Freshman Seminars See Record Growth

This year the Freshman Seminar Program has seen a record-setting explosion in the number of course offerings and hopes for more of the same next year.

But students, Faculty and administrators say the program has not addressed several structural shortcomings despite the booming enrollment numbers, possibly leaving out some eager students and lessening the experience of those who are accepted.

The program this year offered 61 seminars—a surge over the 36 offered the previous year—and another sizeable addition next year is expected to bring the total figure up to between 75 and 80 seminars, according to Elizabeth Doherty, director of the Freshman Seminar Program.

Doherty says “the Faculty has had a conversation” on the program and concluded that “one profitable thing that could be done is to expand it.”

Dean of Undergraduate Education Susan G. Pedersen ’81-’82, who has vigorously championed the Freshman Seminar Program during her two years as dean, says the growth in the number of offerings has helped the program move toward its aim of being available to all first-years.

The increase in offerings, while likely to help meet the traditionally intense demand for seminars, will leave unsolved other problems that afflict the program. These include unbalanced demand for offerings, potentially underqualified instructors and a burdensome application process.

The Freshman Seminar Program, which began in 1959, offers courses to first-years without the pressures of a letter grade. The seminars have no formal examinations and classes are typically composed of 10 to 15 students.

Offerings this year covered a wide range of topics, including the politics and history of the Internet, visual perception and face recognition and the art of cylinder seals in the Ancient Near East.

Administrators, Faculty and students alike cite the small size of the courses as one of the program’s major strengths.

“Freshmen get into all these big courses and there’s a danger of getting into a passive attitude about learning,” Pedersen says. “Freshman seminars do a good job combating that.”

Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics Roy J. Glauber, who led a seminar last semester, notes that seminars might help first-years develop a relationship with a Faculty member.

“It’s a fine experience for freshmen who come into personal contact with the Faculty and quickly come to realize that we’re not as remote as they might have thought,” he says.

Some students also mention that the lack of grades appeals to them.

“I really like how it’s not graded. Despite what one might think of one’s performance because of that, you still work your butt off,” Justin H. Haan ’05 says. “It feels like a more genuine learning atmosphere.”

Setting Records

With Faculty, administrators and students recognizing the advantages afforded by the program, both demand and supply of the seminars has increased.

According to Doherty, a record 1,812 applications were submitted this fall for admittance into a freshman seminar. These applications were submitted by 851 first-years, the most of any semester except for fall 1967.

And the 2,484 applications submitted for the entire academic year was exceeded only during the 1969-70 academic year.

This year, to meet the growing demand of the past several years, the number of seminars was increased by nearly 70 percent, and is expected to increase next year by another 33 percent. The 61 seminars offered this year is the third-largest amount in the program’s history.

To facilitate this growth the new position of director of the Freshman Seminar Program was created and Doherty, who had been assistant dean of the Faculty for academic planning, took on the post.

The program has also made more concerted efforts to encourage lecturers and Faculty to lead seminars.

“There was a real effort [starting last year] to ask departments to try to contribute to this program and whether they could regularly offer seminars,” Pedersen says.

Now, many Faculty and administrators have placed their support behind the expansion. Pedersen estimates that as many as 100 seminar proposals will be submitted this year. In past years, very few proposals have been turned down.

Still, nearly 400 applicants were not admitted to any seminar this fall and about another 150 in the spring.

Unbalanced Demand

Although the expansion has afforded more first-years the opportunity to take seminars, other problems still exist.

“Before expanding even further, I think the program needs to look at what is working and what isn’t,” says Jonathan S. Chavez ’05, who is currently enrolled in a seminar.

According to Chavez, the burdensome application process and discrepancies in the quality, workload and selection processes among seminars create difficulties that should be redressed.

Although these problems have lingered for a while, expansion has taken precedence over correction.

“The program itself hasn’t changed that much,” Pedersen said. “It’s just grown.”

One problem that impacted many first-years was the particularly heavy demand for certain seminars.

The high demand seems particularly acute for seminars in the social sciences, according to Doherty.

In some cases this fall, more than 90 students competed for a single dozen-student seminar.

One seminar leader had to cancel interviews because of the demand, and instead distributed a supplementary application that asked for SAT scores and high school extracurricular activities, among other things.

Such a discrepancy in demand for seminars could diminish the effect of expansion, since students may continue to apply only to a few of the seminars.

Doherty says the clumping of interest around certain seminars is a problem.

“Students feel almost as if it’s a random process of selection, which is hard on both the students and instructors,” she says.

However, some professors say they actually consider the selection process one of the program’s strengths.

Professor of History of Art and Architecture James Cuno said that having the opportunity to select students improves the seminars.

“It’s not an easy thing to do, but you get a chance to choose students who will get along and interact well, and you have a hand in shaping the profile of the class,” he says.

Departments’ Sacrifices

Some departments have been reluctant to encourage their Faculty to offer seminars because they fear compromising the quality of departmental offerings. In teaching freshmen seminars, many instructors give up the potential to teach other courses.

In essence, those who teach freshman seminars “volunteer their time” to the program, Doherty says. While some lecturers who lead seminars are paid from the program’s endowment, Faculty are still only paid by their department.

“The scarce resource isn’t money,” Pedersen says. “The scarce resource is Faculty time.”

Professor of Greek and Latin Richard F. Thomas, who chairs the classics department, says departments must sacrifice course offerings if they are going to help widen non-departmental programs.

“The core is non-departmental, as is the freshman seminar. The more resources that are put into those, the more strain there is on the department,” he says.

Thomas himself intends to lead a seminar next year, at least partly due to his position as department head.

“I felt that as chairman of the department, I should offer one if we were, as a department, to field one,” he says. “The needs of the department just need to be kept in mind.”

Administrators say they have attempted to reconcile their desire to expand the Freshman Seminar Program with these fears in several ways—adjusting the core curriculum and drawing more seminars from smaller concentrations.

In proposals to reduce the core requirement by one course, Pedersen suggested students use the opportunity to take a freshman seminar. The proposal was ultimately approved by the Faculty.

The program has also attempted to elicit more offerings from concentrations with fewer students. Pedersen explains that instructors in these fields do not have as much pressure to teach departmental courses.

But such an arrangement could just create seminars that have little student interest—continuing the tendency of students to clump around a few offerings.

Doherty says that this potential problem could be solved if departments offer departmental credit for freshman seminars.

“Many departments are willing to count freshman seminars for concentration credit if it’s taught by a member of the department,” she says. “I think most departments will adopt that.”

Head of the Class

Lecturers, assistant professors, associate professors and full professors all offered seminars this year. With more seminars likely to be offered next year, opinions have ranged widely on who should lead them.

“I think one of the things that is nice about the program right now is that junior Faculty and Faculty and lecturers all offer seminars,” Pedersen says.

Doherty also notes advantages to having instructors from all levels.

“It could be a good way for someone who’s new to Harvard to try a course, to work up a course that could eventually become a core,” she says. “Junior faculty often find it a good place to gain teaching experience.”

However, Cuno expresses a different view from Pedersen and Doherty.

“It’s essential to the success of the program that you get really good teachers and senior Faculty,” he says.

Regardless of the opinions, Doherty says “the balance has shifted” toward more professors leading seminars.

Not Just for Greenhorns

With many students and Faculty satisfied by their experiences with the Freshman Seminar Program, some are now wondering whether Harvard should expand the seminars to upperclass students.

Stanford currently has an Introductory Seminars Program open to both first-years and sophomores.

Glauber and Thomas both support seminar programs for upperclass students.

“One thing we find ourselves asking is, ‘Why don’t we do things like this at all levels?’” Glauber says.

Glauber said department tutorials “to some degree, are supposed to answer” for the lack of a seminar program for upperclass students.

Thomas emphasizes the merits of having first-years in the same classes as upperclass students.

“Recognizing that you can hold your own with juniors and seniors is a sign of health,” he says.

Thomas refers to the decline in enrollment in freshman seminars in the spring semester as an indication that first-years become ready for classes with upperclass students.

“Traditionally, that the spring enrollment has dropped off could be interpreted as a sign that they don’t need to be with other freshmen,” Thomas says. “Also, freshmen develop interests in other things, or become more concerned with their concentration.”

Pedersen agrees that first-years change priorities after their first semester—the reason that two-thirds of the seminars are offered in the fall. But she says she does not believe the value of freshman seminars is diminished for those taking them in the spring.

“There’s a drop-off in applications, but there were still many more applicants than seminars,” she says. “They’re really just the perfect thing for students to come in and do in their first semester.”

Patrick R. Griffin ’05 notes the time constraints most first-years face by their second semester.

“I applied to one in the fall and it got pushed [by the professor] to the spring,” he says. “I didn’t re-apply because I didn’t have the time.”

—Staff writer Alexander J. Blenkinsopp can be reached at blenkins@fas.harvard.edu.