2020-2021 First-Year LLCs
The Commons is the home of our Living and Learning Communities (LLCs) for First-Year students. This state of the art residential facility boasts six different communities that provide a variety of opportunities for students to pursue their academic and social goals in a safe, supportive and dynamic environment. The LLCs help create a more seamless transition to college life by providing an environment where faculty and residential staff work collaboratively to nurture communities where students can develop friendships and succeed academically.
If you are a faculty member interested in starting a new LLC please click here for more information.
Best of Stem
The Best of STEM LLC welcomes students majoring in Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, or Physics and helps them form a community that supports their success. Students in the Best of STEM LLC will take a class together each semester of their first-year. These classes not only support the progress toward STEM majors but also satisfy requirements for the Integrative Studies Program. In these classes, students make connections with STEM faculty members and receive support from Peer Course Assistants, upper-class majors who have previously excelled in the material. Members of the Best of STEM LLC will have many opportunities to participate in STEM-related social activities and co-curricular events.
Fall 2020 semester: Introduction to Statistics, MATH 141, Karen Stanish
Spring 2021 semester: Python Programming, ISCS 210, Shari Bemis
For more information contact: Karen Stanish, kstanish@keene.edu
Brainiacs Unite: Let’s Explore Psychology and Neuroscience
Neuroscientists study the brain and nervous system to better understand how they control the diverse functions of the body and the mind. Many mysteries remain and scientists continue to work toward a deeper understanding of how nerve cells organize into circuits that allow us to read, speak, remember, move and regulate vital functions like body temperature. Advances in neuroscience help to address the more than 1,000 neurological and psychological disorders that affect up to one billion people globally. Students interested in careers in neuroscience will work at the intersection of psychology, biology, and chemistry to gain background and experience in this exciting field.
Fall 2020 semester: IIPSYC 199, Topics in Neuroscience, Harlan Fichtenholtz
Spring 2021 semester: PSYC 253, Brain and Behavior, Karen Jennings
For more information contact: Karen Jennings, kjennings1@keene.edu
Communicating Safety
Every profession needs a combination of technical skills related to a particular industry and the ability to connect and communicate effectively with people. This LLC brings a unique combination of a technical field like Safety and Occupational Health and a discipline based in the humanities like Communication. During the Fall semester Safety majors will take the Careers and Professional Communication course and learn what it means to communicate professionally through language use, nonverbal communication, listening, group interaction, self-presentation, and working with diversity. During the Spring semester, students will focus on a required course in their major, which introduces them to scientific and engineering principles as applied to the field of Occupational Safety. This will be accomplished through the application of these principles to the analysis of processes, equipment, products, facilities and environments in order to optimize safety and health effectiveness.
Fall 2020: Careers and Professional Communication, IHCOMM 199, Chitra Akkoor
Spring 2021: Occupational Safety, SAFE 202, Brian Bethel
For more information contact: Chitra Akkoor, cakkoor@keene.edu
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Film and Visual Thinking
Do you love making, viewing, or talking about films or art? Do you think you might want to major in Film? If so, join the Film LLC and take your classes with other students who are passionate about images and cinema. The first semester we will focus on the history of film; the second semester you will take a class on film analysis. The Film LLC will become an active group within the Film Society, meeting each week and experiencing the films that are screened at the college’s historic Putnam Theater. LLC Students can also make independent films through Keene State Media Productions. Share your love of film as a form of art, entertainment, and social commentary, get to know faculty and other students, and learn more about the world of film.
Fall 2020 semester: Introduction to Film History, Film 271, Irina Leimbacher
Spring 2021 semester: Introduction to Film Analysis, Film 270
For more information contact: Irina Leimbacher ileimbacher@keene.edu
History
Do you have a lively interest in studying the past? The History Learning Community provides an engaging environment for you to live and study with others who share a genuine interest in history. Participating students take a two-course sequence that introduces you to ways of reading, writing, and thinking as historians, as well as exposes you to an array of different types of historical study and understanding. The History LLC is dedicated to offering a welcoming academic culture for history students and to developing strong intellectual bonds.
Fall 2019 semester: ITW 101, A History of Baseball, Graham Warder
Spring 2020 semester: IHHIST 199, The Rise of the American Republic, Matthew Crocker
For more information contact: Graham Warder, gwarder@keene.edu
Honors
Each year a select number of qualified first year students are invited to participate in the Morris August Honors Living and Learning Community. Do you have a passion for learning about a range of different subjects? Do you consider yourself to be academically motivated? If so, then this Living and Learning Community is for you. Here you will work together with fellow honors students as you explore human history, science, arts, and culture—knowledge that is unique to a liberal arts education. You will work closely with professors and peer mentors in the classroom while enjoying outside-of-class activities that include book discussions, guest speakers, field trips, service projects, movie nights, and social gatherings.
Fall 2020: Media Literacy, ITW 101, Karen Honeycutt
Spring 2021: Write What You Know, ITW 101, Nicholas Germana
For more information contact: Anna Schur, aschur@keene.edu
Latin American Language and Music
Here’s is an opportunity for anyone interested in the language and culture of Latin America. What better way to learn a language than to live with those speaking it? And what better way to experience the culture of Latin America than through its music?
Fall 2020: Latin American Music Survey, IAMU 112, Jose Lezcano
Spring 2021: Elementary Spanish II, IHSP 102, Stephen Hawes
For more information contact: Stephen Hawes, shawes@keene.edu
Hours of Operation