ANTH 199
Be an Anthropologist!

Diane Baxter

University study is mostly about attending lectures, reading, studying and taking exams, and writing papers.  These are all important pursuits and offer students increased knowledge, critical thinking skills, and opportunities to expand one’s world view.  However, “book-work” isn’t everything!  In the “Be an Anthropologist!” Freshman Seminar, you will be out in the real world—meeting people, talking with and learning from them. 

As you engage in this “field research,” you’ll be asking questions that you will formulate (with my help!).  Whatever your questions, wherever your “field site,” you’ll learn about people in the context of culture and society, one of the central concerns of anthropology. 

I have been a cultural anthropologist for 20 years and my field research is in the Middle East.  Each time I am out in “the field,” I am aware of what a privilege it is to experience life from a different perspective, to meet people I wouldn’t any other way, to learn from others, and to ask questions that may shed light on the human experience.  To my way of thinking, university education should be, in part, about challenging one’s self, growing and maturing, and opening up to the realm of possibilities in our world.  I truly believe that field research provides this opportunity and that it is, as I said above, a privilege.  I am excited to teach this Freshman Seminar and to be a part of this possibility for students!

BI 199
Anatomy, Physiology, & Weight Training

Pat Lombardi & Janice Radcliffe

Team-teaching this Freshman Seminar, Anatomy, Physiology and Weight Training, is sure to be a fabulous learning experience for all of us. Our time working out in the weight room, immediately followed by either an open discussion of anatomy and physiology or laboratory work, should provide an ideal setting for group interaction and practical application. We are both delighted to be teaching this unique course and look forward to learning much together with our students.

CIS 199
Making and Breaking Codes

Eugene Luks

In mathematical courses that specialize in the methods underlying modern cryptography, students seem to find the history and politics of the subject as engrossing as the science.  On the other hand, nonspecialists want assurance that their electronic communication is secure from eavesdroppers given that the encryption formulas are public knowledge. The combination of these aspects, together with the fun of secret writing and problem solving, makes this an ideal topic for a freshman course.

A lifelong puzzle enthusiast, I trace my fascination with codes to Sherlock Holmes in the “Adventure of the Dancing Men”, though I could probably give some credit to my Captain Midnight secret decoder pin.  However, beyond its appearance in mysteries and puzzles, cryptography is now inseparably linked with computer science, from the very invention of computers by WWII code-breakers through the internet's dependence on encryption.

ENG 199
Romancing the T(w)een: A Critical Look at Romantic Love, Sex, and Gender Ideology in Popular Young Adult Literture

Tina Boscha

As a mother of teen girls, I am continually hounding my children to read, read, read, and yet, as a writer and instructor of writing with a background in sociology, I also constantly question the values communicated in the books my girls pore over. I find Young Adult literature a fertile ground for discussions of questions we continually grapple with in our society - what is an accurate portrayal of sex and romantic love, how do we define femininity and masculinity, and furthermore, what is appropriate for young readers to encounter in the pages of a book? I think this class will be an exciting and challenging way for students to attempt to answer these questions for themselves and for future readers.

ENG 199
Grow Up Already: Teenage Life in Literature and Film

Miriam Gershow

As a Freshman at the University of Michigan a few decades ago, I found myself overwhelmed by the standard 300-person lecture courses and 40-person discussion sections. Luckily, I was enrolled in a program that allowed for smaller, more personal and interactive seminars held in my dormitory. I still remember how rich and rewarding those seminars were, based on the depth of our discussions and the familiarity and ease cultivated between students and faculty. I am delighted to be able to carry on that tradition through UO's Freshman Seminar program.

I am particularly excited to venture into the topic of adolescence. Along with being a teacher, I am a fiction writer, and the subject of adolescence has long been a focus of my work. My first novel, The Local News, involves an adult narrator looking back on her sixteenth year. Adolescence is a time that is so rife with emotion, transition and uncertainty, it creates a great canvass for creative exploration. I am curious to examine with you how other authors and filmmakers venture into this territory and to also examine what we, as an adult audience, gain from these explorations of the teenage years.

INTL 199
Study Abroad in the US

Magid Shirzadegan and Shun Yanagishita

We are very excited to meet and welcome new students as they embark on their college career.   Freshman seminars are excellent opportunities for having meaningful discussions about the impact of geographical differences on how we define ourselves.

Both of us have lived, studied and worked abroad and are very passionate about issues related to what it means to be an "international" person in today’s global community. Our vibrant international student community and the variety of study abroad opportunities at the University of Oregon are key factors for students in choosing the UO.

We look forward to exploring the whole concept of “culture” and what we learn by stepping out of our “comfort zone.”  This freshman seminar provides a safe and positive environment for students of all backgrounds to talk openly about their thoughts without the fear of being labeled or judged as “politically incorrect.”  We hope this class will allow students to form new friendships across cultural boundaries and enable them to work effectively in an increasingly interdependent world.

GER 199
Fairy Tales on the Move

Dorothee Ostmeier

“Once upon a time” we all loved and/or hated one or the other version of Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood. Images of these stories are deeply engrained into our memories and are constantly revived in popular culture, comics, children films, movies, etc. If we link our personal experiences with these stories to the study of their historical roots, we’ll trace their power in shaping social roles, gender stereotypes and the child’s psyche. It will be fun to experiment with writing our own tales and to observe the images that control our writing process. Do the images control us or do we control them? Let’s discuss how this works.

J 199
Magazine Back Page

Mary-Kate Mackey Edmonston

The freshman year opens the door into a world of possibilities. Learning to express ideas in the tight form of the short essay gives students thinking and writing tools they can use no matter which academic career path they choose to follow.

I like teaching in the workshop format. As a professional writer, I have found that editing another's work is the quickest way to achieve the discerning skills needed to edit your own. Students will benefit from receiving many different points of view. They will have the freedom to decide which ideas they will use to strengthen their writing.

LIB 199
History and Art of the Book

James Fox and Marilyn Reaves

Teaching a Freshman Seminar gives us an opportunity to introduce incoming students to the long and rich history of the book, as both a human-made artifact and a means for transmitting culture, and to connect students with unique resources in the Knight Library’s special collections.

We believe that learning through things, learning from hands-on work, and hearing from real-life practitioners are engaging and rewarding approaches to teaching and study. In this class, we do all three. First, we undertake a close physical analysis of book forms to see how an understanding of these material objects can help us reconstruct and interpret the lifeways and culture of the past and the present. Then, we make books and write text using traditional binding structures and medieval and Renaissance scripts. In this way, we can develop a deeper awareness and appreciation of the craftsmanship and art forms that go into creating books. Finally, we hear from people who write, print, or collect books, allowing us to better understand their cultural roles and to see how books function in society. Interwoven with these three approaches to studying the book are readings by book historians and others who challenge our thinking about the past, present, and future of the book.

RL 199
Love and Exile: Film and Literature

George Moore

First-year scholars can be inspired and inspiring given that their perspective has not yet compromised the ideal of college as a global experience of world culture beyond the invisible walls of an institution. They are sensing their way for the first time into advanced ideational creativity and conceptual discovery with full imaginations. They are ready to be surprised, even awed, by the origins of why we think and the self-inventing essence of human consciousness in action, in crisis - in the world.

Freshman Seminars evoke new themes and investigations to pry open that world. They draw from all arts and sciences and allow students to enjoy an exploration into great questions of existence that can create the lasting experience of an intellectual and aesthetic community.