Tuesdays & Fridays, 3:40 – 5:20 p.m.

CRN 40430

Brian P. Maston
Adjunct Faculty

The presidential elections are in November, and the inauguration is in January. This course will focus on the portrayal of politics and the American political system in Hollywood movies from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to Oppenheimer and Civil War. Movies about American politics, and especially the presidency, run the gamut between idealistic and inspirational to deeply critical. Cinema, as an art form, has the ability to capture the national mood and psyche and reflect them back to us in the form of commercially successful entertainment. During the semester, as the campaign unfolds, we will be analyzing events on the ground through the lens of the movies, and the perspectives they can provide about our current moment.

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Peer Facilitators

Tuesdays & Friday, 3:40 p.m.- 5:20 p.m.

CRN 41491

Samantha Simone
Adjunct Faculty

Every one of us is the President and CEO of our own business…That business is YOU! This FYS section will introduce students to the skills and mindset needed to create, pitch, and market their own unique brand, project, organization, etc. Using platforms such as canva, video, and social media students will explore ways to market their unique personalities or projects to cultivate future opportunities, create an online presence, and much more. Research, self-awareness, and creativity will be essential in exploring being a modern day entrepreneur. Students will deliver a final “pitch” on their brand, project, or organization in a medium of their choice for the final presentation.

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Peer Facilitators

Tuesdays & Fridays, 8:00 – 9:40 a.m.

CRN 41168

Ken Goldstein
Dean, School of Contemporary Arts

Stories have existed from the earliest stages of the human experience to this very moment. They are told in written form as well as orally and aurally, visually and graphically, and through gesture and movement. Stories are a product of their time, place, and the experiences of the storytellers. What do stories tell us about the storytellers?  About the audiences? About ourselves? Why do some stories shape our view of the world? We will explore some of the ways we engage with myths and heroes through different media, and what they reveal about the social, political, economic, and cultural time of their telling.

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Peer Facilitators

Tuesdays & Fridays, 9:55 – 11:35 a.m.

CRN 40431

Eric Daffron
Professor of Literature

This seminar is devoted to the films of Alfred Hitchcock, one of the world’s greatest film directors of all time. We will examine almost a dozen of his films, including the celebrated Psycho, Rear Window, and Vertigo. In addition to interpreting the films through the lens of Sigmund Freud’s essay “The Uncanny” and Foucault’s theory of panopticism, we will read selections from the fiction on which the films were based. Students will write short analytical essays and conduct a research project on a proposed topic of their own.

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Peer Facilitators

Mondays & Thursdays, 6:05 – 7:45 p.m.

CRN 40435

Brendan Flanagan
Adjunct Faculty

At this point in our society, “social media” is a phrase that has proliferated to the point of being inescapable. This course will examine that phrase, however, looking at the media (i.e. the means of communication) in our digital age and precisely how social (i.e. allowing one to interact with others as part of a society) they allow us to be. Students will also examine technology’s portrayal in contemporary literature and film to better grasp our current societal struggle with technology and its – sometimes uncomfortable – grasp on our lives.

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Peer Facilitators

Mondays & Thursdays, 11:20 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

CRN 40685

Natalia Santamaria-Laorden
Associate Professor of Spanish

Languages allow us to express ourselves: from basic everyday needs to our deepest desires. And, yet, each language acts as a code that frames reality in specific ways, too, restricting our capacity to knowledge and self-expression. In this sense, while scientific language such as the one used in medicine strives to be unequivocal (i.e., organs are clearly differentiated from each other and have equivalent terms in each language), a patient in distress is likely to experience difficulty in expressing their pain and source of suffering. The difficulties only increase when trying to communicate in a different language and culture.

In this course, we will examine how languages function and the difficulties of translating in health care and human services contexts. Specifically, we will focus on the needs of native speakers of Spanish and Spanish-English bilingual speakers. The course will also provide an introduction to Spanish vocabulary and expressions related to health care and an understanding of cultural specificities.

Open to students of all levels of Spanish, true beginner to proficient, the course will also give students an understanding of the benefits to complement their careers with a minor in Spanish or the certificate in Spanish for Health Care and Human Services, awarded two UISFL grants, in 2018 and 2020, respectively.

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Peer Facilitators