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More than 90 percent of new, incoming University of Georgia students have enrolled in a First-Year Odyssey seminar, a new fall-semester program that will offer first-year students an understanding and appreciation for the academic, service and research missions of the university.

Tenured and tenure-track faculty from across the UGA campus are teaching the 329 First-Year Odyssey seminars, which range in topics from sustainability, fashion, the CIA and biotechnology to Sherlock Holmes. The small classes are limited to 18 participants. Students will also be required to attend at least three campus events during the semester that highlight some aspect of the mission of the university.  Participants will be graded and awarded one hour of credit for successful completion of their First-Year Odyssey seminar.

At least 30 College of Education faculty members are teaching First-Year Odyssey seminars this fall.

See a list of COE First-Year Odyssey Seminar courses.

In its inaugural year at UGA, the First-Year Odyssey program was established with three major goals in mind, said Tim Foutz, program director:

1. Introduce first-year students to the importance of learning and academics so that they are engaged in the learning culture of the University;
2. Give first-year students an opportunity for meaningful dialogue with a faculty member which will lead to positive, sustained student-faculty interactions; and,
3. Introduce first-year students to the instruction, research, public service and international missions of the University and how they relate to teaching and learning in and outside the classroom in order to assure the participants’ understanding in the mission of the university.

Foutz is optimistic that the First-Year Odyssey program will succeed in meeting these goals. “A student’s first year at UGA is an exciting time to experience and explore the academic rigors and opportunities available,” he said. “By engaging with faculty and other first-year students in an intimate classroom setting, we hope they will grow to understand the value of a UGA education.”

Participating COE faculty members were excited and looking forward to engaging with first-year UGA students for a variety of reasons. Here’s a sampling of what they had to say:

Mullendore

“As a Fellow of the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition (University of South Carolina), I am excited that UGA has decided to launch an ambitious and important program for first-year students. When I learned that it would be offered, I immediately volunteered to participate. Nationwide, the research is clear, students who take first-year seminars make better grades and are retained at a higher rate than students who do not take them. At a large university like UGA, it is especially important to put full-time faculty with first-year students. I look forward to meeting my new students next week!”

Richard Mullendore
Professor
College Student Affairs Administration

Buxton

“I decided to teach a FYO seminar because in teacher education we usually only get to work with juniors and seniors. I thought it would be both fun and intellectually stimulating to get to interact with some freshmen who are just starting their UGA experience.”

Cory Buxton
Associate Professor and Program Coordinator
Elementary and Social Studies Education

Getch

“I always find it exciting to work with undergraduates and expose them to the current research. It’s great to see them get excited about research and current social justice issues early in their academic careers. Additionally, I really enjoy working with first-year students and do not always get this opportunity.”

Yvette Getch
Associate Professor
Counseling and Human Development Services

James

“My interest in teaching an FYO seminar lies in establishing relationships with incoming freshmen through which I might become a long-term mentor and friend, as well as introducing interested students to the field of early childhood education.”

Jennifer James
Assistant Professor
Elementary and Social Studies Education

Johnson

“I am teaching in the First-Year Odyssey program because I have really enjoyed teaching the freshman seminars for the past 5 years and see this as an extension of that program campus-wide. I also get to teach on topics I am personally passionate about and that relate to my research. In the Fall I teach Youth, Media and Masculinity and in the Spring I teach a course on the Slow Food Movement. More importantly, however, I get the opportunity to interact with a new generation of students who are both excited and anxious about being at UGA allowing me to feed off of their excitement about learning and alleviating their anxiety by supporting them as a more ‘experienced’ member of campus. I still get calls now from seniors who were in my freshman seminars years ago asking for assistance regarding challenging moments. I really treasure the time I get to spend with those 15 students each week.”

Cory Johnson
Associate Professor and Coordinator
Recreation and Leisure Studies Program
Graduate Coordinator
Counseling and Human Development Services

Mellom

“I chose to do a FYS because I really like teaching first year students, and I liked the idea of having the opportunity to teach a small seminar-type class. In this class the students will get a taste of what research looks like by using linguistic theory to examine such questions as ‘How do we use language to create identities?’ It should be fun!”

Paula Mellom
Research Scientist
Center for Latino Achievement and Success in Education

Samdahl

“My hope is that the small seminar format will establish a foundation for engaged learning. Students often view themselves as passive recipients of knowledge, sitting in classroom and writing down what the instructor says. I want to foster their sense of inquisitiveness and their confidence in exploring ideas on their own. 

“In my seminar, I want students to see that scholarship and academics can be applied to aspects of ordinary everyday life. I want to show them that coursework can be relevant.

“I have a list of secondary goals that will shape what happens in my seminar. I want students to gain confidence speaking up in class discussion, I want them to use GALILEO for online research, I want them to express opinions about what they read, and I want them to give a short formal presentation in class. These skills will be useful in other courses they take at UGA.”

Diane Samdahl
Professor
Counseling and Human Development Services

Incoming students registered for their “Odyssey” seminar during orientation. Many classes filled up quickly, and some of the more popular ones included College Athletics: Sports, News, and Education; Making Sense of Modern Art; Chocolate Science; Stem Cells in Medicine and Society and Fashion and the Movies.

Incoming freshman Lauren Risse of Watkinsville is enthusiastic about her upcoming “First-Year Odyssey” seminar, Exploring Protein Structure and Function: A 30-Year Odyssey. “I plan on majoring in microbiology, and I have a fascination with protein structure,” she said.  “So, I was thrilled when I discovered this course was offered.”

Faculty proposed their classroom topics, which were reflective of their teaching, research and service passions. All schools, colleges and many departments are represented in the “First-Year Odyssey” faculty, which includes UGA President Michael F. Adams, who will teach The History and Development of the University of Georgia through the Eyes of the President, and Provost Jere Morehead, whose seminar topic will be Exploring Current Issues in Law.

Foutz said the support the University community has shown for the First-Year Odyssey seminars has been overwhelming.  “The UGA faculty has stepped up to the challenge of offering seminar topics that will engage a first-year student; in fact, faculty are offering so many creative seminar topics that students continually ask if they can enroll in more than one class. Various units from all across campus have shown their support by offering workshops to help faculty design their First-Year Odyssey seminars and by developing materials that complement the program.  Even students not enrolled in these seminars have supported our efforts by helping us do things such as select the logo, design the web page and determine how to promote the program during orientation.

“I particularly would like to acknowledge the orientation leaders and academic advisors who worked so hard to get the message out and help incoming students understand the University’s commitment to engaging them in the academic culture of UGA.”

Visit UGA’s First Year Odyssey Program