FYSM Topics and Descriptions

African History Through Film

This class will present the history of Africa through film. Students will watch and learn from three types of films: documentaries about Africa; Western images of Africa in films like "Tarzan" to "The Gods Must be Crazy" to the latest Disney cartoon that shows animals speaking African languages, but no Africans; and films that Africans watch from South African TV to Nollywood (Nigerian film industry).

Professor: Dr. Christine Saidi, History

Body Adornment, Tattoo & Other Modifications

This course introduces the global significance of body adornment and modification, specifically how the body has been used as a means of expression over time and across cultures. Skin art and other forms of body modification including tattoo, piercing, and plastic surgery will be studied along with hairstyles, clothing, and jewelry as examples of adornment. These forms and others will be explored through the lenses of history, health, gender, class, race, culture, identity, and art.

Professor: Dr. Peg Speirs, Art Education

Bueller? Teachers in the Movies

This course taps into the power of movies to explore the portrayal of teachers to better understand their place in American society. By examining teachers in pop-culture films ranging from classics like "To Sir, with Love" to "School of Rock," students will discuss the messages in the films covered; assess the strengths and weaknesses of each film's message; and apply the lessons from these films to controversial questions that surround American education.

Professors: Dr. Deborah Johnson, EMLT

Career Habits of Highly Effective Leaders

The Career Habits of Highly Effective Leaders is a student success course designed with the end in mind: success in college, career and life. Themes include securing, maintaining, and enjoying your future careers, and becoming your best future self. Students will participate in career assessment, practice networking, and ultimately develop a personal brand. After completing this course, students will possess a competitive edge through two separate, notable achievements: KU's Career Exploration Certificate and the Franklin Covey Personal Leadership Certificate.

Professor: Dr. George Hale, Philosophy & Government

College Culture, College Life

Social scientists such as anthropologists and sociologists often study another culture by immersing themselves in that culture and then trying to understand that culture from the inside out, as the people within that culture do. In this seminar we will examine college culture itself. This seminar will introduce first-year students to how social scientists learn about another culture by using the students’ own experiences as first-years at Kutztown University who are learning about college culture, both in and outside of the classroom.

Professor:
Dr. Jason Crockett, Department of Anthropology and Sociology
Dr. Carolyn Gardner, Department of Business Administration

Creative Problem Solving

From the invention of the wheel to the invention of the internet, innovation is what has helped our society to advance. In order to innovate, we must learn to be creative problem solvers. In this course, students will develop creative problem-solving skills by working in teams to solve problems generated by Creative Competitions Inc. for the Odyssey of the Mind program. There will be script writing, device building, and more!

Professors: Dr. Shawn Riley, Business Administration

Envisioning the Future

This course explores what the future may look like, and what it will mean for our lives and values. It will address issues such as when it becomes possible for some humans (but not others) to possess enhancements to their mental and physical capabilities, what will the words "all men are created equal" mean? When government and corporations have the power to monitor our thoughts, movements, and emotions, what will the right to privacy mean?

Professor: Dr. Glenn Richardson, Philosophy & Government

Exploring Differently Abled in Pop Culture

This is not a course about exploring how individuals with disabilities are portrayed in mass media. It is a course about how those depictions shape our thinking about these individuals. Often, we may not personally know someone with a disability, so our perceptions are shaped by encounters through mass media. Students will explore film, television, new media, modern and graphic novels, art, and other forms of mass media to identify how these images influence societal and personal views of disability/differently-abled... good and bad. We consistently encounter differently-abled individuals in our daily lives and self-awareness is the first step to acceptance and inclusion in society.

Professor: TBD

Finding Your Voice

Our voice is the instrument that allows us to speak and sing, cheer and whisper, but how does our voice work? Just like other instruments, if we fine tune our vocal qualities, we improve the impact of our expression no matter how we use our voice. Additionally, understanding vocal mechanics helps prevent vocal problems. This seminar will explore the beauty and power of the natural voice for singing and speaking. No previous singing experience required.

Professor: Dr. Henry Alviani, Music
Professor: Dr. Jennifer, Jacobson, Philosophy & Government

Globalization and Challenges to Identity

Globalization is one of the defining forces of the 21st century, influencing how we live, work, communicate, and understand the world. This interdisciplinary course introduces students to the major dimensions of globalization. A central component of this course is its emphasis on Study Abroad as a transformative tool for understanding globalization in real-world contexts. Students will explore the value of cross-cultural immersion and global citizenship. In addition, they will develop their own study abroad program as a case study and a capstone to the course. Throughout the semester students will also learn concrete skills that will help them ensure that they succeed academically at the university level.

Professor: Dr. Gregory Hanson, Modern Language Studies

Honors: Bueller? Teachers in the Movies

This course taps into the power of movies to explore the portrayal of teachers to better understand their place in American society. By examining teachers in pop-culture films ranging from classics like "To Sir, with Love" to "School of Rock," students will discuss the messages in the films covered; assess the strengths and weaknesses of each film's message; and apply the lessons from these films to controversial questions that surround American education.

Professors: Dr. Brenda Muzeta, Secondary Education

Honors: Doomsday: Would You Survive?

Catastrophic events like meteorites, volcanic eruptions, and ice ages have repeatedly decimated life on Earth, causing mass extinctions. Scientific evidence implicates different culprits acting at different times throughout Earth's history. We will explore the scientific techniques used to study the causes and the results of mass extinctions. Students will incorporate scientific principles and creative thinking to project whether humans, as individuals and as a species, could survive these life-altering events if - and when - they occur again.

Professor: Dr. Sarah Tindall, Physical Sciences

Honors: Exploring Kutztown University Through the Things We Keep

Kutztown University is home to numerous collections, including bugs, rocks, trees, artifacts, musical instruments, oral histories, archives, and more. This seminar will introduce first-year students to the issues those working with collections face as they explore some of the collections that exist in disciplines from across Kutztown University. First-year students also will learn how to conduct research using a specific collection or collections, depending upon the expertise of the instructor. Finally, first-year students will learn about the resources available to them to work with faculty as they pursue innovative research programs focused on those collections.

Professor: Dr. Khori Newlander, Anthropology & Sociology

Horror in Contemporary American Culture

Horror has long been a popular genre in visual arts, fiction, and other media. Over the last 30 years, horror's popularity has intensified, especially in film, comics, and series produced for the web and television. The course examines the tropes and techniques of contemporary horror in American popular culture. It asks why we are compelled by and attracted to images and texts designed to scare or repel us.

Professor: Dr. Anthony Bleach, English

Simple Living: Life of Reason and Virtue

In parallel with familiarizing students with KU resources for success in college, this course teaches them the art of simple living, understood as a life of virtue and reason. It studies some of the themes in the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, a book of deep personal reflections of an emperor philosopher. The course explores the relationship between virtue, rational thinking, and human happiness. Logic for rational decision-making will also be covered.

Professor: Dr. Mohammad Adeel, Philosophy & Government

Socially Just Hip-Hop

This course is designed to support student learning and academic success with a focus on hip-hop based practices to foster career readiness for students who are unsure about a major or career path. The course will address academic skills, career, and academic planning as well as financial literacy. By engaging in these topics, students will learn specific strategies that contribute to their overall academic success as they express their individuality through hip-hop music and culture. Emphasis is placed on the student's academic and personal development in the college environment who are either undeclared or unsure about their major. Students will explore majors and minors offered at Kutztown University and learn about their strengths, and interests as well as gain a better understanding of how to plan for their academic future.

Professor: Dr. Marlene Fares, Academic Enrichment

Tell Me A Story

What did you imagine your first day and first year in college would be like? What dreams, goals, issues do you bring with you to college? The answers to these questions have no doubt been influenced by the stories you tell about yourself and those that your family and friends tell about you and you all. Stories empower us and define us ... sometimes a bit narrowly. Understanding how personal, cultural, and academic stories operate is useful for school, work, and life.

Professor: Dr. Carolyn Gardner, Business Administration

The Power of Place

Places are more than geographic coordinates; they are centers of meaning and experience that powerfully influence us. How does place shape us, and how do we shape the places around us? We will explore the ways that people interact with places and give them meaning, and the ways that places teach us about our cultures and ourselves, through various media including film, graphic novels, readings, fieldwork, art, interviews, and personal reflections.

Professor: Dr. Steven Schnell, Geography
Professor: Dr. Mathias Le Bosse, Geography

The Secret Lives of Food

Eating is both a popular pastime and an activity necessary to sustain life. A very small percentage of food is eaten raw. Most food is baked, fried, broiled, grilled, fermented, or processed in some way. In this course we will examine the physical and chemical changes that occur when food is prepared, including traditional methods, "processing" as it is carried out in the modern food industry, and new techniques known as molecular gastronomy.

Professor: Dr. Daniel Blanchard, Physical Sciences

First-Year Seminar Course Topics for Fall 2026