New SPU Freshman Curriculum

Autumn Quarter launched the new SPU Freshman Curriculum — designed with more rigor in the first year to prepare students for progression toward bachelor’s degrees. The Freshman Curriculum includes Writing 1000, 1100, and Colloquium, fulfilling the necessary skills for academic inquiry in writing, reading, and asking questions.

Writing 1000 is the introduction to academic inquiry required in the university setting. Students read, write, and learn, developing skills for successful academic writing. Professors meet individually with students to address specific needs based on class standards and outcomes. At the end of the quarter, students complete a portfolio, a selection of their best work including revisions and assessment.

Writing 1100 is discipline and research writing taught by faculty from every academic department. The course develops critical thinking skills, researching, evaluating, synthesizing ideas, and interpreting information. Topics include:

• Communicating concepts related to science and other quantitative topics using dynamic writing (physics)
• Difference and monstrosity in 19th-century novels (English)
• Regional differences in North American music (music)
• Theological development in fantasy literature (theology)
• Visual representation of race and gender in American culture (art)
• Aesthetic experience of art via the intersection of artist and audience (theatre)
• Science writing for different audiences (biochemistry)
• The relationship of food to ecosystems and sustainability (nutrition)
• Alternative energies (engineering)
• Survival in extreme environments such as the Arctic Circle and the Sahara Desert (biology)

The Colloquium is a 1-credit seminar and discussion class designed to prepare students to work with faculty advisors and understand available resources and tools such as BANNER info, Time Schedule, registration, degree requirements, and earning a bachelor’s degree. Classes are small, meet weekly, and are pass/fail. Professors introduce themes from academic disciplines, including:

• God’s will and our everyday decisions
• Anglophilia, a love for all things British
• Theories of leadership and identifying one’s own
• Understanding infinity through mathematics, theology, art, and literature
• The intersection of science and religion
• Origins, development, and impact of our personality and self-concept

Through this new curriculum, academic exploration and rigor is increased, preparing students for the challenge of their major courses and broadening their questions, learning, and critical thinking skills. Stay tuned for Spring 2018, when the Writing program at SPU will award its first Rauer Writing Awards for best writing in Writing 1000 or 1100 and best writing from a senior. All are invited to the Rauer Award Ceremony and to hear the keynote address by an SPU faculty member, “How I Learned to Write.”