Seventeenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Why do ideas matter? What is the relationship between the individual and community? How can we define human nature? What is justice? Are there universal moral principles? Or, are our actions moral according to the moment and place in which we find ourselves? In this interactive session, we discuss and share the successes of a unique undergraduate first-year seminar, developed by fifteen faculty members at Dickinson College beginning in 2009. As of 2017, twenty-nine faculty from nineteen departments across all academic divisions (Humanities, Social Sciences, Sciences), have taught this course - an unprecedented fact in the 245-year history of the College. Entirely administered by faculty, the seminar is based on the principle of a common syllabus and texts that are read simultaneously in multiple course sections, and moves from Ancient Greece to the Post-Colonial world in examining individuality, community, democracy, capitalism, and technology. A central question is, “How do the ideas of these authors – all from different cultures and eras – resonate across time and help us understand our present experience within a global community?” Annual surveys of graduating seniors who took this course as first-year students reveal the resonance and impact of the content and assignments of the seminar throughout their college careers. We believe that our initiative, and the manner in which we have structured and taught this course and recruited faculty to teach it, can serve as a model for other faculty in the Humanities seeking to foreground pedagogy that is rooted in intellectual and humanistic inquiry.