Positive psychology is a field that developed in the 1990’s to identify and enhance the human strengths and virtues that allow individuals and communities to thrive. This course focus on using the science of positive psychology to gain skills to help you thrive in college and ultimately in life.

Where does evil come from? This FSEM will discuss what evil is and where it comes from, allowing students to study a real-life villain of their choosing.

Through the close examination of eight landmark theatrical texts of the twentieth century, this course explores the major contributions of composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim to the American musical.

Fairy tales and fantasy novels have their origins in a centuries-old folk traditions that continue to attract twenty-first century readers and cinemagoers. The literary fairy tales that were popular in Italy, France, and Germany centuries ago have found new fans in recent television shows such as Once Upon a Time and films like Shrek, Maleficent, and Frozen.

In this course, we will explore the life and work of James Farmer, an exemplary leader of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement who taught at Mary Washington during the 1990s. We will investigate the history of the concept of race and its impact on how we perceive ourselves and the world.

This course begins with the question of how we ought to remember the Holocaust. Some see Steven Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List as kitsch, for example, while others praise it as a monument to humanity. Are the monumental concrete steles of the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin an appropriate way to remember the victims? Or do they reduce the victims to an anonymous mass?

Do you think your race colored your high school experience in any way? Do you expect that your race will affect your academic and social life at University of Mary Washington? Does racism exist in higher education? If so, what forms does racism take? We will explore these questions by first reading scholarly works on race and higher education.

This First-Year Seminar explores the art, ideas, and enduring influence of Andy Warhol. Through close looking, discussion, reading, writing, and creative experimentation, students will examine how Warhol reshaped ideas about art, authorship, celebrity, media, and everyday life. Or students will learn how to speak and write about contemporary art. We will examine artistic practices since the 1970s alongside the critical discourses that shape how contemporary art is made, understood, and debated.