Academics

PRDV 101-1: McCormick First-Year Engineering Experience (0 Unit)

A series of peer-led small group discussions for first-year engineering students, covering topics like higher education culture, time management, strategies for success in courses, and mindset. Attendance is required.

PRDV 101-2: McCormick First-Year Engineering Experience (0 Unit)

A series of peer-led small group discussions for first-year engineering students covering topics such as academic strategies, choice of major, exploration of non-major options, and health and well-being. Attendance is required.

PRDV 200: PATH (0 Unit)

The PATH program is a cornerstone of the Northwestern Personal Development StudioLab. For more than two decades we’ve worked closely with students seeking opportunities to optimize their performance on many different levels. The insights gained from this work led to the creation of the PATH program. The skills you learn through this program will change how you think, how you feel, and what you do to achieve success in all aspects of your life.

PRDV/DSGN 300: Designing Your Life (1 Unit)

What if you approached your life as a series of design projects? What if there were a class to help you explore the bigger issues of finding your way to a career you’ll love, and space to work on crafting a total life that feels “like you”? Inspired by Stanford’s wildly popular class of the same name, this course includes seminar-style discussions, role-playing, short writing assignments, hands-on making, guest speakers, and individual mentoring and coaching. Small group discussions will be held during a separate lab time of each team’s choosing.

Curious to learn more? Check out this video created by Designing Your Life alums.

PRDV 325-0: Emotional Intelligence 101 - Managing Yourself, Maximizing Your Potential (1 Unit)

Introduction to emotional intelligence theories and concepts; provides practical tools for building skills in stress management, intrapersonal and interpersonal awareness, peak performance, resilience/adaptability, and general mood.

PRDV 335-1: Engineering Improv I: The Art of Allowing (0.5 Unit)

Start anywhere, remember you are not the most important person in the scene, and say yes. Through these and other improv techniques, students learn to tackle unexpected obstacles, building skills that can be leveraged in both academic and non-academic contexts to face challenges with resilience.

PRDV 335-2: Engineering Improv II: The Art of Application (0.5 Unit)

This course builds on Improv I and takes students deeper into concepts and applications. Prerequisite: PRDV 335-1: Engineering Improv I.

PRDV 345-0: Whole-Body Thinking: Collaborative Problem Solving through Partner Dancing (1 Unit)

In this approach to swing dancing, the goal is for two people to join hands and use the rhythms they hear in swinging, jazz-rhythm-based music as a means of connecting with each other.