UC Davis instructors teach First-Year Seminars to inspire future leaders

Each year, about 5,000 undergraduates — roughly 16% of UC Davis undergraduates — enroll in First-Year Seminars. As student interest continues to grow, the program needs more faculty to teach these courses.

Undergraduate students gain clear benefits through First-Year Seminars. They build strong peer connections, explore topics outside their major and contribute actively to class discussions — but the benefits are a two-way street. Many instructors say these seminars are their favorite courses to teach and encourage colleagues to develop new seminars based on passion projects or interests outside their primary areas of academic expertise.

“The door is wide open for faculty to propose a high impact seminar on a topic they care deeply about and sparks student curiosity," said Angela Taylor, director of Experiential Learning in the Office of Undergraduate Education. “Each quarter, over 100 new seminars and popular past seminars are offered to students. Faculty aren’t bound to their fields of expertise, so courses range from Broadway musicals to race car driving.” 

Exploring research in unique spaces

Jasquelin Peña, a civil and environmental engineering professor, taught two seminars on wide-ranging topics. Her first seminar, “The Amazon River Basin: Past, Present and Future,” focused on the Amazon rainforest. 

“At the time, I was about to start doing fieldwork in the Amazon,” Peña said. “I had never been there before, so the seminar gave me a chance to start researching and planning what it would be like there.”

Her second seminar, “Science and Art at the Manetti Shrem,” centered on student discussions about the museum exhibit, “Breath(e): Toward Climate and Social Justice.” The theme of art and science connected to her own interdisciplinary research, as Peña examines how wood ash from wildfires can support ceramic glaze development.

“This seminar supported and nurtured my research,” Peña said. “I presented chemical analyses at a conference and later shared those results with my students.”

Both seminars allowed her to dive deeper into her research topics and, in turn, share those interests with her students.

Co-creating knowledge together

Richard Huskey, associate professor in communication and cognitive science, invites weekly discussions about philosophy and recent artificial intelligence, or AI, advances in his seminar, “Can a Robot Ever Be Conscious?” His seminar highlights another benefit of teaching first-years: creating knowledge together.

“First-Year Seminars offer a strong way to co-create knowledge,” Huskey said. “Each quarter, someone introduces an idea I had never considered before and that perspective often proves incredibly insightful. I learn from the students.”

Aside from student insights, instructors test new teaching approaches.

“You get a lot of creativity and agency in what you offer,” Huskey said. “I chose a topic that nobody really knows about. The open-ended question creates space for students to take real risks — something large lectures with 150 students rarely allow.”

 The role of the instructor shifts as well. 

“It’s much less the typical standing on stage and talking at students,” Huskey said. “My role is more like a moderator than a lecturer." 

Students in his class discuss a range of ideas, with Huskey occasionally jumping in to point out connections or redirect focus. 

“In these seminars, you feel like you are at the forefront of knowledge creation,” Huskey said. “I find teaching these students very fulfilling.” 

A lasting impact 

First-Year Seminars deliver high-impact learning for students and leave a strong impression on faculty who see both short- and long-term impact. Small class sizes and a wide range of topics create opportunities for dialogue and build relationships between faculty and students. 

“Last year at the undergraduate research conference, I met a student who took my First-Year Seminar in 2021,” Peña said. “She presented research as a senior and shared that work from my seminar shaped her interests! I appreciated the chance to see that impact.”