When President Karen A. Holbrook came to Ohio State, one task she said she desired to accomplish was to institute a freshman research seminar program similar to other programs at major colleges and universities across the country.
Fourteen months after her arrival, nine seminars are in session and 19 seminars are approved for spring quarter.
The seminars are part of a two-year pilot program to introduce students to the importance of research in the learning process, while giving freshmen the chance to interact with faculty members.
“The university survey class introduces students to the university. The Freshman Seminar Program introduces students to academics and scholarship,” said Linda Schoen, assistant executive dean in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences and coordinator of the Freshman Seminar Program.
Open to first-year students, the one-credit seminars meet once per week on Fridays for one hour. Each class has no more than 20 spots, and pupils may only enroll in one course.
Current seminar topics include “Religion, Philosophy, and Science: Conflict and Accommodation” and “Fact, Fantasy, Fallacy: Science in Cinema.” This quarter, the program involves 118 students and nine faculty members.
Faculty submit proposals for the seminar’s subjects, aiming to give students experience in an area they might not be exposed to.
“The faculty members are proposing programs because they want to teach them. They are coming into the course with great enthusiasm,” Schoen said.
Charles Brooks, a professor of veterinary biosciences, is teaching “The Culture and Ethics of Modern Science” this quarter for the department of biochemistry.
“Being a biochemist I felt this was a good opportunity to talk about the biochemistry community and about how a new person on campus can begin to interact with that community of people – mostly scholars and other students,” Brooks said. “My take on education is that students who get involved – and statistics support this – in some non-classroom form of their major area of study tend to do better.”
Adrin Dawkins, a freshman in English and psychology, said the program is an excellent resource for students. She is enrolled in “Fatal Attractions: Women, Men and Romance” with Linda Mizejewski from the department of women’s studies.
“It is a great, diverse experience to learn about things you are actually interested in without devoting a huge amount of time. You meet once a week,” Dawkins said.
Interested freshmen can access the list of spring seminar courses by going to www.asc.ohio-state.edu/freshmanseminars/sp041.pdf.
