The First-Year Seminar Program

The Basic Facts• First-Year Seminars are one or two unit courses

designed for students new to UC Davis

• Discussion and question-based learning for up to 19 students

• There's a huge variety of subjects -- 200 seminars are taught each year

• Established in 1988 and managed by the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

So Why Should You Take a First-Year

Seminar?

So Why Should You Take a First-Year

Seminar?

Do creative projects like

building a rocket with a parachute.

They're fun and hands-on!

Design and make ceramic art for the UC Davis Bee Haven.

Learn to fold origami and

arrange flowers in the Japanese

style

Discover what the Japanese

definition of visual beauty is.

Meet "Thursday," the trash-baby made of student's waste from one day.

Discover the psychologies of drummers by describing their timing,

syncopation, and other traits.

Some seminars look more

traditional...

...but explore ideas in new ways.

Students map Jean Toomer's Students map Jean Toomer's novel novel Cane Cane onto Google onto Google

MapsMaps

Why are seminars fun?

•Small class size facilitates friendly, in depth discussion

• Professors are enthusiastic because they contribute personal experience

• They reveal the academic side of fun topics and the fun side of academic topics

• You can meet famous people and faculty and go to fun places

Learn with NASA researcher Dawn

Sumner

Discuss with famousnovelist Kim Stanley

RobinsonTweet with inspirational, one-armed

drummer Rick Allen of Def Leppard

Visit the UC Davis' Bee Haven

Or a Cave Automatic Virtual

Environment

Other Reasons to Take a Seminar

• They're only a unit or two

• Take a class about a topic outside of your major

• Learn to: (1) Conduct research(2) Present your ideas orally

(3) Work in groups(4) Develop yourself in

general

Every seminar has a detailed description at

cetl.ucdavis.edu/first-year-seminars

Read complete first-year seminar profiles about the seminar examples in this presentation on the CETL

website

Seminars Shown in this Presentation in order of

depiction• Rocket Propulsion by Mohamed Hafez

• Art, Bees, and Survival by Diane Ullman and Donna Billick

• Japanese Culture: Nature and Visual Arts by Haruko Sakakibara

• Creative Responses to Climate Change by Stephen Wheeler

• Psychology of Drummers by Brad Henderson

• Mapping the Harlem Renaissance by Phillip Barron

• So You Think You Can Write? by Amy Clarke (famous authors)

• Curiosity on Mars by David Osleger (CAVE Lab)

Photo Credit• Rocket photos by Mohamed Hafez

• Ceramic Art photos by Jenna Christopherson

• Flower Arrangement photo by Haruko Sakakibara

• "Thursday" image by Stephen Wheeler

• Origami, Psychology of Drummer, and Harlem Renaissance photos by Ryder Blue

• Dawn Sumner photo from the UC Davis Geology Website

• Rick Allen, Kim Stanley Robinson, and CAVE image from Wikipedia

• UC Davis Bee Haven image from Christopher Thaiss