COMM 103W Introduction to Communication (4)
Essentially, students in COMM 103W Introduction to Communications explore one central question: What is human communication? While it is true that humans use verbal “message-and-response” interchanges, we will discover that communication is a sophisticated, ongoing process. This will lead us to other questions: When and where does human communication occur? How has it shaped centuries of human development? What makes us choose one form of communication — email, text messages, etc. — over another? What are the effects of each medium of communication on the quality of our messages? This course fulfills the Gen Ed requirement for Interdisciplinary Thinking and gives students the opportunity to fulfill the basic writing requirement.

ENLT 151W-01 Intro to Literature: Fiction to Film (4)
This course considers how classic works of literature by women have been adapted for TV and
film. We start with the poetry of Emily Dickinson alongside the Apple TV show Dickinson,
before reading three nineteenth-century novels: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Bronte, and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. After reading each of the novels,
we will watch multiple adaptations from the late twentieth century to the present day. We will
compare literary texts to cinematic retellings, and discuss questions of popularity (high-brow vs.
low-brow), narrative form, genre, audience, and more. Why retell these stories and why retell
them in these particular ways? What do the transformations of literature onto the screen say
about the original works of literature and about the contemporary culture that refashions them in
new ways? This course also provides students the opportunity to earn the W. This course fulfills the Gen Ed requirement for Literary Inquiry and gives students the opportunity to fulfill the basic writing requirement.

ENLT 151W-02 and 03 Intro to Literature: Forgotten Women (4)
In this course we will investigate varied literary works written by women long buried by history. We
will learn about social constructions surrounding the exclusion of women from literary canons and
archival memory. We will discuss, how have women been relegated to the shadows of their
husbands; literary legacies, or dismissed as hysterical or heretical? Who are the women history does
not want you to know? This course fulfills the Gen Ed requirement for Literary Inquiry and gives students the opportunity to fulfill the basic writing requirement.

ENLT 151W Introduction to Literature: Mortality and Beyond (4 credits)
Death is one of literature’s most abiding themes. From ancient Mesopotamia to the present day,
writers have grappled with the fact of our mortality, exploring what it means to live a good life in
the face of loss and of our own inevitable ends. How does an acknowledgment of our finite time
on Earth change our understanding of our ethical, spiritual, and political responsibilities? What
do we owe the dead, and what can we learn from them? Can we really understand death, at once
so ubiquitous and so difficult to imagine? And what, if anything, lies beyond?
In this course, you will study literary works that pose and respond to these questions, examining
the ways that writers working with different literary forms (plays, poems, novels, short stories)
and in different times and places (ancient Greece, early modern England, 20 th and 21 st century

England, Ireland, India, and the United States) have imagined death and its aftermath. In doing
so, you will gain the fundamental reading and writing skills necessary to analyze literary texts.This course fulfills the Gen Ed requirement for Literary Inquiry and gives students the opportunity to fulfill the basic writing requirement.

ENLT 151W-05 Intro to Literature: Inherited Tales (4)
This course will examine contemporary literature that focuses on the undergraduate college
experience. In the process, we will tackle a number of questions: What is the value of a liberal arts
education? What is the purpose of college? What makes college a transformative experience? How
are identities formed or changed in a college setting? What is college preparing you to do or to be?
What is the difference between a career and a vocation? Reading texts by a number of contemporary
writers including Fareed Zakaria, Jennine Capó Crucet, ZZ Packer, and Meg Wolitzer, we will
practice reading, thinking, and writing like a literary critic. We will also apply different critical
lenses—including precritical, traditional approaches, feminist, and others—to the primary texts we
read. Writing assignments will focus on building effective arguments, offering textual evidence,
reading literature through different lenses, and communicating ideas clearly and logically. This course fulfills the Gen Ed requirement for Literary Inquiry and gives students the opportunity to fulfill the basic writing requirement.

ENWR 202W Introduction to Creative Writing (4)
This course introduces students to writing fiction, literary non-fiction, and poetry. The writing process of drafting, engaging with readers through a workshop, and revising on the basis of feedback is also introduced. This course fulfills the Gen Ed requirement for Creative and Artistic Expression and gives students the opportunity to fulfill the basic writing requirement.

HIST 201W United States History to 1865 (4) 
This course is a survey of the history of the United States from the first European settlements in the “New World” through the Civil War. If you don’t know what calendar dates that includes ... you need this course.  This course will focus on writing more than the typical US History survey. This course fulfills the Gen Ed requirement for Historical Inquiry and gives students the opportunity to fulfill the basic writing requirement.
 

HIST202W: United States History Since 1865 (4)
This course is a survey of the history of the United States from the end of Reconstruction through your years at Saint Mary’s. That is much too much ground to cover in a semester, but, until we have three semesters, we’ll make do. This course is also one of the College’s writing (or W) courses. As such it will focus on writing more than the typical US history survey. This course fulfills the Gen Ed requirement for Historical Inquiry and gives students the opportunity to fulfill the basic writing requirement.
 

HUST 197W: (In)famous Women: Myth, Legend, and History (4)
Truth or fiction? This course explores different ways of seeing (in)famous women from Eve to Cleopatra, Mary to Joan of Arc. Through class discussions, interdisciplinary readings (fiction and nonfiction, literature and history), art, lectures, and film, we will study what history, myths, and legends—both ancient and modern—tell us about the past and about ourselves. This course fulfills the Gen Ed requirement for Historical Inquiry and gives students the opportunity to fulfill the basic writing requirement.
 

PHIL 110W  Introductory Philosophy (4)
Readings and discussions designed to introduce the student to the major areas and problems of philosophy through a study of the writings of classical and contemporary thinkers.This course fulfills the Gen Ed requirement for Philosophy and gives students the opportunity to fulfill the basic writing requirement. 

POSC 151W Political Issues (4) 
This course introduces students to important questions about and issues facing political communities. It explores what kinds of questions should be considered “political” and why; it also explores some of the real-world implications of current issues for political communities. This course also provides students the opportunity to earn the Basic W.  Note that it does not count toward the Political Science major or minor. This course fulfills the Gen Ed requirement for Social Science and gives students the opportunity to fulfill the basic writing requirement.

RLST 101W World Religions in Dialogue (4)
This course introduces students to the study of religion and theological inquiry. Through a variety of sources it explores the meaning of religion in personal and cultural life. This course fulfills the Gen Ed requirement for Religious Tradition I and gives students the opportunity to fulfill the basic writing requirement.