Cornerstone: Foundational Skills and Capacities for Academic Success

This 4-credit course is intended for both beginning and returning students, and aims to strengthen academic reading, writing, critical and creative thinking, and research skills in alignment with Evergreen's Six Expectations and Five Foci. The curriculum emphasizes connecting theoretical concepts with practical applications relevant to students' academic, personal, and professional lives. Course activities include reading, writing, and seminar discussions; participation in workshops and peer-editing groups; reflection, response, and analysis of diverse texts, media, narratives, and ideas; brief presentations; documentation and engagement with assignments and discussions on Canvas; active participation in Zoom classes with cameras engaged; development of management and organizational skills; enhancement of effective communication abilities; refinement of research skills and methodologies; and cultivation of leadership skills applicable to academic and broader life contexts. A focus of this class will be the art and craft of writing essays, the roles of narrative and expository essays, and identifying and using various forms. Students will also be introduced to campus resources, Evergreen’s interdisciplinary and coordinated studies model in the arts, humanities, and sciences, and will have opportunities to learn from guest speakers, including the author of one of the texts (to be confirmed).
As we develop a theme for our academic study, we will explore the following central questions: In a world of constant change, what does it mean to do the right thing? How can individuals and communities use stories, strategies, and structures to create sustainable change? How can we cultivate practices and principles of critical and creative thinking, ethical leadership, and meaningful work in our academic, personal, and professional lives? How can the study of the interdisciplinary liberal arts support the development of learning and leadership during times of challenge and change? What will it take to thrive as we move forward in ways that sustain both people and the planet, and as we envision a world that works for all?

Texts:
--Abdullah, Sharif. Creating A World That Works for All. San Francisco, CA: Berret-Koehler, 1999.
-- Giono, Jean, The Man Who Planted Trees (forward by Wangari Maathai) White River, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2007. (Paperback) 1933392819
-- Zinser, William. On Writing Well. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2001. ISBN: 978-0060891541
--Program Reader--posted on Canvas each week and free to students. Articles, essays, podcasts, films, workshops, and resources.

OPTIONAL (highly recommended) 

--Newman, Louis, Thinking Critically in College: The Essential Handbook for Student Success.

--Goleman, Daniel, Richard Boyatzi, and Annie McKee. Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence (10^thAnniversary Ed.). Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2013. ISBN: 978-1422168035.

Anticipated Credit Equivalencies:

4 - Foundational Skills for Academic Success