Freshman year at a
large state university conjures up a well-known stereotype:
large auditoriums filled with hundreds of students, tape recorders
set on desks to capture lectures, professors seen only at
a distance. UGA’s freshman seminar program is challenging
that stereotype.
Created in 1997 by the Honors Program and the Franklin College
of Arts and Sciences, the program allows freshmen to earn
an additional hour of credit by studying with a distinguished
faculty member — an opportunity they might not otherwise
have until their junior or senior year. Class size is limited
to encourage one-on-one interaction, and some seminars are
hosted in residence halls, creating a relaxed, collegial atmosphere.
Seminars are focused on topics of special interest to faculty
members’ research and teaching. Topics this fall included
“Sociology of the American South,” “Oliver
Stone as Historian,” “The Role of Physical Attractiveness
in Ordinary Life” and “The History of Major League
Baseball.”
In 2001, food science professor Rob Shewfelt led a seminar
called “Chocolate Science.” The topic may have
motivated students to enroll, but they got more than just
the chance to eat chocolate in class — they were also
introduced to a new career opportunity.
“Our state needs more food science graduates,” Shewfelt
said. “Virtually every food company in Georgia has one
of our graduates working for them and we need more graduates
to meet the food industry’s demands.”
Building the New Learning Environment
The new learning environment is a place where the best of
Georgia’s students and their peers from across the nation
and around the world come to challenge themselves academically.
At the University of Georgia, the new learning environment
is taking shape in facilities such as the Student Learning
Center, the 200,000-square-foot electronic library and classroom
facility at the heart of campus, designed to operate around
the clock and to function for the way today’s students
learn, with fully wired study carrels and plenty of group
study rooms, plus a coffee shop. It is taking shape with the
East Campus Village and dining commons, the first residence
halls at UGA in 30 years, located adjacent to the Ramsey Center,
one of America’s best student activity centers.
But more importantly, the new learning environment is an academic
and intellectual community on the campus of the University of
Georgia which hums with the vibrancy of the true college experience—bright
and talented students working with brilliant faculty formally
in the classroom and informally over a cup of coffee or lounging
in the greenspace which stretches from one end of campus to
the other. It is a place which recognizes that new information
technologies are transforming traditional academic disciplines
and embraces those opportunities.
As a residential university, UGA is maximizing the unique and
beautiful physical campus in the manner outlined in the newly
adopted physical master plan to promote the creation of a true
community of scholars. The historic buildings of North Campus—Meigs
Hall, Moore College, Demosthenian Hall—are being renovated,
restored to their glory yet functioning in the 21st century.
We are integrating in-class and out-of-class experiences by
placing academic advisors in residence halls, creating classroom
space in both existing and new residence halls, updating campus
computer networks and bringing cultural experiences into residential
areas.
Through the quality of facilities, the caliber of faculty
and the credentials of the student body, the University of
Georgia will continue its rise into the upper echelon of American
public universities.
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Wyatt
Anderson, dean of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, teaches
Freshman Seminar 1010: Biology and Human Affairs in Brumby (residence)
Hall.
