Early College Academy for General Studies

Build college credits and confidence

• FYSM 100: First Year Seminar

  The First-Year Seminar prepares students for the kind of academic work expected in college. In a small class setting, students work closely with their professors and peers to explore a particular
  topic in-depth and develop skills that are essential for success at the university. Skills include those in substantive reading, criticritical thinking, writing, speaking, ethical analysis and  reasoning, active and collaborative learning, academic research, and the use of technology. Students also learn how to use university resources, including student support services, in their academic pursuits. This course aims to foster a sense of belonging, promote engagement in the curricular and co-curricular life of the university, encourage self-responsibility, and articulate to students the benefits of higher education and the expectations and values of the university. The course also seeks to help students develop and apply essential study skills, enhance critical thinking and communication, and explore interests, abilities, and values.

• COMP 100: General Writing

  Students in COMP 100 examine and practice writing in public and academic contexts. The course focuses on writing processes and provides sustained practice in critical thinking, reading,
  and writing demanded by academic and public writing. Student writing and student writers are at the center of the class. Assignments challenge students to expand their approaches to revision and to experiment with a wide variety of writer’s techniques. Particular attention is paid to the intersections of audience, purpose, genre, and context. That is, you will consider not only what to write, but also to whom and in what forms. You will also examine the influences that the writer’s and audience’s circumstances can exert on composition. The conventions of writing, which may include diction, grammar, syntax, usage, and structure, are addressed as part of the process of writing, and students may study how these conventions change with context.

• PSYC 011: General Psychology

  This course is designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to the psychological bases of human behavior, covering a wide range of topics that influence a person’s actions and their mental processes. The course will survey a variety of topics including Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, classical and operant conditioning, and memory. Human development from infancy to adulthood, and personality trait theories, the psychoanalytic perspective, and humanistic approaches will also be discussed. Sensory perception, abnormal behavior, attitude change, and group behavior, such as conformity,
  groupthink, and social roles, will be presented.

• GEOL 050: Water Wars

  This physical science course is an introduction to the study of hydrology, geology, and scientific principles from the perspective of water as a natural resource. Main topics covered in this course will include examining the Earth’s water cycle, describing how geological formations of lakes and rivers are created through plate tectonics and erosion, and the study of how groundwater moves through aquifers. Example-oriented teaching methods will be used to evaluate political conflicts
  and the environmental ramifications when water supply is in demand. Specific case studies will be presented that examine the impact on various ecosystems such as groundwater over-extraction that often leads to severe droughts, extinction of wetlands, and the loss of habitat for wildlife.