Student Resources

TSEM 102 (Towson Seminar) and TSEM 190 (Honors Towson Seminar) courses emphasize active learning and introduce multiple perspectives, sometimes drawing from more than one discipline. TSEM is typically taken by first-year students during either of their first two semesters.

TU student working in class

Explore current TSEM topics, learning support, opportunities and outcomes.

Student Information

TSEM Support

Opportunities for Students

Towson Seminar Topics Fall 2026

A sociological analysis of the artistic and cultural contributions of African Americans throughout the 20th century. Special emphasis will be placed on the dynamics of racial stratification, rural experiences, urbanization, socio-economic status, identity, the "entertainment industrial complex," social commentary, social integration, innovation, and the global repercussions that extend beyond the United States. The curriculum will encompass a comprehensive examination of music, dance, visual art, literature, and culinary arts, drawing from various regional perspectives across the century.  
An introduction to the cultural, political, social conflicts of the 1960s in America, with emphasis on development of research and critical thinking skills. Through their study of major figures, movements and events of this period, as well as through guided study of research methodology, students will become acquainted with historical ways of thinking and writing.  
Exploration of American drug policies. Emphasis on treatment and prevention options, debates regarding decriminalization and legalization, and the domestic and international drug trade. Attention to popular perceptions of addicts, the flaws in those perceptions, and how perceptions shape policies. The historical context of current drug policy.  
Murals are paintings placed on culturally meaningful walls. “American Murals” will examine the creation and use of murals across many American ethnic and racial groups from pre-Colonial Native Americans, through the Colonial period, to the 21st Century including the 1930s Mexican Mural Movement, Works Progress Administration and mid-20th-century Civil Rights Movements.  
A survey of attitudes toward the human body in different fields, eras, and cultures.  
Examines the ways in which authors, writers, and activists have conceptualized the meaning of race throughout the 20th century. Beginning with the work of Anna Julia Cooper and W.E.B. Du Bois, we will chart the evolution of the idea of race and explore the ways in which race—and particularly Black identity—have shaped the very definition of America(n)/the United States and its relationship to its own citizenry. Reading various genres of literature (creative non-fiction, novels, journalistic essays), we will document the converging and diverging social, political and aesthetic movements that helped define the 20th century.  
African-American Literature and Social Activism in the 20th Century United States" Description: This course analyzes 20th-century African American literature as social artifacts that reflect and shape their cultural contexts. We will explore the intersections of race, gender, class, identity, and ideology, examining how these works demonstrate resistance, assimilation, and dissimilation in a racially stratified society. We will examine the relationship between the author, the text, and society, considering the author’s background, publication history, and the social and cultural factors that influence how these texts are received and interpreted by readers and institutions.  
Explores teaching-- a most exciting and challenging profession--  through inspiring examples of excellent teaching practices in order to incorporate these best practices into every challenging teaching situations. Introduction to effective strategies for gathering, evaluating and communicating information. Students will use critical thinking, team collaboration and problem solving to examine the most current scholarship surrounding these topics.  
Current issues in education related to living and learning in a digital society. This course emphasizes that critical, self-reflective understanding of the contexts of our technology use is central to becoming digital practitioners and effective teachers in a participatory culture. Students will be introduced to effective strategies for gathering, evaluating and communicating information.  
Focuses on the ways in which families experience risk. Places emphasis on the diversity of risk both within the family unit as well as how risk is perceived by social forces outside the family. Introduces multiple perspectives on risk and resiliency using a multidisciplinary approach. Special attention will be paid to how individual differences have the potential to increase risk for individuals, families and communities.  
Provides an integrated view of business organizations and prepares students to critically analyze business problems and develop effective solutions. Includes study of the structure and organization of businesses, common business processes, and the interrelationships among business functions.  
The role of reason throughout the history of Western philosophy, beginning with the Platonic formalism of the ancient era, continuing into the Renaissance and Age of Enlightenment with Rene Descartes’ rationalism, David Hume’s empiricism, and Immanuel Kant’s transcendentalism, and culminating in the contemporary perspectives of Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, Emmanuel Levinas, and Alphonso Lingis on the limits of reason.  
Introduces students to skills needed to function successfully at college, in the context of an exploration of the relationship of occupational engagement to well-being. Students will gain an understanding of the concept of occupation, and investigate the influence of various occupations on health, happiness, and well-being.  
Through reflective writing, roundtable discussions, skills workshops, a research paper, and a group presentation, students will be introduced to the rigors of academic scholarship, explore collaborative learning, and engage in critically evaluating the content and impact of mediated messages on the practice and consumption of health care across cultures.  
Immersive study of composers / performers / improvisers, their creative output, their historical and cultural context, and their continuing relevance in today’s music cultures. This course explores the development of Soviet classical music as affected by the totalitarian regime.  
Immersive study of composers / performers / improvisers, their creative output, their historical and cultural context, and their continuing relevance in today’s music cultures. This course explores the development of Soviet classical music as affected by the totalitarian regime.  
Immersive study of composers / performers / improvisers, their creative output, their historical and cultural context, and their continuing relevance in today’s music cultures. This course offers a comprehensive exploration of Radiohead's artistic journey, examining their musical influences, impact on contemporary music, cultural significance, and innovative approach to sound.  
Focuses on the study of material culture and religion through the examination of objects, spaces, bodies, senses, foods, and related items. Study will include primary and secondary readings and films about these objects, their histories, and uses, as well as direct interaction and experience with some of them in the classroom, through digital means, and/or through site visits. Introductory studies of material culture and religion will be introduced.  
Examination of the theory of play. A review of the historical sources, values, and interests that influenced the development of various forms of play.  
A multidisciplinary examination of how literature and politics influence each other in local, national, and global politics. The course will draw on materials from political science, history, and both fiction and non-fiction literature.  
Examination of public opinion in American politics historically and contemporarily. Emphasis on key historical developments and controversies, as well as foundational principles.  
Science fiction and speculative fiction in relation to social, political, cultural, and technological issues. Topics vary but may include: environment/ecology, computers/technology, race, gender, alienness, or dystopia/apocalypse.  
Description: Emphasizes active learning with content focusing on representations of vampires in popular media from literary origins in the late 19th century through to recent incarnations on screen.  
By studying evocative poems, plays, short stories, and novels, the seminar will examine the seeming paradox of war and literature, of violence and art, by understanding how battle is depicted in literature and how literature is often an aesthetic battleground of conflicting personal and national ideals.  
Baltimore is a city of connections and contradictions. This class looks closely at texts written about the city from diverse perspectives: historical, sociological, environmental, journalistic, and literary. Approaches the city itself as a text to be explored; students will generate their own texts in response to their encounters with the city. Various themes will include the Chesapeake Bay, the sights and sounds of Baltimore, and urban history.  

Multiple sections linked by a connecting theme. Explorations of the social, political, cultural, creative, environmental, and legal constructions of water and its uses. Individual sections emphasize a particular approach. Limited to students in the Honors College.

 

  

Learning Outcomes

During the seminar, students:

  • Prepare and present a compelling substantive interpretation, argument and/or analysis of a problem or issue in a research paper.
  • Gather and use academic resources effectively and according to the standards and rules of academic integrity in formulating and presenting a substantive interpretation, argument and/or analysis of a problem or issue.
  • Understand and evaluate the nature and possible causes and implications of events, behavior, problems and issues from an informed and intellectually balanced perspective.
  • Connect concepts and empirical evidence in logically coherent, valid and compelling ways.
  • Understand and appreciate social and cultural differences among individuals, groups and societies and engage and learn from others with different backgrounds and perspectives in constructive ways, when appropriate to the topic.
  • Participate responsibly and effectively in group efforts to address and solve problems, where appropriate within the course format.