Recent Sophomore Seminars
Spring 2022:
ENG/FILM 3067
LIVED EXPERIENCE: JAMES BALDWIN AND SPIKE LEE
Peter Bailey; 1-unit
This course will be comprised of many dialogues, two of them between the essays and fictions of James Baldwin (Go Tell It on the Mountain and the stories in Going to Meet the Man) and the films of Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing, Crooklyn, Jungle Fever, Malcolm X, Bamboozled, and Black Klansman). Because Lee worked from Baldwin’s screenplay for Malcolm X, we know they have much to exchange with each other—including a substantial disagreement over the goals of African/American art. Another central class dialogue will be between class members discussing the cultural and ideological contributions of Baldwin and Lee in the era of Black Lives Matter.
ENVS 3069
For the Love of Chocolate
Sara Ashpole; 1-unit
Cocoa has been cultivated for centuries and today it’s a much loved indulgent confectionery. In this course, students explore the interdisciplinary nature of chocolate and sustainability. Chocolate is art, music, film, literature, spiritual, medicinal, culinary, commodity, injustice, environment and science. Historians shed light on how chocolate changed the world. Economists show a greedy consumer-driven global chocolate market estimated at 139 billion USD, which might just vanish as scientists estimate there are less than 25 years before the plant faces extinction from climate change. This course aims to foster creativity by allowing students to share their own ideas and interests around chocolate.
PH 3011
Foundations of Community Health
Marianna Locke; 1-unit
This interdisciplinary course will examine community health in the United States from a sociological perspective. We will study the relationship between self and society by exploring how social and environmental factors influence health outcomes. This analysis will be rooted in the intersection of individual and community health. Students will develop a deeper understanding for the complex relationships, policies, problems, and potential solutions that exist in the field of community health. Ultimately, this course will challenge students move beyond awareness to action, in relation to both individual and community wellbeing.
ND 100
Careers 101: The Liberal Arts and Careers
Alvin Henry and Michelle Gould; 0.5-unit
This course provides students with the foundational skills, resources, and tools necessary to explore, assess, and pursue a career. It will show how a liberal arts education helps students become leaders, innovators, and global citizens. Through a series of projects and case studies, students will develop and apply their new skills and knowledge. By the end of the course, students will write and revise relevant job materials that will create success in searching for employment. Topics covered include networking with alumni, interviewing, resumes, digital profiles, cover letters, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, skills assessments, developing new skills as needed (upskilling), cultivating resiliency, and critically reflecting on the intersection of the liberal arts and your career trajectory.
ND 3011
PALS—Promoting Active Laurentian Safety: Awareness and Action
Evelyn Jennings & Victoria Lederer; 0.5-unit
Ever wondered how you could help to shift campus culture in a positive direction and develop the relationships and knowledge to do it? We’ll discuss some of the challenges faced by college students, especially regarding mental health and wellness. We'll learn and practice actions that can interrupt bias, help build a sex positive and safe community, and work toward a more inclusive campus culture, and you’ll develop a proposal for campus programming on an issue you care about.
AAH/FILM 269
Digital Media and Culture I
Amy Hauber; 1-unit
This is a combination studio art/seminar course. Over the course of the semester you will learn the basics of Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign. At the same time, through readings, media, group discussions and exercises, we will explore some of the major theoretical issues surrounding digital communications and technology, and how they affect contemporary society/life/identity.
Fall 2021:
SSES/PH 3024: Somatic Transformation: From Self-Care to Social Justice with CBL
Marianna Locke
T/TH 12:40-2:10, 1-unit
What does it mean to be healthy? Is wellness a choice? How does positionality shape health and wellness experiences? This seminar will discuss these questions and others related to the health and wellness industry in the United States. We will explore multiple dimensions of wellness through scholarly literature and popular sources. Most importantly, we will examine how social factors influence health outcomes.
EDUC 3056: Well-Being and Liberal Education
Jeff Frank
M/W 10:30-12, 1-unit
The Covid-19 pandemic has tested us in innumerable ways, threatening our individual and collective well-being. This course will explore how a liberal education can promote well-being, and our focus will be actions we can take as individuals and a community to increase well-being at St. Lawrence and after we graduate.
SSES 3023, On the Move? ---The Physical Activity of America’s Children
Matt McCluskey
M/W 8:50-10:20 AM, 1-unit
Movement can be a source of joy, health, and well-being for kids---yet many barriers often stand in the way of children’s physical activity and their enjoying positive athletic experiences. We will look at historical sources and current scholarship to see why this is, talk to leaders in the local sports community, and observe Canton’s landscape through a child’s eye.
AAH/AFAM 211: African American Art and Visual Culture
Mark Denaci
T/TH 2:20-3:50, 1-unit
This course will examine the history Why does visual media representation matter, when it comes to gender, race, sexuality, nationality and social class? In this Sophomore Journeys course we will examine films and TV, advertising, social media and video games to learn about the history of media representation along social identity lines, and to understand how media representation is linked to structural discrimination and oppression. You will also learn how to create innovative and visually exciting ways to showcase your work!of artworks and other visual images produced by and about African-Americans: How do images construct (or help to construct) identities, and to what extent can they be used to combat as well as reinforce stereotypes? What kinds of responsibilities should or shouldn’t artists, critics, and audiences have in relation to goals of social progress or justice?
GSS 103: Gender and Society
Jenny MacGregor
M/W 10:30-12, 1-unit
Why does visual media representation matter, when it comes to gender, race, sexuality, nationality and social class? In this Sophomore Journeys course we will examine films and TV, advertising, social media and video games to learn about the history of media representation along social identity lines, and to understand how media representation is linked to structural discrimination and oppression. You will also learn how to create innovative and visually exciting ways to showcase your work!
Summer 2021:
ECON 3033
Money Management Matters: Financial Literacy in a Dynamic World
Sahar Milani; 1-unit
Prerequisite: Econ 100
This course introduces critical personal financial management topics with the goal of helping students develop successful financial skills. Specific topics include budgeting and planning, interest rates, taxes, financial institutions, loans, credit, insurance, and investing. Students will reflect on their own financial objectives through activity-based assignments.
REL 3036
Examining Extremism
Damon Berry; 1-unit
In this seminar, we will discuss key case studies of “extremism” to help students critically assess how something gets to be described as “extremism” or not, and the consequences of such a designation or lack thereof for individuals who occupy marginalized spaces in society.
Spring 2021:
ENG 200-02
The Object Project: A Campus Storytelling Program
Nicole Roche; 1-unit
Participants in this sophomore seminar will develop a variety of communication, editing, and digital skills while helping to produce a grant-funded campus storytelling program. “The Object Project” asks students to reflect on significant objects in their lives: the tools and talismans that connect us to our passions, our people, our identities, and our stories. From planning and executing a promotional campaign, to recording and editing interviews with fellow students, to working with a range of digital tools and platforms, students will produce content culminating in an online exhibition that documents—and celebrates—their stories and the stories of their fellow Laurentians.
EDUC 3045
Creating Learning Organizations: Social Innovation and Liberal Education
Jeff Frank; 1-unit;
This course will consider the ways that organizations can facilitate learning. I mean this in two senses. First, how can we build organizations that promote the learning of the individuals in the organization? Second, how can we build organizations that learn? Here I will emphasize the ways that organizations can get smarter by becoming more inclusive and more democratic. Instead of relying on habits of thinking that validate patriarchal or racist views, what would it mean to create an organizational culture that is deeply self-reflective? The course counts toward the educational studies minor and as a “Social Context” elective in the BUSLA major.
Fall 2020:
AAH/FILM 269
Digital Media and Culture
Amy Hauber; 1-unit
This is a combination studio art/seminar course. Over the course of the semester you will learn the basics of Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign. At the same time, through readings, media, group discussions and exercises, we will explore some of the major theoretical issues surrounding digital communications and technology, and how they affect contemporary society/life/identity.
ND 3033:
The Sophomore Experience: Stories of Agency, Engagement, and Change
Matt McCluskey; 0.5-unit
Develop a positive vision for your time at St. Lawrence---one that meshes with the values and commitments you are developing as sophomores---and explore the rich history of engagement, agency, service, and advocacy demonstrated by college students,, including here at St. Lawrence.
Spring 2020:
PALS: Promoting Active Laurentian Safety---Action and Awareness
ND 3011; 0.5-unit
Evelyn Jennings and Victoria Lederer
Ever wonder how you could shift campus culture in a positive direction and develop the knowledge and tools to do it? We’ll learn and practice actions that can interrupt bias, help build a sex positive and safe community, and work towards a more inclusive campus culture…and you’ll develop a proposal for campus programming on an issue you care about.
Math and Social Justice
MATH 3006; 0.5-unit
Patti Frazer Lock
We will examine how mathematics can help us measure and understand social justice. In our time together, we'll talk about such topics as fair voting methods, gerrymandering, how to measure inequality, and the effects of prejudice on population dynamics.
Exploration of Leadership
ND 3028; 0.5-unit
John Robert O'Connor, Laura Lavoie, and Ashlee Downing-Duke
Explore your strengths and leadership style through self-reflection and writing of your own “Leadership Story” through the lens of a children’s picture book. Some of the themes we'll explore together are leadership, exploration, discovery, strength, and character.
Gender & Disability in Global Cinema
FILM 3075; 1-unit
Kristen Loutensock
The stories that we tell about the body and health are also stories about families and nations. This course will look at films about disability from around the world, and we will explore together what these stories tell us about science, power, and what it means to be a citizen in a globalized world.
Rural Planning and Land Use Decision-Making
GOVT 3047; 1-unit
Matt McCluskey
Join us for digital mapping, community walks, photographic analysis, discussions with local officials, and much more, as we learn about why small towns---places like Canton, Potsdam, Ogdensburg, and Massena---look like they do, how land use policy is made in places like St. Lawrence County and other rural areas, and what the hot-button issues are across the country in this complex field.