Liberal Studies Program

Focal Point Seminar

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Focal Point Seminars are offered during the winter and spring quarters. They focus on a person, place, event, or text. The course is taught with a multi-perspectival approach on the assumption that understanding is deepened when the perspectives of various disciplines are brought to bear upon the same issue. In this way the central topic is "problematized" for the student. 

Focal Point Seminar courses are designed to introduce students to the seminar approach to learning; how to formulate, explain and support ideas orally; raise and pursue good questions; and participate in discussions. They are expected to utilize reading from primary texts to sharpen writing and other critical academic skills needed to succeed in college. These courses are designed for the Liberal Studies Program and are not to be introductions to disciplines or areas of study.  Focal Point Seminar courses may be taught by faculty from any discipline. The enrollment target will not exceed 20 students and is a chance to develop a mentoring relationship between faculty and student.  Students will take a Focal Point Seminar during their second or third quarter at the university and only after the successful completion of WRD103

These are the five learning goals of the Focal Point Seminar program:

  1. Expose students to a variety of original works and teach them the difference between primary and secondary sources (e.g., textbooks)
  2. Improve students’ writing skills through ongoing assignments (in class and outside of class) which demonstrate synthesis of material, with opportunity for feedback and revision.
  3. Acquaint students with how to approach a single topic with a central focus through a multidisciplinary perspective (as opposed to introductory discipline type courses that skim the surface of many topics).
  4. Engage students intellectually in a seminar setting that includes active participation and discussion of assigned readings (with the long-term goal of intellectually socializing them into university life).
  5. Develop students’ critical thinking skills through assignments and discussion questions that challenge them to analyze the logic of readings and presentations.

To propose a new Focal Point Seminar, please fill out the Proposal Form and send it electronically to Michael  Edwards in the First-Year Program.