All entering first-year Honors students are required to enroll in a section of UNIV 1784 (at UConn Hartford, UConn Stamford and UConn Storrs). These Honors first-year seminars are 1-credit First Year Experience (FYE) classes designed specifically for Honors students. They offer incoming students an intimate class experience, exposure to some of UConn’s best faculty, and support for the transition to UConn and to Honors.
Taking a UNIV 1784 seminar gives you the opportunity to bond with a faculty member or member of Honors staff early in your undergraduate career while exploring an interesting topic. It is an introduction to your Honors education, with a learning environment of critical thinking, problem solving, and in-depth discussions.
UNIV 1784 structure
Like other First Year Experience courses, UNIV 1784 has small class sizes (19 students each) to build community in the classroom. However, the Honors First Year Seminar is unique among UConn FYE courses in that it combines a topic of interest with content and activities designed to help you start your UConn Honors career successfully. To accomplish this, each section has essentially two parts: one with your instructor and one with one or more facilitators.
Instructor Half
Honors First Year Seminars are taught on a range of topics as wide as your imagination. Students have taken seminars on topics ranging from Plagues and Pandemics, to Music and Nature, from Interpersonal Conflict and Mediation to Environmental Sustainability. Each year the topics are different, and there is something to pique every student’s curiosity. Find out more about our most recent first year seminars.
What you will do in each course varies along with the topics. Some sections will focus on reading and discussion. Some sections write more. Still others produce products of different kinds. The only constant is a focus on active, engaged learning in a small group setting.
Facilitator Half
Every section of UNIV 1784 will have one or more facilitators in addition to the instructor. Each section is assigned 2 or 3 upper-class Honors student facilitators who will also be present during the instructor day.
The facilitator portion of UNIV 1784 is a critical way in which incoming Honors students are supported once they arrive on campus. Expect an introduction to academic and social resources around campus, cultivation of your relationships with other Honors students, advice on succeeding at UConn and in Honors, and a focus on “staying whelmed” and healthy as you do so.
Becoming an Honors Student Facilitator
Student facilitators for UNIV 1784 prepare for their roles by enrolling in a course on college student development, gifted student development, leadership, and class management (EGEN 3200) during the spring of their first year. They are then supported during their facilitation experience through a practicum course (EGEN 3092). Successfully serving as a UNIV 1784 facilitator can earn 6 Honors credits in total while providing valuable leadership, mentoring, and presentation experience.
Recruitment for future facilitators occurs in late fall. Talk to your UNIV 1784 facilitators for more information!