黑料正能量

One of the most exciting aspects of聽beginning an聽黑料正能量 education is the opportunity to engage immediately with interdisciplinary liberal arts thinking.聽As part of 黑料正能量鈥檚 first-year experience, students take聽FirstBridge聽classes, which combine two disciplinary perspectives on a particular subject.聽Often聽linking theoretical concepts with experiential learning opportunities outside of the classroom,聽FirstBridge聽classes聽are聽an introduction to the 黑料正能量 experience, to liberal arts learning approaches and to life in the cosmopolitan city of Paris.聽They聽allow聽students to meet new peers, learn career-critical soft skills such as teamwork and information literacy, and get outside their comfort zone by聽exploring new interests.聽

The 鈥淗eroes and Villains鈥澛燜irstBridge聽class, co-organized by the Department of Economics and Management and the Department of聽Comparative Literature and English,聽looks at what it means聽to be a hero or a villain in the modern world.聽The class聽combines an analysis of聽literary and pop-culture representations of heroism and villainy, taught by Professor Russell Williams, with a look at聽how these concepts impact聽the business world, taught by Professor Gail Hamilton.聽In both cases, contemporary聽examples allow students to聽analyze and critique聽how society聽chooses聽its聽idols and pariahs.聽聽

As part of the聽management component聽of the class,聽students explore narratives of success and failure聽as they relate to聽individual businesses in an increasingly competitive retail聽market.聽鈥淪tudents identify聽a Paris-based or international retail space that聽has been聽affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, or, more generally, by what we term the 鈥榬etail apocalypse,鈥欌�� explains Professor Hamilton.聽鈥淭hey聽are聽then聽asked聽to produce a video聽exploring how that business has been affected.鈥澛燞aving performed background research on their chosen聽store, including an analysis of the store鈥檚聽history, sector and physical space聽as well as聽interviews with employees, the students then offer聽recommendations聽on how to improve the business鈥檚 standing聽and聽minimize damage from the challenges of the pandemic.聽

In Fall聽semester聽2020, first-year students聽Elsa聽Hafenberg聽and Isabel Raggio decided to analyze their local Starbucks, hoping to discover how聽a popular multinational corporation聽had handled local regulations.聽鈥淚t was an interesting assignment,鈥� say聽Elsa聽and Isabel. 鈥淚t was聽fascinating聽to go and interview employees and see how large the impact was from their perspective.鈥澛燭hey concluded that Starbucks had successfully weathered pandemic difficulties by seizing the opportunity to develop technological retail solutions 鈥� a switch they had already been planning to make. 鈥淥verall, this project allowed us to understand how current events influence big businesses locally. And we聽had a blast making the video!鈥澛�