Dear Colleagues,
Each semester, faculty from across campus welcome our newest students into our intellectual community by teaching in the Freshman and Sophomore Seminar Program. We invite you to join us.
Most seminars meet for an hour once a week, for one unit of credit, and are meant to be discussion-based and interactive. Seminars can be on almost any topic you can dream up. This fall, faculty are offering seminars on “The Nature of Space and Time,” “Mathematics in Film and Fiction,” “Flood, Drought, Fire: Understanding California’s Weather Extremes,” and “The Environmental, Landscape, and Architectural History of the University.”
Our new students tell us that seminars ease their transition to Berkeley. A student in David Presti’s fall 2024 seminar, “Matter, Mind, Consciousness,” said: “Truthfully, this seminar was life changing. I didn't think that taking a seminar like this one for my first semester at UC Berkeley would have any impact on me. But, this seminar has made me more open-minded. It pushed me to be a better person to myself and everyone else around me.”
If you would like to teach a seminar in spring 2026, please let your department chair and scheduler know, and then submit a Faculty Participation Form by Thursday, September 18, 2025. Senate faculty who teach a 1- or 2-unit Freshman and Sophomore Seminar as an overload will receive a $3,000 grant that can be used for anything related to their teaching or research.
To receive more information about the Freshman and Sophomore Seminar Program or to brainstorm ideas, contact Aileen Liu, Director of Curricular Engagement Initiatives in the College of Letters & Science, at aileen.liu@berkeley.edu.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Johnson-Hanks
Executive Dean of the College of Letters and Science
Oliver M. O’Reilly
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education
This message was sent to Senate faculty and Emeriti.