This year the Freshman Seminar Program has seen a record-setting explosion in the number of course offerings and hopes for more of the same next year.

But students, Faculty and administrators say the program has not addressed several structural shortcomings despite the booming enrollment numbers, possibly leaving out some eager students and lessening the experience of those who are accepted.

The program this year offered 61 seminars—a surge over the 36 offered the previous year—and another sizeable addition next year is expected to bring the total figure up to between 75 and 80 seminars, according to Elizabeth Doherty, director of the Freshman Seminar Program.

Doherty says “the Faculty has had a conversation” on the program and concluded that “one profitable thing that could be done is to expand it.”

Dean of Undergraduate Education Susan G. Pedersen ’81-’82, who has vigorously championed the Freshman Seminar Program during her two years as dean, says the growth in the number of offerings has helped the program move toward its aim of being available to all first-years.

The increase in offerings, while likely to help meet the traditionally intense demand for seminars, will leave unsolved other problems that afflict the program. These include unbalanced demand for offerings, potentially underqualified instructors and a burdensome application process.

The Freshman Seminar Program, which began in 1959, offers courses to first-years without the pressures of a letter grade. The seminars have no formal examinations and classes are typically composed of 10 to 15 students.

Offerings this year covered a wide range of topics, including the politics and history of the Internet, visual perception and face recognition and the art of cylinder seals in the Ancient Near East.

Administrators, Faculty and students alike cite the small size of the courses as one of the program’s major strengths.

“Freshmen get into all these big courses and there’s a danger of getting into a passive attitude about learning,” Pedersen says. “Freshman seminars do a good job combating that.”

Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics Roy J. Glauber, who led a seminar last semester, notes that seminars might help first-years develop a relationship with a Faculty member.

“It’s a fine experience for freshmen who come into personal contact with the Faculty and quickly come to realize that we’re not as remote as they might have thought,” he says.

Some students also mention that the lack of grades appeals to them.

“I really like how it’s not graded. Despite what one might think of one’s performance because of that, you still work your butt off,” Justin H. Haan ’05 says. “It feels like a more genuine learning atmosphere.”

Setting Records