Download the Fall 2004 PDF - Augsburg College

core curriculumAugsburg SeminarTHE FIRST-YEAR PROGRAMBECOMING ANAUGGIEFor most first-year students, college is abig change. It may be the first time theyhave left home or have lived in a city.Many will find that high school did notprepare them for the demanding workload of a college schedule or the cognitivechallenges and skills that they will need toflourish in their new academicenvironment.Augsburg recognizes that first-yearstudents need support as they make thetransition to college and successfulacademic careers. Because of the attentionthat it pays to the experience of first-yearstudents, Augsburg was named as one of12 Founding Institutions in the Council ofIndependent Colleges’ Foundations ofExcellence in the First College YearProject.Augsburg’s first-year program,Augsburg Seminar, introduces first-yearweekday students to the Augsburglearning community. It helps thembecome intentional learners as theydevelop the skills and strategies that willlead to success in college. It introducesthem to the signature themes of anAugsburg education: vocation, caritas,and community. It introduces them towhat it means to be an educated person:an effective, informed, and ethical citizen.From their first day on campus,everything is geared to helping studentsget off to the right start. AugsburgSeminar courses join students, professors,peer leaders (AugMentors), and campusstaff together in “learning communities”based on a student’s major or otheracademic interests.In these communities, students maywork on joint projects, getting to knowthe Twin Cities cultural scene, meetingand tutoring newly-arrived immigrants inthe neighborhood, and writing reflectionson these experiences. On the day beforeclasses actually begin, AugSem sectionsspend the afternoon in communityservice projects, mostly in theneighborhoods around campus. This year,first-year students worked a total of morethan 1,000 hours on their AugSemcommunity service projects.In the process they become acquaintedwith each other, explore the resources ofthe College community, get connectedwith the city—and have fun. Manystudents find college-long (and life-long)friends in their Augsburg Seminar. Theyget to know their professors—and theirprofessors get to know them, both in classand outside the classroom in AugSemactivities.Biology professor Bill Capman’sAugSem section is paired with theIntroductory Organismal Biology course,which also includes a service-learning fieldproject. This fall, his students visited alocal nature preserve, Dodge NatureCenter, to learn about and work to removeinvasive plant species from their grounds.As part of their AugSem curriculum,Capman’s group spends time on broadertopics—developing good study skills inthe sciences, exploring biology andmedical-related careers, and, for biologyKristin Snartland is one of the AugSem students who rode the newlightrail from near campus to downtown, finding out how easy it is toget around.The AugSem/Biology 103 class spent time at the Dodge Nature Center,studying invasive plant species and helping to remove them from thepreserve. Professor Bill Capman points out differences between thebuckthorn to be removed and ash trees to Brittany Grudem (left) andJennifer Moe (right).20Fall 2004