In this course, we will create interactive projects using the programming language Max 8. This language was created for artists, composers, and performers to create interactive sound and art installations. This language is a visual programming language (connecting virtual blocks together with tiny wires) and requires no prior knowledge of computer science, programming, art, or music. We will all be exploring and learning this language together, sharing our work with each other, and being free to mess things up as much as we need to in order to learn and have fun!

This course is designed as a supportive space for first-year students to reflect on and discuss what "home" and belonging means to them. We will together learn about concepts of community, cohabitation, and domesticity in different gendered, ethnic, and cultural contexts. We will think about our lived environments - from the rooms to the university as a whole. The course will consist of reading assignments, discussions, short writing practices, art making, storytelling, meditation, and field trips. We will share experiences and stories, and treat each other as sources of feedback and support.

This seminar is designed to introduce students to three foundational graphic novels from the canon, namely Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, and Art Spiegelman's Maus I and II. Using McCloud's work as a compass, students will explore Maus I and II while asking some of the following questions: What are comics? What is a graphic novel? Which elements, taken in tandem, constitute a graphic novel? How has time been depicted spatially? How are the relationships between figures depicted visually? What is being told, and how does it relate to what the author wants to tell?

Why is disco so ridiculous? Why is Eurovision like that? Why did Lady Gaga wear a dress made out of real meat in 2010? Perhaps better questions to ask are: "What is Camp?" and "Why do people do it?" Our class will take a look throughout history and discuss the origins and lively history of the campy, the weird, and the overexaggerated. We will discuss how Camp is primarily a viewpoint with which to see the world; it is a love of the exaggerated and the artifice, and it has deep cultural connections to historical minorities such as gay/queer communities and Black American culture.

HFA Opportunity Scholars seminar encourages the development of the skills students need in order to become engaged and informed members of the campus community, as well as leaders and essential members of the new communities that they encounter or create during their time on campus. Students will discover what it means to be a self-learner, receive individualized support towards reaching their desired goals and establish the tools and understanding that will empower them to successfully navigate the complexities of life as a student and beyond.

HFA Opportunity Scholars seminar encourages the development of the skills students need in order to become engaged and informed members of the campus community, as well as leaders and essential members of the new communities that they encounter or create during their time on campus. Students will discover what it means to be a self-learner, receive individualized support towards reaching their desired goals and establish the tools and understanding that will empower them to successfully navigate the complexities of life as a student and beyond.

HFA Opportunity Scholars seminar encourages the development of the skills students need in order to become engaged and informed members of the campus community, as well as leaders and essential members of the new communities that they encounter or create during their time on campus. Students will discover what it means to be a self-learner, receive individualized support towards reaching their desired goals and establish the tools and understanding that will empower them to successfully navigate the complexities of life as a student and beyond.

We will use the technology available through the University to get you off to a good start, academically and in adjusting to campus life. You will hear from and engage with guest speakers including: Students, student life advisors, and peer mentors (alumni or current students who are teaching and from other professions).

Do you identify as a Latinx, bilingual/multilingual, or English learner student? Do you know what the purpose of learning is? Are you still not sure if the career you have in mind will be fulfilling? If some of your answers were yes, this is the course you are looking for to learn about focusing on academics without being consumed during your next years at UMass. In this course, you will feel you are in a community learning how to navigate college to success and about how bilingual/multilingual students do it without being discouraged.

This course is designed to allow first year students the opportunity to connect with each other in a small classroom setting. In this course, you'll begin to reflect on how you hope to see your academic journey develop and grow through your time at the University of Massachusetts. You will participate in meaningful discussion, personal reflection and engaging activities that help with the successful transition to college life which will ultimately lead to a better understanding of your academic path and professional goals.