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Social Science & Public Affairs Living-Learning Community |
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Social Science & Public Affairs Community CourseworkThe Social Science & Public Affairs Living-Learning Community offers two types of courses for program participants. One is a required one-credit colloquium that all participants must take in both the fall and spring semesters. The other category of courses are the "in-house" courses -- special sections of regular introductory-level courses taught in a classroom in the residence hall (DeGraff 1106) for which enrollment is restricted to Community residents. The two in-house courses are taught only in the Fall and enrollment is capped at 20 students. Each Community resident must take one of these two in-house courses during the Fall semester (a student may take both courses if space allows). Information on both the colloquium and the in-house courses can be found online. The FSU Registrar's Office provides an Online Course Lookup form that allows users to search the course catalog. One of the options in this search form is the optional "Program" field in the lower left corner, which includes the option "Social Science Living-Learning Community." When this option and the correct year-term are selected, all of our courses are listed in the results -- note that you will need to uncheck the "Show Open Sections Only" checkbox to see information on any courses that are currently filled to capacity. The Public Affairs ColloquiumAll Social Science & Public Affairs Community participants are required to take a one credit hour course in both the fall and spring semesters. This course will be taught in both the fall and spring semesters by Dr. Phil Steinberg of FSU's Geography department.
The Public Affairs Colloquium meets regularly in both the Fall and Spring semesters. Remember that every participant in the Community is required to take this course in both the fall and spring semesters of their year in the Community. If you do not take the course during both semesters, your FSU Housing contract will be cancelled, because you are not fulfilling your obligations as part of the Community! Note also that the "in-house" courses that are described below can not be used to replace this course. You will need to take at least one of the in-house courses during the fall semester IN ADDITION to taking the Public Affairs Colloquium during both the fall and spring semesters. GEO 1931: Colloquium in Public Affairs
You've chosen to live in the Social Science and Public Affairs Living-Learning Community because you have an interest in the world around you. Whether your interest is in understanding the systems by which goods and services are produced, distributed, and consumed (economics); institutions of power and authority (political science); the structures and norms that govern social interactions from the family to world society (sociology); or the specific environmental and social characteristics of a place that give it its unique history and future (geography), the social sciences are, in the broadest sense, about understanding the world around you, at all scales. An introductory colloquium in the social sciences, thus should be an introduction to the world. That's a bit much to fit into a 1 credit-hour course, however, so instead this course introduces eight "hot" issues (four each semester) that lie behind many of the conflicts that one reads about in newspapers on the web. Each issue area is taught over a three-week period. Feature films shown during the first two weeks introduce the topic. In the third week, we divide the colloquium into four groups. Each group discusses the topic in the context of the films, an assigned reading, and current events that are in the news at the time. In addition, you are required to attend at least five sponsored events each semester (which meet outside of the regular class time). There also will be a final exam. This is a one-year course, which is offered for one credit hour in both the Fall and Spring semesters. Enrollment in the course is restricted to students in the DeGraff Hall Social Science & Public Affairs Living-Learning Community, and students in the Community are required to take the course both terms. Other In-House CoursesEvery Fall, the Social Science & Public Affairs Community also offers two smaller "in-house" courses, which are open only to members of our Community. Community residents are required to take one of these courses during the Fall term. These courses meet in a small classroom located in the residence hall itself, offering the convenience of going to class without even leaving the building. They feature small class sizes, with a maximum of 20 students per course -- offering a much friendlier learning environment than is possible with the 50-70 students that are found in many upper-division courses and 100 or more students in many introductory courses. Additionally, because these courses are limited to Community members, they offer yet another opportunity to benefit from the sense of community in this program by taking courses with your neighbors.
Special class sections, limited to 20 members of the living-learning community, are offered by the Economics, Geography, Political Science, and Sociology Departments in the DeGraff Hall classroom. The specific courses being offered will vary from semester to semester. Generally, however, the Political Science and Sociology departments offer in-house courses during the Fall semester of even-numbered years, and the Economics and Geography departments offer courses during the Fall semester of odd-numbered years. These courses are generally sections of courses that are offered regularly at FSU. They typically are introductory courses that serve as prerequisites to more advanced coursework, as well as courses that meet graduation requirements (such as Liberal Studies requirements or the Multicultural X or Y requirements). A listing of in-house courses taught in previous years is also available on this web site. Note that these in-house courses cannot substitute for the required Colloquium in Public Affairs. The requirement that every Community member takes one of the two in-house courses during the Fall is in addition to the requirement that every community member take the Public Affairs Colloquium during the Fall and Spring semesters. Fall 2008 semester:SYG 1000-07: Introduction to Sociology
CPO 2002-02: Introduction to Comparative Government and Politics
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