The Visionary Course Pairing
Effective Writing (WR 100)
Think about your favorite piece of writing -- what effect does it have on you? Effective writing has the strength to make someone laugh, think, learn and act. Your mission is in this course to write with strength and confidence. In this class, you will think about how powerful writing affects you both as a reader and a writer. Reading pieces by writers like Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Susan Casey will give you the chance to look through the lens of other writers in order to sharpen or refocus your own. Activities out of the classroom will serve to broaden your understanding of yourself in the context of your new community as well. In addition, you have the opportunity to take one of two tracks: the traditional path or the service-learning option. Service offers yet another text to integrate among our readings, discussions, and writing opportunities. On the service track, you’ll be asked to see yourself in direct relationship to those you meet at Tunbridge Charter School. Whether you opt for service-learning or not, you will have the opportunity to serve people outside our classroom through your writing. We will always try to contextualize our discussions beyond ourselves and to see how writers attempt to move their readers and affect the world around them. As you look beyond yourself, you will use your writing to envision who you wish to become. Along the way, you'll be writing for action.
Faculty biography
Dr. Andrea Leary is a Teaching Professor and the Internship Coordinator in the Writing Department, where she has been teaching for the last 29 years. In all of her classes, her goal is to guide her students toward excellence in writing while keeping the Jesuit mission of people "with and for others" in their thoughts and actions. Margaret Mead's reminder guides her teaching: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
Foundations of Philosophy: Resistance, Rebellion, and Reason (PL 201)
This semester-long course is designed to bring the ideas and writings from the Ancient Greek philosophers to students through conversation and in-depth discussions. The class will explore and come to understand Sophocles, Socrates, and Plato's ideas of Justice, as well as Aristotle's theories of virtue and political excellence.
Faculty biography
Professor Nina Guise-Gerrity is in her tenth year as Loyola faculty. She teaches in the Philosophy department as well as mentors interns from cross-disciplines. Her areas of study include ancient Greek Philosophy and Political & Economic Philosophy.
Mentor biography
Nikki Jefferson is the Registrar Systems Analyst in the Registrar Department. A double alum (BA, MA) from Loyola that enjoys working with students and helping to navigate them through their first year and beyond. Nikki has been working Full Time at the university since the Spring of 2009. Outside of work, Nikki enjoys being a "foodie" and trying out new restaurants, and spending time with family and friends.
Virtual Advisor
Both courses in this pairing satisfy core requirements (Philosophy and Writing) for all students and are taught with a service learning option.
