Students enrolled in the Standish Honors Program will be enrolled in a specially designated Honors FYSM section with a limited class size. Students remain with the same professor, theme, and peer group for both Fall and Spring semesters.*
These are the FYSM-Honors sections for AY 2026-2027:
DR. BRITT HAAS
Dr. Haas, Co-Director of First Year at Siena Seminar, is an historian specializing in American public policy, who is also interested in culture, gender, and international relations. She has been awarded grants for her research and awards for teaching excellence.
DR. BRITT HAAS, “WOMEN: THEIR VOICES, THEIR VALUES, THEIR VISION”
Both men and women are invited to take this course, which will critically analyze what writers, activists, thinkers, and artists have to say about Heritage, the Natural World, Social Justice, and Diversity in order to understand if and how women’s perspectives about these ideas differ from men’s. Looking across time and across geographical boundaries, we will examine how women are valued (or not) in each of these four topic areas, paying particular attention to the roles women play, the policies they advocate and/or are the targets of, and the images of women presented through literature, music, art, media, etc. in order to gain a better understanding of the complex, gendered world in which we live.
Dr. Britt Haas, “Music: The Soundtrack of Our Lives”
Music provides the soundtrack for our lives. It is all around us. And yet, what do we really know about it? This course seeks to critically address that question. We will explore how music both shapes and is shaped by our culture and cultures beyond the United States.
DR. MICHELLE LIPTAK
Dr. Michelle Liptak is a Teaching Professor in First Year at Siena Seminar and Co-Director of the program. She has been teaching writing, literature, and women's studies at Siena since 2001 and is the co-founder of Gleanings: A Journal of First-Year Student Writing. She has presented her work in pedagogy and literary studies at regional and national conferences, has received several grants for course development, and specializes in theories related to gender and trauma.
DR. MICHELLE LIPTAK, “Trauma Narratives”
In this course, we will explore traumatic experiences - both real and fictional - that are shared through various forms of storytelling. Thinking of trauma as a signal or mark of oppression and subjugation, we will carefully consider whose stories are represented and remembered (and whose are not) while also examining the role of larger social, political, economic, and cultural influences and institutions. Some of the issues that will be explored while "reading" narratives of trauma and triumph include: memory (individual, collective, and cultural), bearing witness, testimony, loss, responsibility, and survivorship.
Dr. Kimberly Stein
Dr. Stein is an instructor in the First Year Seminar Program. She has a BA in English from Tufts University, an MA in Secondary English Education from Columbia University Teachers College, an MA in Educational Leadership from the College of St Rose, and an Ed.D in Educational Leadership from Russell Sage College. Her research centers on the promotion of social justice education as a demand for equity for all students.
Dr. Kimberly Stein, "The american school system"
This course will be an introduction to the foundations of American education exploring the historical, philosophical, and social contexts of schooling. Student will explore the purposes of education within a democracy where the goals are influenced by politics, the law, global competitiveness, multiculturalism, and social justice. Students will study the intersections of race, culture, immigration status, language, gender, sexual orientation, and ability within education.
* It is expected that all FYSM students, including Honors students, remain in their same section of FYSM for both fall and spring semesters. If a student petitions to leave the Standish Honors Program during their first year at Siena, they will still remain in the same FYSM section in order to maintain the learning community upon which the program is founded.