First Year Experience Seminars

Offered each semester for first-year students, both freshmen and transfer students

First Year Experience (FYE) Seminars provide an unparalleled opportunity for small groups of students to explore a thought-provoking scholarly topic outside of General Education requirements.

  • Learn how scholarship is conducted in specific disciplines.
  • Practice using UAOnline to register for courses, add/drop courses, check financial aid, and more.
  • Get familiar with using DegreeWorks to determine your outstanding graduation requirements.
  • Improve your understanding of academic planning, program requirements, and student code of conduct at UAF.
  • National research shows that first-year seminars improve 4-year graduation rates and college GPA among all students.
  • All FYE seminars are graded pass/fail.
  • Students who enroll but do not complete or pass the course will be charged $45.

Earn one free credit!

  • Tuition and all fees are paid for First Year Experience (FYE) seminars.
  • Students who enroll but do not complete the course will be charged $45.
  • Contact the URSA office 450-8772 or ursa.uaf@alaska.edu for more information.

Banned! Challenges to Intellectual Freedom Around the World
Instructor  Karen Jensen
FYE F100    F02
Wednesdays 3:30 - 5:00 pm      September 4 - November 6     CRN 74742
Huck Finn, Fahrenheit 451, Captain Underpants…What do all these books have in common? They’ve been banned!  Have you ever seen a library display for Banned Books Week? It’s not just a publicity stunt; books, movies and more really do get censored in today’s information-rich world.  Understand the dilemmas faced by librarians, publishers, booksellers and writers when faced with information that may be “too hot to handle.” In this course we will examine the motives for and means of censorship in print and online, and discuss why it is sometimes difficult - yet vital – for libraries to defend intellectual freedom.

How Do We Build Sustainable Communities in Alaska?
Instructor  Cindy Fabbri
FYE F100    F03
Tuesdays 2:00 - 3:30 pm      September 4 - November 6     CRN 77960
We will examine what it means to have a sustainable community.  Students will bring their own ideas and examples to the table to help the group explore issues of importance in urban and rural Alaska (i.e. water and sanitation, energy, health, food security, economic development, biodiversity, air quality).  The group will work collaboratively to identify strategies that we can use to make Alaska’s communities more sustainable.

Hidden Mysteries
Instructor  Leslie McCartney
FYE F100    F04
Tuesdays 3:40 - 5:10 pm      September 4 - November 6     CRN 75744
A scroll of papyrus paper containing nine mathematical problems, a stone-age tool, a pot shard, a credit card, a microchip … every object, found in every corner of the globe tells a story of how humans, in just over two million years, have shaped our world and have been shaped by it. We will look at museum artifacts that shine a light on human history worldwide and in Alaska.

Fact or Fishin'
Instructors Andy Seitz and Trent Sutton
FYE F100    F05
Tuesdays 2:00 - 3:30pm    September 4 - November 11     CRN 79708
Engage in active learning and problem solving about fisheries conservation and management issues by considering current case studies in fisheries management. These case studies will be real-life issues and scenarios that will challenge you to think critically and creatively.

Running with the Devil: The History of Evil & the Supernatural in Music
Instructor Morris Palter
FYE F100    F06
Time TBA    September 4 - November 6     CRN 79798
Explore how and why the Devil, the supernatural and evil has come to influence such a large breadth of musical activity. Through a survey of musical genres including classical, jazz, blues, hip hop, rock and other popular music forms, students are invited to enlighten themselves to the dark side of music.