FYEN 102AA.  First-Year Seminar: Intersectional Inequality - Poverty, Women and Ethnicity   (3).

General education humanities course. Focuses on understanding inequality based on the intersection of poverty with other axes of power. Students learn to think critically about the connection of women and gender with poverty and race/ethnicity. The class involves seminar/discussions, readings, videos, Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) events, group projects and presentations. These facilitate skills-development and competence necessary for engaging inequalities in the society. First-Year Seminars do not meet a divisional requirement in the pre-Fall 2024 WSU General Education program, and can only be used in Bucket 7 for General Education starting Fall 2024.

FYEN 102J.  First-Year Seminar: Fundamentals of Diversity   (3).

General education humanities course. Designed to facilitate students’ success particularly in understanding the basics of diversity – its construction, perception and possibilities. Students learn the meaning of diversity in terms of being different and special according to societal norms. Focuses on gender and race, but issues of class, sexuality and ability are also included in the study. Seminars/discussions of readings, videos, Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) events, and group projects provide the basis for skills development and competence that help students to engage diversity within and outside the classroom. Active participation in class blogs and/or diversity events/sites is required. First-Year Seminars do not meet a divisional requirement in the pre-Fall 2024 WSU General Education program, and can only be used in Bucket 7 for General Education starting Fall 2024.

FYEN 102P.  First-Year Seminar: Imagining Climate Change   (3).

General education humanities course. Seminar considers how imaginative literature might help inform students about a scientific and social topic like climate change, engaging in debate about it and promoting an ethic of climate change awareness based on critical reflection and shared responsibility. First-Year Seminars do not meet a divisional requirement in the pre-Fall 2024 WSU General Education program, and can only be used in Bucket 7 for General Education starting Fall 2024.

FYEN 102S.  First-Year Seminar: Facing It: Confronting American History Through Story, Song and Film   (3).

General education humanities course. Proposes that people are most empowered to live authentically and to realize their values when they first face the truth of their personal, cultural and national stories. This course invites students to become fully present in their lives, while studying the underbelly of American history through poetry, story, music and film. Americans frequently grow up with a myth of exceptionalism that says that the United States is the greatest nation on earth. While the US certainly boasts extraordinarily rich cultural and political traditions, it also carries a history of racialized injustice that is often denied or whitewashed. This course insists on “facing” this difficult history, with particular focus on the experience of Black and Indigenous peoples, while also applying the idea of “facing it” to individual lives and contemporary challenges, from global warming to quests for success and meaning. Key questions include: How do students realize the ideals of America in an authentic way that acknowledges and repairs its history? How do students realize their own values in their own lives? First-Year Seminars do not meet a divisional requirement in the pre-Fall 2024 WSU General Education program, and can only be used in Bucket 7 for General Education starting Fall 2024.