Interim Dean of Students David Rachita addresses the new freshman and their families at one of the Student Orientation and Registration events held throughout summer 2014. Rachita spoke to the incoming students about the importance of academic honesty. Photo by The Signal reporter Jenny Howard.

Freshman seminar serves as springboard to success

By Bryan Black Last updated Apr 21, 2015 245 0

In an effort to create a solution to the challenges first-year college students face, UHCL has added a first-year seminar course to the core curriculum.

Freshmen and first-year college students are encouraged to enroll in the class their first semester and required to take it during their first academic year to help ensure a successful transition to university life.

“The course is much more than an icebreaker or glorified studies skills class,” said Charlotte Haney, human sciences and humanities visiting lecturer and professor for the first-year seminar. “We are building this program from the front-end, and it is different from what students typically expect. College should be a real transformation to where you become an active learner and critical thinker.”

The first-year seminar, also called Learning Frameworks, is a one-hour credit class that is linked with a history or political science co-requisite course from the core curriculum.

“We will be taking the key concepts from their co-requisite course and applying them in a very interactive, active-learning way,” Haney said. “Twenty years from now when students don’t remember our names, these are the concepts we want students to have as their tools for understanding the world.”

The course is designed to help students develop the intellectual skills needed to flourish at the university and successfully complete their degrees. In addition, as challenges often arise, the course informs students of the many resources provided at UHCL, including having a peer mentor in each first-year seminar class.

Ginnie Sandison, anthropology and psychology major, is a peer mentor for the course and describes her role as a resource for students to understand their class and campus life better.

“The first-year seminar gives students a foundational understanding of the university process and provides first insights into critical thinking,” Sandison said. “I feel this class is nearly an essential step to a successful career as a student and a professional. I wish I had such a class my freshman year.”

The seminars are comprised of 25 students or less in an effort to promote participation and allow instructors the time to offer individual support. Having a smaller class size creates an opportunity to establish relationships between students and faculty.

“I like it, and it has been very informative so far,” said Jacqueline Duarte, freshman in the first-year seminar course. “I have enjoyed meeting and working with the other students in our groups.”

Haney envisions the first-year seminar course producing civically engaged, articulate thinkers equipped with the ability to solve real-world problems.

“That is my dream for this place,” Haney said. “That these students will grow up and become wonderful leaders that build my community in a stronger way.”