Your first year doesn't have to be jam-packed with basics. Take new courses that will entertain, stimulate and motivate you! Courses offered for the fall 2009 semester include:

An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away: Managing Personal Health & Investigating Biomedical Research
Section 536 / Tuesday 5:30 - 6:20 / MEDL 202
Instructors: Norma Funkhouser and Becky McKay
Freshman seminar on medical topics of interest to students with the main goal of providing them with a teaching, learning, and social environment, which will engage them in the undergraduate academic experience. Students will gain knowledge of biomedical research applicable to future Honors study and taking responsibility for personal health. Students will work in small groups and independently. Class will produce a personal health management manual for use by freshman.

Life 101: Using Information for Success in Life
Section 528 / Tuesday 3:55 - 4:45 / NGLE 104
Instructor: Wendi Arant Kaspar
Most college classes focus on a discipline and teach you to develop research skills (finding information), information literacy (evaluating information that you find), and critical thinking (synthesizing information to discover patterns and draw new conclusions). Those are skills that aren't just useful in the classroom: they can help you in your daily life, enabling you to deal with whatever life throws at you, now and in the future. This class focuses on some of the ways in which you can transfer your academic skills to solve a variety of problems beyond the classroom. We'll look at how academic research can inform real life decisions, but we'll also look at how you can use academic tools and methods to sort out information from nonacademic sources as well.

Second Life: Flying into a New World of Education and Communication
Section 511 / Monday 4:10 - 5:00 / LIBR 204F (Evans Library, Room 204F)
Instructor: Margaret Anderson, Adriana Gonzalez, and Rob McGeachin
Virtual worlds are used to design educational and entertaining environments. Participants design avatars, their own 3D representations of themselves, and interact with others in a 3D real time world. One of the most popular worlds is Second Life. It is being used as a platform for music, theatre, and art galleries, as a distance learning application and more. Agencies and businesses have built here such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, IBM, Coca-Cola, and more. Texas A&M University's Instructional Services Technology is in the process of building an island to meet the growing needs for distance learning space. Note: Must be at least 18 years old to participate.

This is a Great Book for Teens! Says Who? Exploring the 2009 ALA Best Books for Young Adults
Section 508 / Monday 3:00 - 3:50 / LIBR 417B (Library Annex, Room 417B)
Instructor: Elaine Thornton
Participants will read selected fiction from the American Library Association's 2009 Best Books for Young Adults book list while exploring issues like merit, perspective, and content. They will also explore the development, promotion, and marketing of young adult literature.

Twilighters & Moonlighters: Fan Studies and the New American Vampire
Section 530 / Tuesday 3:55 - 4:45 / HECC 103
Instructor: Candace Benefiel and Cait Coker
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to academic discourse through the realm of "Fan Studies." Students will read critical essays on works such as Twilight, Moonlight, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and more. Students will also view segments of media to learn how to critically discuss multimedia.