Through coursework, a camping trip, guest speakers, a steamboat ride and other events, students will explore something of this rich, multifaceted part of the American fabric. We'll read about the river, canoe its backwaters, interpret it in dance and photographs, and listen to the songs of those who lived on its banks long ago.

You will be pre-registered in three courses, total.
Introduction to Higher Education: Mississippi River (Orientation)
and either
College Reading and Writing or Fundamentals of Speech Communication
plus one of the following courses below:

Dance Appreciation – In this class, students will study diverse theatrical dance styles and 20th century trends. Ideas of space, time, weight and flow as they relate to performance and the river will be explored. Emphasis will be on active learning.

Photography Appreciation – An introduction to the art and expression of photography through lecture, photography assignments, discussion and critique with special focus on photography and the Mississippi River. Students will complete photo assignments tied to major themes of the course using simple cameras and commercially processed film. Emphasis will be on a wide range of genres and important photographers and their work from 1839 to the present.

Introduction to Literature: The River as Metaphor – The aim of this course is to provide a general introduction to literature for the non-English major through an examination of a variety of works dealing with a central issue, that of the river as metaphor. Throughout, we will be exploring the ways in which a natural feature such as a river can come to mean so many things.

The History of the Mississippi River – A survey of the significance of the Mississippi River in U.S. history. The course emphasizes the role of the river in the native-American life and early European exploration of the mid west, and the efforts of European powers and the newly created U.S. to control the river