All first-year liberal arts students at Purchase College participate in smaller intellectual communities designed to appeal to students’ different academic interests and learning styles. Students may choose from three different types of intellectual communities.
Students in Residential Learning Communities take a minimum of two
courses together and live together in a freshman residence hall. The Learning Communities are coordinated by a faculty director who lives on campus and is therefore available for formal and informal advising, social and academic events and access all year.
So choose your Learning Community now! Places are limited.
Learning Communities are designed for the bright and highly motivated students who will benefit from collaborative and concentrated learning. They are NOT remedial groups.
Students in Residential Learning Communities:
- live together in preferential student accommodations, are guaranteed a double room and have a specially selected resident advisor
- work closely with and are advised by a faculty member who lives on campus
- have a minimum of two courses and faculty in common
- will be given special peer advisors and tutors
- participate in special academic and extracurricular activities, including theatre performances, field trips, dinners, and celebrations with their faculty member-in-residence
Why participate?
- to get extra attention from faculty, staff and peer advisors who will help you excel and find informal ways of studying inside and outside of the traditional classroom
- to get priority housing
- to get to know other students who share similar interests
- to join a community that lasts throughout your undergraduate years, to feel more bonded, more quickly, to the College and its academic and social life
2012-13 Residential Learning Communities:
- From Page to Stage
- Psychology and Everyday Life
- Literature and Media
- Self and Society
- A Nation of Rebels: Counterculture from American Beauty to Zen
- World Cultures: Contemporary Life through the lens of Anthropology
From Page to Stage (Residential Learning Community)
One of Purchase's most exciting features is the amount and variety of performing arts on campus, especially theatre. These include visiting professional companies, Conservatory productions by both Theatre and Performance students and students in the Acting program, and many independent performances drawing students from across the campus. Page to Stage students will see and study a number of on and off campus shows, discuss their experiences, and write about how plays ("page") come to life in the theatre ("stage").They will enjoy special social events, receive student rate tickets, special lectures and presentations on the plays, and have a tour of the Performing Arts Center's state of the art theaters and other facilities. Although Theatre and Performance majors are very welcome to join this learning Community, it is emphatically open to ANY student interested in watching, performing in, and talking about the theatre and performance.
From Page to Stage is coordinated by Faculty Member in Residence Professor Gary Waller, an internationally known scholar of Shakespeare and Medieval and Renaissance drama
For more information, email: Gary.Waller@purchase.edu.
Psychology in Everyday Life (Residential Learning Community)
It takes a split second to recognize the face of a friend in a crowd or the voice of a loved one over the phone. The whiff of a few odor molecules can tell us whether our food is fresh and safe to consume or whether it has gone bad. While these processes of perception and recognition occur rapidly and automatically, they are the result of chains of events that are so complex and mindboggling that scientists have only begun to identify the steps of processing. This learning community will explore how perception is shaped by attention, emotion, and even culture. Students in this learning community will enroll in “Sensation and Perception” and “Freshmen Seminar” with Dr. Meagan Curtis, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Faculty Member in Residence. This Learning Community is intended for students who have a strong interest in the psychology major.
For more information, email: meagan.curtis@purchase.edu
Literature and Media (Residential Learning Community)
Why are books and films banned? Or negatively reviewed? Or simply disregarded by the critical community? And why do some of these become popular and well-respected years after they were created? The Literature and Media Learning Community analyzes these questions first by looking at some books and films from marginalized groups. Students then do independent projects on such books and films of their own choosing. Students enroll in a special section of College Writing and the Freshman Seminar, taught by the director of this Learning Community, Kathleen McCormick, a Professor of Literature and Faculty Member in Residence. Students also enroll in a complementary section of a course that fulfills the Humanities requirement, taught by Lee Schlesinger, also a Professor of Literature. Students will participate in many social and intellectual activities, including theater and gallery visits in NYC and special dinners on campus. Students with interests in the Humanities are encouraged to apply, whether they have declared a major or not. This Learning Community always has some Literature, Creative Writing, and Journalism majors.
For more information, email: kathleen.mccormick@purchase.edu
A Nation of Rebels: Counterculture from American Beauty to Zen (Residential Learning Community)
The Counterculture Learning Community explores some of the major countercultural themes in both the East and West, primarily through the text A Nation of Rebels and supplemental readings. We will examine the nature of each movement or figure, identify their distinguishing characteristics, and study how one counterculture inspires another over time. The course will examine art, literature, and philosophy. Students will analyze various texts and films to explore the complex theories that have driven countercultural thinkers and their movements. This Learning Community is challenging and includes a significant amount of reading and independent work.
Peter Polinski, assistant director of the Advising Center, will coordinate the Learning Community and also teach the accompanying sections of College Writing and the Freshman Seminar.
For more information, email: peter.polinski@purchase.edu
World Cultures: Contemporary Life through the lens of Anthropology (Residential Learning Community)
This learning community will introduce students to world cultures and societies, and differences and similarities in the contemporary human experience through the lens of anthropology using a variety of learning activities. These learning activities will include documentary film screenings on topics such as human evolution, cutting-edge archeological research in the United States, gender and sexuality in the United States, India, Thailand and Suriname, and topical issues such as “honor” killings in Pakistan and heavy metal music in Iraq. Other learning activities will include a guided tour of collections at the renowned Neuberger Museum at Purchase College, and a community service field trip to Port Chester, a town with a growing Latino immigrant population. This learning community is designed for students who have an interest in anthropology and world cultures. Professor Ahmed Afzal, assistant professor of anthropology at Purchase College, will coordinate the learning community and also teach the accompanying section of Introduction to Cultural Anthropology and the Freshmen Seminar.
Professor Ahmed Afzal, assistant professor of anthropology, will coordinate the Learning Community and also teach the accompanying Freshmen Seminar. Students will take part in documentary and feature film screenings, and field trips to museums and exhibits at Purchase College and beyond.
For more information, email: ahmed.afzal@purchase.edu
Self and Society (Residential Learning Community)
Our sense of self is shaped by the social world we live in. What we value, the beliefs we hold, how we dress, what we eat and even when, have all been molded by institutions, groups and significant others. But as individuals we also influence the world around us. We have what sociologists call “agency” – an ability to think and act independently of social constraints. The Self and Society Learning Community will investigate this intersection between self and social life. As Freshman, we will pay particular attention to the way Purchase College socializes you into being a “college student” as well as how you might influence and direct the college to meet your individual needs. Students in this learning community will enroll in Introduction to Sociology and Freshman Seminar with Assistant Professor of Sociology Matthew Immergut.
For more information, email: Matthew.immergut@purchase.edu
Updated February 27, 2013
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