First-Year Rutgers Students Delve into Complex Issues
and Eclectic Topics to Rouse Research Interests

New Brunswick, N.J. – What do corporations owe society? If global warming is real, should people sell their shore homes? Will food prices rise and world hunger increase as the possibilities of biofuels are explored? Students are examining these questions and others through the Byrne Family First-Year Seminars at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The intimate, discussion-based classes present a unique experience for first-year students to entertain their curiosity with faculty who are at the center of national and international debate, policy and research.

“Rutgers is devoted to offering a distinctive undergraduate experience,” says Douglas Greenberg, executive dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. “At the core of Rutgers’ philosophy on undergraduate education is the notion that first-year students should establish relationships with our world-renowned faculty and identify research opportunities at the very beginning of their academic careers.”

 More than 65 classes in the humanities, social sciences and sciences are offered this fall. Some of the most requested classes include “Yankee Stadium,” taught by Theresa M. Collins, research professor of the Thomas A. Edison Papers; “Grimm Fairy Tales: Then and Now,” taught by Marlene Ciklamini, professor of Germanic, Russian and Eastern European languages and literature; and “Love and Reason,” taught by Ruth Chang, associate professor of philosophy. Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick is scheduled to teach a seminar in the spring called, “Rutgers and the Challenges Facing Higher Education in the 21st Century.”

 “The seminars are designed to begin the undergraduate research experience by introducing students to a breadth of topics and initiating communication with faculty,” says Kathleen Hull, director of the Byrne Seminars.

The 10-week seminars are one-credit courses with no formal exams or letter grades. Each seminar has a maximum enrollment of 20 students.

Below is a sample of seminars offered this semester:

 Humanities

• Oral History and the American Experience in World War II
• How to Steal an Election
• Human Displacement: A New International Crisis

 

Social Sciences

• What Do Corporations Owe Society?
• Yankee Stadium
• Diversity and the University: Law and Policy Debates
• Reproductive Politics
• Honor, Shame, and Discipline
• The Immigration Debate Today

 

Sciences

• Modern Plagues
• Germs You Can’t Live With – Germs You Can’t Live Without
• The Ecology of the Jersey Shore
• Lasers and Fiber Optics in Medicine and Surgery
• “Should I Sell My Shore House?”: Global Warming and Sea-Level Rise
• Hunger, Biofuels, and Politics

 For a full list of seminars, go to: http://byrneseminars.rutgers.edu/.