Fall 2025 First Year Seminar

This community-based course introduces human rights, social justice, and environmental justice theoretical frameworks and issues from global perspectives designed and taught by award-winning Professor of Social Justice Education, Rajni Shankar-Brown. Through interdisciplinary service learning, students will have hands-on opportunities to explore art as activism and participate in civic engagement. Specific topics, including the intersectionality of identities including race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, religion, ability, nationality, language, and education will be examined and provide roots to further personal and intellectual development and global citizenship. Diverse texts (readings, films, music, etc.) will include equity-centered explorations of history and the complex interplay of theories in a pluralistic society, with opportunities to apply them to current equity and inclusion issues. The course encourages reflective practice, critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity through community engagement art projects focusing on historically situated and currently unfolding social justice issues. Writing as an inquiry-oriented and developmental process will be emphasized, along with multimodal literacies and communication with attention to applied critical thinking. Civic and community engagement and service-learning experiences in collaboration with diverse community partners, including public schools and nonprofit organizations, are required for the successful completion of this course.

Your Professor

Rajni Shankar-Brown, MA, MBA, PhD, is an internationally award-winning Professor and the Jessie Ball duPont Endowed Chair of Social Justice Education at Stetson University, as well as the recipient of Stetson’s most prestigious awards -- the McEniry Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Hand Award for Distinguished Faculty Achievement. She is also the President of the National Coalition for the Homeless Board, author, community organizer, cultural strategist, poet, artist, and a human rights and environmental justice activist. She is the Founder and the Executive Director of the Institute for Catalyzing Equity, Justice, and Social Change and she serves as the Co-Chair of Equity and Justice for the International Society for Teacher Education and Information Technology. Shankar-Brown actively works at international, national, state and local levels to confront systemic oppression and advance justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, including with the United Nations and U.S. Federal Agencies. She has presented around the globe and published articles, book chapters, and creative works in leading academic sources, as well as a globally celebrated collection of poetry (Tuluminous), and an education book series including Bending the Arc Toward Justice: Equity-Focused Practices for Educational Leaders and Re-Envisioning Education: Affirming Diversity and Advancing Justice. In addition to being a passionate leader and scholar, she is a dedicated Amma (which means “Mom” in her first language, Tamil) who loves sunflowers and masala chai.

This seminar invites students to explore the dynamic intersections of Afro-Futurism and Caribbean cultural production through the medium of comics and graphic novels. As a movement rooted in Black liberation, Afro-Futurism blends science fiction, speculative storytelling, and reimagining of history to envision transformative futures for African and African-descended peoples. In this course, we turn our attention to the Caribbean—a region shaped by colonial histories and diasporic connections—and examine how comics become a platform for envisioning alternative realities, challenging dominant narratives, and celebrating cultural resilience.

Your Professor

Joshua R. Deckman is an assistant professor of Spanish and Latine/x Studies and director of La Casa Cultural Latina at Stetson University. He has written on racial and affective politics, Afro-diasporic religious practices, and anti-imperial/de-colonial epistemologies in contemporary Caribbean and Latinx literary and cultural productions. He is the author of Feminist Spiritualities: Conjuring Racial Politics in the Afro-Caribbean and Its Diaspora (SUNY Press, 2023).

Are you a fan of Jet Li war or martial arts movies? Have you wondered what it was like to be a samurai? Interested in knowing more about the Korean War between North Korea and South Korea? This course will examine movies related to such topics about war and violence in Asian history, including Asian and Western blockbusters. It will analyze how filmmakers have influenced both Western and Asian perceptions of Asia's past by using artistic license while portraying important events and personalities. Please note that this course will feature films involving war and violence.

Your Professor

Leander Seah holds a PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA, and teaches courses on Asian history, military history, diplomatic history, and modern world history at Stetson. He has served as the Chair of the History Department and the founding Director of the Asian Studies Program. In terms of research, as an ethnic Chinese citizen of Singapore who lives in the United States, he is particularly interested in migration and diasporas, China-Southeast Asia connections, modern China, East Asian relations, modern Japan, US-China relations, and transnational and world history. He has published journal articles, has presented his work at conferences in the United States and Asia, and is currently revising a book manuscript, Decentering Chinese Identity: China, the Nanyang, and Trans-Regionalism. He has also begun work on another book, a transnational study of the Burma Theater during World War II with emphasis on China, the United States, and Southeast Asia. His accolades include over twenty fellowships, research grants and awards from the Association for Asian Studies, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Center for Chinese Studies in Taiwan, the National Library Board of Singapore, the National University of Singapore, the University of Pennsylvania, and Stetson University.

Traditions are important in maintaining coherence and unity within organizational cultures. From small and intimate cultures such as families to large cultures such as nations to mid-size organizations such as companies and colleges/universities, members often find meaning through the traditions that exist in their organizations. How are these traditions created and maintained? And why are they so important? In this seminar, we will address these questions and more, specifically focusing on the living traditions of Stetson University and examine how they apply to our own lives. From campus ghost stories to athletics to the significance of cultural artifacts such as bells, fountains, and hats, students will explore and perhaps begin their own Stetson traditions.

Your Professor

John Tichenor, professor of management, has worn many hats at Stetson University since he arrived in 1996. From serving as director of institutional research to university registrar to overseeing the university’s accreditation activities, he has served in multiple administrative capacities. However, his passion is classroom teaching and that is now his full-time role at Stetson. He has been awarded the University Advisor of the Year and First-Year Student Advocate and enjoys working with students on the national award-winning Business Ethics Case Competition team. He earned the BA and MA in sociology at Baylor University and the PhD in sociology at Florida State University, studying social organization. His current areas of research include corporate social responsibility and business ethics. Professor Tichenor and his wife, Professor of Education Mercedes Tichenor, lead Stetson’s Summer in Innsbruck Study Abroad Program. When he is not in the Lynn Business Center, you can often catch him playing drums with local jazz groups, including the DaVinci Jazz Experiment.

Step into the dynamic landscape of the Gig Economy, delving into contemporary employment structures such as freelancing and on-demand platforms. Throughout this course, we will immerse ourselves in meaningful discussions on the impact of gig work on individuals and society, guided by the personal narratives in the book Gigged. Simultaneously, we will learn about how the gig economy came to be and how it works thanks to analysis from academics and scholars from various disciplines in The Gig Economy: A Critical Introduction. These texts will serve as windows into the experiences of gig workers and lenses through which we critically analyze the economic and social implications of this evolving work landscape. In addition, students will have the opportunity to explore real-world case studies, delving into companies like Uber and Airbnb. While also examining industry data drawn from reputable sources such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This hands-on approach will provide a practical understanding of the gig economy, enabling us to bridge theoretical concepts with concrete examples and statistical insights. The seminar will not only cultivate insights into the world of gig work but also hone foundational skills in reflection, critical analysis, and effective communication.

Your Professor

Alexander Navas currently serves as the Associate Director of Academic Success. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Organizational Leadership from Valencia College, followed by an MBA from Stetson University. As a first-generation college student himself, Alexander intimately understands the challenges and obstacles that can accompany the college journey. His personal experiences have ignited a deep-seated passion for supporting students as they navigate their path through higher education. With a solid foundation in business-centered education, Alexander is eager to merge his skills and knowledge in the classroom, fostering an environment where students can thrive and excel.

How influential is Hollywood? Who decides what appears on our screens? Hollywood has a long history of avoiding official censorship by organizing its own office to control and edit out provocative content before controversy could attract official attention. While we often talk of repressive regimes elsewhere, during WWII Hollywood created its own propaganda films and the government did, in fact, make many decisions about what should or should not be screened to benefit the nation. This course explores the history and morality of movies, the Motion Picture Production Code, the politics of WWII, the Blacklist, the code’s breakdown, and the rise of the rating system. How DID films express ideas in the face of these codes? Last, we will discuss current issues in censorship including marketplace demands and cancel culture.

Your Professor

Nicole Denner, PhD, attended Indiana University for her undergraduate and master's degrees and received her PhD in Comparative Literature from Northwestern University. She studied horror films at IU and eighteenth-century Enlightenment literature for her doctorate (they aren't so different after all). She has taught at Stetson since 2001 in both the French and English departments. She is most interested in how and why texts so frequently turn inward and comment upon themselves.

Stories told in words and pictures go by many different names all around the world, such as comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, manga, bandes dessinées, fumetti, comix, image-texts, sequential art and graphic narratives. Whatever they are called, comics and their influence are everywhere magazine racks, online, in literary journals, in museum galleries and on movie screens. They have been used to tell the simplest of jokes, create the wildest fantasy worlds and explore the depths of the most profound human experiences. This course will examine the art form that the French call "The 9th Art" in order to: Examine how words and pictures combine to make meanings; Survey a variety of texts from different times and places; Investigate where comics have come from, where they are now, and where they might go in the future. We will work together on reading visual/verbal texts closely, on writing analytically, and on finding ideas and presenting them in class. Students will have the opportunity to design a creative project in which they make their own comic or create a work of art about comics.

Your Professor

Joseph "Rusty" Witek, professor of humanities, has been teaching English and Humanities courses at Stetson University since 1989. He is known as one of the first academics in the United States to focus on comics as an art form, making Stetson one of the first universities to offer regularly scheduled courses on comics and graphic novels. He has published books and articles on such topics as comics criticism and theory, autobiography and history in comics, war comics, 9/11 in comics and the fact that Donald Duck can't fly. He is presently working on a book project that examines some of the worst comics ever published.

Countercultural movements throughout the twentieth century, holding values contrary to those of mainstream society, have sought to challenge the status quo with radical works of music, art, and literature. Were they effective? Does art have the power to change the way people think? Have these works of music, art and literature contributed to the creation of the culture in which we live, and, if so, how? In this course, students will be introduced to some of the more radical and controversial works of music, poetry, theatre, and visual art from the 1880s to today as well as the cultures that produced them: from the composers, writers and painters of the Fin de Siècle to those of the New York art scene in the 1960s; from the writers of the Beat Generation to the musicians and artists of the San Francisco psychedelic movement, to the formation of hip-hop in the late 1970s. Through class discussions and writing assignments, students will be asked to reflect upon what art is and what its role is in society. They will be asked to reflect upon the music and art of their own generation, its culture and its countercultures and identify the values that are propagated by it.

Your Professor

Lonnie Hevia holds a DMA in composition from The Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Christopher Theofanidis, Nicholas Maw and Michael Hersch. His bachelor's and master's degrees in composition were earned from The Florida State University School of Music, where he studied with John Boda and Ladislav Kubik. Hevia has presented music in master classes conducted by John Corigliano, Christopher Rouse and Justin Dello Joio, and he has taken individual lessons from Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Libby Larsen and Chen Yi. His music has been performed throughout the United States by world-class musicians. It has been presented at conferences of the College Music Society, Society of Composers, Inc. and The Midwest Graduate Music Consortium. The confluence of a variety of influences, Hevia's music often combines the energy of rock, the melodic lyricism of pop, the harmonic and rhythmic complexities of jazz, the timbres of spectral music and the counterpoint and dramatic form of concert music, all into a unified style that is uniquely his own. While at Peabody, Hevia earned a second master's degree in music theory pedagogy, and, before his appointment at Stetson, he held teaching positions at Peabody, Towson University and Johns Hopkins University. He has taught music theory, aural skills, keyboard skills, counterpoint, form and analysis, twentieth-century theory, composition, arranging and the history of popular music.

Data has become an integral part of everyone's daily life. Every time you post on social media, select a movie to watch online or make an online purchase, you leave a digital footprint. These are only a few of the ways that data is generated. That ever-growing ocean of data can be used to help doctors make better medical diagnoses, help you find a movie that you might like, help a marketer target the sales of a product or possibly even affect how a person will vote. In this class, we will explore different aspects of how data and technology affect your day-to-day life. We will critically think about the ethical implications of the use of data, the consequences of how you share information and how others may misuse data. We will reflect on the implications of these uses (and abuses) of data through discussions, presentations and written activities.

Your Professor

Jay Stryker is a Visiting Assistant Professor in Stetson's Business Systems and Analytics department. He has been a consultant to Volusia County Schools and has many years of experience teaching and tutoring various aspects of technology and data analysis. He is a Stetson graduate who received his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Physics and Mathematics. He went on to receive a master's degree in Applied Mathematics from Georgia Tech and a PhD in Mathematics from Florida State University. His research interests include machine learning, big data and multi-criterion decision-making.

This freshman seminar investigates food in East Asian societies, as well as overseas Asian communities, from a sociological perspective. In the first part of the course, students will examine the social construction of food and the relationship between food and identity, particularly among Asian (American) groups. The course then turns to how economic development changes food systems, consumption, and population health in East Asian societies. Finally, the course traces the environmental impacts of food from farm to table to landfill. The course will feature numerous opportunities to sample Asian cuisine and snacks without leaving DeLand.

Your Professor

Rachel Core is a medical and comparative historical sociologist whose research examines how social conditions and factors, including access to healthcare and preventive programming, affect health outcomes. Core has spent ten years overseas, including eight years in East Asia. She is obsessed with food and looks forward to sharing this obsession with her FSEM students. She is currently Associate Professor, Chair of the Sociology and Anthropology Department, and Chair of the International Learning Committee at Stetson University.

One of the most important challenges facing the world in the twenty-first century is to identify and develop sustainable sources of energy in order to maintain a reasonable standard of living while also minimizing our impact on the environment. This seminar will discuss the science of energy production and usage for a variety of energy sources and energy conservation strategies, and also examine the environmental advantages and drawbacks of each source or strategy. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and the nuclear disaster in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami of 2011 illustrate just some of the dangers underlying our current energy production portfolio. The science regarding the challenge of global climate change will also be discussed. While the seminar is discussion-based and writing-intensive, students will be introduced to the basic physical principles and skills necessary to understand the issues involved in energy systems and sustainability, including physical unit conversion and problem-solving techniques. The course will also include course blog postings and discussion of topics of current interest regarding energy and environmental issues found in the popular press.

Your Professor

Kevin Riggs holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Minnesota and specializes in research on magnetic materials useful for magnetic recording and information storage. He also holds an MS in Physics/Musical Acoustics from Case Western Reserve University and has an active research program using laser-based holographic techniques to image the vibration patterns of musical instruments. He teaches many advanced courses for physics majors, but especially enjoys interacting with students from a wide range of backgrounds in his general education course on musical acoustics titled "The Science of Music" and his new first-year seminar titled "Energy and the Environment." In his spare time, Riggs enjoys playing guitar in a Stetson University faculty jazz quartet, the "Thin Film Magnetism."

Folk art is a form of art making immersed in tradition, heritage, and self-expression. For example: a painting by a self-taught artist, a dance passed down from generation to generation, or even heirloom crafts. Focusing primarily on Latin America and the Caribbean, students will analyze folk art, observe traditional techniques, meet artists and collectors, and participate in hands-on activities. More broadly, by presenting folk art as an integral component of human society, this course expands on the natural manifestation of social commentary and shared cultural values across past and present communities.

Your Professor

Natália Marques da Silva, PhD, is the Director of the Hand Art Center (Stetson’s Art Museum). Silva has a B.A. in Art History (UCF), a M.A. in Museology (UF), and a doctorate in Global & Sociocultural Studies (FIU).

Today, more than ever before, globalization is part of our everyday local lives. We are linked to others on every continent:

• socially through the media and telecommunications
• culturally through movements of people
• economically through trade
• environmentally through sharing one planet
• Politically through international relations and systems of regulation.

In a fast-changing and interdependent world, education can, and should, help people to meet the challenges they will confront now and in the future. Global Citizenship is essential in helping people rise to those challenges. In this course, we will define global citizenship. We will discuss what steps need to be taken in order to prepare to become a global citizen. We will reflect on what it means to be an individual, what it means to be a citizen in your local community, and what it means to be a citizen of the world.

Your Professor

Savannah-Jane Griffin is a nationally recognized leader with a specialty in non-profit leadership, strengths-based leadership, strategic planning, DEIA, and community building. She currently serves as CEO of the Neighborhood Center of West Volusia, which is the leading non-profit organization benefiting the homeless in Central Florida. Prior to serving as CEO, she worked at Stetson University for 15 years where she led and managed the campus's efforts in community engagement, diversity and inclusion, and religious and spiritual life. Through her consulting work, she has helped numerous businesses, non-profit organizations, and higher education institutions build strategic plans that help them achieve their long-term goals. She is a Certified Strengths-Based Facilitator. She has been nationally recognized for her work in community engagement and was named a Bonner Foundation National Fellow and achieved the Florida Campus Compact Community Educator of the Year Award. Griffin holds a BA in Business Administration and an MBA from Stetson University.

How does life work differently for people in the working class, the middle class, and the executive class? How do class differences shape people’s opportunities and perspectives? And how do these differences relate to having a meaningful college experience? These are the kinds of questions we explore in this course, which is part of Stetson’s WISE program and intended for first-generation (first-gen) students: students who will be the first in their family to complete a bachelor’s degree. It combines academic study, practical skills, personal reflection, and community building and engagement to empower first-gen students to find their pathways to support and success during college and beyond.

Your Professor

Jeremy Posadas holds Stetson University's Hal S. Marchman Chair of Civic and Social Responsibility along with a joint appointment as associate professor of religious studies and gender studies. He joined Stetson after 11 years of teaching in rural North Texas. As a professor, his chief goal is to foster learning experiences for diverse students to build an equitable and caring community as they co-create new understandings that are useful for disrupting and dismantling systemic injustice.

As a social ethicist, he critiques unjust aspects of society and proposes alternatives to promote social justice, on the basis of inter-sectionally feminist, queer, anti-racist, anti-capitalist and eco-centric moral principles. He majored in the Great Books in college yet later wrote his dissertation shaped by the post-structuralist thought of Michel Foucault. His recently published essays have addressed topics including reproductive justice; feminist anti-work theory; pedagogies to dismantle rape culture and its root cause, toxic masculinity; and solidarity with the working class. At his previous institution, he led the effort that secured a $1.3 million grant from the Mellon Foundation for social justice curriculum development. In addition, Posadas has held faculty fellowships at Vanderbilt University Divinity School, Auburn Seminary (in NYC) and the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion. He serves on the elected committee that oversees the world's largest gathering of religion scholars and also co-chairs its unit on the study of class and labor.

In 2018, Posadas created the United Regions of America map, clustering all 3,142 counties (and equivalents) into 14 regions that calibrate local perceptions with major landforms and industries. This map offers a more useful alternative to the cultural stereotypes and colonialist assumptions projected in Colin Woodard's map of eleven American nations.

Before becoming a professor, Posadas worked as an organizer in the labor and LGBTQ movements; a ministry leader in a multi-racial urban congregation; a social work assistant in a pediatric hospital; and an award-winning fast food order-taker/cashier. His hobbies include ice and inline skating, listening to Beethoven, watching sci-fi and rom-com/dramas (bonus if they're gay!) and delving into Census data and regional geography.

This course will explore the cultural and social factors that shape the Latinx (Latino and Latina) experience and identity in American society today. As the Latinx population continues to grow, its impact on society becomes increasingly profound and dynamic. From the origins of Latinx communities to contemporary issues, the intersections of ethnicity, social institutions, and culture will be studied. Media, art, food, and influence that amplify Latinx voices will be examined, fostering critical thinking and dialogue. Through discussions, written works, research, and interactive experiences, students will gain a better understanding of the challenges and triumphs within the US Latinx population. This course aims to empower students with cultural competence and a deeper appreciation for the complexities of the Latinx identity today. Students will also have an opportunity to engage in experiential learning through community involvement giving back to the local Latinx community. Join us as we celebrate the beauty of Latinx culture together!

Your Professor

Joanne Morales Bembinster holds a bachelor's Degree in Sociology and a master's Degree in Educational Leadership for Higher Education from Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU). Joanne is also a Stetson alum and holds an Education Specialist Degree (Ed.S.) in Curriculum and Instruction where she focused her research on first-generation college students. Her background in sociology and education has led to a passion for supporting and mentoring students from underserved populations. As a former first-generation student and proud Colombian/American whose first language was Spanish, Joanne understands the complexities of navigating the higher education environment and aims to pay it forward to the next generation of Latinx students. Joanne shows her dedication to the Stetson community through her role as advisor to the Latinx Student Union and co-advisor to the Alpha Alpha Alpha First Generation Honor Society. In her full-time role, Joanne serves as Director of the Academic Success department and joined the university in 2017. Joanne firmly believes that every student possesses the potential for excellence and is dedicated to providing the support and resources needed to unlock that potential.

Communism swept the globe after 1917. What is it that has made socialism or communism widely appealing to so many people over the past century? Why, on the other hand, has it been so challenging to translate a doctrine that was so compelling on paper to reality? And if communism is, intrinsically, an anti-authoritarian ideology, why did it produce so many autocratic regimes? In this course, we are going to examine different facets of Socialist ideology and Communist state and society, using three case studies: USSR, PRC (China) and Cuba focusing on the rule of Stalin, Mao and Castro.

Your Professor

Monika A. Kurlander received her BA from the University of Wroclaw, Poland and the University of Massachusetts, and her MA from Stetson University. Prior to joining Stetson, she was a resident scholar at Harvard University, a faculty at PH College in Freiburg, Germany, and has been teaching International Baccalaureate for years.

What does it mean to be an “American” in the U. S.? And what is “American identity?” The answers to those questions are different today than in the past, but the questions remain the same. This First Year Seminar explores the challenging and complex issue of how people have defined “American identity” and “American culture” in the United States past and present. Stated or unstated, these concepts have shaped policy, cultural practices, and infused cultural texts throughout the history of the United States (and colonial America). This course explores the origins and history of these ideas and their applications in our contemporary United States. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the course examines writers, thinkers, artists, and activists from a variety of backgrounds who have helped define, restrict or expand concepts of American identity and American culture. The class considers how these ideas of identity and culture have changed over time and how they function to create (or undermine) a shared sense of “American-ness” for groups and for the nation. The course will explore concepts of American exceptionalism and consider who, at different times in history, has been able to claim “American identity” in the United States. At the heart of this course is the perhaps unanswerable question of whether such a thing as “American culture” or “American identity” exists at all.

Your Professor

Emily Mieras teaches a range of courses in the History Department as well as in the American Studies Program and the Gender Studies Program. She is currently working on a research project about historical memory and community identity in the American South, work that helped inspire this course. Originally from Lexington, Massachusetts, Mieras grew up attending battle re-enactments on the anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord—an experience that also shaped her interest in the ways history influences tourism, landscape, and sense of place. Mieras attended Harvard University (A. B in History and Government) and the College of William and Mary (M. A. and PhD, American Studies).

In this first-year seminar, students will explore the powerful influence of technology on our personal identities and collective memories. This course examines the intersection of technology, memory, and identity formation through diverse examples from social media, online communities, AI tools, and virtual memorials. Weekly modules include: —ChatGPT: Whose Ideas Are These, Anyway? —Social Media and Self-Presentation —Tracking Our Digital Footprints —Public Memory Online and Off —Replicating Ourselves with AI —Remembering the Dead through Afterlife Media Through lectures, discussions, classroom activities, written assignments, and presentations, students will develop skills in writing, information literacy, collaboration, critical thinking, and analysis.

Your Professor

Sarah K. Lingo is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Communication and Media Studies Department at Stetson University. She is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Rhetoric and Public Culture PhD program in the field of Communication Studies. Lingo’s research concerns the use of AI in places of public memory and mourning.

"Persuasion is often more effectual than force"...Aesop. From social media to marketing, or the courtroom, we are persuaded (and we persuade) on a daily basis. But, how do we know which tactic to use in a given situation? When should technology be included? In this course, students will examine, analyze, and practice a variety of strategies designed to improve their argument designs and communication skills. Be prepared to have thoughtful conversations and substantive analysis, critical thought, & reflection. This is a writing-intensive course.

Your Professor

Michele Randall holds degrees in Technical Writing (BA), Creative Writing (MA), and Poetry (MFA), and has taught College Writing, Composition, Creative Writing, Interdisciplinary Studies and Post-Apocalyptic Fiction. Her book, Museum of Everyday Life (Kelsay Books) was published in 2015, and her work has appeared or is forthcoming from Painted Bride Quarterly, The Potomac Review, Newport Review (First Prize Flash Fiction) and elsewhere. Her current work focuses on the new realities of mental health patients and was a finalist for the Peter Meinke Poetry Prize. She appreciates a good sense of humor and has been known to geek out over Who, Torchwood, Star Trek, and Star Wars.

How is Russia’s war with Ukraine going to end? Why does that matter to me? This journey through the mystery and intrigue of present-day Russia is going to explain why. We will focus mostly on the critical moments which shape ordinary Russians’ perceptions of the world as they are largely supportive of Vladimir Putin’s aggressive foreign policy. Many of these critical moments though are not all that different from those which shape our own realities. Your social status? Your educational attainment? Your ambitions for the future? Your country’s economy? The natural environment within which you live? But the particular historical trajectories working to shape Russians’ understandings of the world will be what we will be looking for. Can we capture some of these processes that have long been being formulated behind what amounts now to a new “iron curtain”? The historical forces then creating the everyday lives and dreams of Russians will be what we talk and write about with the goal of understanding where our own futures are headed.

Your Professor

Martin Blackwell is a specialist on Russian, Ukrainian and post-Soviet history, having lived in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd, Kyiv, L’viv (Ukraine) and Almaty (Kazakhstan) and speaking fluent Russian. Before earning his Ph.D. in History from Indiana University Bloomington, he worked in various capacities across the post-Soviet space including two memorable years as a Russian-speaking laborer at the Embassy of the United States in Moscow. While currently researching Soviet Communism’s unprecedented collapse in the 1980s, he is also interested in the cyclical nature of history and has taught survey courses on the ancient and medieval worlds. In his free time, Blackwell especially enjoys hanging out with his wife and twelve-year-old daughter and exploring the world as a family.

What does the term "individual" mean apart from "the community"? What does "community" mean apart from the concept of "the individual"? This seminar will explore the relationship between these two concepts with a view to understanding how the community shapes the individual and how the individual can, and should, shape the community. We will think about issues pertaining to social justice and ask what responsibility the individual has for her or his own formation and what responsibility the individual has for the formation and well-being of the community. Service-learning in the community is central to this exploration.

Your Professor

Jeremy Posadas holds Stetson University's Hal S. Marchman Chair of Civic and Social Responsibility along with a joint appointment as associate professor of religious studies and gender studies. He joined Stetson after 11 years of teaching in rural North Texas. As a professor, his chief goal is to foster learning experiences for diverse students to build an equitable and caring community as they co-create new understandings that are useful for disrupting and dismantling systemic injustice.

As a social ethicist, he critiques unjust aspects of society and proposes alternatives to promote social justice, on the basis of inter-sectionally feminist, queer, anti-racist, anti-capitalist and eco-centric moral principles. He majored in the Great Books in college yet later wrote his dissertation shaped by the post-structuralist thought of Michel Foucault. His recently published essays have addressed topics including reproductive justice; feminist anti-work theory; pedagogies to dismantle rape culture and its root cause, toxic masculinity; and solidarity with the working class. At his previous institution, he led the effort that secured a $1.3 million grant from the Mellon Foundation for social justice curriculum development. In addition, Posadas has held faculty fellowships at Vanderbilt University Divinity School, Auburn Seminary (in NYC) and the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion. He serves on the elected committee that oversees the world's largest gathering of religion scholars and also co-chairs its unit on the study of class and labor.

In 2018, Posadas created the United Regions of America map, clustering all 3,142 counties (and equivalents) into 14 regions that calibrate local perceptions with major landforms and industries. This map offers a more useful alternative to the cultural stereotypes and colonialist assumptions projected in Colin Woodard's map of eleven American nations.

Before becoming a professor, Posadas worked as an organizer in the labor and LGBTQ movements; a ministry leader in a multi-racial urban congregation; a social work assistant in a pediatric hospital; and an award-winning fast food order-taker/cashier. His hobbies include ice and inline skating, listening to Beethoven, watching sci-fi and rom-com/dramas (bonus if they're gay!) and delving into Census data and regional geography.

Have you ever wondered how race/nationality/ethnicity can affect decision-making, not only in this country but around the globe? What about gender? Environmental considerations? How do these concepts shape culture and affect our physical environment? This course explores the different perspectives that analyze these relationships. In addition to discussion and in-class group work, this course uses activities such as developing guidelines for and conducting group observational research, individual field trips, and physically charting/mapping globalization to determine these social concepts' effects on social and physical environments. We then consider how an understanding of these concepts may contribute to the betterment of humankind.

Your Professor

Sven Smith holds a PhD in Law and Society from the University of Florida and has an active research program regarding group organizations, critical race theory and globalization. He also holds a law degree from Florida State University and an MA in Sociology from the University of Chicago and has recently completed a multi-method research project on the structural effects of group organization on judicial decision-making. He teaches beginning as well as advanced sociology courses and seeks to make the classroom a vibrant learning center wherein students learn conceptually and through experiencing sociology. In his spare time, Smith enjoys playing music, attending the cultural events here at Stetson and reading.

With the rapidly increasing monetization of sports and the continual growth and evolution of sport business, conflict and controversy is inevitable. In this course, students will examine current “hot-button” issues within collegiate, professional, and Olympic sports, including the business and ethical implications that arise within these issues. In addition to fostering insight into the world of sport business, this course will enhance the student's analytical, critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills.

Your Professor

Elizabeth (Libba) Galloway has enjoyed a comprehensive career as a university professor, lawyer, and business executive. Prior to joining Stetson, she served as a partner in the Business and Finance Department of Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, a national law firm based in Cincinnati; Deputy Commissioner of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA); and Executive Director of the Professional Association of Athlete Development Specialists (PAADS). She has taught sport law, ethics and governance in undergraduate, graduate and law school programs, where she enhances the learning experience by infusing her industry experience and perspective into the classroom. Through a combination of readings, presentations and interactive exercises, Galloway follows a three-pronged approach in teaching business and sports law: 1. Laying the foundation: Students learn the fundamentals of a particular area of law, and how they relate to business. 2. Engaging critical analysis: Students sharpen their critical thinking skills by analyzing the application of legal principles to a particular issue. 3. Applying the learnings: Students understand how their learnings from the classroom relate to situations they may face in the workplace.

This first-year seminar prepares students to critically examine our culture's extreme obsession with technology and media in an era of perpetual crisis. Using literature, film, graphic novels, and video games, students will analyze the cultural crisis of technology and explore societal issues surrounding privacy and information security, the coming AI revolution, and how science and technology are redefining what it even means to be “human.” How should we live in a world so conditioned—and threatened—by technological progress? To what extent does technology aid humans' search for meaning—and to what extent does it limit us? How are we to protect ourselves in a post-truth world? In this discussion-based and writing-enhanced course, we will address each of these topics as well as the question of how technology and digital culture are shaping our identities and lives. Texts may include (but are not limited to) Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Spike Jonze's Her, Lauren Beukes' Moxyland, Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly, Issac Asimov's "The Last Question," Jeff VanderMeer's Annihilation, the B-Game "Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy," Toby Fox's Undertale, and selections from the television series, Black Mirror and Westworld.

Your Professor

Christopher D. Jimenez is an Assistant Professor of English at Stetson. His research examines the discourse of catastrophe in 20th- and 21st-century global Anglophone literature, with interdisciplinary interests in ecocriticism, nuclear criticism, biopolitics and the sociology of literature. His secondary work in the digital humanities focuses on the theoretical and computational features of alphabets and their relationship to artificial intelligence and the philosophy of language.

For people who don't have a background in music, going to a classical concert may be unfamiliar, boring or even intimidating. In "The Art of Listening to Music", students will learn to increase the enjoyment of classical music, particularly orchestral masterpieces, through intelligent listening. You will learn how to write about music, talk to professional musicians, hear them perform on their instruments, and discuss the main elements of music: rhythm, pitch, melody, and tone. No musical training is required to fully participate in course activities. The course is open to non-music majors only.

Your Professor

Craig Uppercue is excited to collaborate with the Music Education team at Stetson University's School of Music. With 20 years of experience as an educator, percussionist, conductor, and theatrical artist, he has enriched musical education at various levels, from elementary to university. Currently serving as the Fine Arts Resource Teacher for Volusia County schools, he supports 275 Performing and Visual Arts Teachers from Kindergarten to 12th grade. Notably, he recently concluded an 11-year tenure as the Artistic Director for the Historic Athens Theatre in DeLand, FL. His impressive Broadway and Off-Broadway credits include productions like The Lion King, The Rock & The Rabbi, The Witnesses musical, The Apple Tree, and Songs for a New World, among others. Craig remains actively engaged with esteemed orchestras such as The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, The Florida Orchestra, the New World Symphony Orchestra, and The Florida Lakes Symphony Orchestra, among numerous others along the East Coast. Craig and his wife, Amy, reside in Central Florida, cherishing every moment as they watch their daughters grow up.

Are you the kind of leader people want to follow? In this immersive and engaging course, you’ll explore what sets exceptional leaders apart and how to cultivate those qualities within yourself. This course dives into the essential character traits that underpin great leadership – helping you to develop Hattership!

Your Professor

Dena H. Hale is an Associate Professor of Sales and Marketing in the School of Business Administration at Stetson University. Dr. Hale has over 20 years of professional experience in marketing and sales leadership within the services sector. Over the course of her professional career, Dr. Hale has held numerous roles. She is a Veteran of the US Army, has worked as sales representative for transportation/logistics firms and radio advertising, has provided sales training both nationally and internationally, was a successful business owner of a gourmet coffee house, self- and full-service laundromat and currently offers sales training and consulting to small businesses.

From depictions of drug use and addiction in popular culture to reports on the opioid epidemic, our culture is beset by conflicting representations of drugs as both pharmaceutical and recreational, legal and illegal. Contemporary debates about the benefits and side effects of caffeine, alcohol abuse, the medical uses of cannabis, and the advent of “study drugs” also ask us to question our assumptions about the potentially beneficial and harmful effects of substances. In light of the proliferation of drugs in our culture, how can we understand them in relation to the shifting social and political contexts that define them? What is a drug and who decides? This first-year seminar asks students to read and write about representations of drugs in multiple genres, using various compositional modes. Students will interpret print, visual, and digital texts to develop critical thinking and reading skills as they learn how different rhetorical, disciplinary, and cultural situations produce different ideas about what defines a drug. By learning to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the texts they encounter about drugs and culture, students will develop their writing skills and situate their written arguments in broader public and scholarly conversations by citing and summarizing the sources from which they draw. Over the course of the semester, students will come to understand the written work and presentations they do as part of a writing process that requires them to research, draft, revise, edit, and reflect on the practice of writing over time. Each assignment in the course will include a draft, revision, and reflection element, encouraging students to see their written work as part of a long-term process that will culminate in a final project. The final project asks students to develop a poster campaign, event, poster session, video, or podcast to communicate knowledge about drugs and culture that they have developed over the semester for a broader public.

Your Professor

Hannah Markley is an Assistant Professor at Stetson University. Her teaching and scholarly interests include the intersections of literature and science, the medical humanities, gender and sexuality studies, and the history of addiction. She has published several articles on the intersection of addiction narratives and psychopharmacology, femininity and the nineteenth-century practice of opium-eating, representations of appetite in fiction and medical history, and the hypodermic needle role in Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Her current book project is entitled Morbid Cravings: Medicalizing Appetite in Nineteenth-Century Literature.

Colony Collapse Disorder, the mysterious condition that causes honeybees to abandon their queen and disappear from the hive, burst onto the scene in 2006, heralding an era of unprecedented public interest in honey bees, beekeeping, and all things pollination. By 2015, the phrase “Bees are dying at an alarming rate” had reached meme status. While it's hard to judge the validity of the quote often misattributed to Einstein, “If the bee disappeared off the face of the Earth, man would only have four years left to live,” it is true that roughly 1 out of every 3 bites of food you take is dependent upon pollination. In this seminar course, we will use bees as a focal point for examining myriad issues plaguing our agricultural systems, environment, and social structures. Topics include the history of beekeeping, migratory beekeeping, native pollinators, the “honey bee democracy,” bees in pop culture, and much more! Students will learn basic beekeeping skills and gain hands-on beekeeping experience by tending to the campus beehives and harvesting a crop of honey together at the end of the semester.

Your Professor

Sarah Cramer is an Assistant Professor of Sustainable Food Systems in the Department of Environmental Science and Studies. She holds a PhD in agricultural education and a master of public health degree from the University of Missouri, in her home state, and has been at Stetson since 2018. (Did you know that the honey bee is the state insect of Missouri?! Ask Cramer for more fun facts about bees...she has plenty). Her primary research interests are alternative food systems, experiential learning, school gardens, and carceral (prison) foodways, and she regularly publishes journal articles and teaches classes about all of the above. She has been keeping bees since 2012 and can often be found sitting in front of a hive just watching worker bees return home loaded with colorful pollen. 

It is impossible to read a newspaper, surf the Internet, or watch the nightly news without hearing how "Western values" are under assault. Chinese economic might, Islamic terrorism, Russian imperialism-the so-called "West" faces numerous challenges. Such challenges are hardly new, of course. From the Thirty Years War and The French Revolution to the Holocaust and the Cold War, "Westerners" have debated, fought, and even killed each other in the name of "freedom", "equality", "nation", "democracy," and "Judeo-Christian" values. By analyzing major questions in Modern European History, this First Year Seminar will inquire whether "The West" possesses a coherent set of values and whether those values continue to have relevance at the outset of the twenty-first century. This course includes a weekly success lab.

Your Professor

Eric Kurlander, Professor of Modern European History, studied at Bowdoin College (BA) and Harvard University (MA, PhD) before coming to Stetson in 2001. His most recent book (co-edited with Joanne Miyang Cho and Douglas McGetchin), Transcultural Encounters between Germany and India: Kindred Spirits in the 19th and 20th Centuries (Routledge, 2013), looks at the history of German-Indian relations in the spheres of culture, politics, and intellectual life. His last book, Living With Hitler: Liberal Democrats in the Third Reich (Yale University Press, 2009), examines the ways in which German liberals negotiated, resisted, and in some ways accommodated the Third Reich. His first book, The Price of Exclusion: Ethnicity, National Identity, and the Decline of German Liberalism, 1898-1933, appeared in 2006. He has published articles in leading journals, including Central European History, German History and The Journal of Contemporary History, and held research and writing fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation; Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; the German Historical Institute; the German Academic Exchange Service; the Krupp Foundation; and Harvard University's Program for the Study of Germany and Europe. His current projects include a textbook, The West in Question: Continuity and Change (Pearson-Longman, 2014), an edited volume (with Monica Black), The Nazi Soul Between Science and Religion: Revisiting the Occult Roots and Legacies of Nazism. (Camden House, 2015) and a monograph, Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich (Yale, 2016). In his free time, Kurlander enjoys parenting, reading, travel, sports and popular culture.

Have you ever been to a Latino party? Have you ever listened to salsa? Have you ever danced salsa? What do you know about salsa? This course explores the origin and history of one of the most versatile and popular musical genres of the 20th and 21st centuries. Salsa has transcended the borders of the Caribbean and the entire American continent to European and Asian latitudes because of its complex and irresistible rhythms, its attractive melodies, and its sensual and romantic lyrics. What is the musical power of salsa? What is inside of this contagious rhythm that communes magically with the content of a text? How can performers improvise words and new phrases without departing from the main message? We will examine the different styles of salsa in its various forms and its vocabulary and slangs to identify musical momentums, as well as to recognize their rhythmic structures and sounds. Will you dare to play it, dance it and sing it?

Your Professor

Jesus Alfonzo is an associate professor of music in viola, chamber music and music history at Stetson University, where he also conducts the Viola Consort and leads the Viola Clinic. He is also a member of the Bach Festival Orchestra in Winter Park, Fla. and has been a member of the Rios Reyna String Quartet since 1987. He received a diploma and post-graduate Diploma from the Juilliard School of Music and a master of music and doctorate in musical arts degrees from Michigan State University. Alfonzo was born in Caracas, Venezuela. He is a founding member of EL SISTEMA, The Venezuelan National System of Youth Orchestras, in which he had the opportunity to develop both his teaching and playing skills. In 1980 and 1981, he was principal violist of the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra. Later, he became the principal violist of the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, a position he held for sixteen years. In his vast orchestral experience he has worked with distinguished conductors and soloists including Claudio Abbado, Gustavo Dudamel, Leonard Bernstein, Jose Antonio Abreu, Maxim Schostakovitch, Kristoff Penderecki, Zubin Mehta, Serge Baudo, Carlos Chavez, Jerzy Semkov, Eduardo Mata, Claudio Arrau, Joseph Silverstein, Mstislav Rostropovich, Pinchas Zuckerman, Yo-Yo Ma, Monserrat Caballe, Jean Pierre Rampal, Yehudi Menuhin and Henry Szeryng. He has taught in Venezuela at the Conservatorio de Musica Simon Bolivar, the Institute of Musical Studies and the Colegio Emil Friedman. Since 1998, he has given an annual series of viola and string pedagogy master classes at EL SISTEMA in almost every state of Venezuela. In 2008, he wrote the First Catalogue for Latin American Viola Music.

This course provides an introduction to immersive technologies (virtual, augmented and mixed reality) and their application in business and society. Students will learn how these technologies have enhanced today's world by studying their use in everyday life and across a variety of industries including retail, education, healthcare, entertainment, sports, real estate, hospitality, manufacturing, military, and law enforcement. In addition, students will research and conceptualize a real-world virtual reality application that can be used to overcome challenges currently faced by business or society.

Your Professor

William Sause is an Assistant Professor of Practice in the Department of Business Systems and Analytics at Stetson’s School of Business. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from Nova Southeastern University and has over fifteen years of professional experience as a software developer for corporations such as Lockheed Martin and McKesson. At Stetson’s School of Business, Sause teaches courses in programming, databases and big data, management information systems, and spreadsheet modeling. His research interests include virtual environments for e-learning and data visualization, software development, and artificial intelligence. Sause also serves as the Brown Center Fellow for Digital and Remote Learning where he consults with faculty colleagues on the transition to online delivery of classes and promotes faculty development in digital and remote learning.

This First Year Seminar explores fundamental questions of identity and direction: Who are we as individuals and as a society? Where are we headed? Through interdisciplinary readings, discussions, and writing assignments, students will critically examine how different cultures, philosophies, and historical moments have shaped our understanding of selfhood, community, and the future. The course is writing-intensive, with an emphasis on revision, information literacy, and oral communication. Students will engage with primary and secondary sources, develop analytical and reflective writing skills, and participate in structured debates and presentations. By the end of the semester, they will have honed their ability to articulate thoughtful, well-supported arguments in both written and spoken form.

Your Professor

Michael Denner is Professor and Chair of Stetson's program in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies and editor of the Tolstoy Studies Journal, an annual refereed journal. He has been a professor at Stetson University since August 2000.

Course Description

This course is an interdisciplinary introduction that takes a global perspective on gender equality, feminism and workplace issues that affect women. Theories about gender differences, workforce discrimination and the legal framework for equity at work will be explored while looking at the position of women in the workplace from a global perspective. The course encourages reflective practice, critical thinking, collaboration and creativity. Writing as an inquiry-oriented and developmental process will be emphasized, along with oral communication with attention applied to critical thinking.

Course Concepts

• Workforce women
• Segregation
• Gender differences
• Employment discrimination
• Networks
• Mentors
• Communications
• Hostile environments
• Sexual harassment
• Life balance
• Women entrepreneurs
• Policies and practices

Your Professor

Meg Young, DBA, is a proud first-generation college graduate and faculty member. Her teaching philosophy is simple: to change the world for the better, one student at a time. Relationships matter!

First-Year Seminars (FSEMs) are part of the university's mission to acclimate you to the academic standards and practices of this institution, particularly in reference to writing and critical thinking. This is a one unit/four credit course. The workload expectations for this course are defined by Stetson Univeristy in the Credit Hour Policy. 

Regardless of political orientation, class, nationality (or any perspective that informs a worldview), everyone is in agreement that something is wrong with the “system." As we examine a wide range of historical reform figures and their strategies to effect social and institutional change (i.e., Lycurgus, Cicero, Not Sure, and anonymous), you will work to emulate and/or adapt these models to achieve some degree of measurable civic improvement, either in a local or national context. Although this course is geared toward social action, it is also a writing course, which means that a premium is placed on refining your communicative fluency. To achieve this goal, a portfolio of your revised work is required (e.g. a comprehensive collection of all your course papers/drafts). The purpose of this course is A) to improve your ability to argue in writing, B) to analyze persuasive methods, and C) to provide historical/social contexts for your assignments that enable you to offer informed, convincing and critical arguments. The course will incorporate some aspects of a traditional lecture, but dialogue/interaction is expected, since we will engage in many oral debates that will affect the content and revisions of your portfolio. In this class, critical thinking is embedded within the rhetorical process (e.g. by examining how authors/historians use tropes, for example, you learn how arguments become convincing. By applying these strategies yourselves, you then internalize these creative and critical processes. These rhetorical strategies are evaluated in all of your papers as you model sources and use similar approaches. Further, you will learn to write effectively to a variety of audiences for a variety of purposes and engage with information strategically and for a variety of purposes.

Your Professor

While intermittently working on his graduate degrees (Clemson, MA, English; University of South Carolina, PhD, Composition and Rhetoric), Michael Barnes taught, wrote and traveled in the Far East, calling Tokyo home for four years. Tenured at Stetson University in 2006, his current research interests focus on computer-facilitated empirical studies on academia via overlooked institutional artifacts (textbooks, internal communiques and so forth). Pedagogically a sophist, most of his courses push students to "argue both sides equally well."