Campus Life

Freshmen Experience New Kind Of Class

The classes have 15 students or fewer in each class and concentrate on a topic invented by a faculty member.
By Megan Ryan, The Battalion October 12, 2009

There are 68 different sections of one class at Texas A&M University, the titles of which range from “Sex and the Evolution of Human Behavior” to “OMG! Did you just say that?” and “Aggie Knitters ROCK (Reach out with Compassion and Kindness).” There are many more unique topics to choose from, and there is really only one flaw with all of them: you have to be a freshman to take them.

“We solicited proposals from faculty and received over 100 proposals for everything from ‘Life on Mars’ to ‘Texas Barbecue,’” said Kristen Harper, assistant dean of undergraduate programs. “Faculty include the dean of the Mays Business School, the vice provost for Academic Services, a distinguished faculty member and associate deans from several colleges, the speaker of the faculty senate, two husband and wife teams and every rank of faculty and professional staff.”

The classes have 15 students or fewer in each class and concentrate on a topic invented by a faculty member and approved by the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Programs.

“We think it is important to give freshmen a small-scale opportunity to get to know faculty,  and to help them in whatever way we can feel welcome and successful at Texas A&M,” said Sarah Witham Bednarz, professor of geography and associate dean for academic affairs for the College of Geosciences. “We think the academic skills we will be coaching students to gain will be helpful throughout their time here.”

Bednarz teaches “The World in Six Drinks” with her husband Robert Bednarz, also a professor of geography.

“The academic focus of our seminar is the book ‘The World in Six Glasses,’ which examines the geography and history of the world through the lens of six beverages: coffee, tea, Coca-Cola, beer, wine and spirits,” she said. “We hope our terrific group of freshmen will learn about the origins, diffusion and societal impact of each drink in different world regions at different periods of time. In the process we hope this will help them to explore their own cultural customs and beliefs regarding both alcohol and other stimulants and the role they play in contemporary society.”

Michael Greenwald is a professor of theater in the international studies program and is teaching one of the seminars called, “The American Musical Theater.”

“While the specific subject matter is important, the First Year Seminars provide Texas A&M’s newest students a chance to be in a small class, to get to know a professor and about 10 other students more closely than they might in larger classes and to have questions and concerns addressed,” Greenwald said. “We spend the first five minutes of every class talking about the class’s reaction to events on campus, answering questions about adjusting to college life, etc. And we eat stuff that helps raise the blood sugar level late in the afternoon when the energy level dips.”

The way these classes are conducted are different than most of the other classes offered at Texas A&M – they give the students something interesting to learn without a lot of stress.

“I consider this class great therapy for me,” Greenwald said. “There’s no pressure, no tests and papers to grade, and not a lot of extraordinary preparation. It’s teaching just for the fun of it in its purest form. The format goes back to the very roots of education: someone with knowledge in, and passion for, a given discipline discusses a topic in which the students have a pronounced interest and we all learn from each other. That’s the way Socrates taught Plato who taught Aristotle who taught Alexander the Great.”

Though Greenwald’s class does not have tests and papers, students do follow a unique syllabus and must participate in readings and discussions.

“Each week we’ll look at a different decade of mostly the 20th century and consider how the most popular musicals of the era reflect the country’s changing attitudes, especially concerning the American Dream,” Greenwald said. “We’ll look at musicals that celebrate the Dream and those that question whether the Dream is achievable for everyone.”

These are not “blow-off” classes, but they are low-stress, high-interest classes, which makes them appealing to new students experiencing college for the first time.

“The seminars are supposed to be informal, friendly and low-stakes,” Bednarz said. “However, in our class, students must journal, organize class discussions and read and contribute to the discussions. They will get a grade, but it is nice to get the opportunity to know a very nice group of 15 young people.”

Bednarz said First Year Seminars are a proven high-impact educational experience that give students who participate a leg up on their academic career.

Seminar Topics

  • First Year Photo Project
  • Life on MarsMusic, Language and the Brain
  • Money-savvy Students
  • Democracy and the Internet
  • Hurricanes and the Texas Coast
  • The Science of Surfing
  • What Can Get You an A
  • Second Life
  • Forensic Geology: Real CSI
  • Killer Algae
  • OMG! Did You Just Say That
  • Study of the Pride and Culture of Aggieland
  • Face In, Face Out, Facebook
  • Twilighter and Moonlighters
  • The World in Six Drinks

This article by Megan Ryan originally appeared in The Battalion.

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