Helping Freshmen Succeed
University Seminars Teach College Survival Skills to
Incoming Students
REGARDLESS OF THEIR INTENDED majors and future goals,
all incoming Seattle Pacific University freshmen have something in common:
They enroll in a University Seminar. With course titles as varied as “Other
People, Other Faiths,” “Life From the E.R.” and “The
History of Baseball,” the University Seminar (USEM) is the first
of seven required courses in the SPU Common Curriculum. Students also
take three University Core (UCOR) and three University Foundations (UFDN)
courses during their academic career.
"The University Seminars
emphasize the transition to college in social, emotional and academic
areas,” says Cynthia Price, associate vice president for curriculum
and assessment. “They are an intentional effort to make sure that
freshmen succeed.”
USEM professors design a specific interdisciplinary
course through which they teach general college skills such as in-depth
research, essay writing and oral presentations. The seminars are also
the place where students begin to build relationships with other students
and a key faculty member. Each seminar is limited to 20 students, and
classmates go on to attend their freshman UCOR and UFDN classes together.
USEM professors serve as academic advisors to their seminar students
for at least the first year.
These two distinctives put freshman Shauna
Damgaard at ease. A graduate of a small Christian high school in Federal
Way, Washington, Damgaard was intimidated by the idea of larger classes
filled with strangers. But her USEM, “The Dynamics of Vocation:
Perceiving and Responding to Your Life’s Call,” quickly became
her favorite class. Taught by Instructor in Theology Doug Koskela, the
USEM “gave me the opportunity to be more confident,” she
says. Incorporated into discussions about the course texts, Frederick
Buechner’sNow and Then and Jerry Sittser’s Discovering God’s
Will, were lectures on time management, research skills and research
papers. “This class makes me feel more at peace,” Damgaard
says. “I love it.”
Begun in 1998, Seattle Pacific’s
innovative Common Curriculum is bearing fruit. “We have seen the
number of students who return for their sophomore year jump about 12
percent since USEMs began,” Price says. “There are a lot
of factors involved, but we think this is a big piece of it.”
The
majority of American colleges have a required freshman course, but Seattle
Pacific takes the idea much further. “Our USEMs are part of a
full Common Curriculum, one of the few four-year general education programs
of its kind in the country,” explains Price. “This is a powerful
benefit to students as they weigh their future academic majors and vocations.”
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