First Year Seminar Selection

All new students are required to take ONE of the following 4 credit courses in their first semester at Richmond. These exciting seminars are designed especially for new students and are an innovative, important component of the first year program.

The courses are taught by some of Richmond's most dynamic faculty who have developed the inventive topics broadly based on their scholarly interests and research activities. The professors are all highly experienced and the classes are aimed to be challenging, interactive and enjoyable.

In addition to the regular three hour a week meeting time for each subject based course, all students will attend special sessions every Wednesday afternoon. These important theme based sessions will introduce students to key topics related to living in global London and the challenges of university life. Students will begin to set up their own electronic Personal Development Plan (PDP) that they will develop throughout their university career â€“ and beyond.

These courses satisfy one of Richmond's Core Curriculum Requirements. Students with appropriate transfer credits will be exempted from this course. Once new students have satisfied their tuition payments, students will have the opportunity to select the First Year Seminar of their choice. Enrollment is limited to 20.

There is a wide variety of topics available, allowing you to choose one that might be of special interest. We have included some web sites for you to browse to get an idea of what the courses will include.

1) Please enter your contact details

First Name :
Last Name :
Email :

2) Please Select your first, second and third choices from the following courses using the radio buttons below: A total of 3 courses should be selected from the 7 available seminars listed.

We will do our very best to honor your first choice seminar but may need to place you in your second or third choice depending on demand. There is a maximum class size of 20 per seminar. Please note that you are only selecting your First Year Seminar at this time and will select additional courses of study with the assistance of your academic advisor at the new student orientation this fall.

The deadline for selecting a seminar is August 15, 2010

FYS 02 UTOPIA AND DYSTOPIA
Dr. M. Keating

Utopias are fairytales, dreams and visions about perfect worlds and future societies. Dystopias are the opposite - nightmare scenarios of oppressive and totalitarian outcomes from social, political, economic, cultural and technological developments in the contemporary world. Crucially, one person's utopia can be another person's dystopia! First year students are encouraged to immerse themselves in these alternative (but-not-too-far-off-our-own) worlds in a range of mediums - but particularly through film and literature. Utopias and Dystopias will provide a broad framework for the development of critical thinking skills, as well as providing an indirect route to critical commentary on our own societies.