For most people, “The Science of Happiness” might sound more like a Coldplay song than a class.
But for Otterbein University students, it’s just one on a long list of unique freshman-year classes. The Science of Happiness is one of 31 First Year Seminars.
The classes – each freshman must take one – are “designed to introduce students to the academic expectations of college,” says Jennifer L. Bechtold, director of the school’s Center for Student Involvement.
According to the official First Year Seminars guide, The Science of Happiness “will consider positive psychology, the science of human strengths and virtues. Rather than starting from mental illness, positive psychology begins instead at mental wellness. It uses scientific studies, validated tests and interventions that are proven effective.”
The names of the seminars fall outside the realm of nuts-and-bolts class titles – e.g., statistics, advanced playwrighting, ancient Greece and Rome – but the material is no less academic.
Other seminars include Arts Are Alive, The Soundtrack of Your First Year, Jesus as Super Star: Jesus as Portrayed by the Film Industry, Navigating the Informational World, How Sports Explain Us and How Much for Your Song.
“(First Year Seminar) classes help first-years make the transition to a new, higher-intensity academic life, as well as help them transition to living in a new environment,” says Jim Gorman, who teaches How Sports Explain Us. “At Otterbein, about 25 percent of the first-year class will have been recruited to play a sport here, and quite a large percentage of the students who select this class will be student athletes.”
Because of that good-sized chunk of students participating in athletics, How Sports Explains Us is a valuable option, going well beyond statistics and fandom to help students understand their personal connections to the games they play, Gorman says.
“The class examines the changes in American society over the last three decades. … We look at other concurrent changes too, such as gender, where the women’s movement changed our society, followed by how Title IX (passed in 1972) changed high school and college sports,” he says. “The goal is to examine human nature, theirs and others. Sports, in our society and their involvement as players and team members, shows them that human nature more intensely than any other experiences they might have had at their age.”
Psychological stimulation is a common thread throughout much of the first-year catalogue. Arts Are Alive, another seminar course, dissects “the cultural, sociological and aesthetic aspects of the arts” through music, visual art, critique and even economic issues, according to the guide.
As for the psychology-weary, there are also the essential-styled college classes as well, such as Navigating the Informational World.
“My course is focused on training students to acquire the information literacy and research skills necessary to become competent and self-reliant information users,” says Rares Piloiu, who teaches the course.
For freshmen, who may be new to the type of academic and information-heavy world that college places them in, this class may be a mainstay.
There are also socioeconomic classes and even some with a pre-law bent. How Much for Your Song is an example of both.
The class “is broadly about intellectual property, such as copyright and patents,” says teacher Allen Reichert. “Through work and hobbies, we deal with intellectual property constantly, but many people don't consider how court cases and the law impact those interactions.”
All the classes revolve around ushering the first-year student into a new realm of possibilities, a realm that may be unexpected, interesting and possibly even life-changing.
And it isn’t merely the coursework that makes a difference. The environment in which it is taught can be helpful, too.
“Students who have taken the … courses have indicated that the course has helped with both their social and academic transition to Otterbein,” says Bechtold. “They have shared that the course has allowed them to build meaningful relationships with faculty members, peer leaders and other new Otterbein students.”
David Allen is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
