Mission Seminar Section Descriptions Spring 2017

VUSM 100 LEVEL COURSES AND SECTIONS

 

VUSM-100-001 MWF 8-8:55 a.m. MRC 378 Jean M. Moore
Franciscan Values and Traditions

Viterbo University was founded in 1890 by the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. This entry-level course examines that heritage and what it means to be and behave like a Franciscan. These courses will use the works of Saints Francis, Clare, and Rose of Viterbo as a foundation for exploring the university's core values of hospitality, integrity, contemplation, stewardship and service. Students may not earn credit for more than one VUSM course at the 100 level.

 

VUSM-100-002 TR 9:30-10:50 a.m. MRC 378 Jackie Herbers
Franciscan Arguments

St Francis once said, “Preach always; if necessary, use words.” Here, St. Francis conveys his message that it is better for Christians to show their faith through serving others than to just speak of their faith.  In Franciscan Arguments, students will consider the question, “What are the values shown in society today?” by using rhetorical approaches to critically analyze a variety of artifacts.  These artifacts include, but are not limited to, speeches, articles, web sites, advertisements and songs.  After analyzing these artifacts, students will decide for themselves which values they see and will compare those to the values St. Francis tried to live.  Finally, students will argue what they see as positive values in our society and what values they would like to see change.

 

VUSM 100-003, MWF 9:05-10 a.m. BRC 211 Michael Behan
Franciscan Values and Traditions

This mission seminar course will examine and apply the core Franciscan values to investigate contemporary business/marketing challenges faced by all organizations. The course will be taught by occasionally “flipping” the class, meaning traditional homework will be done in class via applied cases and content accessed outside of class. No prior business knowledge or courses necessary.

 

VUSM 100-006 MW 3:35-4:55 p.m.  MRC 436 Keith Knutson
 Franciscan Values and Traditions: Franciscan Values in a Modern Detective Novel

In 1980, Umberto Eco, a professor at the University of Bologna, Italy, published a novel entitled The Name of the Rose. Although the setting was a Benedictine monastery in northern Italy during the early 14th century, the novel’s hero was a Franciscan friar. Eco translates the dynamism of medieval religious movements into modern terms. The aim of this course is to understand that dynamism through the history of medieval reform movements, the reading and discussion of the novel, and the study of the characters in the motion picture made from the novel, starring Sean Connery as the Franciscan friar William of Baskerville.

 

VUSM 101-001 TR 11 a.m.-12:20 p.m.  BRC 207 Jan Janiszewski
Leading by Serving

This seminar is designed for the active student learner. Students will learn the principles of Servant Leadership, examine Franciscan, values and participate in a variety of leadership experiences which build a foundation for leadership in any career.

 

VUSM 110 MWF 12:20–1:15 p.m.  NRC 203 Laura Nettles
Relationships, Health and Well-Being

Using the stories of Francis, Clare, and Rose as a lens to reflect on contemporary and personal narratives, this seminar examines Franciscan values and traditions as they relate to relationships and health and well-being. Students may not earn credit for more than one VUSM course at the 100 level

VUSM 200 LEVEL COURSES AND SECTIONS

 

VUSM-200-001 T 5-8 p.m.  MRC 348 Jeff Nyseth
Living in a Diverse World

“Our species exhibits considerable diversity; diversity in physical appearance, in beliefs, and in behaviors. How this diversity is portrayed is often dictated by the hegemonic culture; the culture that exerts the predominant influence over the populous. This course will explore issues in diversity through the lens of film and pop culture. We will look at how racial, gender, ethnic, social class, age, and disability stereotypes are used, created, and perpetuated through the popular media including film, TV, and advertising.”

 

VUSM-200-003 MWF 9:05-10:00 a.m. NRC 283 Vee Luz
Living in a Diverse World

This seminar course is designed to increase students’ awareness, understanding, and appreciation of diversity, broadly defined (e.g., diversity in race and ethnicity, social class, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, and religion). Through completion of this course, students will build knowledge and skills involved in being advocates for cultural competency and responsible citizens in our diverse and changing world. Credits: 3; Prerequisite: any 100 level VUSM course.

 

VUSM-200-004 TR 4:30-6:30 p.m.  BRC 201 Matthew Bersagel-Braley, David Saunders-Scott
Living in a Diverse World

This seminar is designed to increase students' awareness, understanding, and appreciation of diversity, broadly defined (e.g., diversity in race and ethnicity, social class, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, and religion). Students will build skills for becoming responsible citizens and advocates for cultural competency. Students may not earn credit for more than one VUSM course at the 200 level. Prerequisite: any 100-level VUSM course or transfer student placement.

 

VUSM 226 MWF 9:05-10:00 a.m. MRC 500 Michael Lopez Kaley
Diversity in Religious Perspectives

One of the great challenges facing our society today is the diversity within this country’s borders, diversity that includes diverse races, religions, persuasions, and worldviews.  The challenge for all of us lies in overcoming the biases and prejudices that are deeply rooted within us.  This course will approach racial, economic, age, sexual orientation, and religious diversity through the lens of the Judeo-Christian tradition.  Facts and fallacies regarding what the religious tradition believes and proclaims about the previous diversities will be explored.  The course will also provide opportunities to model leadership in a diverse culture. This course is approved to co-count as an Integrating Faith and Practice Way of Thinking Course.

 

VUSM-251-001 TR 4:30-5:50 p.m.  NRC 207 Diana Cataldi
Global Music in a Diverse World

Global Music in a Diverse World raises critical consciousness of diverse populations through the exploration of various musical and cultural traditions from around the world. Examples include Indonesia, Puerto Rico, Ghana, Argentina, Jazz, Gospel and other traditions. These cultures will be studied within the broader context of rituals, memory, migration, politics, transmission, identity and life-cycle events. Students will learn through directed reading, listening, online group discussion, giving online presentations and attending live performances. Through this seminar course, students will become advocates for cultural competency and responsible citizens in our diverse and changing world. Prerequisite; any 100 level VUSM course or transfer student placement. This course is approved to co-count as an Artistic Awareness Way of Thinking Course.

 

VUSM 252-001 TR 9:30–10:50 a.m. FAC 204 Janet McLean
Women in Theatre

At its best, theatre helps us understand who we are; it can explain, examine, ridicule, or celebrate the human condition.  Gender is a fundamental aspect of personal and social identity. It is a biological, psychological, and cultural category of paramount importance. In addition, gender is often a criterion for social stratification and differing political treatment, as well as a favored symbol for expressing essential values and beliefs. This course examines specific examples of the representation of women on the American stage, focusing on what this dramatic literature says and implies about women. It illuminates ideas about the “nature” of women and the changing perceptions of their roles in both the family and society throughout the last 100 years, while also addressing how these changes impact the role of men in dramatic literature.  This course is approved to co-count as a Literary Analysis Way of Thinking Course.

 

VUSM 281-001 TR 2-3:20 p.m.  NRC 207 Connie Fossen
Understanding and Working with Mexicans in the United States

The objective of this course is to learn and respect cultural diversity through the study of the complex relationship between the United States of Mexico and the United States of America. The focus of this course is the present day realities of Mexican people working and living in the US.  The course will offer knowledge, values and skills necessary to understand and work with Mexicans in the US. Students will learn about selected historical, social, cultural, political and economic events that shape the life of today’s Mexicans as well as current policy and political decisions that are impacting Mexican in the US. The skills necessary to communicate with and serve Mexicans with availability of community opportunities to enhance students’ cross-cultural practice experiences. 

 

VUSM 293-001 TR 2–3:20 p.m.  MRC 436 Jesus E. Jambrina
Introduction to Latin American Studies

This course will give students theoretical tools to understand Latin America from an interdisciplinary perspective. Using a wide range of cultural products, students will examine the region beyond a descriptive approach by looking into its socio-historical formation. Among other topics, students will examine class, race, and gender as well as political tradition and intellectual history. Cross-listed with LASP 200. Students may not earn credit for more than one VUSM course at the 200 level. Prerequisite: any 100-level VUSM course or transfer student placement.

 

VUSM 300 LEVEL COURSES AND SECTIONS

 

VUSM 300-001 W 5-8 p.m.  MRC 418 Kari Reyburn
Serving the Common Good

Adopting a psychological perspective, this Common Good section will examine and apply the StrengthsQuest perspective/ assessment in order to determine each student’s individual talents. This way of knowing will allow students to use their individual talents within a service-learning project of their choice. Through this practice, students will learn the importance of becoming better citizens of the community and how to serve.

 

VUSM 300-002 T 5-8 p.m.  NRC 283 Jason C. Larsen
Serving the Common Good

Following in the Franciscan tradition and Viterbo's value of service, this seminar asks students to actively participate in civic engagement and connect course content to those experiences. Students will engage in activities designed to foster the common good while reflecting on their values and practices of community, service, and collaboration. Collaborations with community partners will allow students to demonstrate community engagement and responsibility. Students must complete 25 hours or 10 instances of service in the full-semester version of the course. Students may not earn credit for more than one VUSM course at the 300 level. Prerequisite: any 200-level VUSM course or transfer student placement.

 

VUSM 300-003 R 4:30-6:30 p.m.  MRC 500 Tom Thibodeau
Serving the Common Good

Following in the Franciscan tradition and Viterbo's value of service, this seminar asks students to actively participate in civic engagement and connect course content to those experiences. Students will engage in activities designed to foster the common good while reflecting on their values and practices of community, service, and collaboration. Collaborations with community partners will allow students to demonstrate community engagement and responsibility. Students must complete 25 hours or 10 instances of service in the full-semester version of the course. Students may not earn credit for more than one VUSM course at the 300 level. Prerequisite: any 200-level VUSM course or transfer student placement.

 

VUSM 300-004 TR 11 a.m.-12:20 p.m.  FAC 204 Mary Ellen Haupert 
Serving the Common Good (Honors Section)

The focus of this Serving the Common Good seminar is the El Sistema movement, which has transformed music education into an agent of social change.  “The System” was the brain-child of Venezuelan economist Dr. José Antonio Abreu who taught “300,000 of Venezuela’s poorest children, demonstrating the power of ensemble music to dramatically change the life trajectory of hundreds of thousands of a nation’s youth while transforming the communities around them” (elsistema.org).  This section of VUSM 300 will partner with Advocates for Community through Music Excellence (ACME—a branch of El Sistema USA) and Camden Music School (another community school that advocates for social change) in community events committed to raising awareness and scholarship funds for its participants.  This Common Good seminar provides an opportunity for civic engagement through required outreach service-learning trips.  There may be a nominal fee to defray travel and lodging costs for the trip. Prerequisite: any 200 level VUSM course.

 

VUSM 300-005 MWF 9:05-10 a.m. NRC 204 Christopher J. Rogers
Serving the Common Good

Following in the Franciscan tradition and Viterbo's value of service, this seminar asks students to actively participate in civic engagement and connect course content to those experiences. Students will engage in activities designed to foster the common good while reflecting on their values and practices of community, service, and collaboration. Collaborations with community partners will allow students to demonstrate community engagement and responsibility. Students must complete 25 hours or 10 instances of service in the full-semester version of the course. Students may not earn credit for more than one VUSM course at the 300 level. Prerequisite: any 200-level VUSM course or transfer student placement.

 

VUSM 300-006 TR 12:30-1:50 p.m.  MRC 378 Krista S. Clements Orlan
Serving the Common Good

Following in the Franciscan tradition and Viterbo's value of service, this seminar asks students to actively participate in civic engagement and connect course content to those experiences. Students will engage in activities designed to foster the common good while reflecting on their values and practices of community, service, and collaboration. Collaborations with community partners will allow students to demonstrate community engagement and responsibility. Students must complete 25 hours or 10 instances of service in the full-semester version of the course. Students may not earn credit for more than one VUSM course at the 300 level. Prerequisite: any 200-level VUSM course or transfer student placement.

 

VUSM 300-007 MWF 5-8 p.m.  BRC 202 Roland Kuhl
Serving the Common Good: American Society and Culture in Global Perspective

We are global citizens as well as being American citizens.  Often our nationalistic perspective leads us to lose sight of our being human within a global context. This course explores elements of American society and culture in relation to the North American and global contexts in order to discover in what ways these elements are challenges in our cooperatively seeking and promoting the common good both locally and globally.  Using film, current events, articles, experience, reflective journals, and other resources, we shall examine American society and culture in relation to politics, religion, gender, race, equality, government and democracy, power and conflict, business and economics, poverty, education, immigration, and citizenship to shape our development in becoming world citizens who serve the common good.  

 

VUSM 325-001 M 5-8 p.m.  NRC 201 Roland G. Kuhl
The Common Good in the Life of a Christian

The notion of "The common good" originated over two thousand years ago in Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero. Vatican II defined the "common good" as "the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfillment." The common good, then, consists primarily of having the social systems, institutions, and environments on which we all must depend and work in a manner that benefits everyone. This course will examine the environments that establish and enhance the common good. Using philosophical principles, ethical theories, and religious traditions, students will learn the utilitarian aspects of the common good while pursuing a just, compassionate, and virtuous worldview. Students must complete 25 hours or 10 instances of service. Students may not earn credit for more than one VUSM course at the 300 level. Prerequisite: any 200-level VUSM course or transfer student placement.  This course is approved to co-count as an Integrating Faith and Practice Way of Thinking Course.

 

VUSM 400 LEVEL COURSES AND SECTIONS

VUSM 400-001 TH 11 a.m.- 12:20 p.m.  MRC 500 Susan Cosby Ronnenberg
The Ethical Life (Honors Section)

The Ethical Life builds upon the student's ethical reasoning to examine the role of moral values and to explore real world ethical dilemmas. The seminars may approach ethical living from a variety of perspectives, professions, and disciplines. This course explores the three major ethical perspectives of deontology, utilitarianism, and virtue ethics, asking students to apply their tenets to moral problems presented in English literature. Most ethical arguments arise out of stories that we tell ourselves about who we are and what we are doing; at the same time, there is scarcely a work of literature that does not carry a weight of moral urgency or exemplify an ethical position. We tell stories to make sense of the world and to give us perspective on decisions we might otherwise take too casually, or challenges that at first resist our attempts to resolve; they rank among our oldest and most persistent means of achieving consensus. They contribute to developing what we refer to as our ethical standards. Our attention to ethical philosophy will be always in service to close reading and discussion of a number of important works of literature, in the form of short stories, drama, novels, and poetry.  Topics covered will include: questions of fairness and equality, questions about consequences and the greatest good, and questions about character and moral habituation. The course emphasizes close and perceptive reading, thoughtful discussion and reflection. This is not a literary analysis class, though; we are using literary stories to better understand approaches to ethical reasoning and decision making.

 

VUSM 400-002 R 3:30-6:30 p.m.  MRC 416 Melissa Collum
 The Ethical Life

The Ethical Life builds upon students' ethical reasoning to examine moral values and explore real world dilemmas. Students will examine virtue ethics, deontological ethics, and utilitarianism. By the end of the course, students should be able to identify and analyze their own ethical values and should be apply to use ethical principles to clarify a range of issues. Students may not earn credit for more than one VUSM course at the 400 level. Prerequisite: any 300-level VUSM course or transfer student placement.  This course is approved to co-count as a Philosophical and Moral Inquiry Way of Thinking Course.

 

VUSM 400-003 TR 2-3:20 p.m.  FAC 204 Janet E. McLean
The Ethical Life

The Ethical Life builds upon students' ethical reasoning to examine moral values and explore real world dilemmas. Students will examine virtue ethics, deontological ethics, and utilitarianism. By the end of the course, students should be able to identify and analyze their own ethical values and should be apply to use ethical principles to clarify a range of issues. Students may not earn credit for more than one VUSM course at the 400 level. Prerequisite: any 300-level VUSM course or transfer student placement.

 

VUSM 400-004 MWF 2:30–3:25 p.m.  FAC 378 Jeff Nyseth
The Ethical Life

The Ethical Life develops students’ ethical reasoning to examine real-world ethical dilemmas, using a four-way model built upon truth, consequences, fairness, and character. The seminars may approach ethical living from a variety of perspectives, professions, and disciplines. By the end of the seminar students should be able to identify and analyze their own ethical values as well as apply ethical principles to clarify/resolve a wide range of issues.

 

VUSM 400-005 M 6-9 p.m.  NRC 101 Rick Kyte and Tom Thibodeau
The Ethical Life: Water Ethics

This particular section of The Ethical Life will examine water’s unique status as a commons resource, essential to economic, cultural, physiological, and emotional well-being.  We will read books from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and meet with water experts, including local, state, and federal agency personnel, to learn about the major challenges of securing high water quality and quantity now and in the future. 

 

VUSM 400-006 T 6-9 p.m. MRC 346 Chris Rogers
The Ethical Life

The Ethical Life builds upon students' ethical reasoning to examine moral values and explore real world dilemmas. Students will examine virtue ethics, deontological ethics, and utilitarianism. By the end of the course, students should be able to identify and analyze their own ethical values and should be apply to use ethical principles to clarify a range of issues. Students may not earn credit for more than one VUSM course at the 400 level. Prerequisite: any 300-level VUSM course or transfer student placement.

 

VUSM 431-001 MWF 3:30-6:30 p.m. NRC 104 William J. Reese  
The Ethical Life from the New Testament Gospels

The question "What did Jesus do?" remains the hallmark of the Christian Church's message and identity. "What would Jesus do?" is the major question this course will ask. What are the determined features of the ethical life Jesus modeled and taught? How do the narratives of the four gospels offer people an ethical foundation? How can we understand Jesus' ethics in relation to ideas of truth, consequences, fairness, and character? Students may not earn credit for more than one VUSM course at the 400 level. Prerequisite: any 300-level VUSM course or transfer student placement.  This course is approved to co-count as an Integrating Faith and Practice Way of Thinking Course.