Fall 2026 First Year Seminars

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.

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.

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.

Sound provides a unique method for learning about any location, especially coastal regions. These regions are home to diverse ecosystems both above and below the water and attract a range of recreation and commercial activities by humans. All of these contribute to the sound of the place or its soundscape. This course applies concepts and methods from acoustic ecology to investigate issues relevant to Volusia County and selected coastal regions around the world. These investigations require an interdisciplinary perspective that draws from environmental studies, musical acoustics, geography, bioacoustics, and digital arts.

Your Professor

Nathan Wolek is a sound artist and audio researcher whose work encompasses electronic music, audio field recording, multimedia performance, and sound design. He is also a two-time Fulbright Scholar, recognized twice by this prestigious academic exchange program (Norway 2012 and Scotland 2021). His music and sound installations feature rapid edits, gradually changing textures, and environmental recordings of personal significance. Wolek has presented his creative work across the United States, in addition to engagements in Korea, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Canada and Brazil. In 2020, Wolek collaborated with the Atlantic Center for the Arts on the launch of Young Sound Seekers. The program creates opportunities for blind and partially-sighted youth to learn about natural soundscapes and audio field recording at Canaveral National Seashore.

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.

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.

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.

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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 intersectionally 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 seminar course will examine how not to die by exploring how to live and live well. The course focuses on the most common causes of death in the US, lifestyle disease, and how everyday choices such as nutrition, exercise, and stress management can contribute to these diseases. Students will be asked to delve into the latest scientific studies to determine what diseases are primarily dependent on how we live, what diseases can or cannot be prevented, and what diseases, if any, can be reversed. And, students will be introduced to the field of integrative medicine to help find the answer to these questions and much more. Many disciplines contribute to the understanding of lifestyle disease and treatment models. Students will discuss and evaluate interdisciplinary contributions to how we view lifestyle disease and integrative medicine, including its financial and societal costs on our population. Information students will learn in this course about the human body, their body, could change the way they choose to live. But the choice is up to them.

Your Professor

Matthew Schrager teaches courses in human anatomy/physiology, the physiology of aging, exercise physiology, biomechanics and research methods. His research focuses primarily on aging, bioenergetics, and functional capacity. He has a secondary research focus on the physiology and biomechanics of mobility and human performance. In his aging research, Schrager analyzes large-scale databases through the National Institute on Aging, and he has published with Stetson students research on blueberries as a potential countermeasure to the functional effects of aging. He is also interested in the role that the “built environment”/bicycling infrastructure has on encouraging or inhibiting physical activity.

From the geometric line-work found on the 5,000-year-old mummy of Ötzi the Iceman to the full-color, photo-realistic portrait of their dog that someone, somewhere is getting tattooed right now, tattoos have been a part of societies across the globe for millennia. In this seminar, we will explore the art of tattooing, examining different styles and methods, as well as delve into tattoos as self-expression and their place in various cultures and subcultures. Through frequent writing assignments, lively classroom discussions, oral presentations, and debates we will examine the questions of why people get tattoos, what they mean, how are they received by others, and much more.

Your Professor

Colin MacFarlane comes from a social science background with a focus on quantitative analysis and postmodern historiography. He is heavily tattooed, receiving his first piece at the age of 18 and continuing to build his collection every year since. His ink is diverse in content but has predominant stylistic influences from Japanese Traditional and Art Nouveau. He is a strong proponent of identity exploration and expression and has facilitated dialogues and presented workshops around identity development and intercultural competence with college students, business leaders, and higher education professionals. Joining Hatter Nation in the fall of 2012, he serves as the Director of Assessment and Operational Effectiveness where he leads the division of Campus Life and Student Success in answering the questions of what we are doing, why we are doing it, and how could we be doing it better. He received his Master of Education in Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics and Assessment from the University of Illinois at Chicago and has been working in higher education since 2009.

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.

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).

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Social media reels make cooking look easy! Is it really that easy to make delicious food? This course explores how the culture and practice of cooking is evolving with easy access to online cooking instruction. Can the cultural history and practices behind different recipes and cooking techniques be fully conveyed in a 1 or 2-minute video? Students will explore the value of gathering information from multiple cultural and scientific sources-- not just a short TikTok reel-- to develop critical thinking and information literacy skills as well as practical cooking (and gardening!) skills in the Brown Hill Teaching Kitchen and Garden.

Your Professor

Dr. Wendy Anderson is the Director of the Sustainable Food Systems Program. She earned her Ph.D. In plant biology from Vanderbilt University. With family roots in farming, and lifelong hobbies of gardening and cooking, she has enjoyed applying her expertise as a plant physiologist to understanding the nutritional benefits of fresh, local food prepared in our own kitchens. Dr. Anderson's other interests include researching ecosystem processes where land meets water, consulting on sustainable business practices, bringing science to policy as a public official, and hanging out with her dog, cat, mom, daughter, and friends-- preferably on long walks, bike rides, or kayak trips.

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.

How do you see the world like an artist? In this course, students will explore new ways of perceiving and engaging with the visual world around them. Through exercises in meditative slow-looking, de-skilled observational drawing exercises, visual formal analysis, and urban drifting (Dérive), as well as engagement with a variety of text-based resources and physical and virtual art collections, this course will encourage students to develop critical thinking, communication, and writing skills. During the course, students will compile a multi-media Journal of Inquiry that will act as a document of their experiences.

Your Professor

Leah Sandler is an interdisciplinary artist, writer and educator based in Orlando, Florida. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Rollins College in 2014 and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of the Arts in 2017. Recent exhibitions include the Corridor Project Billboard Exhibition, the 2020 Florida Biennial, Interstice at MOTOR (curated by the Residency Project) Los Angeles, CA, Utopian/Vermilion, a solo exhibition at ParkHaus15 in Orlando, FL, and CPCH Staging Area, a solo exhibition at Laundromat Art Space in Miami. Sandler’s writing and projects have been featured in publications including Textur Magazine, Salat Magazin, SPECS Journal, and Mapping Meaning Journal. She is the author of The Center for Post-Capitalist History’s Field Guide to Embodied Archiving, published by Burrow Press, and released in September 2021.

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.

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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.

Shakespeare's plays often stand in for the traditional values of Western Civilization that we are supposed to recite, revere and live by. But the same plays have been pressed into the service of Riot-Girl feminism, post-colonial protest, and the Marxist critique of Decadent Capitalism. What about them lends itself to such divergent and contradictory interpretations? How far we will get toward answering questions like that depends on our conversations, arguments, performances and interpretations. In this First-Year Seminar, expect to do all these things in writing and with your own voice.

Your Professor

Joel Davis, Professor of English, writes on Shakespeare and his contemporaries in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe, and he teaches using literature from ancient Rome to 21st-century recording studios. He believes, with Wolfgang Iser, that “to read is to think alien thoughts.”

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.

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!

Course Description

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.

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."