First-Year Seminars

First-Year Seminars (FYS) provide students with a hands-on introduction to academic inquiry. FYS offer the opportunity to explore varied interests in small class settings with close faculty contact. Each entering student takes a FYS in the fall and spring of the first year.

More than 40 seminar topics are offered each semester. Topics are drawn from every school of the University and cover a wide range of interests, from bioethics and math, to art history and English. Courses are developed by individual faculty members, giving them the chance to explore a subject that they are passionate about or have expertise in. All seminars provide opportunities for critical reading and thinking and establish a foundation for effective written and oral communications skills, information literacy, and library research skills.