By Catherine Collins<\/p>\n
A pilot program for a writing seminar for incoming freshmen will begin in the fall of 2012.<\/p>\n
Provost Katherine Conway-Turner said that she hopes the seminar will \u201cprovide an opportunity in the first semester for students to develop habits that will enrich their academic experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
The seminar will be an optional class offered in the fall semester for incoming freshmen. Professors will be choosing the topics for the seminar courses, which will be writing-intensive and are intended to improve the overall literacy and writing skills of freshmen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope students will be better prepared to think\/read critically, write effectively, engage in appropriate research, and be intellectually ignited from the beginning of their Hood experience,\u201d Conway-Turner said.<\/p>\n
The faculty voted for the seminar pilot at December\u2019s faculty meeting, with 47 for and 24 against. The pilot will be no more than three years. Starting in late January, a faculty committee will be established to oversee the pilot.<\/p>\n
Faculty members will teach the freshman seminar either as part of their normal teaching load or as an additional course. If it is additional, there will be a stipend provided to the professor.<\/p>\n
The idea of a freshman seminar was introduced last fall as part of a proposed revision of the core curriculum. The initial proposed seminar would have been mandatory for all incoming freshmen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were concerns articulated by the faculty regarding the development and implementation of this as a requirement, so offering it as a pilot allows the faculty to see how it would work before a decision is made to make it a requirement,\u201d Conway-Turner said.<\/p>\n
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