Section One: Baccalaureate Degree Curriculum – First-Year Seminars/Engagement Plans

1. Modes of Delivery for the First-Year Seminar/Courses

Academic units may offer courses meeting this requirement in several ways. The Senate Committee on Curricular Affairs (SCCA) foresees four basic approaches to these offerings:

1. Specially designed 1 credit First-Year Seminar courses. (See special PSU course numbers)
2. Specially designed 2 to 4 credit First-Year Seminar courses offered by academic units, with unit course name and number, which exceed the minimum University-wide requirement of one credit.
3. General Education courses, or sections of General Education courses, that meet the objectives of the First-Year Seminar/Engagement Plans.
4. Other existing courses which meet the objectives of the First-Year Seminar/Engagement Plans.

According to the April 2008 Senate legislation, FYE will next be reviewed in five years.

General Education courses, or sections of a General Education course, which are offered by an academic unit and which were identified in the units as meeting the objectives of the First-Year Seminar/Engagement Plan do not need to be submitted to the SCCA for review and approval. The appropriate suffix/attribute will be appended to the course number upon request to the University Curriculum Coordinator. The unit should monitor the achievement of the First-Year Seminar/Engagement Plan objectives and should include these courses in their two-year college report.

Existing 1 credit courses, offered by an academic unit, that fulfill the First-Year seminar requirement and that were identified in the units as meeting the objectives of the First-Year Seminar/Engagement Plan do not need to be submitted to the SCCA for review and approval. Upon request, the appropriate suffix/attribute will be appended to the course number. The unit should monitor the achievement of the First-Year Seminar/Engagement Plan objectives and should include these courses in their two-year college report. Existing multiple credit courses that are intended to be used for the First-Year Seminar/Engagement Plan will require a full course proposal addressing the criteria for the First-Year Seminar course. Both 1 credit and multiple credit courses in this category will be identified with the appropriate suffix/attribute.

2. Criteria for First-Year Seminars/Engagement Courses

Proposals for First-Year Seminar courses must address the objectives stated above in this section. They must show that the course will:

1. Have academic content;
2. Introduce students to University study;
3. Introduce students to Penn State as an academic community, including fields of studies and areas of interest available to them;
4. Acquaint students with the learning tools and resources available at Penn State;
5. Provide opportunities for the students to develop relationships with full-time faculty and other students in academic areas of interest to them;
6. Introduce students to their responsibilities as members of the University community.