fsem symposium

HWS News

2 December 2025 Showcasing Scholarly and Creative Work at FSEM Symposium

First-year students present culminating projects across 20+ seminars.

HWS invites community members to celebrate the scholarship and creativity of first-year students at the annual First-Year Seminar (FSEM) Symposium on Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. in the Vandervort Room.

See the 2024 First-Year Symposium gallery featured in This Week in Photos. 

The event highlights HWS’ commitment to fostering intellectual curiosity and collaborative learning. In an informal, interactive setting, attendees can explore culminating course projects, meet First-Year Mentors and engage directly with the ideas shaping the academic journeys of the campus’ newest students.

Presentations will feature work from FSEM courses across disciplines, including:

  • The Reality Effect (Associate Director for Faculty Enrichment Susan Hess)
  • Berlin – Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow (Professor of German Area Studies Eric Klaus)
  • Belief, Skepticism, and Paranormality (Professor of Economics Joyce Jacobsen)
  • Unsinkable (Associate Professor of Russian Area Studies David Galloway)
  • Moving Mountains (Director of Teacher Education Program and Secondary Education Andrea Huskie)
  • Encountering Difference (Associate Professor of Religious Studies Shalahudin Kafrawi)
  • CORALations (Professor of History Lisa Yoshikawa)
  • Game Changers: Disease, Cures & Social Change (Professor of Biology Sigrid Carle)
  • What’s Eating You? (Associate Professor of Anthropology Christopher Annear)
  • Mars! (Professor of Geoscience Nan Crystal Arens)
  • Fish On! (Associate Professor of Writing and Rhetoric Benjamin Ristow)
  • Parched: Past, Present and Future of Water (Associate Professor of Geoscience Tara Curtin)
  • Road Trips (Professor of English and Creative Writing Anna Creadick & Associate Professor of Media and Society Rebecca Burditt)
  • Podcasting America (Professor of American Studies Elizabeth Belanger)
  • Ethical Debates in Medicine (Professor of Religious Studies Etin Anwar)
  • Face to Face: Interrogating Race in the United States & South Africa (Visiting Associate Professor of Africana Studies James McCorkle)
  • Flight to Freedom (Fisher Center Pre-Doctoral Fellow Sarabeth Rambold & Associate Professor of History Janette Gayle)
  • The Secret Science of Learning (Professor of Chemistry Kristin Slade)
  • Sustainability Mythbusters (Professor of Environmental Studies Kristen Brubaker & Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Beth Kinne)
  • 20 Questions (Associate Professor of English Rob Carson)
  • Exploring Community: Relationships, Happiness & Service (Associate Vice President for Campus Life and Dean of Student Wellness and Support Shelle Basilio)
  • "Bodies" Politic (Assistant Professor of Politics Joseph Mink) 

“All are welcome to join us in recognizing the hard work and innovative thinking of our first-year students,” says Susan M. Pliner, Ed.D., Associate Provost for Academic Faculty Affairs and Strategic Initiatives.

Top: In 2024, students in “Community Building: Relationships, Happiness, & Service” co-taught by Shelle Basilio, the AVP for Campus Life and Dean of Student Wellness and Support, gather for a group photo.