The First-Year Seminar Experience

Coming to college can be an overwhelming transition for many first-year students. For more than a decade the first-year seminar program has been helping H&S students ease into their new lives and responsibilities. Though the program's not required, all H&S students are strongly encouraged to participate, to help them build a solid foundation for a meaningful college experience.

At the 2002 Family Weekend coffee with the dean session, cosponsored by the first-year seminar program, Christine Graham (left) and her daughter, Marina Oliveira '06 (right), chat with associate professor of psychology Cyndy Scheibe.

Planning for this program began in 1990, when H&S faculty members were proposing the general education requirement. The program debuted in 1992, when 4 seminars were offered; this fall students can select from 28 seminars. About 74 percent of all H&S first-year students took a seminar last fall.

Laurie Arliss, professor of speech communication and interim program coordinator, says the classes, which average 18 to 20 students, offer "both discipline-specific learning and valuable information about the campus and the community." Students study topics in the liberal arts disciplines while discussing issues they face during the transition to college. Guest speakers from across campus talk about important practical topics, such as declaring a major, fulfilling the general education requirement, and registering for courses online.

Exploratory students enrolled in these courses have seminar faculty members appointed as their academic advisers; this gives them an opportunity for frequent contact at the time in their college careers when it's especially important. The first-year seminar is especially recommended for exploratory students. Kathy Lucas, director of the Exploratory Program, says that when students are more familiar with their advisers "there is an increased comfort level with respect to seeking assistance and having ongoing discussions related to their specific transition issues and educational plan." Last fall 84 percent of exploratory students enrolled.

Seminar students, all in their very first semester of college, seem to greatly appreciate the opportunity to discuss the transition to college with one another. Tara Dias '06 says she was happy to learn that "I wasn't the only one feeling overwhelmed about being seven hours away from home." Megan Catalano '06, who appreciated the candid discussions in her seminar about the practical aspects of campus life, says, "It was nice to know there were others who were just as clueless as I was."

Writing faculty members Pat Spencer, Elizabeth Lawson, David Flanagan, and Cory Brown and professor of speech communication and interim seminar program coordinator Laurie Arliss

The success of the program is largely due to the first-year seminar faculty's dedication and enthusiasm for teaching new H&S students. Robert Sullivan, assistant professor of speech communication, says the most rewarding part of working with the first-year students is the intense intellectual relationship he often develops with them. He is able to use the students' heightened interest in communication to connect them "not only to other areas on campus, but also to the community." Students in his Courtrooms and Communication seminar attended criminal trials in local courts and, based on what they learned, staged mock trials on campus. Their student presentation drew an audience of 250.

In the program students are asked to articulate and expand their perspectives and to take an active role in learning --- and sometimes even teaching. Osman Yurekli, associate professor and assistant chair of math and computer science, has the students in his Mathematics in Non-Western Societies seminar research and write about non-Western mathematicians. They later create posters to display their findings and inform their classmates. In last fall's writing seminar Cold New World, assistant professor of writing Paul Cody had his students read Gap Creek by local writer Robert Morgan. Morgan later visited the class to talk directly about his experiences as a novelist.

Student response to the program has been overwhelmingly positive. Jason Washington '05 admits that he was "a little shy" in his classes at first but by the end of the semester felt completely at ease, especially in his first-year seminar. Jennifer Best '06 remembers her seminar as "my absolute favorite class" and adds, "I would recommend a seminar to any incoming freshman."