A freshman seminar is a small, discussion-oriented class that is designed just for first-year students across the University. The seminars cover a variety of fascinating topics in the arts, behavioral sciences, global issues, politics and culture, and more. Seminars are offered both fall and spring semesters.

What to Expect in a Freshman Seminar

• A small class (15-20 students) of first-year students where it is easy to talk, participate, and engage in class discussions
• A professor who is an expert in the subject matter who has created the course specifically for first-year students
• An opportunity to work with faculty who will introduce you to a variety of new research and creative topics

CLA Freshman Seminars

Course offerings vary from year to year.
 

African American & African Studies

Social and Cultural History of Blacks in Sports

American Studies, Center for

The American Digital Revolution: Music, Media, and Gaming in American Culture

Anthropology

Changing Human Adaptations
Cultures of Resentment: Understanding the Politics of Hate in the 2000s

Art

Say Something, Make Something: Transforming Language in Visual Art
Place Matters: Seeing the Mississippi

Art History

World War II Revisited: Britain at War

Chicano & Latino Studies

Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies: History, Culture & Identity

Communication Studies

Media Emotions

Classial & Near Eastern Studies

Silencing the Gods: Divine and Human in the Hebrew Bible

Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature

New York of the 1970s: Punk, Hip-Hop, and Salsa

English

Our Monsters, Ourselves
Hop-Hop as Academic Inquiry

Geography

Living with Innovation

German, Scandinavian & Dutch

The Dragon Slayer in Epic and Film
Politics, Arts, and Propaganda: A Century of Film in Berlin

Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies

Freaks and Aliens: Race, Gender, and Sex in Science Fiction

History

A History of the Drug Wars
Autobiography through History/History through Autobiography
From the Tea Party to 9/11: Historical Memory in the United States
Food, Wine, and Sport in the Creation of French Identity
Making Minnesota
Politics of Hunger: Food, Development, and Cold-War Politics

Institute of Global Studies

Urban Love, Fear, and Uprising

Linguistics

Invented Languages

Journalism & Mass Communication

The Symbolic Meanings of Money and Property
The Art and Science of Persuasion

Music

The Color of Music
Music in Nazi Germany
Violence against Women in Opera

Philosophy

What's So Great About Classical Music?
Sports, Reason, and Society
Natural and Artificial

Political Science

Political Discussion and Deliberation in the 2016 Election
The U.S. Role in the World
College, Sex, and Society

Psychology

This is Your Brain on Drugs
Psychological Perspectives of Women at Work
What is the Human Mind
The Psycology of Design: Smart Products, Graphics, & Logos

Sociology

Whites, Whiteness, and Racism

Spanish & Portueguese Studies

Contemporary Latino Drama: Human Rights and Theater
Arab Spain: Then and Now

Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences

Beyond Sounds and Words: Social Communication Across the Lifespan

Theatre Arts & Dance

The Great Actresses and Divas of Theatre, Films, Opera and Musicals
Art Laboratory: A Place to Play
Attending (to) Theater
Cyborg Ethics and Digital Selves

Writing Studies

Arguing with Authority: The Past, Present, and Future of Higher Education
From Fashion to Fashioning a World: Magazines and Literacy