FIRST-YEAR CONNECTIONS

1. ANTH 14F, sec. 01: Bones, Bodies, and Burials (BH), 3 s.h. CRN 92656

T/TH, 9:40-11:05 a.m., Kristen Hartnett-McCann

A skeleton is found in a shallow grave in a wooded area behind a strip mall. How should you collect all the evidence at this scene? How can you figure out who this person is and what happened to them? Is it a male or female? Child or adult? And what are those holes in the skull? Find out the answers in this course and learn about the diverse roles of a Forensic Anthropologist in a modern, medicolegal setting. Students will participate in hands-on skeletal analyses, case studies, and class discussions. Contemporary issues such as human rights, serial killers, mass fatalities, and ethics of human subjects’ research will be investigated through readings and case examples.  

Please note: This course satisfies a University graduation requirement in the Social Sciences category.

2.  AH 14F, sec. 01: Exploring New York City’s Art Museums (AA), 3 s.h. CRN 91143

M/W, 11:20 a.m.-12:45 p.m., Susan Schafer

This course will be an introduction to art history through virtual tours of the great art museums of New York City.  We will begin with the extraordinary collections of Egyptian art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum, and continue through Ancient Greece and Rome and the Middle Ages.  Next, we will focus on the great artists of the Renaissance and Baroque periods — for example Titian, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Vermeer — in the

collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Frick Collection. We will continue our exploration with the art of the 18th and 19th centuries including Impressionist painters Monet and Degas and Post-Impressionists Van Gogh and Gauguin and will end our semester-long virtual journey in the rich collections of 20th and 21st-century art in the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. 

Please note: This course satisfies a University graduation requirement in the Humanities category.

3. ASTR 14F, sec. QR1: Cosmic Explosions: The Cataclysmic Lives of Stars & Galaxies (NS, QR), 3 s.h. CRN 92742

MW, 4:50-6:45 p.m.; Christina Lacey

This course investigates the birth and lives of stars, including stars like our sun. We study how stars produce energy and how some stars die with a whimper and some die spectacularly in massive supernova explosions. From there we talk about galaxies that are composed of these stars and the supermassive black holes that lurk at the hearts of most galaxies.

Please note: This course satisfies University graduation requirements in both the Natural Sciences and Quantitative Reasoning categories.

4. CLL 14F, sec. 01: The Perils of Love in Literature (LT), 3 s.h. CRN 91997

T/TH, 1-2:25 p.m., John Krapp

There are few things people desire more than love. We revel in it when we feel it. We fear the loss of it. We lament it when it is gone. But what is love? Is it anything more than an idea and a feeling associated with biochemical and neurological responses to our own bodies and the world around us? Would such knowledge help us negotiate love any more successfully? One of the places we can look for understanding and appreciation of love is literature, which represents characters with the same desires, appetites, and needs as we have. In this course, we will look at a variety of literary texts to prompt a conversation about the meaning and value of love both historically and in contemporary American culture. Along the way, we will discuss whether unconditional love is possible, how social circumstances may color our understanding of love, whether or not love may have a spiritual component, whether we should separate love from sexual desire, and what may happen if we confuse the two.

Please note: This course satisfies a University graduation requirement in the Humanities category.

5. CLL 14F, sec. 02: Knickerbocker New York (LT), 3 s.h. CRN 93486

T/TH, 4:20-5:45 p.m., Neil Donahue

Washington Irving’s popular fictions not only established him as America’s first internationally renowned author, but also mixed historical fact and scenic landscapes with supernatural folk legends in a potent, entertaining and timeless brew (as in Rip Van Winkle). This seminar will explore such stories set in the Hudson Valley against the background of excerpts from Irving’s quasi-historical History of New York (1809, under the pen name Diedrich Knickerbocker – where we get the name New York Knicks!). That work is a funky mix of remarkable New World mythology with historical fact about the Dutch colonial settlement of New Netherland and New Amsterdam, what later became New York City and New York State under the English.The seminar will fun, interesting, and interdisciplinary and will introduce students to the greater NY metropolitan area in ways that will also surprise and delight those who have grown up here without knowing the history and connections.

Please note: This course satisfies a University graduation requirement in the Humanities category.

6. CRWR 14F, sec. 01: Keeping a Journal (CP), 3 s.h. CRN 92101

T/TH, 11:20a.m.- 12:45 p.m., Kelly McMasters

Using Lynda Barry’s book Syllabus as an inspiration this course will be an exploration of the artistic benefits of keeping a journal. Students will be required to keep a daily journal, using exercises as prompts for noticing the world, for becoming aware of how to be present with our own selves and our inner lives while also coming to understand the importance of observation and seeing what’s there right in front of us. Prompts will come in many forms and generally engage questions that writers are constantly asking either indirectly or directly: What makes good art? Where does imagination come from? How do we learn from books we love? Can creativity be contagious? Why do details matter? How does writer’s block get broken? What is bad writing? Why does art exist? In addition to Lynda Barry we will also look at journal excerpts from Anais Nin, Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, Ann Frank, Susan Sontag, Vladimir Nabokov and others. 

Please note: This course satisfies a University graduation requirement in the Humanities category.

7. ECO 14F, sec. 01: The Future of Capitalism: Economics and Politics in Our Times (BH), 4 s.h. CRN  90388

M/W, 9:10-11:05 a.m., Massoud Fazeli

Globalization and technological change are potent forces that offer prosperity to many and yet are also causing deep rifts, anxiety, and anger in considerable segments of our society. Many observers have referred to rising inequality and the erosion of economic security as defining characteristics of our evolving capitalist economy. Is it feasible to generate sustainable economic growth that is more equitably distributed? Do populism and nationalism merely signify a passing backlash against the new global order? Has the U.S. lost its economic and political dominance permanently? And is it possible to envision a new and qualitatively different global order?

Please note: This course satisfies a University graduation requirement in the Social Sciences category.

8. FA 14F, sec. 01: Curious Stranger: Experimental Drawing (CP), 3 s.h. CRN 92029

M/W, 9:40 -11:05 a.m., James Lee

This course is devoted to the exploration of alternative techniques, methods and concepts in contemporary art. Students will develop individual artworks and experiment with materials and processes that contribute to a broadened understanding of drawing as a discipline. Selected readings may be required, along with virtual/actual field trips to galleries and museums in New York City. During the semester each student will develop a small series of drawings (approximately 8–12) of a body of work that incorporates some form of experimentation or the use of a specific technique or alternative material that we have discussed and worked on during class.

Please note: This course satisfies a University graduation requirement in the Humanities category.

9. FA 14F, sec. A: Reclaiming Photography (CP), 3 s.h. CRN 92774

T/TH, 4:20- 5:45 p.m., Richard Odell

In this course you’ll step away from the digital screen and immerse yourself in the timeless art of alternative photographic techniques, processes, and concepts in contemporary art. Students will create individual photographic works while experimenting with a variety of materials and methods that expand the understanding of photography beyond traditional practices. The course will focus on hands-on experimentation with processes such as, pinhole photography, image transfers, and other historic or unconventional techniques. Selected readings may be assigned, and field trips (virtual or actual) to galleries and museums, including those in New York City, will provide context and inspiration. Over the semester, each student will develop a small series of photographic works that incorporate experimentation with specific techniques or alternative materials discussed in class, culminating in a unique body of work that reflects their creative and technical growth.

Please note: This course satisfies a University graduation requirement in the Humanities category.

10. GEOL 14F, sec. 01: The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs (NS), 3 s.h. CRN 93527

T/TH, 2:40-4:35 p.m.; J. Bret Bennington

Great cataclysms have shaped the history of life on Earth. The dinosaurs came into the world on the heels of two of the greatest environmental catastrophes to ever scramble the biosphere, only to be rendered mostly extinct by an extraterrestrial impact that set the stage for our mammal-dominated world. In this course we will learn about how paleontologists document the history of life using rocks and fossils to tell the remarkable story of the rise of the dinosaurs and the extinction event that made the evolution of humans possible.

Please note: This course satisfies a University graduation requirement in the Natural Sciences category.

11. GEOG 14F, sec. 01: At Worlds’ End: Mapping Disasters (BH), 3 s.h. CRN 93580 or GS 14F, sec. 02: At Worlds’ End: Mapping Disasters (IS), 3 s.h. CRN 93585

T/TH, 2:40-4:05 p.m.; Ruth Trumble

From collapsing cities to flooded planets, this course examines how film—both popular and amateur—imagines, documents, and remembers the end(s) of worlds across scales, from the local to the planetary. Students use film as a lens for understanding geography, examining how disasters across different scales reveal the connections between environment, politics, and the human imagination of both collapse and renewal. In addition to watching and analyzing films, we will incorporate drawing, writing, place-based fieldtrips, and mapping to explore the power of the visual in shaping our understanding of human–environment relations and the geographies of hope that emerge amid disaster.

Please note: This course satisfies either a University graduation requirement in the Social Sciences category OR Interdisciplinary Studies category dependent on which CRN is used for registration.

12. HIST 14F, sec. 01: Italian Diaspora (HP), 4 s.h. CRN 92357

M/W, 9:10-11:05, Stanislao Pugliese

Italy is a country of 60 million people. There are at least another 60 million people of Italian descent scattered across the globe, not just in the US, but in Canada, the Caribbean, South America, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Australia. What can these different migrations and subsequent histories tell us about Italian history, migration, transnational ties, racism, assimilation, and cultural legacies? How does this diaspora compare to others?

Please note: This course satisfies a University graduation requirement in the Social Sciences category.

13. HIST 14F, sec. 02: Medieval at the Movies (HP), 4 s.h. CRN 91851

T/TH, 2:40-4:35 p.m., Burton Westermeier

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, films have been one of the main ways that knowledge of medieval European history has reached the broader public. In this course, we will view a range of films set in the Middle Ages while reading the historical sources on which they are based. In doing so, we will have the opportunity to consider to what extent fictional cinematic representations distort, illuminate, or otherwise shape our views of the past. The course will run the gamut from early classics such as La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc (The Passion of Joan of Arc) (1928) and Det sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal)(1957) to contemporary works such as The Little Hours (2017) and The Northman (2022).

Please note: This course satisfies a University graduation requirement in the Social Sciences category.

Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Hofstra’s Maurice A. Deane School of Law offer a selective, accelerated program in which students earn both the Bachelor of Arts and the Juris Doctor in six years (one year less than if each degree were pursued separately). LEAP students can choose from among a wide variety of liberal arts majors. For a full program description, please visit hofstra.edu/leap. LEAP students are strongly encouraged to register for one of the following first-year seminars:

14. PSC 14F, sec. 01: Law, Politics, and Society (BH), 4 s.h. CRN 91186

T/TH 9:10-11:05 a.m., Celeste Kaufman

Every year, tens of thousands of young people enter law school and begin the study of legal rules. Most do so because they see the legal profession as a noble calling, and they enter it with a desire to promote justice. In their three years of full-time study of the law, however, these future lawyers spend little time thinking critically about legal rules and about the place of the lawyer in a just society. In this course we explore how our legal rules and constitutional norms have developed; how the American legal system interacts with the rest of our political institutions; how the American legal system reflects the cultural norms, class distinctions, and idiosyncrasies of our society; and how legal rules and the role of the lawyer relate to larger ideals of a just society.

Please note: This course satisfies a University graduation requirement in the Social Sciences category.

15. LING 14F, sec. 01: Language Detective: Confession, Interrogation, and Deception (IS), 3 s.h. CRN 93492

T/TH, 2:40-4:05 p.m., Robert Leonard

Interested in true crime—and social justice? Hofstra professors work with the FBI, British intelligence units, police—and at the Hofstra Death Penalty Justice Project—to analyze evidence in the cause of justice. This course centers on how Hofstra professors’ linguistic analyses have proved successful in real-world criminal and intelligence investigations–cases of murder, blackmail, terrorism, false confessions, and exoneration. You’ll receive training that the instructor regularly gives to FBI BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit) agents and many others. Our discussions will include specific cases on which Hofstra professors have worked with—and sometimes on the opposite side of—the FBI, NCIS, British intelligence, and the NYPD. Be advised: Some case studies and other course content contain extremely strong language, themes, sexual situations, and distressing, violent, and often gruesome details of crimes and pathological motivations. It will not be possible for student participants to avoid seeing, hearing, or dealing with this content in analyses.

Please note: This course satisfies a University graduation requirement in the Interdisciplinary Studies category.

16. MUS 14F, sec. 01: Yoga of Sound (AA), 3 s.h. CRN 92663

T/TH, 11:20 a.m.-12:45 p.m., Francesca Cassio

Reflecting on the role of “listening as a way of knowing”, this class introduces students to the theories about sound and music in South Asia. Building on Steven Feld’s groundbreaking studies on “acoustemology” (Feld 2024) and Judith Becker’s studies on “deep listening” (Becker 2004), this class explores the relationship between Nature and music-making in South Asia, with focus on the ‘yoga of sound’ as an indigenous knowledge system described in Sanskrit literature, such as the 13th-century treatise Sangīt Ratnākar. Through an experiential approach, students will delve into the foundational principles of the South Asian music system, such as melodic frameworks (rāgas) and rhythmic cycles (tāla), and learn how to play and sing according to this tradition. This class does not require the physical practice of yoga exercises.

Please note: This course satisfies a University graduation requirement in the Humanities category.

17. PHI 14F, sec. 01: The Meaning of Life (HP), 4 s.h. CRN 93560

T/TH, 11:20 a.m.-1:15 p.m., Mark McEvoy

For us to have a chance of finding the meaning of life, human life must have meaning, or at least the lives of individual human beings must have meaning. But perhaps these claims aren’t true, or don’t even make sense. Further, if claims about life having meaning aren’t true, or don’t even make sense, would that horrify or at least disappoint you? If so, does that reaction itself show that life has some kind of meaning after all? We pursue these questions through class discussions and readings.

Please note: This course satisfies a University graduation requirement in the Social Sciences category.

18. PHI 14F, sec. 02: Truth, Lies, and BS (HP), 4 s.h. CRN 93561

T/TH, 2:40-4:35 p.m., Terry Godlove

We want to be told the truth, don’t we?  Why, then, are we surrounded by so many lies, falsehoods, and nonsense?   The question at the heart of this course is, “What is truth?”  Truth is sometimes said to be the aim of inquiry, a criterion of knowledge, and the paramount relation between thought or language and the world, but we will see that each of these suggestions runs into problems.  The truth about truth turns out to be a deep philosophical enigma.  Readings from contemporary and classical sources.

Please note: This course satisfies a University graduation requirement in the Social Sciences category.

19. PSC 14F, sec. 02: Juvenile Justice and Law (BH), 4 s.h. CRN 90891

T/TH, 11:20 a.m.-1:15 p.m., Celeste Kaufman

This course will examine the law and practice of juvenile justice in the United States. We will explore the historical reasons for a separate juvenile justice system, one that holds children legally accountable for criminal acts, and the role of the US Supreme Court in limiting and expanding the constitutional rights of juveniles. In this course, students will learn to analyze the ways that legal, political, and historical factors have influenced the development of the American juvenile justice system, describe the legal and philosophical reasons for the existence of two distinct courts for crimes committed by juveniles, and identify landmark US Supreme Court cases that have established criminal procedures dealing with issues ranging from apprehension and prosecution to detention of juveniles.

Please note: This course satisfies a University graduation requirement in the Social Sciences category.

20. RTVF 184F, sec. F01: How Did We Get to Sesame Street? How the Cultural Revolution of the 60’s Shaped Children’s Television, 3  s.h. CRN 92947

T/TH, 1-2:25 p.m., Kristin Cosover Kanzer

Television programming has always reflected the art, culture, and politics of its time. The societal upheaval of the 1960’s changed the children’s television industry forever. Using video screenings of undeniably influential shows, entertainment industry publications, and analysis of historical text, students will explore successful children’s programming of the late 60’s and early 70’s. Emphasis will be placed on researching and writing about pivotal historical events and will require students to trace television’s contributions. This class will allow freshmen who may be interested in studying in the School of Communication to understand the functions and methods of television content producers.

Please note: This course satisfies a University graduation requirement in the electives category.

21. SBLY 14F, sec. 01: Where Does My Food Come From? (IS), 3 s.h. CRN 92110

T/TH, 11:20 a.m.-1:15 p.m., Sasha Pesci

Do you ever wonder how your food got to your plate? Do you wonder who produced it and what their farms are like? What are the environmental impacts of food production? Why do so many people in the world go hungry when it seems like so much food is wasted? How did we go from a situation where the vast majority of people were involved in agriculture, to the situation now where most of us only know about food through grocery stores? Should we eat organic and local, or eat more plant-based foods? What efforts exist to make the food system more equitable and sustainable? If these questions are interesting to you, then this is a course for you!

Please note: This course satisfies a University graduation requirement in the Interdisciplinary Studies category.

22-27
University 101 is designed to assist first-year students in making a positive adjustment to University life. Students discuss topics that have an impact on a college experience, and they learn about important resources and support services available at the University. Through discussions, readings, and assignments, students develop the skills and awareness that will serve them throughout their years at Hofstra and in the future, including study skills and time management.

Please note: This course satisfies a University graduation requirement in the electives category. Six sections are being offered. One is geared toward students interested in pre-health disciplines, and meets for one hour each week throughout the Fall semester. Two sections are geared towards student athletes who need to balance training with their academic activities. The other three sections are appropriate for students interested in any discipline for a major, and for students who have not yet declared a major.

22. UNIV 101, sec. F01: University 101: Pre-Health, 1 s.h. CRN 92014

TH, 9:55-11:05 a.m., Ellen Miller and Monica Schauss

23. UNIV 101, sec. F04: University 101: Student Athletes,1 s.h. CRN 92454

W, 5-6:15 p.m., Alessandra Brady and Graham Radcliffe

24. UNIV 101, sec. F05: University 101: Student Athletes, 1 s.h. CRN 93188

T, 8-9 a.m., Rachel Peel-McAndrew

25. UNIV 101, sec. F03: University 101: All disciplines, 1 s.h. CRN 92016

T/TH, 9:55-11:05 a.m., Jennifer Boscarino-Green and Alexa Weber
This section ends on 10/23/26

26. UNIV 101, sec. F07: University 101: All disciplines, 1 s.h. CRN 93190

W, 2:40-3:40 p.m., Kimberly Sloan-Montalvo

27. UNIV 101, sec. F08: University 101: All disciplines, 1 s.h. CRN 93192

W, 11:20 a.m.-12:40 p.m., Brittany Rhoden

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