Living-Learning Communities at LVC

Last year, LVC piloted a new Living-Learning Community Program funded by a grant from AAC&U’s – Bringing Theory to Practice.  Three learning communities were offered last year and received positive reviews from both students and faculty participants.  This year, we offer three new learning communities for our first-year students.        

What is a living-learning community?  

Our learning communities consist of small groups of students (15-20) who are enrolled in a designated first-year seminar course and are housed on the same floor in one of our residence halls. The learning communities are designed to help ease students' transition to college by giving them the opportunity to build a network of friends/classmates. In addition, they will provide students with the opportunity to bring even greater connection to their educational experience by linking their classroom experience and extracurricular programming through a series of speakers, films, and roundtable discussions. They also promise a greater sense of community among students, faculty and the rest of the LVC community by providing a forum both within and outside the classroom for more intellectual interaction and shared inquiry. Participants in these communities will form strong bonds with other members and be exposed to key transitional issues through residence hall programming/activities, thus creating an enhanced sense of connectedness. We hope you will consider enrolling in one of our learning communities, as previous participants have found them to be an exciting and engaging way to be part of the LVC community. 

What are the three learning communities this fall semester?

Chris Dolan is offering a class titled “In Sickness and in Health: Health Politics in the United States.” The seminar will introduce a variety of political perspectives on wellness, illness, and health. The class will consider the development of knowledge and the political forces that have influenced public health policy. Topics may include the politics of epidemics, environmental issues and concerns, maternal and child welfare, AIDS, sex and drug education, nutrition, communicable and non-communicable diseases, health care delivery, and national health care.  This course is a perfect fit with our Colloquium Series theme of health and related issues.  [Chris Dolan is Assistant Professor of Political Science]

Bob Valgenti’s Food and Philosophy course is another appetizing addition to the learning communities to the fall.   Food is never just food: it is a personal choice, an act of violence, a political statement, a work of art, a commodity, a biological imperative, a source of fear, an obsessive excess, an oppressive absence, an opportunity for communion, the origin of wars, a source of cultural pride, a carrier of pathogens, a mark of refined civilization, and the satisfaction of our most basic animal desires. Food is rarely, however, the subject of philosophical discourse. Can philosophy, the “love of wisdom,” be a part of our daily diet? Could we even ask about the “truth” of food when it is arguably just a matter of taste? The students in this class will read, view, taste, and discuss the insights of philosophers, epicureans, scientists, and journalists—food lovers, food haters, and food activists—in an attempt to learn how to think and write philosophically about food. [Bob Valgenti is Assistant Professor of Philosophy]

Law, Ethics, and Medicine is the third learning community taught by Philip Benesch.   Is the law based on morality? Should government enforce moral rules? Is individual moral choice at the heart of liberty, or can a society be “free” when it legislates a moral code for its citizens? This seminar will focus on medicine as a point of intersection for law and ethics. We will examine some of the most important and sensitive points of the fault-line of modern America. Topics may include the debate on abortion, surrogacy and human fertility, human cloning, organ-transplant priorities, physician-assisted suicide, and euthanasia. The seminar will also relate to the Colloquium Series for this year. [Philip Benesch is Associate Professor of Political Science]

In addition to the many quality courses we offer for our first-year students, these three learning communities offer a unique and distinctive addition to our curriculum.