First Year Seminar: Studies in Human Experience

In 1953, Bard College inaugurated an experimental “Common Course” for all first-year students, a course designed to show how the question of human freedom can be approached through a liberal arts education. Over sixty years later, First Year Seminar continues to engage the individual experiences of first-year students and to relate those experiences to extraordinary works of literature, philosophy, religion, politics, science, and the arts. In this way, the course introduces students to important intellectual, cultural, and artistic ideas that serve as a common foundation in liberal arts education. Core texts for the fall semester include Genesis and works by Plato, Confucius, Lucretius, Augustine, Ibn Tufayl, Montaigne, Luther, Descartes, Galileo, Milton, and Weber. Core texts for the spring semester include works by Locke, Rousseau, Wollstonecraft, Equiano, Kant, Mary Shelley, Büchner, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Ellison, and Arendt. Regular guest lectures, faculty presentations and panel discussions, and student-run symposia provide a collective forum where students and faculty come together to investigate and test the ideas explored in the classroom.

 

First Year Students should not register for classes on Monday between 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm to allow for the mandatory symposia meetings.

 

FIRST YEAR SEMINAR SCHEDULE:

SECTION

SCHEDULE

ROOM

PROFESSOR

DFG

.

T

.

Th

.

8:30 AM

9:50 AM

OLIN

101

Grover, Donna

SK

.

T

.

Th

.

8:30 AM

9:50 AM

OLINLC

206

Kufner, Stephanie

AD

.

T

.

Th

.

8:30 AM

9:50 AM

OLIN

301

Desai, Adhaar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JB

M

.

W

 

.

10:10 AM

11:30 AM

BITO

210

Brudvig, James

RC

M

.

W

 

.

10:10 AM

11:30 AM

OLIN

305

Cioffi, Robert

LC

M

.

W

 

.

10:10 AM

11:30 AM

OLIN

307

Curtis, Lauren

JE

M

.

W

 

.

10:10 AM

11:30 AM

OLIN

304

Elliott, Jay

JP

M

.

W

 

.

10:10 AM

11:30 AM

AVERY

319

Pruitt, John

NM

M

.

W

 

.

10:10 AM

11:30 AM

OLIN

107

McMeekin, Nesrin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PK

.

T

.

Th

.

10:10 AM

11:30 AM

HEG

300

Kemerli, Pinar

TVP

.

T

.

Th

.

10:10 AM

11:30 AM

OLIN

303

von Prittwitz, Tatjana

 

B/C

.

T

.

Th

.

11:50 AM

1:10 PM

OLIN

305

L. Botstein/W. Cornelissen

CH

.

T

.

Th

.

11:50 AM

1:10 PM

OLIN

309

Heinowitz, Cole

PR

.

T

.

Th

.

11:50 AM

1:10 PM

OLINLC

208/206

Rosenblum, Peter

RZ

.

T

.

Th

.

11:50 AM

1:10 PM

OLIN

303

Zisman, Ruth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HG

M

.

W

 

.

11:50 AM

1:10 PM

OLIN

304

Gibbs, Helena

LH

M

.

W

 

.

11:50 AM

1:10 PM

RKC

115

Hawley, Lynn

AK

M

.

W

 

.

11:50 AM

1:10 PM

OLIN

308

Kitnick, Alex

NL

M

.

W

 

.

11:50 AM

1:10 PM

BITO

210

Lewis, Nicholas

CM

M

.

W

 

.

11:50 AM

1:10 PM

OLIN

107

McIntosh, Christopher

RW

M

.

W

 

.

11:50 AM

1:10 PM

OLIN

307

Weston, Robert

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AS2

M

.

W

 

.

1:30 PM

2:50 PM

RKC

111

Seaton, Ann

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CD

.

T

.

Th

.

1:30 PM

2:50 PM

OLIN

301

Dewald, Carolyn

AS

.

T

.

Th

.

1:30 PM

2:50 PM

OLIN

308

Stroup, Alice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MA

M

.

W

 

.

3:10 PM

4:30 PM

BITO

210

Amos, Matthew

RD

M

.

W

 

.

3:10 PM

4:30 PM

HEG

106

Dachille-Hey, Rae Erin

SG

M

.

W

 

.

3:10 PM

4:30 PM

OLIN

305

Graham, Stephen

PL

M

.

W

 

.

3:10 PM

4:30 PM

OLIN

307

Laki, Peter

WM

M

.

W

 

.

3:10 PM

4:30 PM

OLIN

306

Mason, Wyatt

RN

M

.

W

 

.

3:10 PM

4:30 PM

OLINLC

210

Namdar, Reuven

AM

M

.

W

 

.

3:10 PM

4:30 PM

OLIN

309

Maione, Angela

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BC

.

.

W

 

F

3:10 PM

4:30 PM

OLIN

107

Chilton, Bruce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EK

.

T

.

Th

.

4:40 PM

6:00 PM

OLINLC

118

Kaufman, Erica

JW

.

T

.

Th

.

4:40 PM

6:00 PM

OLIN

309

Wagner, Jean

BW

.

T

.

Th

.

4:40 PM

6:00 PM

OLIN

101

Walker, Willis