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MSU 101, a one credit hour orientation course once required for all first-year students, will no longer be a general education requirement for first year students in fall 2010, Yvonne Baldwin, assistant vice president for University College, said.
Baldwin said a First Year Seminar will take the place of MSU 101. She said the Seminar is a three credit hour academic course with academic content that will also cover orientation to MSU's campus.
"It was part of the general education redesign," Baldwin said. "First Year Seminar is a part of the best practices used all over the country. Research shows that it is an excellent way to bring students into college life."
Baldwin said the new First Year Seminar course is thematic — with the overall theme for all courses being "Fact or Fiction." She said the course also would have a common reading theme — "Unspun." She added that section themes were created around this common theme and common reading.
"The faculty senate created a general education council with a subcommittee that came up with the common theme and reading," Baldwin said. "Individual faculty members then proposed course sections that reflect this theme."
Associate Professor of Physics Jennifer Birriel will be teaching the section ET and Interstellar Travel in the fall.
"I am a physicist by training and my research specialty is stars and stellar evolution," Birriel said. "I am also a big science fiction fan — so the idea of life in the universe is really quite interesting to me. When I heard the theme for First Year Seminar was Fact or Fiction, I thought that the topic of aliens, alien encounters, and interstellar travel lent itself well to this theme."
Birriel's course outline states the course will introduce students to the scientific method and the scientific study of life in the universe. Students will attempt to answer the question "Is there life in the Universe or are we alone?"
English Professor Layne Neeper will be teaching the section Rock Music: Enduring Art or Ephemeral Entertainment.
Neeper's course outline states the course will explore the qualities of contemporary rock and roll through examination of its lyrics and music and apply the study of poetic elements to the language in of rock songs in order to distinguish important values and ideas found in some rock music from the popular perception that it is a mere throw away commodity produced in the service of consumer culture.
"Basically, students will try to discern art from product in the realm of rock music," Neeper said.
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