This is the first of a two-course sequence, 4 credit year long experience, comprising the freshman-integrated experience. In Business 1, students will be introduced to the key functional areas of business, discuss current factors, events, and trends that impact business, build professional, personal leadership, communication, and teamwork skills, and evaluate business decisions, and the business plan process. By understanding the key functions of business and analyzing business decisions in Business 1, students will be able to then develop their own business ideas in Business 2.

Service design is a holistic design process. It uses skills from a variety of disciplines (design, management and process engineering) to develop models to create new services or to improve existing services in the most efficient and effective manner possible. The emphasis of the process is to provide value to the customer; as a service differentiator or create unique experiences for the customer. Service design uses methods and tools from a variety of disciplines to assist with the analysis and creation of enhanced systems. These tools include; mapping, blueprinting, analysis of customer behavior, market analysis, service marketing, and service recovery. The outcome of this course is to provide students with the fundamentals of service design thinking to allow them to lead the efforts of systematic design in a variety of disciplines.

Leadership today is challenging at best when considering all the complexities of the 21st century work environment. In this course students will explore, discuss and practice effective strategies and behaviors to lead others, teams and organizations for high performance. Areas of focus include: leadership roles, theories and styles, creating a shared vision, coaching skills, teamwork and group dynamics, cultural communication and influence, and ethical decision making. Course work will include extensive readings, case studies, written reports, small group projects, presentations and reflections.

This course examines the historical, critical, and theoretical perspectives that have led to Black feminist theory and praxis as developed by women of African descent (Black women). Spanning from the 19th century to the present with a focus on the 1970s Black feminist intellectual tradition that challenged the hegemony of “western” and global feminisms, the course explores how Black feminist theorists simultaneously embrace and complicate established feminist and anti-racist readings of race and gender oppression. The course analyzes Black feminist thinkers’ pioneering contributions to anti-racist and feminist thought by centering Black feminist understandings of intersectionality and womanism. It investigates how Black feminist thinkers interrogate specific concepts such as sexuality and gender roles, leadership, family, community, criminal justice, pedagogy, and educational systems. It examines how theory and practice intersect and inform each other in Black feminist perspectives by investigating forms of social and political activism such as work in labor, civil rights, Black power, feminist, womanist, and other movements. Students will develop the analytical skills necessary to think critically about feminism, race, gender, and sexuality and will learn to recognize Black women’s central roles in shaping past, current, and future lives and institutions.