Transition Experience (TREX) Courses
Many students wonder if they have what it takes to earn that four-year degree. The College of Arts and Sciences has specifically designed courses that will help you transition from your high school successes to a college student on the path toward graduation.
Our Transitions Experience (TREX) courses will help you understand how to think critically, reason analytically, and make connections between disciplines—all skills needed to be successful in college.
You will learn these skills in courses that are as engaging as they are informative. Interested in other cultures and why people to what they do? Want to learn how your dinner choices influence the world around you? Curious about cinema from another continent? Want to nurture the creative side you never knew you had? Concerned about the world around you and want to know what you can do to be an involved citizen? All these topics and more are addressed in our TREX courses.
****Instructions for Selecting a TREX Course****
All students planning to enroll in the College of Arts and Sciences at Ohio Northern University for the Fall 2013-14 semester are required to enroll in a TREX course as part of the University’s general education requirements for graduation.
Please read through the course descriptions listed below and identify your first five choices among these offerings. Once you have selected your top five choices, please visit the registration page and input the required information, ranking your course selections as instructed. Every effort will be made to enroll you in one of your selected courses. Please try and input your course selections as soon as possible for a better chance at enrolling in your preferred choices.
African Film
Dr. Roseanna Dufault
Viewing and discussion of representative works by African film directors. Selected readings provide historical, political, geographical, and artistic contexts. We will examine 1)ways in which Africa is understood and represented by Africans, 2) our own preconceived notions of Africa, 3)the effects of colonialism, traditions, politics, corruption, and the role of women in African societies, and 4) the motives, goals, and challenges of African film directors.
Beyond Human?
Dr. Forrest Clingerman
Western society continually debates the role of humanity in the world, as well as the general meaning of human existence. The ideals of humanism have animated such discussions in the modern period. But more recently, theorists have suggested that we have now entered a new period of “posthumanism” and “anti-humanism.” This course will investigate the claims and influences of humanism and posthumanism through theories, literature, and pop culture. This topic will be used to practice more general forms of intellectual questioning and critical reflection.
Conflict and Cooperation: Learning How the Game is Played
Dr. Harold Putt
In this course students are introduced to game theory, the branch of mathematics that studies decision making problems. Deterministic, strategic, bargaining and coalition games are introduced via group activities, classroom discussion and homework exercises. The mathematical modeling process is used to analyze the games.
Culture and Personality
Prof. Alfred Cohoe
The goal of this course is to learn to understand the relationship between culture and personality. Specifically, topics such as gender roles, sexuality, self-esteem, aggression, mate selection, the perceptual processes, abnormality, and child rearing will be examined in light of socio-cultural differences. The development of a better understanding of the relationship between culture and the development of personality should enable the student to better understand the world and many of the problems currently being faced today.
From Idiot to Citizen: Education for Democratic Citizenship
Dr. James Schul
This course will explore the nature of citizenship education in a democracy and how students are being prepared for citizenship while here at Ohio Northern University. Through in-depth readings, classroom discussion, presentations, experiential activities, and other instructional methods, the students will explore some of the following key questions: What is the difference between citizenship education in a democracy and citizenship in a totalitarian state? What must citizens be able to know and do in order to be effective citizens? How can students maximize their civic education while here at Ohio Northern?
Intro to Creativity for All Majors
Dr. Denise D’Arca
This course is based on the premises that creativity is an ability that can be developed, and that it's a useful tool for every person(not just those in the arts). Topics to be covered include application of the creative process in various contexts (including the student's major), brainstorming and problem-solving techniques, the science of creativity, and myths or barriers to creativity and how to overcome them. Everybody can be creative.
Kings, Prophets, and Storytellers
Dr. Raymond Person
This course examines select stories of Israel's kings and prophets in Samuel-Kings and Chronicles, including a discussion of how these stories may have been transmitted in oral tradition.
Myth as Reality
Dr. John Lomax
This course examines personal causality as a way of understanding experience. Analyzes the stories, or myths, that people use and have used to express and explain their sense of what is real. Explores myths in text and image to discern the function, range, and impact of myth in the lives of individuals and communities, from antiquity to the present.
The Mythbuster Experience
Prof. Richard Miller
This course will investigate the myths that have been “busted” by innovators and inventors in the past and present, and the ones hoped for the future. We will use critical thinking applications and investigations to study urban legends and media, and make and justify decisions by collecting and gathering data. We will also investigate today’s myths that influence societal institutions (economics, education, family, politics, and religion) and their degree of impact. Students will be involved in a hands on mythbusting experience as part of this class.
Nutrition, Nature and Nations - Food for Thought
Drs. Vicki Motz and Catherine Young
This course explores what we eat, why we eat it, and the personal, regional, and global ramifications of our food choices. Students will critically analyze information regarding worldwide practices in growing, marketing, regulating, and consuming of food. Come prepared to read, write, think, discuss, and eat!
Popular Culture Meets Communication
Dr. Jennifer Walton
The objective of this course is to introduce students to a variety of communication concepts and processes that will help them succeed in different tasks in the academic, disciplinary, professional, and civic arenas. Popular films will be used to illustrate and explain communication concepts, allowing students to make real world connections in communication through the lens of popular film. We will spend the semester engaging in discussions and assignments that will foster an environment of creative and critical thinking.
Science Fiction and Philosophy
Dr. Errol Katayama
This course aims to develop and facilitate critical thinking skills by examining a number of philosophical issues (such as, the nature of reality, person, mind, and space and time, as well as ethical and political issues related to technology) through science fiction thought experiments.
Why Do the French Do That? A Multifaceted Look at Contemporary France
Dr. Thomas Finn
This course gives abundant opportunities to students to study France from a variety of viewpoints (social, historic, educational, economic, political). Reading, viewing, discussion, and written analysis of pertinent texts, contemporary videos, and websites will help students develop a more nuanced understanding of France and its people while formulating some answers to the question in the course title. No knowledge of French is necessary for this course.
