First Year Inquiry

An FYI course provides an "innovative learning environment that stresses mastery of fundamentals, intellectual discipline, creativity, problem solving, and responsibility.".…NC State University Mission Statement

Two-Dimensional Design for Non-Design Majors **
ADN 111 Sec. 001         M W F 10:15-12:05
Dr. Kathleen Rieder
**This course is not open to School of Design students

Why do some pages look good and others are a mess? Can I design pages that are interesting, attractive, expressive, communicative, and even creative?
ADN111 is an introduction to the fundamentals of design studies. In it students learn basic principles and language of design through two-dimensional problems and will explore these elements in abstract and applied problems through design issues.

General Education Requirement Fulfilled - Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) -Philosophy, Religion, Visual & Performing Arts

Introduction to Public Speaking
COM 110 Sec. 029 T TH 1:05-2:20
Dr. Sandra Stallings

Why did you vote for one candidate and not another? Why does your best friend support a position entirely opposite of yours?
Though many answers are possible, communication analysts would advise you to look at the speaker (the candidate), the audience (those for whom and to whom the speech is addressed), and the occasion (the reason for the speech). In this course, we examine each of these and explore the explanations for the many possible answers. You (the speaker) have opportunities (occasions) to contrive speeches for your class (the audience) to make yourself understood. An exciting semester awaits!

How can I learn to say what I really mean in Spanish?
In this intermediate-level course we concentrate on communication skills that are truly practical in the real world. Class activities emphasize oral communication, both conversational and presentational, in a cultural context. Out-of-class exercises include a computerized lab program and Internet activities.

What were the key problems of the 20th Century and how did they shape my life, IDEAS, and assumptions? Why did a period of so many technological marvels also WITNESS the massacre of so many people?
An in-depth consideration of five problems in the history of the century just past such as European colonization of the "Third World," Hitler's Germany, the end of European empires, the Cold War.

How did the United States become an independent nation? In what ways is that process still shaping our lives today, both as a nation and as individuals?
This course addresses crucial issues in American history from early European exploration through the Civil War--colonization and cultural conflict, the struggle for independence, economic and geographic expansion, and racial oppression and sectional divisions.

Environmental Ethics *A Service-Learning Course
MDS 201S Sec. 002 T TH 11:20-12:35
Dr. Patti Clayton and Dr. Erin Malloy-Hanley

How can we think in ethical terms (and not fiscal or political terms) about global environmental issues such as pollution, population, food, energy, and uses of water, land, air, plants and animals?
This course is an interdisciplinary consideration of ways in which personal and cultural values contribute toward solving (or compounding!) global environmental problems. Students learn to participate in an ethical decision-making process. They will examine the Hillsborough Street Partnership Project as a local environmental microcosm of global issues and participate in this project as their service-learning course component. Through this project, students will render service to the local community at course-related sites and will reflect both individually and in small groups on what they are learning as a result of this experience.

Contemporary Science, Technology and Human Values * A Service-Learning Course
MDS 302 Sec. 009 T TH 1:05-2:20
Dr. Janice Odom and Dr. Dan Solomon

"Who am I?" and "What is my place in the world?"
These ever-important questions of the young adult are addressed in this course as the student considers them in context of the great discoveries of science in the last one hundred years - the advances and challenges of new technologies, and the varied and competing value systems within which we live. In addition to critical reading, writing and discussion of these issues, students in this class will participate in related service-learning experiences, working in small groups in schools and agencies in the local community.

What do I hear when I hear music? Why does music matter?
In this course, students examine a wide range of musical examples from various perspectives. The course is structured in four sections, the first dealing with basic concepts and the establishment of a working vocabulary for musical investigations. In the other sections, we shall explore the relationship of music with the sacred, with identity, and with narratives. No musical training required.

Problems and Types of Philosophy: "The Moral Community"
PHI 205 Sec. 020 ** M W 3:40-4:55
Dr. Erin Malloy-Hanley

What is a moral community? What does it mean to struggle for respect and freedom?
The course reviews some of the continuing struggles for equality and freedom in America considered in relation to the larger historical context out of which they have arisen. Have the struggles gone too far or not far enough? What do I have in common with them?
** Please note: Contrary to electronic registration information which lists the class schedule as M W 3:40-5:30, this class will meet on M W 3:40-4:55

General Education Requirement Fulfilled - Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) -Philosophy, Religion, Visual & Performing Arts

Conceptual Optics
PY 133 Sec. 001           T TH 1:05-2:20
Dr. Michael Paesler
PY 133Lab Sec. 201          M 12:25-2:15
Ms. Willyetta Bown

What in the world is light? What does light tell us about our surroundings?
PY 133 introduces students to basic physical principles through investigations of light. Conceptual rather than problem-solving in nature, the course covers such topics as "Light as a Wave," "Color," "Rainbows, Halos and Mirages" and "Light in the Cosmos." Take-home activity-oriented laboratories are featured. Lab and lecture must be taken in the same semester. Designed for non-science majors.

What is family? Are families important? If so, why and how?
SOC 204 is an introductory course that serves as a prerequisite for all higher-level sociology courses. We question which social factors differentiate families. We ask and answer questions from scientific perspectives and ask how we know what we know.