Navigating the World of First-Year Seminars: A Comprehensive Guide

The transition to college is a significant step, and the First-Year Seminar (FYS) is designed to ease that transition, acting as a launchpad into university life. These seminars offer a unique opportunity for first-year students to engage with a faculty member and a small group of peers in an intellectually stimulating environment. While not always mandatory, first-year seminars are an excellent introduction to academic life and are highly recommended. This article provides a comprehensive overview of first-year seminars, their purpose, benefits, and a glimpse into the diverse range of topics they cover.

What is a First-Year Seminar?

A First-Year Seminar is a topic-oriented course, capped around 20 students, that focuses on a specific subject and provides an introduction to the intellectual life of the University. It’s a small class setting devoted to a significant intellectual endeavor. These courses are designed for and offered only to students in their first semester. None assumes prior experience with the topic.

Purpose and Learning Goals

The primary goal of the first-year seminar program is to provide every first-year student with the opportunity for a direct personal encounter with a faculty member in a small class setting. It is helpful to remember that all First-Year Seminars are about developing general academic skills of reading and writing, and all seminars have the same learning goals. While the seminar topics vary widely across many different fields, each seminar works toward the same set of learning goals. Dickinson’s approach to advising is teaching, and your advisor will help you make meaning of all the opportunities ahead and help you thrive in college experience.

Benefits of Participating in a First-Year Seminar

A significant benefit of FYS is the focus on developing essential academic skills. You’ll learn to analyze information and ideas critically, examine issues from multiple perspectives, and discuss, debate, and defend your views with clarity and reason. The First-Year Seminar will not only hone your skills in critical and creative thinking, discussion, and writing, but also acquaint you with resources available for your learning and success.

Developing Essential Academic Skills

First-Year Seminars provide a platform for students to develop essential academic skills that are crucial for success in college and beyond. These skills include:

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Critical thinking: Analyzing information and ideas to form judgments and solve problems.
Reading comprehension: Understanding and interpreting complex texts.
Writing proficiency: Communicating ideas effectively in written form.
Discussion and debate: Engaging in constructive dialogue and defending viewpoints with clarity and reason.
Problem-solving: Applying knowledge and skills to find solutions to complex issues.

Connecting with Faculty and Peers

First-Year Seminars offer a unique opportunity for students to connect with faculty members and peers in a small, supportive learning environment. This close interaction fosters a sense of community and belonging, which can be particularly beneficial for students who are new to college.

Direct personal encounter with faculty: Students have the opportunity to work closely with a faculty member who is passionate about the topic.
Small class setting: The small class size allows for more individualized attention and personalized feedback.
Building community: First-Year Seminars provide a platform for students to connect with peers who share similar interests.
Peer Mentors: Your course will also feature a Peer Mentor, an upper-class peer to help build community and support our new students.

Exploring Diverse Topics

First-Year Seminars cover a wide range of topics across many different fields, allowing students to explore their intellectual interests and discover new passions. These seminars provide a unique opportunity to delve into subjects that may not be covered in traditional introductory courses.

Interdisciplinary approach: Many First-Year Seminars take an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on knowledge and perspectives from multiple fields.
Exposure to diverse perspectives: Students are exposed to a variety of viewpoints and encouraged to think critically about complex issues.
Exploration of personal interests: First-Year Seminars allow students to explore their intellectual interests and discover new passions.
Opportunity to investigate: The most important factor will be identifying topics that you would be interested to explore and investigate over the span of your first semester, and it doesn’t need to be related to your prospective major.

Choosing a First-Year Seminar

When you start looking at the list of around 40 seminars that are offered, you will want to look for seminars that spark your own curiosity on a topic that you will be reading, writing, and thinking about for the semester. It does not need to be a topic that relates to your future major! Starting May 1, students will be asked to select six seminars from the list of options. Students are guaranteed to get one of those selections, and the large majority of students are placed in one of their top three choices. We encourage you to not just pick seminars that reflect your current academic interests, but also to consider topics that are novel and intriguing.

A Glimpse into the Diverse World of First-Year Seminar Topics

The range of topics covered in First-Year Seminars is incredibly diverse, reflecting the breadth of knowledge and expertise within the college or university. Here are some examples of intriguing topics that have been offered in First-Year Seminars:

Social Issues and Civic Engagement

Social Change in a Democracy: Equips students with a framework for understanding how social change happens and allows them to identify issues in the local and regional communities surrounding the college that can be tackled through democratic action.
Justice: This course considers the importance of understanding data and applying mathematics to ask these questions and to explore meaningful answers.
Human Rights: This freshman seminar explores the underlying legal frameworks in which human rights advocates operate.

Environment and Sustainability

The Natural Environment: This class is a study of the different ways we interact with and thus know the natural environment. These ways include, among others, the scientific, technological, artistic, experience-based (hands-on), biographical, and religious; the forms of interaction follow from our lives as consumers, as eaters, and as thinkers, while we work, live, and play.
Food Systems: This course offers an interdisciplinary look at our food from planting to harvest, distribution and packing, to our tables. Emphasis on combining a social sciences perspective with an engineering human-centered design process to define and address problems of world hunger.
Plastic: Technological Advance or Ecological Scourge?: In this course, we will discuss the science, history, pop culture, and social impact of this controversial material.

History and Culture

Trials of the Century: This interdisciplinary seminar will examine the “Trials of the Century” that have captivated the general public’s attention because of the highly controversial issues they raised, the publicity they received, and the decisions that resulted.
Book History: This course explores the field of book history, the study of the making and using of books. Hands-on work with Skillman Library’s rare books collection and librarians will be a key feature of the course, as will discussions, activities, and local field trips that will help us gain insight into how books and reading have featured in human culture, why that matters, and where that history still unfolds today.
Indigenous Geographies and Settler Sites of Memory: In this course, we explore these questions using the local area as our focal point. In exploring Indigenous geographies and settler sites of memory - museum exhibits, burial grounds, historical markers, and place names-we will ask which pasts have been remembered publicly and analyze commemorative practices.
Cookbooks as Cultural Artifacts: In this seminar, we will answer the following questions: 1) What is a cookbook? 2) What can cookbooks tell us (and not tell us) about the societies in which they circulated? 3) What subjects can cookbooks encourage us to (re)consider? In examining these questions, we will explore topics including cookbooks as biographies and domestic advice, as well as genres of cookbooks including ethnic, commercial, and community cookbooks.
Jewish Humor: This course examines Jewish humor within the context of theories of humor and the comedic and as a window to Jewish culture. It explores examples of Jewish humor past and present in literature, film, television, skits, stand-up comics, cartoons, and jokes.
The 1960s: Through an examination of written and oral histories, documentary film, the poetry, music and visual arts of the Sixties, students will explore the underlying causes for change during the nation’s most tumultuous decades.
Underground Radio and African Liberation: Amidst the raging revolutionary wars in 20th century colonial Africa, a parallel war was taking place on the airwaves. Underground radio stations owned by African revolutionaries and liberation movements, often operating in exile were engaged in “wars of the airwaves” against colonial radio stations.
Music and European History: The course does not assume knowledge of music on the students’ part; nor does it require that they master notation or become conversant with musical analysis. Rather, the course examines developments in European history that have left their traces in the music.
Adaptations in the Spanish-Speaking World: This course is dedicated to the study of adaptations (literary, filmic, musical, and plastic) in the Spanish-speaking world, with a special focus on the topic of memory.
The Civil Rights Movement, the Antiwar Movement, the Space Race, and, of course, Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n Roll: Through an examination of written and oral histories, documentary film, the poetry, music and visual arts of the Sixties, students will explore the underlying causes for change during the nation’s most tumultuous decades.
Ukraine: Ukraine has captured the world’s attention in recent years - but how much do you know about this country beyond the headlines of war?

Science and Technology

Distinguishing Reliable Information in the Life Sciences: We will explore various controversies and contemporary subjects in the life sciences, particularly those which involve the manipulation of scientific (or pseudoscientific) information as a means to deceive. The reading and writing assignments in this course explore how scientific knowledge is generated, tested, challenged, archived, reviewed, summarized, presented, discarded when necessary, and frequently abused along with the ethical issues associated with animal and human subjects research.
Technology and Society: This first year seminar examines the rights and responsibilities of technological citizenship by fostering inquiry into how technology is developed and distributed, and how technology and society interact with each other.
Artificial Intelligence (AI): This seminar demystifies Artificial Intelligence (AI) with a focus on Large Language Models, like ChatGPT, Claude, and others. Through interdisciplinary exploration of historical texts, news articles, science fiction films, and modern documentaries, we will examine how AI systems work, their limitations, and ethical challenges.
Genetic Modification: In this FYS, we will examine the history of attempts at genetic modification leading up to the technologies available today.
Scientific Demonstrations: Scientific demonstrations are used in lectures, science museums, and television shows to explain scientific principles and inspire wonder about science. How important are such demonstrations to a true understanding of science? Is seeing believing? Is seeing understanding?

Ethics and Philosophy

Obligations to Strangers: The guiding question of this course will be what, if anything, do we owe such people?
Nonviolence: This course explores both the theoretical development of nonviolence and the practice of nonviolence as a means for waging and resolving conflict.
Philosophical Questions about Death and Immortality: In this seminar, we will discuss philosophical questions about death and immortality. What is death? Is there a moral difference between brain death and the irreversible loss of consciousness?
Evolution, Buddhism and Ethics: Evolutionary genetics traces back to Darwin’s (1859) idea of natural selection.

Arts and Literature

What is Art?: Through a combination of looking at, writing and talking about, and creating art, students in this course will explore the question “What is Art?” Close attention will be paid to how artists, curators, and scholars have answered these and other art related questions throughout history. The course will include field trips to local galleries and museums, and will feature lectures and presentations on a wide variety of art mediums and movements. Special focus will be the mural arts/street art and photography, along with trips into Philadelphia to experience art in the city firsthand.
The Power of Storytelling: After critically reading the novels, you’ll begin to explore how the dystopian future that Suzanne Collins envisioned is actually a reflection of our current social reality. Through weekly themed discussions, research, critical thinking exercises, and personal exploration, we will see just what this series reveals about who we are and how we affect the world around us.
Hip-Hop Culture: This is a discussion-based course that examines the history and complexity of hip-hop culture, its diversity, and role in social justice efforts around the world. Elements of hip-hop culture (rap, DJ, graffiti, and breakdancing) and mass media (including music, television, and film) will be used as tools to critique what we learn and communicate in our society about culture, race, social class, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and more.
Serious Drama: This seminar exposes students to thoughtful dramatic productions on the Arcadia campus and around Philadelphia, explores the creative process involved in staging serious drama, and examines how Philadelphia-area artists are using the stage to engage with the vital political, cultural, and social questions of our time. Bring your voice to the table.
Poetry: Reading poems aloud, sharing original work, and learning the art of critique will allow us to share dreams and disappointments. Our seminar, based on published and unpublished poems-yours and others'-will help you understand poetry's role in healing, creativity, and inspiration. We'll also explore how poetry can function as a form of celebration, mourning, or social critique.
Plants in Performance: In this course, we’ll shine some light on plants in performance, considering an array of perspectives on how plants biologically perform and how they are (mis)represented in the arts.
The Monkey King: This course invites students to embark on a journey across the Globe with the Monkey King, a figure with Hindu and Chinese folkloric origins, who appears across a variety of movies, TV series, manga, anime, and video games worldwide.

Experiential Learning and Community Building

First-year students are often part of a Learning Community-typically in tandem with your seminar-which combines experiential learning and community-building through exciting activities and field trips. First-Year Seminars may include field trips, films, guest speakers, workshops, and community service projects.

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