MEMORANDUM
TO: Deans, Directors, Department Heads, and Faculty
FROM: Phil Oldham, Provost and Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Fran Bender, Assistant Provost for Student Retention and Success
SUBJECT: New Courses for Freshmen
DATE: November 17, 2008
For the last ten years the freshman retention rate at UTC has been declining, a situation we must address. This fall we implemented the Freshman Academic Success Tracking (FAST) initiative to help increase student awareness of the importance of class attendance to students’ overall success. Today we’re announcing another initiative for first-year students that we hope will produce positive results for the engagement and retention of our students. With your participation and support, we will have a program to help increase the engagement of freshmen into the intellectual life of the university.
During the Fall 2009 semester, we hope to offer a series of one-hour topics courses. The purpose of these courses is to interest and engage first-year students in a topic about which both they and their professors have a mutual interest. The only caveats for the courses are that the instructors be passionate about the topics, that they teach them on a freshman level, and that they hold interest for freshmen. Faculty are encouraged to design courses on topics they don’t typically have a chance to teach, including an emerging research area or an outside interest. To get these courses organized, we must get our planning done now so that these courses can be included in the schedule for next fall.
Several universities are offering these types of courses. Here are some examples from a few schools: “China: Friend or Foe,” “Bob Dylan,” “The Question of God,” “SEC Football,” “Urban Legends,” “Brain, Mind, Music, Culture,” “Problem Solving and the Internet,” and “Classical American Films.” Course titles should be inviting and intriguing to students.
These courses will be offered as University Studies199 courses at first to see if both faculty and students respond positively to them. If the courses prove successful, then they will be given a permanent number. They will be taught on a satisfactory/no credit basis one day per week. The student work required for this course should require no more than two hours per week.
Tenured and tenure-track faculty at UTC are eligible to teach these courses. Faculty may teach only one course per term. Any faculty member teaching an overload will receive a $1000 stipend for a research/teaching fund.
We hope that many faculty will decide to offer a course during the first year of this program, Fall 2009. If you are interested, please go to the Frequently Asked Questions page to find additional information or email Fran Bender at fran-bender@utc.edu. The deadline for initial proposals is December 15, 2008. The number of these courses is limited, so respond soon. We look forward to hearing from you!
