Learning Communities

Art provides us with language and techniques to express personal insights and analyze visual culture. Sociology helps us interpret our experiences within the collective social world, and provides greater understanding of how that world is built. Come explore these interdisciplinary connections with us on an exciting pathway to the self within society.

Interests

Art, Sociology, Social Sciences, Diversity

Courses

The Sociological Imagination

SOC 105
MW 12–1:50 p.m.

Drawing, Inquiry, and Expression

ART 106
MW 2–4:40 p.m.

WCore Emphases

• Social and Behavorial Sciences
• Fine Arts and Humanities
• Diversity Emphasis

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Utah is renowned for its red rock country, which is simply due to a chemical reaction. Geochemistry is an interdisciplinary subject that requires a sound knowledge of geological and chemical principles to interpret the history of the Earth. In this Learning Community, students will couple fundamental chemistry to geology while exploring America’s National Parks.

Interests

Chemistry, Geology, Science, Environmental Science, Pre-med, Engineering 3-2

Courses

Intro to Chemistry

CHEM 111
MWTh 12–2:00 p.m.

Natl Parks Geology

GEOL 111
TTh 4–5:50 p.m.

WCore Emphases

• Science and Mathematics
• Quantitative Emphasis

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What’s just? How do we use ideas of justice to impact school discipline? In this LC, you will learn about restorative justice—an alternative to punitive discipline. We’ll also explore the ways that groups include and exclude people to re-create and sustain community, even when people break our cultural rules.

Interests

Education, Justice, Community, Culture, College Skills

Courses

Restorative Justice

WCSBS 130
MW 2–3:50 p.m.

Success in College and Beyond

INTR 140
MW 4–4:50 p.m.

WCore Emphases

• Social and Behavorial Sciences

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From the smallest tribes to the largest institutions—the earliest tools to the latest technologies—the simplest forms of communications to the most modern types of social media, this learning community combines anthropology and sociology to explore the past, present, and future of human development, group organization, and social interaction.

Interests

Sociology, Anthropology, Social Science, Culture, Global Studies, Community Research

Courses

Culture in Anthropology

WCSBS 104
TTh 2–3:50 p.m.

The Sociological Imagination

SOC 105
MW 2–3:50 p.m.

WCore Emphases

• Social and Behavorial Sciences
• Diversity Emphasis
• Research Emphasis

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Scientific research indicates that our current civilization is incompatible with the continued viability of the planet. This learning community will explore the economic and ethics of climate change, its economic origins, and ethical dimensions that underlie policies. Climate change threatens economic growth and challenges efforts to make a more just world.

Interests

Climate Change, Economics, Ethics, Philosophy

Courses

Economics, Ethics, and Growth

ECON 150
TTh 10–11:15 a.m.

Poverty and Global Justice

PHIL 209
MW 10–11:15 a.m.

WCore Emphases

• Social and Behavorial Sciences
• Fine Arts and Humanities

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Everything you do involves a complex interplay of chemicals in your brain. In this LC, students will explore the activity of chemicals inside and outside their nervous system. As students learn about chemistry concepts they will be able to explain how chemicals affect their brain and behavior.

Interests

Science, Neuroscience, Chemistry, Pre-Med, Biology

Courses

Interests

Science, Neuroscience, Chemistry, Pre-Med, Biology

Principles of Chemistry I and Lab

CHEM 111
MWF 2–3:50 p.m.

Intro to Brain and Behavior

NEURO 205
MW 12–1:50 p.m.

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This LC introduces the dynamic areas of business while giving you a strong foundation of the skills required for a business major. Students will form a company, determine a set of products to sell to the Westminster community, manage the business areas, and ultimately influence the use of firm profits—focused on a service project. In the process, students will take a real-world approach to learning and come to understand how rewarding business can be.

Students may choose a MW or TTh Learning Community. This LC will also be offered in the spring semester.

Interests

Business (required for BUS majors), Computer Information Systems

Courses

Business Fundamentals I, Communicating

BUSI 101A
MWTTh 10–11:15 a.m.

Business Fundamentals, Calculating

BUSI 101B
MWTTh 12–1:15 p.m.

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Our approach in this LC is to use concepts from the history and art of drawing to visually represent the evolution of the biodiversity that surrounds us. Darwin observed the curious features of a Finch’s beak or a turtle’s shell and theorized that these organisms descended through slight modifications in previous forms. We will look at the ways biology can inform visual art, while simultaneously looking at the way drawing and visual culture aids science.

Interests

Pre-med, Biology, Communication, Art, Science, Environmental Studies

Courses

Drawing, Inquiry, and Expression

ART 106
TTh 2–4:40 p.m.

Organisms and Evolution

BIOL 202
TTh 9–11:20 a.m.

WCore Emphases

• Fine Arts and Humanities
• Science and Mathematics

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Have you ever wondered how much your genes affect who you are or what will happen to you? How much of our future do we control and how much was just the genetic roll of the dice? In this learning community we will learn about genetics and probability and explore the role probability and risk play in inheritance and genetic diseases with applications related to science, behavior, and health.

Interests

Neuroscience, Psychology, Biology, Pre-med, Public Health, Mathematics, Data Science, Science

Courses

Genetics of Human Behavior

NEURO 120
MW 12–1:50 p.m.

Probability, Risk, and Reward

WCSAM 113
TTh 2–3:50 p.m.

WCore Emphases

• Science and Mathematics
• Quantitative Emphasis

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People constantly judge and are judged by others based on how they look and how they sound. Critically analyze those judgments as we examine images and attitudes toward language. Become a stronger viewer, reader, writer, and researcher aware of concepts and challenges of justice, academic writing, and linguistic diversity.

Interests

Social Justice, Diversity, Language, Images, Writing

Courses

Writing and Language Diversity

WRIT 123
MW 4–5:50 p.m.

Imaging (In)Justice

WCSBS 109
MW 12–1:50 p.m.

WCore Emphases

• Social and Behavorial Sciences
• Writing Emphasis
• Diversity Emphasis

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Coming to college means leaving what we are used to behind and involves establishing new routines, meeting new people, and developing identities. This LC integrates social and physical dimensions of wellness beyond thinking: we will be doing. We will make healthy choices for our minds and bodies. We will interact with others to learn how to be flexible communicators. Let’s live a way of life to achieve our highest potential.

Interests

International Business, Spanish, Communication, Outdoor Education and Leadership, Nursing, Pre-med, Public Health, Fitness, Social Science, Wellness

Courses

Communication Across Cultures

ENGL 166
MW 2–3:50 p.m.

Fitness for Life

HPW 250
MW 12–1:15 p.m.

WCore Emphases

• Social and Behavorial Sciences

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Explore the relationship between film production and technology when making movies that use visual and special effects to communicate stories. Learn how inspiration meets math and tech skills to create movie magic. Films may include profanity, violence, and/or sexually explicit images. This Learning Community is targeted at students with no computer programming background.

Interests

Film Studies, Special Effects, Technology, Computers

Courses

Math and Technology of the Entertainment Arts

CMPT 150
MW 2–3:15 p.m.

Film Genres

FILM 212
TTh 12–1:50 p.m.

WCore Emphases

• Fine Arts and Humanities
• Science and Mathematics
• Quantitative Emphasis

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Mathematics and psychological science can help people become better thinkers. This LC will explore how probabilistic reasoning can help us understand why people make risky decisions, why games of chance are often counterintuitive, how decision-making is often biased by our personal intuitions, and how probability applies to cognition and behavior. You’ll learn how to apply mathematical concepts in a variety of real-world situations, as well as debunk common myths about people and behavior.

Interests

Social Science, Psychology, Mathematics

Courses

Probability, Risk, and Reward

WCSAM 113
MW 12–1:50 p.m.

Bust That Psych Myth

PSY 105
TTh 10–11:50 a.m.

WCore Emphases

• Science and Mathematics
• Research Emphasis
• Quantitative Emphasis

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This LC explores how humans have encrypted and deciphered their communications as well as some of the great unintended mysteries of ancient civilizations. Learn about ciphers used by Julius Caesar, how we’ve uncovered where humans traveled in the past, how code-breaking techniques help us read hieroglyphics, what made the Enigma machine work in WWII, and how humans have transmitted information across the globe, both in ancient times and today.

Interests

History, Humanities, Mathematics, Language, Secret Codes, Cryptography

Courses

Puzzles in World History

HIST 110
TTh 12–1:50 p.m.

Making and Breaking Secret Codes

WCSAM 206
TTh 2–3:50 p.m.

WCore Emphases

• Fine Arts and Humanities
• Science and Mathematics
• Writing Emphasis
• Quantitative Emphasis

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Some say that the best geologist is the one who has seen the most rocks, but how do you get to them? Students in this LC will gain the confidence to hike to some of Salt Lake’s most interesting rock formations—and the scientific knowledge to understand what those rocks tell us about geological history. In this LC, students will learn about how their bodies and the earth work, and how energy and force can shape them both.

Interests

Geology, Outdoor Leadership, Outdoor Activities

Courses

Geology of the American West

GEOL 107
TTh 2–3:50 p.m.

Fitness for Life

HPW 250
TTh 4–5:15 p.m.

WCore Emphases

• Science and Mathematics
• Quantitative Emphasis

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This learning community joins psychological science with yoga by combining the study of human behavior with a regular yoga practice. Together, we will discover the theoretical and practical dimensions of states of mind and behavior through exploring cultural differences and similarities across time and place.

Interests

Psychology, Yoga, Meditation, Research

Courses

Bust That Psych Myth

PSY 105
MW 10–11:50 a.m.

The Yogic Experience

THTR 221
TTh 10–11:15 a.m.

WCore Emphases

• Fine Arts and Humanities
• Science and Mathematics
• Research Emphasis

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