wandiani deicon alaynna

[Jude Petkus]

These courses make visible for students the rich interplay of intellect and identity, wonder and certainty, rigor and play that characterizes academic inquiry rooted in the Ignatian ideal of care for the whole person, cura personalis. In partnership with SLU Libraries, Ignite Seminar leaders also guide students as they identify and explore the subjects, questions, and scholarly pursuits that ignite their own sense of wonder and urgency.

Every Billiken will take an Ignite Seminar during their first year at SLU. For most students, that experience will take place during the first semester. Students in certain majors will take a seminar that is specifically designed for their program. Other students will choose from any of the CORE 1000 sections available.

Why are vampires so fascinating? Is it their immortality that haunts us? Or is it because they are the supernatural creatures that most resemble us? Through folktales, stories, novels and films, this course will investigate the persistence of the vampire phenomenon through centuries as it migrates from prehistory to the present day, from Eastern Europe to the West and back again. We will compare the Slavic vampire with its Western literary counterpart (Byron, Le Fanu, Stoker, et al.) and will watch classic and modern film adaptations of vampire tales. The course provides a thorough introduction to the folkloric study of the vampire and its subsequent literary and cinematic transformations by presenting a broad range of critical approaches to its interpretation such as Marxism, psychoanalysis, feminism and globalization studies.

Drawing from the popular book by the same name, "Algorithms to Live By" makes math personal. What should we do (or not) in a day or a lifetime? What amount of new and familiar is most fulfilling? How much mess is ok? This isn't a class for math majors, it's a course for everyone on thinking algorithmically, on learning about the fundamental structures of the problems we face, and ultimately on discovering something about ourselves.

The contemporary urban environment is one where people live, work, and engage in civic life. In these environments, the economic infrastructure, the architecture and material context, and technology coalesce to produce a dynamic fabric that weaves the social life of its denizens. In this course, we will learn how the city is a medium of communication, a creator of meaning, a site of conflict, and a communicative artifact that can address the wrongs that it engenders. Students will explore communication studies and rhetorical theory to understand how cities communicate and provide the tools to become engaged for their betterment.

Do you enjoy solving mysteries, puzzles or riddles? Do you listen to true crime podcasts or like to watch Forensic Files or Criminal Minds? In this course, CSI: SLU, you will gain an understanding of general forensic science concepts, and through hands-on laboratory activities, you will help solve a case.

This course examines the principles of compassionate care through a social lens informed by Jesuit values. We will grapple with questions such as, what does it mean to be sick? What roles do empathy, love, connection, and care for the whole person play in medical care? And how do these concepts practically work in the face of burnout?

Yogi Berra, famous baseball player, philosopher, and St. Louisan said: "The future ain't what it used to be." I'd add that it isn't yet what it will be. Why not become aware of trends and future possibilities to do everything you can to make the future the best it can be?

How do we effectively engage in cross-cultural communication in order to build bridges and create belonging? How do we truly thrive in the diverse communities within which we live? This seminar will ask you to consider how the concepts of belonging, crossing cultural boundaries, and intercultural communication, viewed through the lens of short stories written and told by international authors, help us answer these important questions for our lives now and in the future.

This course aims to equip students with the tools to improve their engagement with the public policymaking process and better understand the work of elected officials, public sector employees, policy analysts, activists, nonprofit leaders, and community members. While engaging directly in the City, first-year SLU students will be able to examine the impact of public policy decisions on the St. Louis community.

This course will provide an interdisciplinary introduction to St. Louis. Whether you are a St. Louis native or new to the city, you'll learn new things about the people, places and events that have shaped the region as a hub for intercultural exchange from the Cahokia civilization to the 21st century.

What is it like to live under a despotic government or a social system that denies you elemental human rights? How would you survive or find ways to resist? This seminar explores the personal experience of oppression and the ways ordinary people confront injustice and attempt to build a better world. Cases vary from popular resistance in despotic regimes to efforts to overcome racial oppression in the U.S.

Science fiction explores distinctly philosophical questions. In this class, we will read contemporary works of science fiction that explore issues of the nature of human persons, identity and persistence over time; the nature of time and paradoxes of time travel; the possibility of free will; and machine consciousness and artificial intelligence among other topics. We will read science fiction and works of philosophy that involve careful, systematic discussion of the philosophical themes raised in those works of science fiction.

Students will observe how the components of cities work and how people function in them. They will learn how to combine observation with data-based research to better understand the challenges and opportunities of cities. And they will draft action plans to address those challenges and opportunities.

Students will learn to use anthropological research about our history as a species to radically rethink what we believe about human nature. Students will practice critical thinking about politics, economics, and other social dynamics to develop new evidence-based narratives about the potential for human liberation and dignity.

This course is for students who wish to understand their place in a global community of peoples, to enlarge their own sense of themselves, and to set off on a journey of making a difference in the world.

What does it mean to be human, and how close can a computer get? This class explores the theory of what is and is not computable, as well as definitions for what it means to have conscious human thought, and how those two concepts relate. This course also serves as an introduction to computer programming and asks that the student experience and reflect on how people interact with computers to solve complex, modern problems as well as how computing is shaping the human experience.

The Christian tradition has a long history of experiencing the outdoors and wilderness as a means of finding God, Christ and inner peace. This course will lead students through that tradition while exposing them to the history of wilderness in America, and offer students the chance to experience wilderness through outdoor activities like hikes and camping. No outdoor experience is required or expected.

You should be interested in The Power of Communication Ignite Seminar because you will learn about yourself, you will learn about communication and its disorders, and you will learn how powerful communication is in our world. It just might change your professional path!

This course examines the social dimensions of emotions, such as the cultural norms that shape feelings, the strategies people use to manage feelings in everyday life and in their occupations, and the diverse vocabularies they draw on to describe emotions. We will also consider how inequalities of race and gender can impact emotion, norms, management and labor. Throughout the course, students will be encouraged to connect course concepts to their personal experiences and to their current, past or future occupations.

This Ignite Seminar explores being a "self" from ancient, medieval and modern theological points of view. It focuses on reading classic Greek tragedies and Western medieval fool literature, and how they deal differently with who people are, and with how their identity relates to God or the gods. In this class, we study two opposite kinds of heroes, characters in tragedies and characters who are fools, and learn how both can be helpful as we examine our own decision-making and being ourselves today.

Why are vampires so fascinating? Is it their immortality that haunts us? Or is it because they are the supernatural creatures that most resemble us? Through folktales, stories, novels, and films, this course will investigate the persistence of the vampire phenomenon through centuries as it migrates from prehistory to the present day, from Eastern Europe to the West and back again. We will compare the Slavic vampire with its Western literary counterpart (Byron, Le Fanu, Stoker, et al.) and will watch classic and modern film adaptations of vampire tales. The course provides a thorough introduction to the folkloric study of the vampire and its subsequent literary and cinematic transformations by presenting a broad range of critical approaches to its interpretation such as Marxism, psychoanalysis, feminism and globalization studies.

Before Instagram, the humble postcard was the way we advertised ideals, communicated in both a personal and universal way, and documented what was happening in the world. In this course, explore postcards as a means of communication, history, memory and art.

Communication and comprehension are formed by understanding words. Words of the Greek and Latin languages are fundamental to not only English but many languages and disciplines of the world. Cultures, myths and perspectives are created by the Greek and Latin languages. We will study the words in English from Greek and Latin that formed cultures, histories, philosophies and disciplines.

c01484d022