Towson Seminar

Focusing on exploration and discovery, TSEM 102 introduces students to the academic expectations for college-level work and to the intellectual, communication and collaborative skills needed for academic success. Seminar format emphasizes active learning, with variable content in different Towson-Seminar courses. Introduces multiple perspectives and may draw from more than one discipline. Must be taken during either of your first two semesters. Must earn a 2.0 grade or higher. 

Towson Seminar Topics Fall 2024

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.  
China is now the second largest economy in the world, a growing military power, and an increasingly influential model for other countries. Students will discuss
China’s strengths and weaknesses in order to develop a balanced view of the challenge posed to the United States and the nations of East Asia. Students will
examine internal problems that threaten to destabilize China, as well as external pressures to limit Beijing’s international influence.  

Study of the U.S. Constitution and how it has been interpreted and amended over the years. Emphasis on debates at the Constitutional Convention, the role of checks and balances, and the division between state and federal control. Discussions of judicial review and landmark Supreme Court decisions. Analysis of the circumstances in which amendments have been added, their impact, and resistance to them. Exploration of relevant topics of debate, including citizenship, gun rights, abortion rights, affirmative action, and the Electoral College.

  
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.  
Investigates the history of students at Towson University in the 20th century. These decades were years of rapid transformation in American politics and culture as the rights revolution, the Vietnam War, the rise of counter culture, and student activism reshaped society. At the forefront of driving these movements were students. Away from home for the first time, exposed to new ideas, and surrounded by new friends students pushed against cultural and political boundaries and helped reshape the United States. Working closely with the materials in the Towson University Archives students will endeavor to understand this turbulent period through the eyes of Towson students who went before them. Students will be expected to read critically, participate in class discussions of readings, movies, and music videos, and be willing to work interactively and collaboratively.  
A survey of literary and historical documents from several pre-modern civilizations in order to investigate the manners in which the ancients conceptualized the idea of the Underworld.  
Immersive study of composers / performers / improvisers, their creative output, their historical and cultural context, and their continuing relevance in today’s music cultures. A robust study of the historical relationships between jazz performance and socio-political discourse, examined through the works and activism of influential jazz artists throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.  
Immersive study of composers / performers / improvisers, their creative output, their historical and cultural context, and their continuing relevance in today’s music cultures. A study of the life and socially-conscious music of singer Nina Simone, grounded in historical and social context.  
Immersive study of composers / performers / improvisers, their creative output, their historical and cultural context, and their continuing relevance in today’s music cultures. An examination of the musical and cultural influences on and innovations of The Beatles throughout all stages of their career.  
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 after Lenin and before perestroika (1924-1985).  Special attention will be paid to the intersecting lives and works of Dmitri Shostakovich and Mieczyslaw Weinberg.  
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.  
Explores current issues in education related to how students learn and the need for a customized learning approach to maximize each student’s ability to learn.  Technology’s role, in the process of individualizing learning for students will be explored. Students will examine reasons why technology has not been the panacea to improve academic achievement it was first touted to be by applying the theory of disruptive innovation to technology implementation in schools. Students will be introduced 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 their topics.  
A survey of attitudes toward the human body in different fields, eras, and cultures.  
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.  
Effects of sleep and sleep deprivation on optimal functioning. Exploration of sleep, sleep disorders, long term effects of sleep deprivation and treatment options.  
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.  
Even though we live in the information age, we are surrounded by misinformation and disinformation. Students will explore the nature of science through the lens of biology. Students will investigate how the portrayal of science in the popular media by politicians, famous people, social media, or the news, affects the public’s perception of scientific fact and the scientific process. Students will read case studies and participate in activities to determine what is good science, bad science, and pseudoscience.  
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.  
An interdisciplinary exploration of the game of baseball and its impact on American culture. Will study the history and development of the game, key figures in the game, the growth of the game, the effects of integrating the game, the cultural impact of the game, the sense of community the game gives, the ethical debates of performance enhancing drugs, labor relationships between owners and players, and the future of the game.  
The theme of the journey as the most enduring and complex in world literature. The epistemological value of the journey as exploration of self and others’ identities, the notions of quest and epic hero, the issue of ancient and modern migrations as a crossing of geographical and cultural borders.  
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.  
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 situation. 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.  
Unpack the enormous, and often unsung, contributions by African Americans to various artistic disciplines in the 20th century.  
Asks students to think critically about the sense experiences – their cultural significance, political consequences, and representations in written texts and visual media. Students will observe how representations of sense experiences shift through stylistic choices in the descriptive writing of marketers, artists, filmmakers, and social critics.  
Understand the critical and often contentious issue of climate change, and to introduce students to scholarship. Scientific evidence and analysis, and an interdisciplinary perspective are needed to deal with the pressing issue of global climate change. This course will provide students with the critical thinking and analytical skills needed to weigh the evidence supporting or refuting claims of climate change or its consequences and to help students develop the research and writing skills required of college graduates.