First-Year Connections

A dynamic social and academic program

Hofstra's First-Year Connections initiative is all about helping ease the transition from high school to college. This program is an integrated academic and social approach that connects first-year students in small learning communities.

All eligible Hofstra first year students are able to benefit from First-Year Connection's thematic concept. The program's innovative interdisciplinary curriculum is an ideal introduction to the liberal arts, no matter which school or major Hofstra students select as their own path of study to experience.

"One of the key benefits from doing the First-Year Connections program was that I met and made strong connections with my entire class, not just a few people. I also learned how to interact with the teachers, which would have been a lot harder for me in a less relaxed environment. The small-class setting and the individual attention we received enabled me to better concentrate on my work." - Krista Darrell, Class of 2009

With "Connections Clusters," students take courses in different disciplines, but each course complements the others. For example, a student may be studying slavery in America in a history course, while reading Huckleberry Finn in an English class.

"Connections Seminars" are classes in which students work closely with a professor on a topic in that professor's particular area of research.

The following are some of the clusters and a brief description that are available for the fall 2009 semester. Take a look at the courses you can experience in your first year of academic study at Hofstra.

Some of the courses you can experience

SEMINARS:

Art History: Great Artists in Great NYC Museums (4 s.h.)
New York City museums house some of the finest collections of art in the world. Here, the works of great artists are accessible to the visitor. For example, Picasso’s and Monet’s greatest works are on view at The Museum of Modern Art, and Rembrandt’s, Goya’s, and El Greco’s masterpieces are part of the extensive collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Guggenheim Museum is itself an example of an abstract architectural composition functioning as an exhibition gallery. This course will study specific artists such as Picasso and Goya and then make appropriate field trips to see their works “in the flesh,” so to speak. If a “blockbuster” show is mounted by a museum, we will try to study and attend that exhibition as well.

Drama: Broadway (and More)! (4 s.h.)
Tourists sometimes think that theater in New York City means Broadway and nothing else. But New York City also boasts hundreds of exciting off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions each season. This seminar ventures beyond the classroom to explore the rich variety of these stage offerings. By seeking good theater in all its guises — on Broadway and off, commercial and not-for-profit — we will come to understand what makes New York the theater capital of the world. NOTE: Students in this course should try to clear their calendars on Thursday afternoons (after this class).

Economics: The Economy: Growth and Crisis (3 s.h.)
The course explores the evolution of basic economic institutions and how they affect the middle class, i.e., its growth and squeeze. The changing market structures, the rise of the corporation, capital/labor relations, financial and monetary institutions, and government regulatory and economic policies will be explored in a historical perspective. Emphasis will be on creating context for the most recent cycle of prosperity and crisis. Students will learn some basic economics, but the focus will be primarily on historical readings, essays and papers.

English: The Powers of Darkness: British Literature and the Modern Gothic Film (3 s.h.)
Why do we enjoy reading literature and seeing films that provoke sensations of fear and dread? Do confrontations between living beings and the living dead — such as ghosts, speaking skulls, and corpses arisen from the grave — purify the world of evil or leave an irreparable experience of trauma? And why does doomed romantic love emerge within an atmosphere of overwhelming loss? In this course, we will juxtapose a series of texts published during the first 50 years of the gothic tradition with a selection of modern films. Our texts may include, among others: The Castle of Otranto; Matthew Lewis’ notorious novel The Monk; Jane Austen’s bitingly satiric gothic thriller Northanger Abbey; and Mary Shelley’s unparalleled monster tale Frankenstein. The modern gothic films that we will screen and analyze may include, among others: Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, Wes Craven’s Red Eye, and D. J. Caruso’s Disturbia. In addition, as part of our analysis of the haunted house, we will subject ourselves to the scream-inducing thrills of Blood Manor, during a Halloween night in New York City.  

Mathematics: Zero and Much More (3 s.h.) 
This course surveys the history of mathematics as it follows the history of the mathematical world’s acceptance of the number zero. Students will find that key mathematical topics such as imaginary numbers, concepts of infinity, the Cartesian plane, derivatives and integrals, and some more modern concepts all can be illuminated through their relationship to zero. Students in this course should have an interest in philosophy and mathematics, a reasonably strong algebra background, and an understanding of the real number system. 

Music: Turn Down the Music! An iPod Makeover (3 s.h.) 
Music is a means for expressing our thoughts and feelings through the medium of sound. But how does one make music? What has inspired people through the ages to hit drums, hum a tune, or conduct an orchestra? This course explores music as a form of social and cultural expression as found in diverse musical traditions of the world. We will listen to music, read about music, think about music, talk about music, and make some music. We will radically expand your thinking process about music. We will probably not listen to music that you already know and love, as found on your iPod. Instead, we will practice critical listening skills, learn to think broadly about what making music means and why it is significant in human life, explore traditions and transformations behind the creation of music, and understand why loud music is not necessarily better music. This course will include guest appearances by musical artists, and field trips to sites in New York City, including the rare instrument collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Philosophy: Philosophy Through Film (4 s.h.) 
In this course, students will explore some significant philosophical problems, using contemporary movies. By considering the themes and content of films like The Matrix, I Robot, Total Recall, Memento, and Blade Runner, students will be introduced to philosophical issues such as personal identity, free will and determinism, the mind/body problem, our knowledge of the world and our place in it. In addition to the movies, students will also read works from philosophers such as Plato, Descartes and Hume, and some contemporary thinkers. Students will be taught skills in critical thinking and philosophical method and analysis.

Psychology: The Resilient Child: Early Experience and Later Life (4 s.h.) 
To what extent do experiences in childhood affect who we become as adults? Can we overcome a bad start? How are our personalities formed by learning, temperament, and the events of lives caught up in history and cultural change? In this seminar on developmental psychology, we will begin by examining our beliefs about children’s natures in the past and present. Then we will examine the scientific evidence ranging from case studies to extraordinary longitudinal studies of children’s development that have lasted for as long as 50 years. The course will conclude with a discussion of adult “identity crises” and how we explain the process to ourselves in biography and autobiography. As the philosopher Kierkegaard has said: “Life is lived forward, but understood backward.”

CLUSTERS: 

Fairy Tale in Literature and Film (total = 9 s.h.) 
This cluster searches for the psychological, sociological, and literary meanings embedded in traditional folk and fairy tales and in their modern versions. By comparing classic tales with contemporary versions, we consider the relevance of these tales to our own experience. Assuming that fairy and folk tales stretch and color our imaginations, we study the visual and aural portrayal of worlds both fantastical and fearsome. With a rigorous attention to film style, we focus on the ways that cinema adapts fairy/folk tale archetypes and creates new stories that situate mythical structures within contemporary settings. We learn the language with which we might express and understand these timeless traditions that continually inform our everyday experience.

• Introduction to Film and TV Studies (3 s.h.)  
• Fairy Tale in Literature and Film (3 s.h.)  
• Composition (3 s.h.)  

Democracy and Civic Engagement (total = 12 s.h.)  
This cluster explores what it means to live as a citizen in America. What is democracy, and why does it stir such passion? Is America’s system of government truly democratic? How does democracy play itself out in the political institutions we’ve created and in our everyday lives? Who has the power, and why? How are the issues framed in public discourse, who defines those issues, and why does it matter? Can we change our democracy when we need to? To explore these questions, we learn about the basic structures of American society and government and how they shape our lives and choices. We investigate how power works. We read and react to the news of the day and the words of leaders and average citizens. We talk about what holds the country together and what can pull it apart. Together, the three courses provide students with insights about the relationships between the American form of government, our social institutions, and the life of an individual citizen.

• Political Sociology (4 s.h.)
• American Politics (4 s.h.)  
• Composition (4 s.h.)  

Law and Economics (total = 6 s.h.)  
What is the relationship between law, economics and business? The legal studies course examines the sources of American law and the ways in which our legal system affects our business and personal lives. The class focuses on the Constitution, statutory law, common law, and administrative law. The economics course asks: What is capitalism? Why are property relations and legal and political institutions so crucial to the operation of a capitalist economy? How have the legal forms of business and the overall business structure evolved over time? What challenges do global corporations create for policy makers? 

• Introduction to Legal Systems, Environment and Contracts (required for all business majors) (3 s.h.)  
• Principles of Economics (required for all business majors) (3 s.h.)