Liberal Arts Seminar

These classes cover a range of topics related to the liberal arts and sciences. See https://college.as.virginia.edu/LASE_ELA for class descriptions.

LASE 1520 courses are 1-credit Echols-only seminars capped at 20 first-year students, all of whom are assigned to the instructor as advisees. They are topically focused on an area identified by the faculty member; they also include a significant advising component centered on undergraduate issues (e.g., choosing a major, study abroad opportunities, undergraduate research, etc.).

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in Liberal Arts semi1nars.

Critical Reading, Writing, and Reasoning is designed to strengthen your thinking, reading, and writing skills across genres and disciplines, with an emphasis on critical analysis. Through a series of increasingly complex assignments, we will demystify and engage interdisciplinary academic discourse. The aim of this class is to stir your intellectual inquiry and provide you with an inter-disciplinary context for your academic exploration.

An exploration of habits of mind and practical strategies that can immediately apply to any other course a student takes at the University, making it a strategic complement to course enrollment. Course topics include the science of learning, metacognition, learning and time management strategies, procrastination, and more

These classes cover a range of topics related to the liberal arts and sciences. See https://college.as.virginia.edu/LASE_ELA for class descriptions.

UVA Catalyst combines course- and project-based skills training with a focus on preparing Arts and Sciences students to translate their education into purposeful work after graduation. Skills Accelerator courses cover topics including relevant technical skills. For more details, see https://catalyst.as.virginia.edu.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in Liberal Arts Seminars.

Academic Analysis and Research is a three-credit course providing first-year college students with the experience of analyzing, researching, and developing ideas through close readings, class discussions, presentations, and academic writing.The goal of the class is to achieve improved fluency in critical thinking, reading, and writing, through close reading and annotation; intensive and recursive writing; and focused discussion. Prerequisites: LASE 2110.

Skills of Scholarship is a three-credit course designed to help you expand your critical thinking skills, including building your awareness of the process of observing, analyzing, and reasoning. This course will strengthen your ability to evaluate arguments, read critically, manage academic goals, and communicate effectively in written and spoken form. Prerequisites: LASE 2110 and LASE 3110.

This course explores what it means to work as a human in our contemporary economy. On our way to understanding the job market as a liberal arts major, we will explore some of the deeper issues that arise from contemporary demands that result in predictable dilemmas for humans. The goal of the course is to think both pragmatically and theoretically about what it means to be a worker.

This course is for third- and fourth-years who enjoy writing, have had some success as writers (in classes or in extracurricular activities), and think they might like to pursue a career in which writing features prominently. Students will learn marketable skills, including fact-checking, copyediting, abridging, and adapting; they will create job-seeking written materials, including a résumé, and write in a wide range of real-world genres.

These classes cover a range of topics related to the liberal arts and sciences. See https://college.as.virginia.edu/LASE_ELA for class descriptions.

This course provides the opportunity to explore a range of topics in the liberal arts and sciences.

This course focuses on developing and understanding the complex skills that it takes to lead, to collaborate as part of a team, to build coalitions, and to convince other people of your viewpoints. These abilities depend on a sophisticated understanding of difference, a reflexive understanding of the self, and the cultivated skills of emotional intelligence, empathy, persuasive communication, ethical reasoning, and more.

"Critical thinking" is one of the most cited outcomes of an Arts and Sciences (A&S) education, and one with substantial real-world impact in employment and beyond--but it is often unclear exactly what the term means. This course challenges students not just to develop and refine the broad range of conceptual abilities that make up this simple term, but also to use and communicate those abilities effectively outside the academy.

The capstone course is a practicum where students will complete and present a synthesis of their work in Catalyst and at UVA. This will take the form of a curated professional portfolio that students will manage on a domain they own and that will travel with them after graduation. Students will draw together the results of their ongoing work towards a plan of action.

In this course, graduating Echols Scholars will prepare to present their capstone and passion projects for the Echols Capstone Symposium. Projects could be formally through the Echols IMP program, a department DMP or thesis program, or a project a student has pursued without formal academic credit. Students will receive formal training in public speaking and learn components of successful talks.