2. 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
3. So Why Should You
Take a First-Year
Seminar?
So Why Should You
Take a First-Year
Seminar?
9. Some seminars look
more traditional...
...but explore ideas
in new ways.
Students map Jean Toomer'sStudents map Jean Toomer's
novelnovel CaneCane onto Google Mapsonto Google Maps
10. 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
11. Learn with NASA
researcher Dawn Sumner
Discuss with famous
novelist Kim Stanley
Robinson
Tweet with inspirational, one-armed drummer
Rick Allen of Def Leppard
12. Visit the UC Davis'
Bee Haven
Or a Cave Automatic
Virtual Environment
13. 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
14. 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
15. 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
16. 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