First Year Experience (FYE) Courses
All first-semester freshmen must take an FYE course or an introductory course specified below.
FYE courses are designed to foster a learning environment that enables you to develop the communication, critical
thinking, information literacy, personal and social skills needed to facilitate a successful transition from high school to
your college experience at Cardinal Stritch University. First Year Experience is a General Education (core) requirement
for the Bachelor of Arts degree.
What makes FYE unique?
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Small classes where students explore a topic that challenges them to think from different perspectives.
One-on-one attention from your instructor outside of class.
The chance to serve the Milwaukee community with your instructor and classmates.
A Common Reading program that introduces new students to the University’s values and provides students the
opportunity to have meaningful conversations about how those values connect to their own experiences.
Friday Seminar allows students across all FYE classes to come together each Friday in an interactive format
to connect to Stritch and become successful members of our community.
ED 100
Introductory Education Seminar – REQUIRED for students pursuing an Education degree
This seminar acquaints the student with faculty and the teacher education program, and assesses speaking and
writing skills.
NRS 101
Intro to Associate Degree Nursing – REQUIRED for students accepted into the Nursing program
This is an introduction to the nursing program at Cardinal Stritch University. The course is designed to provide
nursing students with skills to complete the nursing program successfully. Students are introduced to the nursing
process, contemporary nursing practice and health care. Nursing as a profession and the ethical/legal implications
are discussed.
FYE 115A
I Know What You Meme: Social Media
This course focuses on how social media function in society. The course examines social communication tools like
Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and special interest sites. It also observes how sites with common access can be used
as study tools, such as Quizlet, Google Docs, and Angel Discussion Forums. From a Communication perspective,
the course assesses how social media work, what kinds of rules develop, and why some sites do not last.
FYE 115B
Critical Thinking and Creative Problem Solving
The course focuses on the best methods for solving problems in school, at work, and in one's personal life. Methods
for boosting creative thinking, which is one part of problem solving, are also emphasized. In addition to learning
how psychologists study creativity and problem solving, students will be given many hands-on opportunities to
solve problems and discover their creative abilities.
FYE 115C
Media Mind Control
When you are watching TV, are you the unknowing victim of unseen powers that quietly infiltrate your mind? Find
out in Media Mind Control. Together, we’ll examine magazine advertisements, newspaper stories, TV commercials
and more to reveal how the media influences our values and beliefs. We’ll learn to evaluate critically media
influences. Join us. You may never be the same again!
FYE 115D
The Good Life
Is money the source of happiness? Do we work to live or live to work? What is the path to true happiness? Explore
these questions and others like them in “Work, Wealth, and the Good Life.” This class will give you an opportunity
to examine your values, and ultimately help you choose the best path to find happiness in your life.
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FYE 115G
Wisconsin Book Club
Are you passionate about analyzing and discussing literature? Then this class—where we’ll read selections from the
finest Wisconsin Authors—is for you! Together, we will investigate graphic novels, short stories, poetry, memoir
and more, all to glean a deeper understanding of the Wisconsin Literary Tradition. Further, we will question what it
truly means to live in the Badger State, and how the sensibility of place can so greatly impact creative work. Join the
Book Club, and learn more about the long history of Wisconsin's literary excellence!
FYE 115H
Creative Writing
Have you ever been haunted by a feeling, an image, or even a scrap of dialogue you’d accidentally overheard? Have
you struggled to capture in writing the essence of that experience but failed to convey its truth, its beauty, its
vitality? Often we have the germ of a story or poem idea but feel that it needs "something more," that right now it's
not really powerful or compelling. Or we develop an idea pretty fully, maybe even write a draft, yet feel that it's
missing something critical, something in the marrow of the work itself. This course will present techniques for
developing the deeper story or poem or personal writing that the original idea may only suggest. Participants will
take simple ideas and, through the application of technique and imaginative vision, revise and extend that original
idea into something "rich and strange." This is a course for those who want to discover specific ways of deepening
their imaginative process.
FYE 115I
Search for Meaning
We are all on this journey called life, and each of us wants to make meaning out of our life experiences. To do that,
we need to have an understanding of why we are here and what motivates us on this journey—a sense of meaning.
This course introduces you to characters that have found meaning in their own lives and asks you to examine how
people create meaning in today’s world. You will meet mountain climbers, once-ordinary citizens who are building
schools in impoverished countries, homeless Americans, and other characters, both real and fictional, who each
discovered meaning through personal life events and relationships. You will discuss and examine a variety of value
systems and develop a personal philosophy that will help you to continue fostering enduring values in your life. This
course will ask you to look at yourself and the world around you in ways that will assist you in finding a sense of
meaning in this crazy world in which we live.
FYE 115J
Discovering Milwaukee
This course explores the cultural, historical, architectural, geographic and social growth and development of the City
of Milwaukee. The course examines Milwaukee from a variety of divergent perspectives which prepares students to
become learning members of the vibrant city community which they will be immersed in while enrolled at Stritch.
Music, sport, faith, ethnic populations, industry and politics will also be examined culturally.
FYE 115K
Fundamentals of Leadership
Fundamentals of Leadership provides an academic and interactive introduction to study of leadership. You will
examine the concept, background, and different perspectives of leadership through readings, discussions, and
experiential simulations and activities. The class serves as a foundation for future leadership study and involvement
as a leader on campus, in your career, and in your community.
FYE 115L
Show Me the Data (highly recommended for science and pre-med students)
What is the difference between a hypocrite and a critical thinker? Answer: Data driven decisions. Do you want a
pilot’s license for the Cartesian plane? Have you ever wanted to say to someone, you have a nice figure without fear
of a harassment suit? Well you can if you are referring to their graph. Some say that a picture is worth a thousand
words, from a scientific perspective a graph is worth more than a picture so it must be worth at least 10,000 words.
If you want to have fun playing with and displaying data then sign up for “Show Me the Data.”
FYE 115M
In Search of Cool
Who decides something is “cool?” And who decides when something is “uncool?” Students will explore the concept
of cool in expected areas, such as fashion, music, and other consumer goods. But students will also investigate
“cool” across cultures, tribes, and even virtual settings. The journey will also find students toying with multimedia
to document “cool-ness,” as well as craft their own definition of the concept. Definitely a cool course!