2026-Fall-CU-FYS

First Year Seminar focuses on academic engagement and skill building using a wellness centered approach that includes cognitive, interpersonal and intrapersonal development. Students will pursue truth through critical, independent, and creative thinking and collaborate effectively in groups in an inclusive and respectful manner. Each course will include an essential, enduring question based on at least one dimension of wellness (social, physical, emotional, occupational, intellectual, environmental, spiritual or financial) that sparks imagination and creativity. In addition to the content of the course related to the essential question, students will also take an inventory of their personal strengths and weaknesses, meet with their instructor 1:1 to review the College Student Inventory, and experience a variety of student success modules led by Academic Success or their course instructor. They will also receive education from campus guest speakers on Alcohol and Cannabis Use, Coping Strategies, Resume Writing, and Intrapersonal Communication skills. All students will complete a group project that will be showcased at a campus event at the end of the semester that answers their course essential, enduring question.

This course dives beneath the surface of select Disney films to explore complex social forces—like microaggressions, dominant culture, marginalized communities, tokenism, stereotypes, institutional disadvantage and more —that shape our real world. By analyzing iconic scenes from Zootopia and other Disney films, students will see how media mirrors our own stereotypes and social structures. Students will develop the empathy and critical tools needed to navigate a diverse society, using the stories we grew up with to understand the communities we live in today. This course focuses on the enduring question of “How can I impact my community throughout my time at Immaculata University and on with empathy and understanding?”