CoursesFellows Proseminar I
COMM 025

Fellows Proseminar I

The SNF Paideia Fellows Proseminar I introduces sophomore Fellows to academic research and practice related to the civic engagement mission of the SNF Paideia program. We engage diverse perspectives on the purpose of higher education, the nature of citizenship, the value of civility, and the relationship between individual and community wellness.

Students will develop their personal civic identity and wellness goals through intentional course exercises and assignments. This includes identifying potential avenues for civic engagement within their academic discipline, selecting and practicing wellness strategies tailored for their lives and goals, and crafting concrete plans to cultivate civil dialogue and service at Penn and beyond. The goal of the course is to equip students with the knowledge, skills, experiences, and ethical frameworks for healthy, sustainable and robust civic leadership at Penn and in their local, national, and global communities. This course is open only to SNF Paideia Fellows, who are required to take it during the fall of their sophomore year.

Course sessions will address the following questions:

  • What is the purpose of a Penn education?
  • What is Paideia?
  • What is citizenship?
  • Is civility outdated?
  • What does civil discourse look like?
  • Wellness and civic engagement: A non-sequitur?
  • Strategies for wellness and civic engagement?

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Instructor(s)

  • Brian Peterson

Semester

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A central premise of the “American Dream” is economic freedom, implying opportunity, security, and in the minds of many, wealth. The statistical and experiential reality, vividly evident throughout the nation’s urban cities, is a staggering inequitable distribution of resources and growing economic instability for scores of households, including those identified as middle class. This course equips and supports students for dialogue on financial issues and helps them to explore why this dialogue is sometimes avoided or feels difficult.

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PSCI 4991

How Washington Really Works

Instructor(s)

  • Ezekiel J. Emmanuel

Semester

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The purpose of this course is to provide students with an understanding of how decisions and policy are really made in Washington. Weekly travel to Washington D.C. required.

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