Announcing Fall 2025 Sophomore Seminars

For fall 2025, we are pleased to offer three sophomore seminars. Seminars are offered by Digital Media and Film/Sociology, Performance and Communication Arts, and Center for Career Excellence.  These seminars are open only to sophomores. Registration in APR begins on Monday, April 7, 2025. Each seminar will incorporate one-on-one mentoring, career exploration, and building classroom community.

DMF/SOC-3132: Tech & Social Change
Zeyno Ustun, Tue/Thur, 9:40-11:10,  (1.0 Credits)

This course examines the history of media infrastructures and social change via the cinematic lens offered by Sci-Fi, fantasy, and non-fiction genres in the 21st century. Changing media technologies have impacted our social worlds, altered how we communicate, and how we engage in collective action. In this seminar, we will trace the past, present, and future of digital technologies, analyze changing representations in contemporary cinema and revisit the theories and methodologies in the fields of digital media theory, networked movements, digital action, and critical internet studies. Key issues to explore include: How network culture changed our lives? What is the infrastructure of the global internet? What is the logic of networked action and how effective is it? Have the supposed democratic rules of the internet brought about positive social transformations? What is the impact of ever-increasing internet surveillance? The aim is to learn about the role of digital technologies in emboldening democratic principles, as well as its use as a tool for strict governmental control via methods of total digital surveillance.

PCA 111-04: Rhetoric and Public Speaking
Erika Kissam, Mon/Wed, 12:50-2:20, (1.0 credits)

What makes someone a good speaker and why are oral communication skills among the most desirable skills on the job market? This course introduces public speaking concepts and skills rooted in the rhetorical tradition and is designed to develop effective presentation skills, critical thinking, and astute listening. In addition to researching, constructing, and delivering speeches, students will learn principles of rhetorical analysis and critique.

ND 100: Careers 101: Exploring the Liberal Arts and Careers
Michelle Gould, Wed, 8:50-10:20, (0.5 credits)  

This course provides students with the foundational skills, resources, and tools necessary to explore, assess, and pursue a career. It will show how a liberal arts education helps students become leaders, innovators, and global citizens. Through a series of projects and case studies, students will develop and apply their new skills and knowledge. By the end of the course, students will write and revise relevant job materials that will create success in searching for employment. Topics covered include networking with alumni, interviewing, resumes, digital profiles, cover letters, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, skills assessments, developing new skills as needed (upskilling), cultivating resiliency, and critically reflecting on the intersection of the liberal arts and your career trajectory.