October 2002

Introduction to academia: Freshman Seminars

	Professor Naomi Janowitz and students in her freshman seminar on "Dr. Strangelove" view a clip from the film. (Debbie Aldridge/UC Davis Mediaworks photo)

Some freshman students are preparing oral arguments for cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Others are collecting folklore from recipes, proverbs and stories. Yet others have their ear to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

They are among some 800 students who will participate this year in the Freshman Seminar Program, a growing program offering intriguing topics in small groups that foster close interaction with faculty members and fellow students.

UC Davis has offered freshman seminars since 1988, but the campus is adding more as a way to keep undergraduate education both meaningful and personal as the size of the student body grows. About five years ago there were 30 seminars offered, and last year the number rose to 43. Over this year's three academic quarters, more than 50 freshman seminars will be offered.

Sophomore Megan Bowen, who took two freshman seminars last year, was thrilled with the experience. "You learn something special, something neat, something most people don't learn."

Topics vary widely. Professors let their passions or whimsies soar in a freshman seminar where, in a small class, they can teach subjects in their field or try something new.

Professor Winder McConnell of the German department specializes in the Middle Ages and has taught freshman seminars about chivalry and heroism in that era. More recently, however, he has been exploring what happened to aesthetics under Hitler.

"In a freshman seminar," he says, "students can see a professor at work."

This fall, seminar topics range from an examination of the film "Dr. Strangelove" to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and evil; next quarter, they will include the asteroid-impact theory of dinosaur extinction, the evolution of opera, and how AIDS is reflected in literature.

Bowen says she was impressed with the professors who led the seminars. "You don't realize how famous they are. Like, this textbook was written by him. Or radio stations call her as an expert. My pomology teacher advised the pope."

More important than fame, however, is what goes on in the classroom. The professor will know your student's name. He or she also will know your child, perhaps well enough to write a letter of recommendation some day.

The class also can include some unexpected perks. "My pomology teacher brought us random fruit that nobody had ever heard of and nobody knew how to eat," says Bowen. "During the break, he showed us how."

April Trask, who's studying international relations, liked hearing from fellow students. "You can get the professor's opinion and the opinion of other students, whereas in lecture classes you're just taking notes as fast as possible.

"Freshman seminars," Trask adds, "build skills for other classes. Like speaking. Research."

While most group meetings focus on discussions or presentations, some have included field trips: visits to a classical music concert and a basketball game for students studying the psychology of an audience, or a meal in a vegetarian restaurant for a seminar on animal rights.

Offering one or two units, seminars run eight to 10 weeks, and students are evaluated on their participation and a written journal, oral presentation or essay.

But how do professors feel about teaching novices in an unconventional setting?

"Naivete is not negative," says Professor McConnell. "People unencumbered by theory act in a very natural way. They see clearly."

Faculty members lead freshman seminars in addition to their normal teaching assignments. McConnell hopes to attract students to the German department, but that's not his main reason for teaching seminars. "On a personal level," he says simply, "I love to teach."

Your student can investigate freshman seminars on the Web and sign up for one beginning Nov. 4, when registration for winter quarter begins (according to the pass system and assigned appointment times).

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