First-Year Seminars are interdisciplinary courses that enable faculty and first-year students to engage in extensive inquiry about an issue, topic or problem. First-Year Seminars are writing intensive and focused on the seminar-style of investigation; they are not survey courses or introductions to a specific discipline. They afford the faculty and students an opportunity to explore a subject broadly and intensively.

First-Year Seminars are voluntary, but we encourage students to enroll in them since they aim to give new students a unique introduction to college-level learning. First-Year Seminars are small in size (normally 16 students) and are restricted to first-year students. They incorporate the development of intellectual capacities that form the foundation of a successful liberal arts education. In addition to writing, the seminars help students develop some or all of the following skills: critical thinking, speaking, research, and working independently and collaboratively. First-Year Seminars are also effective in showing students how to integrate student support services into their academic pursuits.