Rutgers: Office of Undergraduate Education - First-Year Seminars (Students)

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In Fall 2007 Rutgers launched the First-Year Seminars as part of the on-going transformation of undergraduate education at the university. Conceived by President McCormick, a First-Year Seminar is a one-credit, elective course designed and taught by a distinguished Rutgers faculty member. Class size is limited to 20 students.

The seminars introduce our first-year students to cutting-edge research conducted at Rutgers in all fields, from molecular biology to classics, from computer science to Asian Culture. Derived from hotly-debated issues in national and international news as well as from the quieter discoveries of the scholar, the seminars revolve around each professor’s current work.

This year Rutgers is offering 125 seminars covering a wide range of topics. Students have the opportunity to participate in lively discussions and collaborative projects in these classes and, under the tutelage of the faculty mentor, to become engaged in the multitude of opportunities for study at a leading research university. Examples of seminars offered Spring 2008:

Malevolent and Magnificent Microbes – Joan W. Bennett (Vice President, Women and Science; Plant Pathology) and Douglas Eveleigh (Microbiology)
Religion, Conflict, and Peace – James T. Johnson (Religion)
Economics in the Laboratory – Barry Sopher (Economics)
Political Corruption – Richard L. McCormick (President of Rutgers; History)
Marriages Made in Heaven and Hell – Louise Barnett (American Studies)
So, you want to be a teacher? Teaching Math and Science – Warren Crown (Math Education) and Kathleen Scott, (Cell Biology and Neuroscience)
The Psychology of Medical Decision-Making – Gretchen Chapman (Psychology)
What is Africa to Me? – Abena P. A. Busia (English)
Computer Gaming – Casimir Kulikowski (Computer Science)
Latino New York: Work, Identity, and Class – Aldo Lauria Santiago (Latino Studies; History)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Contemporary Technological Anxieties – Dianne Sadoff (English)

Seminars are graded pass/no credit, and meet for approximately ten hours during the semester. Students are encouraged to register for the First-Year seminars on top of their usual course load.

More information on First-Year Seminars . . .

To see the times and days these courses are offered, see the Schedule of Classes at: http://www.acs.rutgers.edu/soc.(Enter the following information: Subject Code 090; Course Number 101. See also Subject Code 015, Course Number 100.)

During registration for spring classes you will be able to add an open Seminar to your schedule by visiting: http://webreg.rutgers.edu.

For more information contact the Director of First-Year Seminars, Kathleen Hull, at 732-932-8273 or e-mail khull@oldqueens.rutgers.edu.

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