminar Themes
During the 2022-2023 academic year, USEM courses will teach these skills while focusing on the following topics.
USEM 100/101: Fighting and Writing – Literary Responses to War
Instructor: Dr. Deborah Brown
Explore the historical and literary background necessary to engage in a discussion of war and understand the impact war has on cultures, communities, families, and individuals. Delve into poetry, short stories, novels, and films to explore the many facets of war. Consider what lessons we might learn from earlier conflicts and how past wars have contributed to the modern understanding of war. Read and analyze a variety of early war writings beginning with the American Civil War (Fall), the two World Wars (Winter) and culminating with the Vietnam and Iraq Wars (Spring).
CRN 2109-1040 T/R 10:30- 12:20 pm
CRN 1037-1038: T/R 1:30 – 3:20 pm
USEM 101: Fighting and Writing – Literary Responses to War
Instructor: Dr. Deborah Brown
Explore the historical and literary background necessary to engage in a discussion of war and understand the impact war has on cultures, communities, families, and individuals. Delve into poetry, short stories, novels, and films to explore the many facets of war. Consider what lessons we might learn from earlier conflicts and how past wars have contributed to the modern understanding of war. Read and analyze a variety of early war writings beginning with the American Civil War (Fall), the two World Wars (Winter) and culminating with the Vietnam and Iraq Wars (Spring).
CRN 2109-1040 T/R 10:30- 12:20 pm
CRN 1037-1038: T/R 1:30 – 3:20 pm
USEM 101: The Coffeehouse
Instructor: Dr. Matt Moreali
Discuss controversial issues over a metaphorical cup of coffee. Analyze groundbreaking court cases, infamous poetry, media, art, and folklore. Recite poetry over bongo drums, characterize your own “witch hunt,” and express serious arguments through ironic satire. Articulate logical arguments and examine nuance in a way that impresses other aficionados!
CRN 1029: T/R 10:30 am – 12:20 pm
CRN 2138 M/W 10:30 am – 12:20 pm
USEM 101: Unsolved Mysteries
Instructor: Dr. Danielle Hammer
Explore the mysterious unknown! Does the unexplained, wondrous, or just plain spooky intrigue you? Do creaky floors and ghostly whispers startle you? Have you hunted for vampires, Bigfoot, hoaxes, or aliens? For the curious, unanswered questions and haunting stories draw us in. Creatures and legends both terrify and thrill us, but they may also offer important clues to underlying social issues cached deeper within many societies. Our detective work begins by pulling out the magnifying lens of Skepticism and digging into the archives of music, film and literature to explore the haunts of the human psyche. Join us to “unmask” these cultural creepy creatures and wonderful worlds.
CRN 1041: M/W 10:30 am – 12:20 pm
USEM 101: Know Thyself, Think Globally, Act Locally
Instructor: Elizabeth Whitman
At its best, education is an adventure of discovery. Higher learning can help make a living, but it can also help make a Life. Explore life questions that are relevant, purposeful, and worthwhile. We practice essential skills, build critical perspectives, and nurture the wise dispositions that lead to self-empowerment, following a path many great thinkers have revered: know thyself (USEM 101), think globally (USEM 102), and act locally (USEM 103). Our boundary-crossing, interdisciplinary approach to inquiry and analysis is appropriate for all students interested in contemporary issues and who aspire to think new thoughts and see themselves and the world with fresh eyes.
CRN 1032: T/R 8:30 – 10:20 am or
CRN 1033: T/R 1:30 – 3:20 pm
USEM 101: Good Life
Instructor: Laura Jessup
Contemplate the qualities of a fulfilling life and the nature of compassion through the lens of scholarly research, spiritual practice, and cultural traditions. Follow your curiosities to better know the world and understand what sustains a meaningful and joyful life. Consider how increased knowledge builds understanding and empowers positive action and personal, social, or global change.
CRN 1027:M/W 10:30 am – 12:20 pm or
CRN 1028: M/W 1:30 – 3:20 pm
USEM 101: Health Matters!
Instructor: Dr. Craig Stillwell
Explore current issues of health and illness. What does “being healthy” mean? What are barriers to health and promoters of illness? How do environment, heredity, emotions, behaviors, and beliefs affect our wellbeing? Examine health myths, fads, and follies. Analyze health and medical controversies and examine how competing views of health and illness are shaped by evidence and values, as well as by scientific, political, and social agendas. Evaluate the ways personal health connects with community health during a global pandemic. Learn about evidence-based health practices and how to apply them to your own life.
CRN 1034: M/W 1:30 – 3:20 pm or
CRN 1035: T/R 10:30 am – 12:20 pm or
CRN 1036: T/R 3:30 – 5:20 pm
USEM 101: Dr. Seuss and the Meaning of Life
Instructor: Dave Kahn
If you keep your eyes open enough, oh the stuff that you will learn! The most wonderful stuff!? Theodor Seuss Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) writes. Dr. Seuss is known as an American children’s author, political cartoonist, illustrator, poet, animator, and filmmaker. From Hortons to Cats in Hats, to the famous Lorax, we mash up quotables, notables, arguables, and laughables (including some controversies!). What is schooling without a little rhyme-bending re-ruling? Gain an in-depth look at life through the works, wisdom, and witticisms of Dr. Seuss. Moreover, Dr. Seuss can offer a sane, sensible, and hilarious approach to personal wellbeing. In the words of Dr. Seuss, You’re off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So get on your way!
CRN 1042: M/W 1:30 – 3:20 pm
USEM 101: Romantic Love
Instructor: Dave Kahn
It conquers all. No matter how hard we work or how much money and power we acquire, if we lack love, for many of us life is unfulfilling. Romantic love is our conduit to happiness; it is also our conduit for learning. Our theme is Romantic Love: Love Lost and Lost Love Recovered. How does love go wrong? Why are people unfaithful? How can a broken heart be survived? Can or should relationships that founder ultimately be returned to, rediscovered, and saved? To explore these many and varied ideas, we will use a humanities approach as we look at research, literature, movies, and music.
CCRN 1044: T/R 10:30 am – 12:20 pm
USEM 101: The Times They Are a-Changin’
Instructor: Dr. Scott Rex
Join us as we follow the singular artistic career of Nobel prize winner Bob Dylan. We’ll begin in rural Minnesota in 1960 and continue through the present day as the gravelly-voiced octogenarian continues on his Never Ending Tour. Along the way, we’ll explore the March on Washington, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the murder trial of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter and other events that inspired some of the Dylan’s most critical work. Through a mix of archival concert footage, documentaries, full-length feature films, scholarly articles, music reviews, and other sources we’ll gain insight into some of the most important and powerful music ever recorded and consider the profound impact that Bob Dylan has had on American culture over the last sixty years and counting.
CRN 1046: M/W 8:30 -10:20 am
CRN 2140: M/W 1:30 – 3:20 pm
USEM 101: Game On! Video Games and Culture
Instructor: Dr. Warren Hedges
This class explores video and tabletop games as vital forms of art, culture, and commerce. Topics include game design, diversity in gaming, indie and experimental games, cosplay and fan culture, career paths in the gaming industry, and e-sports. Over the course of the year, students develop their own research topics, including suggesting readings for the rest of the class.
CRN 1071: M/W 10:30 am – 12:20 pm
USEM 101: American Schools and Schooling
Instructor: Dr. Nigel Waterton
What is a public school supposed to do? What makes a good teacher? Have contentious issues in schooling ever been as divisive as today? You bet they have. In USEM Course: American Schools and Schooling, we will examine how public schools developed and changed over the last 100+ years and how the teachers’ roles have evolved accordingly. We’ll also explore the narrative experiences of students and teachers in schools and examine society’s expectations of teachers and public schools. Most importantly, we will begin to see the classroom as a place of work, of community, of inclusion, and of infinite promise.
CRN 1049: T/R 1:30 – 3:20 pm
USEM 101: The American Dream: Truth or Fake News?
Instructor: Edward Derr
The American Dream is a complex ideal that includes the values of equality, opportunity, democracy, freedom, and personal rights. In the mix, we also find economic upward mobility and a fair and just society. The American Dream is a constellation of values that are constantly changing, shifting, evolving. What is the real American Dream for our contemporary times? What can it be? What do you want it to be?
CRN 2139: M/W 3:30 – 5:20 pm
*USEM 101: begins a three-term sequence and is followed by USEM 102 and USEM 103. USEM 101 engages University Studies learning goals [A, B, C]. Grade (A-F) only.
USEM 102: Creativity
Instructor: Laura Jessup
Explore the science of creativity, participate in improvisation, enjoy creative works, and nurture personal perspectives. Follow your curiosities to better know the world and understand what sustains a creative life–ultimately growing as writers, speakers, and logical and creative thinkers.
CRN 1026: T/R 10:30 am – 12:20 pm
USEM 102: Mandates, Musings, and the Law of Expression
Instructor: Dr. Matt Moreali
Discuss the legal and social rules that govern human expression. Examine the tensions between logical reasoning and raw emotion. Analyze complex issues related to mass hysteria, freedom of expression, media, and satire. Compose arguments in the legal tradition to make your case!
CRN 1030: T/R 3:30 – 5:20 pm
*USEM 102 continues a three-term sequence beginning in USEM 101 and ending with USEM 103. USEM 102 engages University Studies learning goals [A, B, C]. Prerequisite(s): Completion of USEM 101 with a C- or better or transfer credit of WR 121 or equivalent. Grade(A-F) only.
USEM 103: The Criminal Justice System
Instructor: Dr. Lee Ayers-Preboski
The Criminal Justice Systemthrough the lens of Corrections. Completing the look at our Criminal Justice System, this section introduces the corrections system or overview of current institutional practices, policies, and legal issues. The course focuses on the system’s continuum, theories underlying correctional practice, and the role of institutions within the corrections system. Specifically, this course reviews the historical development of crime and corrections, sentencing, jails, prisons, correctional policies, agencies, prison life, and challenges facing correctional populations.
CRN 1031: M/W 10:30 am – 12:20 pm
*USEM 103 is the last course in a three term sequence. USEM 103 engages University Studies learning goals [A, B, C]. Prerequisite(s): Completion of USEM 102 with a C- or better or a transfer credit of WR 122 or equivalent. Grade(A-F) only
Contact Undergraduate Studies
SOU Division of Undergraduate Studies
1250 Siskiyou Blvd.
Ashland, OR 97520
541.552.6505
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