While not required, first-year seminars are an excellent introduction to academic life in the College and are highly recommended for first- or second-semester students. The primary goal of the first-year seminar program is to provide every first-year student with the opportunity for a direct personal encounter with a faculty member in a small class setting devoted to a significant intellectual endeavor. First-year seminars also fulfill one of the College General Education Requirements. Below is the list of the first-year seminars offered. Previously offered first-year seminars can be found in the first-year seminar archive.
| Course Title | Instructor | Fulfills (Sectors | Foundational Approaches) |
|---|---|---|
| AFRC 0019: Visions of America: Plural Nations, Places and Ideals | Michael Hanchard | Humanities & Social Science (AUHS) | Cross Cultural Analysis (AUCC) |
| ANTH 1710: The Social Life of Climate Change | Nikhil Anand | Society (AUSO) | Cross Cultural Analysis (AUCC) |
| ARTH 0500: First Year Seminar: Beyond Mapping the Land: An Introduction to Landscapes of the Middle East | Maryam Athari | Arts & Letters (AUAL) |
| ARTH 0500: First Year Seminar: Origins of Art: Thinking About The Earliest Images Made By Humans | Holly Pittman | Arts & Letters (AUAL) | |
| CHEM 0250: Structural Biology | Jeffery Saven | Natural Science Across the Disciplines (AUNM) |
| CIMS 0201: Modern Science Fiction Cinema | Christopher Donovan | Arts & Letters (AUAL) |
| CLST 0021: Percy Jackson and Friends: Ancient Greece and Rome in Children's and Young Adult Culture | Sheila Murnaghan | Arts & Letters (AUAL) |
| COML 0090/ FREN 0090: The Fantastic Voyage from Homer to Science Fiction | Scott Francis | Arts & Letters (AUAL) | Cross Cultural Analysis (AUCC) |
| DTCH 0020/ GRMN 0020: Amsterdam at 750: Exploring Culture, Society, and Policy in the Dutch Capital | Robert Naborn | History & Tradition (AUHT) | Cross Cultural Analysis (AUCC) |
| ENGL 0300: Medieval Worlds | Emily Steiner | Humanities & Social Science (AUHS) |
| ENGL 0305: First Year Seminar: The Gothic | Michael Gamer | Arts & Letters (AUAL) | |
| ENGL 0341: First Year Seminar: Imperials v. Rebels | Sara Kazmi | Arts & Letters (AUAL) | Cross Cultural Analysis (AUCC) |
| LING 0054: Bilingualism in History | Marlyse Baptista | History & Tradition (AUHT) |
| MELC 0460/ HIST 0061: First-Year Seminar: Of Horses, Bows and Fermented Milk: The Silk Roads in 10 Objects | Oscar Aguirre Mandujano | History & Tradition (AUHT) | Cross Cultural Analysis (AUCC) |
| MUSC 0160: First-Year Seminar: Sound Cultures in Modern Korea | Laurie Lee | Arts & Letters (AUAL) |
| MUSC 0180B/URBS 0180B: Music in Urban Spaces | Molly Mcglone | Humanities & Social Science (AUHS) | Cultural Diversity in US (AUCD |
| NRSC 0050: Forensic Neuroscience | Daniel Langleben | The Living World (AULW) |
| NRSC 0060: Music and the Brain | Michael Kaplan | The Living World (AULW) |
| PHYS 0171: Honors Physics II: Electromagnetism and Radiation | Varies by section | The Physical World (AUPW) | Quantitative Data Analysis (AUQD) |
| PSCI 0010: First Year Seminar: America & Russia, Archetypes of Democracy & Autocracy | Daniel Hopkins | Society (AUSO) | Cultural Diversity in US (AUCD) |
| SOCI 0001/URBS 0005: Poverty and Inequality | Annette Lareau | Society (AUSO) | Cultural Diversity in US (AUCD) |
| SOCI 0002: Social Inequality and Health: Global Implications | Su Yeone Jeon | Society (AUSO) | Cultural Diversity in US (AUCD) |
| SOCI 0006: Anxious Times: A Sociology of the Environmental Crisis | Hashim Bin Rashid | Society (AUSO) | Cultural Diversity in US (AUCD) |
| THAR 0020: Fundamentals of Acting: First-Year Seminar | Brooke O'Harra | Humanities & Social Science (AUHS) |
| VLST 1060: Virtual Reality Storytelling | Gregory Vershbow | Humanities & Social Science (AUHS) |