First-Year Seminar Courses 2026-2027
You'll take a FYS within your first two semesters at Xavier. FYS is a rigorous, academic, 3-credit course. In the catalog, FYS is called CORE 100. Search under "Core Curriculum" to find these courses.
Fall 2026
Ethics and the Environment
Brent Blair
We all rely on the environment in both apparent and nuanced ways. However, our perceptions of nature and our choices in how we interact with it are shaped by various factors, such as the time period, culture, and one’s economic status. In this course, we delve into these concepts and examine how deteriorating environments can affect human well-being disparately based on individual characteristics (e.g., race, class, and gender) and geographical location. The curriculum encompasses an exploration of fundamental economic, ecological, and environmental science principles, alongside discussions on topics related to environmental ethics.
Conserving Nature
George Farnsworth
How should we view and manage endangered and threatened species and ecosystems? In this course we will explore what species we value and how we try to keep them from going extinct. We will examine these issues from a variety of perspectives including science, history, philosophy, and art.
Slow Food: We Are What We Eat
Kelly Blank
Slow Food is an international movement that began in Italy in 1986, emphasizing Good,
Clean, and Fair food. In this First Year Seminar, we will discuss the history, philosophy,
and influence of the Slow Food movement worldwide while examining the problems with
the modern agricultural machine both in a local and in a global context. Topics of
discussion will include the importance of local and seasonal produce, the inherent
connections between plate and planet, the water footprint of food, labeling of GMOs
(Genetically Modified Organisms), biodiversity, food deserts, and the ethics of meat
production and consumption.
The Art of Expression
Madeleine Mitchell
Anyone can be an artist, but many people don't see themselves as one. This seminar explores how creative expression is an integral part of being human and how it contributes to personal and intellectual growth, meaningful life work, and stronger communities. In this course, we will examine various roles of artistic expression in society: healer, teller of hard truths, voice of solidarity, and catalyst for social change. Students will study and research examples of art movements, engage with local artists, and create individual works of art.
Food on the Move: From Ship to Shore
Margaret Martin
In this FYS, we explore food on the move, from ancient Roman olive oil to South African
wine, from wars "won on their stomachs" to high-tech military labs, from banana boats
to modern shipping containers. Our plates are full--of history, technology, logistics,
economics, politics, ethics, and more.
Bob Dylan
Graley Herren
This seminar will trace the artistic evolution of Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan. Along with careful analysis of his songs as written and performed, we will examine his work in various contexts: musical, literary, cultural, historical, political, and autobiographical.
Thoreau: In Search of a Simpler Life
Nate Windon
If you have ever gone outside to escape the anxiety and strain of the modern world, then you have something in common with Henry David Thoreau, the famous nineteenth-century American author of Walden. There’s a lot we can learn from Thoreau, who dedicated his life to writing about his experiences in nature. We’ll not only read Thoreau (as well as some of his literary descendants) but we’ll try acting like him, too: as part of this class you’ll take walks, make a map, identify some plants, and mend something in need of repair. Thoreau did not think we should, or could, totally retreat from civilization, but he did think we could cultivate a simpler life in the midst of the busyness of the world, which is what we will read about, write about, and practice doing.
Storying Science
Lisa Ottum
Think about the last medical breakthrough or environmental dilemma you heard about. Chances are, you learned of this thing not from a scientist directly, but from a journalist or other content creator. Writers bring emerging discoveries out of the lab and into public discourse. By assembling data and experiences into stories, science writers not only help us to make sense of the world; they also shape people’s perception of the things they describe. This seminar focuses on contemporary nonfiction science writing. We’ll explore the fuzzy boundaries of this genre, which can involve everything from ecology, to medicine, to math. We’ll examine long-form essays and book-length arguments as literature: as creative works that draw on scientific discourse and the literary devices used by novelists and other writers.
Food, Farming, Eating
James Wood
This seminar explores issues related to the production, distribution, and consumption of food from philosophical, anthropological, and biological perspectives. Topics include food ethics, agricultural models, the culture and anthropology of eating, and human nutritional needs.
Authors include philosophers, biologists, anthropologists, historians, journalists, and farmers, and there will be opportunities to engage with people involved in various aspects of the food scene here in Cincinnati.
Art of Introspection
John Ray
This course involves detailed reading and discussion of Montaigne’s Essays. With the aid of Sara Bakewell’s How to Live: Or a Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer, we—each one of us—will attempt to answer this same question by writing our own introspective journal in response to what we find most compelling in Montaigne. In class, emphasis will be on student discussion of the Essays.
Ireland, Culture, & Film
Timothy White
This course explores Irish culture since the late nineteenth century focusing on the development of Irish identity and how this identity has been challenged by those not included in the historic conception of Irish national identity.
China from the Inside
Bin Yu
This course examines China beyond headlines, weaving concise scholarship with films, documentaries, journalism, and first-person accounts to foreground perspectives from within China. We connect classical philosophical traditions to contemporary institutions and social practices, tracing trajectories from Confucian legacies and revolutionary rupture to Reform and Opening, digital society and surveillance, youth aspirations, gender and family, environmental challenges, and U.S.–China relations. Students cultivate evidence-based writing, media literacy, and cross-cultural understanding that travel well across disciplines.
Chicago Footwork: Dance of Resistance
ShaDawn Battle
Description coming soon
Government's Role in Healthcare?
Lin Guo
In the US, healthcare is for many families their second most expensive monthly budget item (next to housing), and is therefore a major concern and stress. Our healthcare system is unusual in this way and many others. This course explores the question of the role government should play in healthcare. It examines different models of government involvement in healthcare, health systems from a variety of countries, and the advantages/disadvantages of different models and systems.