Spring 2025 Falcon Discovery Seminar Special Topics

The Falcon Discovery Seminar is designed to welcome you into our academic community and to inspire a lifelong commitment to learning. Together, we will explore a “wicked problem” that involves a creative approach to problem solving and a willingness to entertain new ideas and critically evaluate information. You will be guided by your Professor and a Peer Leader, participate in shared experiences, and learn how to successfully navigate your college experience. Our “wicked problem” will be how to define the human in an age of technology. We will learn how the definition of “the human” changes over time and in response to evolutions in technology, how to analyze primary texts of literature and film, and how to understand secondary texts of academic research and public discourse. We will also strengthen our skills in the areas of research and writing, time management, academic integrity, information literacy, critical thinking and problem solving. 

Instructor: Jane Griffin, Modern Languages

Our particular wicked problem concerns social media: the good it does for society (e.g., connections and shared perspectives) and the bad it does for society (e.g., information biases and unrealistic expectations). You will explore ways to mitigate the bad, while keeping the good. We will also explore creativity, what it is, how to access it, and how to apply it to the wicked problem. 

Instructor: Andy Aylesworth, Marketing

Since 1945 the United States has been the world’s richest and most powerful nation.  Today, however, the American-dominated world order is challenged by economic, military, technological and political rivals, as well as by a powerful America First movement at home.  This section of FDS will ask, Is the American Century coming to an end and, if so, will that make our lives better or worse?  We will explore the costs and benefits of the world order built by the United States, the challenges it faces today, and the implications for all of us if the American Century is indeed ending.   

Instructor: Cyrus Veeser, History