Seminar Faculty:
Professors Barry, Graves, Harshman, Higgins, Langlois, McDonnell, Martin, Prescott, Reedy, Urgo, Weinberger

Course Objectives and Rationale:
The Liberal Arts Freshman Seminar is designed to set standards for college-level work and to prepare students for academic life. This requires, at its center, the acquisition of traditional liberal arts learning skills such as reasoned judgment, articulate expression, and careful preparation. The Seminar will include frequent writing assignments and will present writing as an activity that is integral to the learning process. Students will also see that much of the learning in any college course occurs outside the classroom, in hours spent reading, writing, and interacting with fellow students.

The theme of the Freshman Seminar for AY1998-1999 is Nature. The Seminar Faculty wish to emphasize the centrality of this concept to the lives of human beings, both as an integral part of our personal identity and as an idea with considerable implications politically, socially, and culturally. The Seminar readings are designed to explore the complexity of the idea of nature in history and society, and to assess the status of the concept in the contemporary world.

Required Texts:
Jon Krakauer, Into Thin Air
David Arnold, The Problem of Nature
G. Nabhan and S. Trimble, The Geography of Childhood
E. O. Wilson, In Search of Nature
Leslie Stevenson, Ten Theories of Human Nature
Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony
William Faulkner, Go Down, Moses
Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
P. Schwartz and V. Rutter, The Gender of Sexuality
Emily Dickinson, Final Harvest
Diane Hacker, A Writer’s Reference  and a dictionary of your choice.

Course Requirements and Grading:
1. Weekly writing assignments (1 page, typed) in response to questions posed about the reading. These papers will be incorporated into the Seminar and may form the basis of student verbal initiatives in class. (25%)
2. Formal Essays (5 pages, typed). Two formal essays are required. Topics will be announced in class and are designed to allow students to synthesize materials following the completion of major sections of the syllabus. (20% x 2 = 40%)
3. Participation in seminar discussions and other in-class activities. (15%)
4. Final cumulative exam. This will be an essay exam. (20%)

Additional Requirements:
Attendance is mandatory in this seminar and your instructor will explain penalties for missed classes. Given the seminar format any evaluation of student performance depends on attendance. Students are required to keep a portfolio for their completed work, and to bring it with them to scheduled conferences with their instructor.

Academic Standards:
Please familiarize yourself with College policies regarding academic dishonesty. Plagiarism and cheating of any kind will result in failure. If you have questions about these polices, please ask.

Electronic Discussion List: FLAS@bryant.edu
The faculty will monitor and participate in an electronic discussion list designed to extend discussion of the reading beyond formal seminar meetings. To subscribe to the list, send the message “subscribe FLAS” (without the quotation marks) to this address: majordomo@bryant.edu. You will receive confirmation of your subscription within 24 hours, after which you will begin to receive mail and be able to post messages to the list. You will also receive general guidelines at that time. To quit your subscription, send the message “unsubscribe FLAS” to the majordomo address. This list is an optional resource for students enrolled in LA151. You may subscribe from any address, @bryant, AOL, hotmail, et al.

Reading Schedule:

January 26:  Introduction to the course
Jan. 28 - February 2: Carson, Silent Spring
February 4-9:  Stevenson, Ten Theories of Human Nature
February 11-18:  Faulkner, Go Down Moses
February 22-25  Conferences: Section Essay No. 1 Due February 26

March 2-4:  Wilson, In Search of Nature
March 9-11:  Arnold, The Problem of Nature
March 15-19  SPRING BREAK
March 23-25:  Krakauer, Into Thin Air
March 29 - April 1 Conferences: Section Essay No. 2 Due April 2

April 6-8:  Nabhan & Trimble, Geography of Childhood
April 13-15:  Schwartz & Rutter, The Gender of Sexuality
April 20-27:  Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony
April 29-May 4:  Emily Dickinson, Final Harvest
May 6:   Review for Final

Final Exam Date: