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Announcements » Freshmen Seminars: New Ready for the World Initiative


Freshmen Seminars: New Ready for the World Initiative

To: Academic Deans, Directors, Department Heads, and Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty
From: Susan Martin, Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor

Summary of Key Points:

  • Freshmen Seminar Proposal Deadline: September 30, 2009
  • All proposals must be submitted on line at www.utk.edu/freshmanseminar/
  • The Freshmen Seminar Committee will select the seminars
  • Ready for the World Themed Seminars will receive priority in selection
  • Fewer seminars will be funded overall and non RFTW themed seminars will be limited in number
  • The Format of the on-line proposal has changed
  • RFTW Freshmen Seminars may incorporate the Great Decisions Program

Announcement

I request Freshmen Seminar (FYS 129) proposals for the Spring Semester 2010 with explicit Ready for the World themes, and, closely related to this, FYS 129 faculty who are willing to help create and implement a RFTW course assessment.
Ready for the World-themed Freshman Seminars will be given priority in the selection process and participating faculty will receive $500 additional research funding (over and above the normal $1500) in recognition of their effort to promote and document the result of this new collaboration.

In order to participate in this collaboration, faculty offering RFTW Themed Seminars will be required to:

  1. Submit a course proposal by September 30 to the Freshmen Seminar Committee through the on-line proposal website. www.utk.edu/freshmanseminar/
  2. Choose a topic pertinent to one or more of the learning outcomes listed below
  3. Participate in an assessment workshop in the afternoon of October 8 from 1-5 pm or in the afternoon of October 9 from 1-5 pm
  4. Meet 1-2 times if necessary thereafter, with an assessment coordinator to finalize student learning outcomes and assessment mechanisms for each faculty member’s experimental FYS 129.
  5. At the conclusion of the course, write a short, final assessment of students report according to guidelines outlined by the committee due no later than 4 weeks after the conclusion of the course.

Proposed Student Learning Outcomes for RFTW Freshmen Seminars

Upon completion of the course students will:

  • be able to recognize global systems, processes, trends, and issues
  • be knowledgeable of their own culture
  • be knowledgeable of cultures other than their own
  • be knowledgeable of world geography, global economics, international politics, international business, world religions, philosophies, histories, languages, literatures, or arts
  • be able to use/employ intercultural communication concepts
  • be able to evaluate the impact of historical forces on current world systems
  • be able to distinguish the root causes of global social problems
  • be able to identify concepts of interdependence
  • be knowledgeable of sustainable practices
  • be able to recognize health issues of global significance
  • be able to identify agricultural issues of global significance

Please give special emphasis to how the learning outcome(s) selected for your course will increase students’ knowledge of cultures other than their own.

Great Decisions Freshmen Seminar Opportunity

As part of the RFTW Freshmen Seminar Initiative, we invite faculty members to submit freshman seminar course proposals that incorporate UTK’s participation in the 2010 Great Decisions lecture series.  Great Decisions is a national program which focuses on timely International topics. Accompanying academic resources are available.  UT will again this spring sponsor a series of 6-8 lectures at 7 p.m. on Tuesday evenings throughout the semester, which could serve as the perfect basis for an RFTW Freshman Seminar.  In Spring 2009, the topics included: The Global Food Crisis, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Cuba, and Energy and the US Economy.
For information about the Great Decisions program, go to: http://www.fpa.org/info-url_nocat4705/info-url_nocat.htm

If you decide to link your freshmen seminar to the Great Decisions Lecture Series, please choose Tuesday, Full Session as the time slot.

Thank you in advance for your participation in this RFTW initiative. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Pia Wood in the Center for International Education.

Posted: September 14, 2009