The 2008 Plan for Academic Enrichment set a goal of offering 75 first-year seminars by 2010. As of the 2011 spring semester, the registrar's office lists 74 first-year seminars on record. Despite being one course short of the goal, Kathleen McSharry, associate dean for writing and issues of chemical dependency, said she is satisfied with the current number of offerings.
At the beginning of the 2010-11 academic year, the University had 76 courses on record, but McSharry said courses tend to "melt" as professors' schedules change.
"Seventy-five is a target," said McSharry. "If we can say that from 2008 to 2013, that we offered on average 75 offerings a year, and the offerings never fell below 70, then we've met our goal."
The first-year seminar program began in 2002 as a way to "expand opportunities for student interaction with faculty," according to the Plan for Academic Enrichment. In 2002, the program began with 23 course offerings and about 250 enrollments.
"There was a desire to create a program that would make it possible for first-years to have a more meaningful intellectual encounter with faculty members in their first year at Brown," said Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron.
From 2003 to 2007, offerings leveled around 60. After a slight drop in course offerings in the 2007-08 academic year, Bergeron, with the help of Professor of Physics James Valles, then the associate dean of the College for curriculum, renewed University Hall's focus on the seminars. Bergeron and Valles encouraged faculty to apply for grants through the Curricular Development Grant program, placing an emphasis on proposals for first-year seminars. Bergeron called this process a "small incentive system."
The following school year, offerings rose from 56 to 74, as many as there still are.
The success of the program "is a testament to the departments' commitment to first-year students," McSharry said. "Departments do their very best to provide first-year seminars."
Professor of Geological Sciences Reid Cooper said he began teaching GEOL 0160F: "Patterns: in Nature, in Society" in 2005, after feeling a "push" from the deans. But, after teaching it for several years, Cooper found the courses valuable to both him and his students. He said he enjoyed the seminar so much that he is interested in creating another "field-trip intensive" first-year seminar on the natural history of Rhode Island.
David Caianiello '14 took CHEM 0080B: "Molecular Structures in Chemistry and Biology" last semester. Caianiello said he benefited from the intimate class setting, which helped first-years learn how to study in a college setting and allowed for productive discussion. He called it a "really good eye-opener for being a freshman."
Additionally, Caianiello formed a strong relationship with Professor of Chemisty Paul Williard, who taught the class, which led him to pursue an Undergraduate Teaching and Research Award with Williard.
McSharry said she is optimistic about the future of the program. As of right now, 81 first-year seminars have been proposed for the 2011-12 academic year. "I'd be surprised if we had 81," McSharry said. "But it's a solid number to have at this point, so I'm confident that we'll have at least 75."
