The Visionary Course Pairing
Effective Writing (WR 100)
WR 100 will introduce you to the discipline of writing in the university through analytical and productive work with the contemporary essay and its various genres. You will learn how to conceive and pursue a line of inquiry about a subject, how to develop an original argument, and how to support an argument with various sources of evidence, including scholarly research. You will develop and practice a full writing process, including planning, drafting, considering critical feedback, revising, reflecting, and editing. And you will hone your critical reading skills to evaluate and engage with other people's arguments. To help you achieve these goals, we will critically examine and respond to texts, in a range of genres, written by authors in the real world for real audiences. We will also do a lot of writing -- consciously and reflectively employing the concepts and strategies we learn about inside and outside of class. All of the work we do in this class is grounded in rhetoric: the effective use of language, always sensitive to context, especially one's audience. The various skills you learn and practice in this course will enable you to become a more thoughtful, reflective, critical thinker who can participate in intellectual and world-shaping conversations inside and outside the academy. From the point of view of the Good Life, this course will share a text: Nudge by Thaler and Sunstein. Through this book,the class will examine the evidence that most human beings don't make decisions in the way often characterized by the academic world. The book also offers a wealth of opportunities to make students aware of how to make better choices, both for themselves and for society.
Faculty biography
Dr. Dominic Micer is a Lecturer in the Writing Department, where he has taught writing since 2012. Dr. Micer is very interested in exploring the role writing plays in the use of positive emotion (empathy, awe, etc.) in constraining and enabling pro-social cognitive behavior.
Applied Calculus (MA 151)
A one semester introduction to calculus. It covers the definition, interpretation, and applications of the derivative especially in business and social sciences. As part of the Messina program the course offers a service path within Baltimore City, and a research path in topics related to sociological issues within Baltimore City.
Faculty biography
Dr. Ethan Duckworth
I have been at Loyola University for 16 years and have taught most of the math classes
we offer. During most of that time I've been an advisor for students and involved
in various first year programs like Messina. I especially like the applied calculus
class because it incorporates both math and applications that encourage us to think
about broader societal issues.
Virtual Advisor
Students must have taken high school calculus or attained a 65-75 on the ALEKS Mathematics Placement Exam to be eligible for this course pairing. Students considering a major in the Sellinger School of Business and/or Economics are strongly recommended to consider this pairing since MA 151 is the mathematics course that satisfies the core for business majors. MA 151 is not recommended for other majors. WR 100 satisfies the Writing core requirement for all students.
