Second Lecture of the 2024 First-Year Studies Lecture Series

First-Year Studies, a staple of the academic experience at Lawrence University since 1945, continues to evolve. Beginning in Fall 2024, the course required for all first-year students will undergo a significant realignment, all aimed at making the program more focused while keeping its intent of a collective introduction to the liberal arts. The changes stem from recommendations made by a faculty task force that began its work in spring of 2022. It was approved in a faculty vote in May 2023. The revamped course, now lasting one term instead of two, will have a theme that stitches together the seven works to be studied. “Water” will be the theme for the next four years, then give way to a new theme. The writing curriculum has been reshaped with a sequence aimed at better preparing students for effective analytical writing. Works covered in this lecture: Flood narratives (Gilgamesh and Noah), High Water Everywhere by Charley Patton, 1929 (Delta Blues tradition), Blood dazzler: poems by Patricia Smith, 2008.