Every Fall, All First-Time Shenandoah Students Register For One Of The Many Going Global Offerings.
Fall 2024 Classes: Please click the course title below for descriptions and class videos.
Fall 2024 course requests are now closed.
Faculty: Courtney Reilly
Beyond enjoyment and entertainment, the arts broaden our perspective and bring meaning to our lives — they give voice to human struggle, tackle challenging questions, provide space for reflection, and connect us to our own humanity. This course will explore how the arts impact and connect us on an individual and global level. Through active participation and reflection, we will experience the arts — participating in, observing, and discussing a broad range of artistic responses to global issues. We will explore how the arts have been used globally as a tool for social justice, and reflect on how we experience the arts and how those experiences are shaped by our own world view.
Faculty: Ting-Yu Chen
This course focuses on team and community building, enhancing creativity, and intercultural understanding through experiential learning of cultural rituals and artistic traditions. Students will explore Taiwanese culture, etiquette, and the arts through the lens of the instructor Ting-Yu Chen who is a native Taiwanese. A Taiwanese tea ceremony will engage students to learn about the art and health benefits of tea, teamwork, and shared responsibilities. Through Chinese calligraphy students will experience peace and harmony by creating their own distinct brushwork art. Zen(dance) will facilitate students to find ease and comfort with themselves in their bodily homes and explore the depth of expression that engages a person’s mind, body and spirit. This course encourages students to question, interpret, and evaluate their own culture and other cultural traditions in the global community with awareness and respect.
Faculty: Yolanda Gibson
In Communicating in a Global Society, students will learn how to communicate with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds and various settings. Students will examine their own cultural identity as well as cultures around the globe as it pertains to values, beliefs, language, media, and traditions. Utilizing various aspects of intercultural communication theory, students will address how these cultural indicators manifest through communication and how societies use communication in different ways.
Faculty: Courtney Allen
The United Nations officially recognizes that participation of women and girls in sports challenges gender stereotypes and discrimination and can therefore be a vehicle to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. The first international conference on women and sport was held in Brighton, England in 1994. As a result, the Brighton Declaration was endorsed to provide the principles that should guide action intended to increase the involvement of girls and women at all levels and in all functions and roles. Despite growing participation of women in sport in recent years, increased representation of women in decision making and leadership roles within sport has not always followed. This class will examine the barriers to girls and women in participation and leadership. This course requires not only your participation but your willingness to help facilitate and maintain a supportive classroom environment where every student’s perspective is honored and heard. Be open. Be inquisitive. Be thoughtful.
Faculty: Bryan Pearce-Gonzales, Pam Ghanem, Amy Sarch, Leann Curley
What does your clothing or what you had for lunch say about you? This course uses “show and tell” as a tool for us to learn from and to express ourselves to others who may view the world through a different lens. In each unit students will “show” an object or “tell” a story relating to an “F” word (Food, Fashion, Fiction, Faith). We start with what that object or story means to the individual, and then broaden our scope to examine how anything can have meaning attached to it that is beyond the individual. How might our approaches to things like food, fashion, fiction, and faith exclude others? What does what you eat say about who you are? What does a piece of clothing say about who you are not? What does the book you’re reading say to the person next to you? How is your worldview shaped (or not) by religion? Together we’ll focus on questions like these and encourage you to examine the ways in which these intersect to shape our perceptions and understanding of culture.
Faculty: Mannie Brown
For the past 100 years, we’ve seen fashion trends go through substantial changes as a result of the culture of the particular time period said fashion trends fall within. Additionally, these adjustments in expression have allowed us to examine gender expression and how fashion has influenced our understanding of the concept of Gender. This course seeks to answer the following questions: How has fashion influenced the understanding of both gender identity and expression from the 1920s to now? What are some similarities and differences of the United States and Global fashion influences?
Faculty: Ginger Garver
Enter the land of banshees, pookas, wendigos, and golems. Our class focuses on ghost stories and legends from around the world. We will see how common American tales have their origins in other lands. We will gain an appreciation of how “we are the stories we tell” as these reveal the hopes, dreams, and dears of every corner of the globe. Students will learn to recognize the distinct culture of each country as well as the common themes of each story.
Faculty: Jana Rodriguez
Have you, or someone close to you, ever experienced a life altering event that left you stretching your head, unsure of how to process the experience? More and more individuals are dealing with events, abrupt or gradual, that so significantly alter their lives and impact their ability to reach their fullest potential. Research from all corners of the world, provides new and improved methods for addressing mental health concerns. This course will review the research and study the various types of therapies that are healing people all around the world. This class will include informative hands-on experience through class outings including a nature trail, horse farm, and art studio.
Faculty: Rebecca Gibson
In this presidential election year, we will explore what it means to be an active, voting citizen in our community. We will learn everything about registering and voting in our Voting 101 segment. Then, with help from Stephen Colbert, John Oliver and other hilarious late night talk show hosts, we will explore, discuss and reflect on global social justice issues and how they correspond to those of the current presidential campaigns. Finally, we will practice making the connections between issues we care about and ways to advocate them in the community and in the world, through activism and through our election process. Videos, readings and real-world experiences will give us opportunities for dialogue, reflection, group projects and other ways to increase our understanding of local and global issues.
Faculty: Younus Mirza
A study of the various marriage and sexual practices in Islamic history beginning with pre-Islamic Arabia and ending with the modern Muslim world. We examine how Muslims understood sex, arranged sexual relationships, and structured marriage contracts. Special attention is paid to how Muslim women were placed within sexual relationships and how they navigated different cultural and religious rules to their advantage. Attention is also paid to modern attempts to reform Islamic law in an effort to seek greater gender equality.
Faculty: Fritz Polite
This FYS course focuses on developing and understanding individual traits and principles of global leadership/awareness. Students will engage in a variety of exercises that will explore global topics such as economics, politics, technology, cultures, and the dimensions of global leadership. They will explore the concepts of globalization and the need for educating themselves to be able to effectively operate in a truly global economy.
Faculty: DeLyn Celec, Sarah Celec
Have you ever been in a social, academic, or professional situation and not known how to strike up a conversation with someone you want to talk to? Have you ever been stuck talking to someone after your mutual friend left, and didn’t know what to say? Have you ever looked around and thought, “I have nothing in common with anyone here but can’t leave for over an hour?” This course uses the professors’ collective backgrounds in theatre, activism, higher education, music, and community service to help you find connection across difference – and sometimes awkwardness.
Faculty: Jess Clawson
Ever wonder why a show like The Bachelor prevails on American television, a reality television show where the winner receives a rose and a marriage proposal? How is gender, sexual orientation, and American culture constructed and constrained in such a snapshot of “reality”? This course asks you to closely examine how you experience gender and sexuality in your everyday life and then challenges you to broaden that experience to exploring how cultures outside the U.S. construct gender identity and sexual orientation. Why are only some kinds of sex legitimated and institutionalized as the proper form of sexuality? Why are only some partnerships considered legitimate or normal? This course provides a framework for addressing questions such as these; together we will look globally to find answers, question those answers, and question our own perceptions of what is “normal.”
Faculty: Brian Wigley
This seminar, Sport as a Political Tool, focuses on the intersection between sport and political, social, and historical movements. Sport is often seen as “just a game”, but a closer inspection demonstrates how sport both reflects and alters political and social realities throughout the world. Students will learn about instances wherein sport – both positively and negatively – has been used or leveraged as a political tool, and reflect on ways sport-related events and policy can change how we see our world.
Faculty: Karen Abraham
This seminar will examine the major health problems affecting women globally and explore the underlying sociocultural factors that prevent women and girls from accessing quality health services. Gender-based health disparities are evident throughout the world but are particularly prevalent in resource-poor countries. Some of the factors we will explore include: poverty, power relationships between men and women, access to education and employment, potential for physical, sexual, and emotional violence, and an emphasis on reproductive health.
Faculty: Abi Gomez
This seminar, The Power of Public Art, focuses on visual art applications as extensions of individuals and communities. What does it mean to have a voice? How does voice transcend language and culture? Can someone have a voice without uttering a word? What is community? Where do communities exist? What is art? What is public art? Where and how does public art exist? Can public art create community? Can public art affect social change and accelerate social justice? In this seminar we will explore these questions and others by looking at visual art in the public sphere created in response to local, national, and global social justice issues. Students will engage in a variety of experiential opportunities including, but not limited to: public art site visits, public art critiques, and the creation of public art projects.
Faculty: Lucy Woods Hochkammer
Innately wired within the human brain is the need to do. From the time we are born until the very end, humans occupy their time with various tasks and activities, a.k.a. occupations. This seminar evaluates those occupations and how they add meaning to our lives. Students will examine their own roles and occupations and evaluate how meaning is derived from them. Students will also explore how occupations change throughout the lifespan and are influenced by culture and context. Some of the topics explored will include drug use, criminal occupations, occupational justice, play and leisure occupations, and gender identity roles.
Faculty: Jeff Marlatt
Music provides us with the opportunity to tell the story of our lives. Through music we express emotion, attempt to understand life’s meaning, and share our humanity. Why can a song make you cry or tap your foot? We understand ourselves, and others, better when we think about six kinds of songs: friendship, joy, comfort, knowledge, faith, and love.
Faculty: Diane Schnoor, LaTasha Do’Zia
This seminar, Bringing Multicultural Picture Books to Life: Theatre for Youth, focuses on the ways that youth theater and the world of children’s picture books intersect to provide mirrors that reflect who we are, as well as windows to develop empathy for other perspectives and experiences. This fast-paced, arts-infused, high energy course focuses on how to creatively communicate to and with multicultural audiences and experiences. Students will reflect on the importance of what it means to share and amplify stories, their own and those of others, as well as on Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop’s work about mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Approaching children’s stories and stagecraft through the lens of windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors prioritizes diversity, honors many cultures, and promotes empathy.
Faculty: Marco Pflanzen
What does it mean to be Indigenous? How do we make sense of our relationship to the history of the land surrounding us and everyone who has lived, loved, and taken care of it? How does how we understand our roots affect our understanding of those who are Native to the areas we live in, visit, or explore? From the lush rainforests of South America to the vast expanses of the Arctic, this course invites you to explore the rich history of traditions, languages, and worldviews that define Indigenous communities across the globe. Join us as we celebrate the resilience, creativity, and wisdom of Indigenous cultures, and discover how they continue to shape our shared humanity in profound ways.
Faculty: Adela Borrallo-Solis
Why do some people get rewarded for speaking two languages while others are encouraged to be monolingual? This course aims to explore the connection between language, inequality and identity. It will analyze how the Latinx identity model has been constructed in the US so that we can challenge inequity by learning how our identity will be an asset professionally. In other words, the course will also attempt to level the professional plain field and give those who are bicultural; and/or those who speak or want to speak Spanish; and/or those who are interested in other cultures the knowledge and skills to be professionally successful thanks to their language and cultural understanding. Once the course is completed, students will have all the resources necessary to find, apply and interview for a professional position and use their language and cultural baggage as professional advantages. Note: while this course will use Latinx as the model to be explored, it is not restricted to Latinx students. Anybody interested in the topic is welcome to join.
Faculty: Mady Rodriguez
What is culture? Do I have a culture? Or is culture something that others have? How do I feel when I am the different one? What can I do to have better interactions in situations where differences exist? This highly interactive class, You Mean I Have Culture?, will address these questions. Through the use of experiential training activities, movie clips and intercultural readings students will explore behavior through the lens of values. Students will be guided in developing their own cultural self-awareness, discover ways to increase effectiveness interacting with those different from themselves and explore how cultural differences play into conflict. We will explore differences found throughout the world, but also differences that exist in our own neighborhood. Join us on this multicultural adventure!
Faculty: Kelley Crowley
Don’t think you are creative? You don’t have to be “artist” to be creative. In this class you will work your creative muscles by understanding how creative ideas are nurtured in different cultures and the global role of creativity to make change in the world. Our class will experiment with many forms of global creativity practices like African storytelling traditions, Zen movement and Portuguese café life. You’ll use these traditions to take practice reps through writing songs, drawing comics, performing poetry, writing a play, making a movie. Don’t know how to do those things? Don’t worry this class is a safe space to try out your ideas and to give a voice to the things that you’ll discover about the wider world.
Course requests will be open May 6 – June 28, 2024.
Shenandoah University’s Going Global Initiative Is A Series Of Building Blocks That Begin With Our Going Global First Year Seminar.
Virtually Going Global
Virtually Going Global and FYS bring together American and Jordanian undergraduate students for dialogue focused on designated common experiences or joint projects, led by student leaders trained in dialogue facilitation. This virtual exchange creates a space for students to engage in a shared experience ranging from a common event (i.e. speaker, performance, documentary), cultural artifact project, or individually designed assignment. Binational groups develop projects based on their shared experiences that promote intercultural competencies and multiple perspectives. Each year, projects will be showcased at a culminating event in both regions.
Meet the Director of First Year Seminar
Bryan Pearce-Gonzales
Department Chair & Professor of Hispanic Studies
540-542-6202 | fys@su.edu | Henkel Hall 217
I look forward to meeting all of you!
Please feel free to call me, e-mail me, or stop by my office.
FYS brought me to not only friends but a family! My class encouraged me to find the most important parts of curriculum, the city of Winchester and most importantly myself! It brought a sense of purpose that encouraged me to evaluate and establish my most important values in a way that supported my most true self.
Camryn Roberts ’23
Public Health, BS
Business Administration in Healthcare Management, BBA
My FYS class created so many opportunities to make new connections and learn from my fellow peers. Starting a new chapter in life can be a little intimidating but through the support of my fellow FYS peers and mentor, Shenandoah quickly began to feel like home.
Rachel Taylor ’24
Psychology, BS EA-OT
When I first got to Shenandoah, it was my FYS class that really made me feel at home. My professor, my classmates, and the class itself was a warm welcome and I still utilize intercultural skills from that class every day! I’m forever thankful to my FYS family, because that class has shaped who I am as a student, an artist, and a leader.
Maya Bhatnagar ’22
Theatre Design and Production- Stage Management, BFA
Spanish, BA