For many years, one of the real strengths of a John Carroll University education has been our Core Curriculum, which provides our students with a solid grounding in the Liberal Arts and a basis to build upon in their majors.  For the last 13 years, the centerpiece of our core has been our First Year Seminar, the only course which directly addresses all of the goals of the core.  Our FYS is a rigorous academic course – not to be confused with the more common “College 101” experiences for freshmen – taught by full-time faculty members from across all departments in the University.  This truly interdisciplinary course provides a common experience for all entering students, introducing them to academic inquiry and helping them to develop their abilities to read critically, to write persuasively, to communicate ideas clearly and to learn in a discussion-based seminar. 

In the Fall of 2008, JCU faculty unveiled a new model for our FYS, designed to reinvigorate the program by building on its many strengths while allowing more choice for students and faculty.  Our FYS is now structured around a common theme, which is centered in the core values of JCU as expressed in the Mission Statement, but sufficiently broad so as to allow exploration from the perspectives of many disciplines from across the university.  This theme is developed in five different directions by faculty working in Learning Communities, formed around areas of ongoing interest related to the common FYS theme, resulting in five different implementations of the FYS for incoming students to choose from.  Constant communication among the five faculty Learning Community coordinators and close collaboration among the eight faculty members in each Learning Community building the courses ensure that all the students have very comparable FYS experiences.

For Fall 2009 and 2010, the overall theme for the FYS is Social Justice, in keeping with our mission and with centuries of Jesuit tradition.  Common readings for all 40 FYS sections will center on Social Justice from the viewpoint of Jesuit education.  The five Learning Communities that are developing this theme are:

The course has built up a great deal of momentum already, with 40 faculty members working in their Learning Communities to design the course, bringing together their very diverse talents and knowledge bases.  The faculty members in each Learning Community are working with liaisons from Grasselli Library, Student Affairs, our Writing Center and our Composition Program, to design assignments and activities (both in and out of the classroom) that will bring the topics to life for the students.  Every Learning Community will have all of its sections meet together in Dolan Science Center’s Donahue Auditorium every two weeks, so that the students can hear panel discussions and common speakers (including, in some cases, the authors of their books), increasing the commonality among sections and allowing students to see several viewpoints on difficult issues. 

For faculty, our FYS presents a very demanding course, requiring enormous amounts of time and energy in its development and teaching, made all the more difficult now, when our academic departments are dealing with increased demands.  The fact that 40 faculty members have volunteered to build the new course and teach it in Fall 2009 speaks volumes about our faculty’s commitment to our students.

When our incoming students arrive on campus this summer to choose their courses for Fall, they’ll each select one of the five FYS Learning Communities as their introduction into academic life.  Our faculty members are very optimistic that our new FYS model will bring new energy and enthusiasm to the start of their JCU careers.