The Visionary Course Pairing
Effective Writing (WR 100)
This course will introduce you to the discipline of writing in the university through analytical and productive work with the contemporary essay and its various genres. You will learn how to conceive and pursue a line of inquiry about a subject, how to develop an original argument, and how to support an argument with various sources of evidence, including scholarly research. You will develop and practice a full writing process, including planning, drafting, considering critical feedback, revising, reflecting, and editing. And you will hone your critical reading skills to evaluate and engage with other people's arguments. To help you achieve these goals, we will critically examine and respond to texts, in a range of genres, written by authors in the real world for real audiences. We will also do a lot of writings consciously and reflectively employing the concepts and strategies we learn about inside and outside of class. All of the work we do in this class is grounded in rhetoric: the effective use of language and symbols, always sensitive to context, especially one's audience and productive of change. The various skills you learn and practice in this course will enable you to become a more thoughtful, reflective, critical thinker who can participate in intellectual and world-shaping conversations inside and outside the academy.
Faculty biography
Professor Dominic Micer has been reading and writing for more than half a century and has been teaching writing for nearly a third of a century. His favorite book is Primo Levi's The Periodic Table; his favorite painting is Winslow Homer's Right and Left, and his favorite musical composition is Steve Reich's The Desert Music. He has been known to tell a joke or two in class; students in the class have been known to laugh at those jokes sometimes.
Introduction to Christian Theology (TH 201)
An introduction to the Jewish and Christian scriptures, the history of Christianity, and the way these texts and traditions challenge, and are challenged by, the contemporary world.
Faculty biography
Dr. Pamela Cochran is Affiliate Faculty of Theology at Loyola. She has advanced degrees from Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia and has taught at Loyola since 2015. She is concerned with issues of gender and racial justice in Christian tradition and practice. She approaches these topics from the lens of historical theology.
Mentor biography
Brendan Sweeney is the Program Assistant in the Office of Student Engagement. He graduated from Loyola in 2021 with a B.A. in Communications specializing in Digital Media, and is currently enrolled in the Emerging Media Masters program. He works closely with Loyola's all-in-one engagement platform (The Bridge) and manages the office's social media presence to ensure students can easily put on and attend fun events on campus. Having worked as an Evergreen during his time as an undergraduate student, he is thrilled to be able to work with first year students again in helping with their transition to Loyola life. When not at work, Brendan can be found cheering on his favorite Philly/Baltimore sports teams or hosting trivia downtown!
Virtual Advisor
WR 100 satisfies the Composition core requirement for all students. TH 201 satisfies the Theology core requirement for all students.
