First-Year Seminar

First-year seminars have become acknowledged as a best practice in colleges and universities across the country for their ability to connect student interests, interdisciplinary inquiry, and improved writing and thinking.

These classes explore a wide range of topics, and are open only to first-year students. They give you an intellectual doorway to Hope College in an interdisciplinary context. The faculty focus on active learning and college-level learning in the liberal arts. Students read primary texts, do reflective writing, discuss in small groups and create presentations for the class. Your teacher for your seminar will also be your advisor, so it is a great way to quickly get to know your advisor and a small group of friends. Expect great things.

Selected 2011 first-year seminars

  • Art and Activism
  • Science on the Beach
  • Nonviolent Communication
  • Fit Bodies, Fat minds
  • Creating Community together
  • Primetime Medicine
  • C.S. Lewis and the Liberal arts