Spring 2025 Courses

spring 25

Spring 2025 course themes are:

The Race, Equity, & Inclusion requirement is currently under review
STEM Focus
Business, Management, & Entrepeneurship
Engaging Our World Through the Arts & Literature
Understanding the World & Exploring Human Experience
Human Conflict, Discrimination, & Social Justice
Education & Exploration

The Race, Equity & Inclusion*

*The Race, Equity & Inclusion Requirement is currently under review.

Social Justice with a Heart: Creating an Inclusive Community for Adults with Disabilities (LC 2)
FYSU 114: Social Justice & [True] Crime
FYSG 138: Child Development in International Contexts
FYSG 143: Beyond the Screen: Exploring the Impacts of Artificial Intelligence
FYSG 143: What is the Metaverse?

STEM Focus

Below are courses that are centered around the themes of STEM focus. Please click to read more about each courses information and description.

FYSE 143: Visualizing your World: Data and Storytelling

FYSE 143-02: Visualizing your World: Data and Storytelling
Jannette Finch, TR 1:40-2:55pm, BELL 308, CRN: 23528
FYSS 101-13
R 3:05-3:55pm, BELL 408, CRN: 23594
--
College of Charleston Libraries
What is fascinating to you? All data tells a story, and as world citizens, you will benefit from using data to tell your own story and to explore the world around you. In this course, students will learn how to verify data sources and to recognize misleading graphics. Students employ effective visualizations to explore trends, develop insight, and illuminate patterns. We will mine a brief history of visualization, appreciate visualization classics, and explore visualization best practices. We will critically evaluate and interpret existing visualizations and produce our own visualizations. Data visualization is an essential literacy for the 21st century student. Learning how to present your insights clearly through data visualization is a skill that you will use throughout your life.
BIOL 112: Learning from Nature: A Biomimicry Approach

Learning from Nature: A Biomimicry Approach
BIOL 112-04: Evolution, Form, and Function of Organisms
Deborah Bidwell, TR 3:05-4:20pm, RITA 103, CRN: 23360
Prerequisite(s): BIOL 111/BIOL 111L
Prerequisite(s) or Co-requisite(s): BIOL 112L
BIOL 112L: Evolution, Form, and Function of Organisms Laboratory
Register for a lab section that fits your schedule
FYSS 101-16
R 5:05-5:55pm, BELL 405, CRN: 23603
--
Biology
A foundation course for science majors providing an introduction to evolution and a study of the major groups of organisms with an emphasis on their structure, form, and function. Lectures three hours per week. The Honors version of this course is HONS 152. Students may not receive credit for both. This FYE course utilizes a biomimetic approach. Students will learn techniques for translating adaptations in nature to sustainable and regenerative problem solving and design practices.
GEOL 240: Volcanoes!

Volcanoes!
GEOL 240-02: Special Topics
John Chadwick & Haley Cabaniss, TR 9:25-10:40am, SSMB 203, CRN: 23626
FYSS 101-17
R 5:05-5:55pm, BELL 408, CRN: 23605
--
Geology
Volcanoes are a blast! Nature’s fireworks can hurl incandescent lava and ash miles into the atmosphere. There are more than 1,500 active volcanoes on Earth, with several dozen erupting in any given year, many of which threaten human life and property. Ash in the atmosphere can bring down a jet airliner, volcanic lava flows and glacier-melt mudflows bury cities, and pyroclastic flows incinerate everything in their paths. This class erupts knowledge about the science and hazards of volcanoes. How do they work? Why do some produce a relatively calm river of red hot lava, while others blast a cloud of deadly ash? Case studies of destroyed cities (especially Pompeii in Italy in A.D. 79, the island of Montserrat in 1997, and Hawaii in 2022) will reveal the different ways that volcanoes threaten us and the ways that geologists study the activity.
HEAL 230: Health for All? Examining Contemporary Practices in Global Health

Health for All? Examining Contemporary Practices in Global Health
HEAL 230-01: Global Health
Kathleen Trejo Tello, TR 9:25-10:40am, BELL 315, CRN: 20959
FYSS 101-25
R 8:00-8:50am, BELL 408, CRN: 23616
--
The World Health Organization promotes the mission of health for all, but is the field of global health really moving in this direction? This course will introduce students to the field, study and practice of global health. We will center our course discussions around questions of equity and sustainability as we explore global health issues such as the affordability and accessibility of health care around the world, sustainable practices of global health organizations, and the impacts of climate change on human health. Students will develop an understanding of the determinants of the global burden of disease and disability and be able to identify strategies for prevention, intervention, and health promotion in ways that are both sustainable and equitable for all.

Business, Management, & Entrepreneurship

Below are courses that are centered around the themes of business, management and sustainability in our world. Please click to read more about each courses information and description.

MGMT 105: Designing Your Life: Finding Your Way in the World of Business

Designing Your Life: Finding Your Way in the World of Business
MGMT 105-01: Introduction to Business
Hayden Smith, MW 3:25-4:40pm, TCFE 315, CRN: 22631
FYSS 101-19
F 3:00-3:50pm, BELL 408, CRN: 23610
--
MGMT 105-02: Introduction to Business
Hayden Smith, MW 3:25-4:40pm, TCFE 315, CRN: 21659
FYSS 101-20
F 4:00-4:50pm, BELL 408, CRN: 23611
--
MGMT 105-03: Introduction to Business
Hayden Smith, MW 3:25-4:40pm, TCFE 315, CRN: 22632
FYSS 101-21
W 5:00-5:50pm, BELL 408, CRN: 23612
--
Management
Interested in business but not sure which path to take? This interactive and dynamic learning community will prepare you for whatever your future holds, during college and after graduation. You will get an overview of the basic concepts and principles of business and design thinking while incorporating elements of personal development and life design. This Learning Community aims to help you identify your strengths, interests, values and guides you in developing a vision for your future careers both in the School of Business and post-graduation. You will engage with current students, alumni and industry leaders. You are encouraged to think outside the box, explore new ideas and gain personal development strategies for success.
--

Engaging Our World Through the Arts & Literature

Below are courses that are centered around the themes of arts and literature in our world. Please click to read more about each courses information and description.

ENGL 110: Civic Responsibility: Thinking, Speaking, & Writing

Civic Responsibility: Thinking, Speaking, & Writing
ENGL 110-07: Intro to Academic Writing
Hudson Luthringshausen, MWF 11:00-11:50am, MYBK 116, CRN: 20968
FYSS 101-29
W 3:00-3:50pm, BELL 324, CRN: 23585
--
English
The Art of Thinking, Speaking & Writing introduces students to the tools that empower them to navigate the art of effective communication confidently. We explore the principles of articulate expression, critical thinking, and moral reflection, and we practice written and spoken acts weekly. Students prepare speeches and written work on a research topic of their choosing. This course centers on themes such as ethics and communication, virtue and authority, and knowledge and social obligation, drawing inspiration from (and challenging) the Jesuit rhetoric notion of Eloquentia Perfecta—the good person speaking well for the common good.
FYSE 114: From Sherlock Holmes to Selena Gomez: Detective Fiction & Descendants

FYSE 114-01: From Sherlock Holmes to Selena Gomez: Detective Fiction & Its Descendants
Elizabeth Baker, TR 10:50am-12:05pm, MYBK 300, CRN: 23478
FYSS 101-01
R 3:05-3:55pm, BELL 405, CRN: 23480
--
English
In addition to tracing the history, conventions, and surprising variety of detective fiction, the course will also examine its influence outside of literature. Among the questions we’ll consider: How does detective fiction reflect time and place? How did detective fiction become the antecedent of certain pop culture trends? Why do familiar genres (the private investigator, the police procedural) remain hugely popular in both traditional and reimagined forms? Why do true crime documentaries and podcasts continue to proliferate? How have cultural shifts around race and gender been reflected in crime fiction (as well as film, TV, and other formats)? What might account for the enduring appeal of detective fiction and its offshoots?
FYSE 114: Get me Bodied: Integrating Mind and Body in the Writing Classroom

FYSE 114-03: Get me Bodied: Integrating Mind and Body in the Writing Classroom
Meg Scott-Copses, MWF 11:00-11:50am, MYBK 220, CRN: 23583
FYSS 101-30
F 3:00-3:50pm, BELL 405, CRN: 23587
--
English
This course will dismantle the belief that writing and thinking are primarily cerebral acts. We will move (literally!) toward more experience-based practices for composing, communicating, learning, and thinking. This means we will be mentally and physically active—moving to music, engaging our senses, and creating ideas together through what we might call our “bodymind.” We will also address contradictory messages we receive from media and culture about the norms and rules for our bodies, asking tough questions about what kinds and shapes of bodies are most valued in our society. You don't need to be an expert writer or a yoga enthusiast to enjoy this class, though you might come out the other side feeling like one!
FYSE 124: Terror and Tragedy

FYSE 124-01: Terror and Tragedy
Ezra Cappell, W 1:00-3:45pm, BELL 308, CRN: 23520
FYSS 101-10
F 3:00-3:50pm, BELL 400, CRN: 23525
--
FYSE 124-02: Terror and Tragedy
Ezra Cappell, W 4:00-6:45pm, BELL 308, CRN: 23521
FYSS 101-11
F 4:00-4:50pm, BELL 405, CRN: 23523
--
In this course, Terror and Tragedy, students will consider the ethical question of how filmmakers, artists, and writers ought to represent the horrors of historical tragedy and war. Throughout the semester we will analyze historic and aesthetic representations of the Holocaust, the Vietnam War, and the 9/11 terror attacks through a variety of genres, including: films, photographs, paintings, musical compositions, short stories, documentary evidence, historical texts, philosophical texts, religious texts, and survivor testimonies. By the conclusion of this course students will be able to make ethically informed evaluations of artistic representations of war, genocide, and terrorist attacks and will determine for themselves whether and how artists ought to create art from the ashes of human tragedy.
FYSE 139: Theatres Visual Language

FYSE 139-01: Theatres Visual Language
Janine McCabe, MWF 11:00-11:50am, CAAN 108, CRN: 23531
FYSS 101-18
W 5:00-5:50pm, BELL 400, CRN: 23607
--
Theatre
Take a dive into the visual communication that begins a journey of exploration and concept development for theatrical storytelling. It’s not just about the visual product seen on stage at the culmination of the process, it’s about how we get there and keep design and directing teams unified in their vision to support the playwright’s intention. In this class, you will explore and analyze the way theatre design teams conceptualize and execute ideas while learning basic elements and principles of design. You will meet designers and directors, see productions, and collaborate on projects as you learn research and communication tools!

Understanding the World & Exploring Human Experience

Below are courses that are centered around the themes of understanding and exploring the human experience. Please click to read more about each courses information and description.

LC 1: Justice and Civil Discourse

Justice and Civil Discourse (LC 1)
ENGL 110-37: Introduction to Academic Writing
Scott Peeples, MWF 10:00-10:50am, MYBK 220, CRN: 21331
POLI 150-02: Introduction to Political Thought
Claire Curtis, MWF 11:00-11:50am, MYBK 316, CRN: 20610
FYSS 101-26
W 3:00-3:50pm, BELL 405, CRN: 23617
--
English
For many people, “politics” is a bad word, suggesting manipulation and corruption. The same might be said of “rhetoric,” which often connotes not just saying what you mean. This learning community combines a course on political thought and a course on writing and rhetoric that seek to redeem these terms: politics and rhetoric can and should be used to promote the common good. POLI 150 will focus on how theorists over the last 2500 years have thought about what it means to live together peacefully, and what principles are at stake. ENGL 110 will focus on civil discourse: how to “argue” constructively, fairly, and respectfully when you write and design documents --- and why it matters.
FYSE114: The Trouble with Influencers

FYSE 114-02: The Trouble with Influencers
Jacob Craig, TR 12:15-1:30pm, MYBK 220, CRN: 23581
FYSS 101-28
T 3:05-3:55pm, BELL 405, CRN: 23586
--
English
Social media influencers are everywhere today, turning their online presence into profit and their attention into money. In this First-Year Experience course, we'll look at how influencer culture works and what it means for society. We'll focus on three main areas. First, how influence works online: We'll explore how likes, shares, algorithms, and money-making strategies affect what content we see and how we engage with it. Second, one-sided friendships: We'll study why followers feel close to influencers they've never met, and how these relationships are used to sell products and services. And finally, the power of online persuasion: From real experts to outright scammers, we'll look at different ways people use influence across social media platforms. You'll analyze real examples, work on hands-on projects, and join group discussions to understand today's influence economy better. We'll think about what happens when society listens more to people who are good at getting attention rather than those who are actual experts. The course teaches both thinking and doing. You'll learn to spot trustworthy content, understand how social media engagement works, and think critically about how influencers balance being genuine with making money.
FYSE 121: The Meaningful Life

FYSE 121-01: The Meaningful Life
Richard Bodek, TR 10:50am-12:05pm, MYBK 302, CRN: 23482
FYSS 101-02
R 4:05-4:55pm, BELL 408, CRN: 23484
--
History
Who am I? Who do I want to be? What are the elements of a meaningful, life? What is a good life? In this class we will read and discuss some great texts from various times and places and think about how to build a life with meaning. Prepare to consider some fascinating works, including novels, a dialogue, and works of theology, philosophy, psychology, and political science. Few if no lectures, no tests, just discussion, writing and thinking. We may all end up with different answers, but that’s fine. Most importantly, we will share our questions and quest.
FYSE 132: Psychology of Travel

FYSE 132-01: Psychology of Travel
Chelsea Reid-Short, TR 12:15-1:30pm, BELL 308, CRN: 23509
FYSS 101-03
T 3:05-3:55pm, BELL 414, CRN: 23510
--
Psychology
In this course, students will seek to understand how travel impacts individuals, close relationships, broader social groups, and the larger world by reviewing and applying psychological scientific research and theory. This course will examine how travel affects our mental and physical health, relationship quality, and work productivity, and we will discuss challenges that individuals of different demographic groups may face when traveling. Students will also examine how our travel may impact people who live and work at the locations to which we travel, and how our travel can impact our attitudes and behaviors toward other cultures and social groups. Finally, students will examine how travel may impact our natural environment and surrounding world, including a focus on sustainability and eco-tourism.
FYSE 135: American Popular Culture

FYSE 135-01: American Popular Culture
Paul Roof, MW 2:00-3:15pm, ECTR 113, CRN: 23513
FYSS 101-06
W 8:00-8:50am, BELL 405, CRN: 23515
--
FYSE 135-02: American Popular Culture
Paul Roof, MW 3:25-4:40pm, ECTR 113, CRN: 23514
FYSS 101-07
F 3:00-3:50pm, BELL 324, CRN: 23516
--
Sociology
This course is designed to introduce students to critical analysis of contemporary popular culture in the United States. Students will get an overview of the insights, findings, concepts, and perspectives that are held by a wide variety of interdisciplinary popular culture scholars today. Several prominent areas of popular culture to be studied include advertising, television, film, music, religion, and cyberculture.
PSYC 223: Me and We: Social Relationships and Identity

Me and We: Social Relationships and Identity
PSYC 223-03: Social Psychology
Lisa Ross, MWF 10:00-10:50am, MYBK 103, CRN: 21222
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 103
FYSS 101-04
W 9:00-9:50am, BELL 405, CRN: 23511
--
PSYC 223-04: Social Psychology
Lisa Ross, MWF 10:00-10:50am, MYBK 103, CRN: 23476
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 103
FYSS 101-05
W 5:00-5:50pm, BELL 405, CRN: 23512
Psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of social aspects of being human: how we think about one another, influence one another, and relate to one another. Students will reflect on their childhoods as well as their transition to college as they link course material, namely social sources of information (including relationships), with their identity.

Human Conflict, Discrimination, & Social Justice

Below are courses that are centered around the themes of human conflict, discrimination, and social justice. Please click to read more about each courses information and description.

AAST 200: For the Culture

For the Culture
AAST 200-03: Intro to African American Studies REI-US
Kameelah Martin, MWF 11:00-11:50am, ECTR 114, CRN: 21707
FYSS 101-08
F 3:00-3:50pm, BELL 414, CRN: 23591
--
African American Studies
REI-US
This course is an interdisciplinary introduction to African American Studies that combines the teaching of core thinkers, concepts, and debates in the field with instruction in critical reading and writing. After exploring the field’s institutionalization in US higher education, students engage foundational texts in African American Studies such as works by Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Toni Morrison, the Combahee River Collective, Malcolm X, Audre Lorde, and James Baldwin. After taking this course, students should emerge with rich and textured insights into African American history, thought, and culture that provides them with critical lenses for analyzing contemporary social issues impacting African Americans.
FYSE 125: Bad Hombres/Spicy Vixens: Challenging Latino/a Stereotypes in the U.S.

FYSE 125-01: Bad Hombres/Spicy Vixens: Challenging Latino/a Stereotypes in the United States
Nadia Avendaño, TR 10:50am-12:05pm, LONG 402A, CRN: 23518
FYSS 101-09
W 3-3:50pm, BELL 408, CRN: 23522
--
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
This seminar introduces students to the field of Latino/a Studies in order to better understand the place of Latinos in U.S. politics, history, and culture. Students will be asked to examine how a heterogeneous and changing Latino/a population both shapes and is shaped by life in the United States. Students will be introduced to Latino/a literary production involving growing up Latino/a. In addition to reading fiction written by Tomás Rivera, Sandra Cisneros, Judith Ortiz Cofer and Junot Díaz among others, students will also study images and representations of Latinos/as in motion picture and independent films in order to understand societal constructions and treatment of Latinos/as with the hope of being able to draw parallels between representations and issues facing Latino/a communities in the United States. The course will look at constructions of “Latinidad” as they relate to questions of identity, class, race, and/or ethnicity, religion, gender and sexuality, (im)migration, language, and popular culture.
FYSE 143: Navigating a Post-Truth World

FYSE 143-01: Navigating a Post-Truth World
Jared Seay, TR 12:15-1:30pm, ADDL 127, CRN: 23526
FYSS 101-12
T 4:05-4:55pm, BELL 408, CRN: 23537
--
College of Charleston Libraries
The profusion of social media has escalated the concept of “fake news” and radically changed the information environment into a “post-truth” world where anyone is a publisher and sources and authorities are decentralized. Identifying what a document is, much less the credibility of the information, is muddled at best. Students will learn how information was historically accessed and used in comparison with the unique characteristics of the “new media” information environment and how one can successfully navigate this new social information sphere. Using visual literacy, media literacy, and game-based learning activities, they will learn how to identify text packaging, think critically about the information they encounter, develop skills as information consumers and employ ethical behavior as creators of information.

Education & Exploration

Below are courses that are centered around the themes of education and exploration. Please click to read more about each courses information and description.

FYSE 138: FitCatZ Aquatic & Motor Therapy

FYSE 138-01: FitCatZ Aquatic & Motor Therapy
Susan Flynn, W 3:00-6:00pm, ECTR 214, CRN: 23532
FYSS 101-22
T 4:05-4:55pm, BELL 400, CRN: 23613
--
Teacher Education
The FitCatZ Aquatic and Motor Therapy course is designed to provide students interested in pursuing a degree in occupational & physical therapy as well as teacher education, with the knowledge and skills to design & implement movement experiences to enhance children’s physical, social and emotional development. Students will participate in an aquatic and motor clinic putting theory to practice and teaching young children in a therapy setting. Time is required for transportation to the facility before 3:00 p.m. on Wednesdays.
FYSE 138: Got Mindfulness?

FYSE 138-02: Got Mindfulness?
Techa Smalls-Brown, TR 10:50am-12:05pm, ECTR 214, CRN: 23533
FYSS 101-23
T 3:05-3:55pm, BELL 400, CRN: 23614
--
Teacher Education
It’s no secret that college can quickly become a major stressor for many students. Balancing multiple classes on top of work, a social life, and many other things is a lot to take on at once. Don’t let yourself become too overwhelmed with everything. Instead, take this FYE!