Course descriptions for First Year Seminar

Provides an introduction to academic life at CSUMB and a foundation to learning as a lifelong process. Students identify the knowledge, skills, and abilities they will need to meet their personal, social, academic, and professional goals. As students meet course goals and outcomes, they start their transition to university life. Required for all entering first-year students and transfers with 29 or fewer semester units. Students should enroll in this course during their first semester at CSUMB. (Offered every semester.) (Credit/No Credit Available)

An introduction to CSUMB culture in terms helping students to fully engage in and understand an academic college experience. The content focus is social media. How does youth culture struggle for social space, and respond to politics, inequality, and the conflicts of daily life? In what way can social media act as both a tool for expression and social change? Students explore personal and cultural histories, while re-imagining a social space that affects local, national, and global events. (Credit/No Credit Available)

The purpose of this class is twofold: 1) to introduce students to the academic model used at CSUMB, and, 2) to introduce students to the theory, philosophy, and practice of nonviolence and how that strategy has brought about significant cultural change from South Africa in the early 20th century to Egypt in the 21st Century. Through an examination of the Core Values, Vision Statement, Academic Goals, Major Fields, and potential career pathways, students create an academic plan for the first two years of study. Students also learn about the philosophy, principles, and methods of nonviolence to see how that practice has brought about social change for millions of persecuted, oppressed, and marginalized people in various cultural and global settings throughout the world.

This course explores religious expression and cultural art forms of the Americas. Students learn interdisciplinary academic methods examining diverse genres of creative representation showing dynamic relationships among self, art, and culture. Case studies focus on contemporary cultural contexts of the Americas, cultivating critical perspectives and values of religious representation, collaborative research on diverse cultures, creative expression, multi-media resources, and current issues.

This section of Project Higher Ground uses the cultural and technical framework of manga, anime, video games and digital animation to reference the core concepts of life as a new university student. Multicultural, rich in tradition and on the cutting edge of technology and creativity, these new forms of media are an integral part of the studentsÀ awareness and make for a vibrant, relevant and provocative environment for academic exploration and personal growth.

Using texts from several genres including short stories and poems, as well as film and other cultural forms, students examine ethnic American experiences. Students explore how human experiences may be mediated by social differences, and how affinities between ethnic groups are rendered visible when we approach works comparatively. A first year seminar, the course integrates these topics with orientation, academic planning and skill development to support student success in the university.

This FYS course will focus on the nature and impact of technology on society, paying particular attention to computing while using previous technological advances as a basis for comparison. We will consider the social, political, historic, economic and philosophic contexts that both shaped and have been shaped by technological change. Students will explore the emerging field of technology and society studies and will learn techniques borrowed from sociology, psychology, and philosophy.

Do you like to travel? Why do people become tourists? Is tourism positive or negative? What is the relationship between tourism hosts and visitors? With a particular focus on tourism practices in Japan and other Asian countries, this course explores the global phenomenon of tourism by analyzing international tourism and cross-cultural encounters, and their impacts on cultures, peoples, and environments. This course is designed to develop fundamental academic skills for students' success at CSUMB. (Credit/No Credit Available)

Group-centered exploration of what is now the United States and California in particular, through study of events, political developments, and diverse peoples of the colonial period through Reconstruction. By interpreting the past, student-historians form connections to current populations, political institutions and issues as they begin their transition to university life and active civic participation. Meets U.S. Histories and Democratic Participation requirement. (Offered every fall.)

An introduction to CSUMB's vision and academic life, this course focuses on sexuality, drugs and other health-related behaviors, as they impact knowledge, decision-making and well-being. It is anticipated that this course will expand students' awareness and appreciation of health and well-being, help them to negotiate CSUMB's academic world and vision, instill in them a broader understanding of diversity and differing perspectives, and develop their academic skills and achievement.

First Year Seminar (FYS) is an introduction to CSUMBÀs vision and academic life and fulfills the Lower-Division Area E and FYS outcomes. This course is tailored to focus on sexuality, drugs and other health-related behaviors, as they impact knowledge, decision-making and well-being. It is anticipated that this course will expand studentsÀ awareness and appreciation of health and well-being, help them to negotiate CSUMBÀs academic world and vision, instill in them a broader understanding of diversity and differing perspectives, and develop their academic skills and achievement.

Students receive an introduction to CSUMB while exploring concepts of well-being, applying theoretical models to personal engagement in behaviors that promote and detract from well-being. Students use evolutionary and neurobiological models to develop health and well being around eating, loving, and learning.