Freshman Advising Seminars have become MIT’s second most successful innovation in undergraduate education after UROP. Yet many faculty know very little about the advising seminars and certainly do not know that the program struggles each year to find enough faculty to lead them. The gentle-but-persistent recruiting of Professor Emeritus Travis Merritt has been vital to the success of this program for the last 14 years. With his retirement, the program is in danger of losing momentum.

Like UROP, Freshman Advising Seminars bring faculty and students together in a close working relationship - this one formed in the very first weeks of the freshman year. Freshman Advising Seminars gather a group of eight freshmen and one faculty member in weekly meetings during the fall to discuss a nominal academic topic. The style is meant to be that of a seminar, rather than a lecture, often with a hands-on atmosphere. Seminars frequently launch a student’s interest in research, and even a career in a particular field, although several are deliberately nonprofessional in nature. Fall 1997 seminar activities included, among many others, building an electric go-kart, using optical physics to model and animate commercial renderings, and measuring pollutants in Boston Harbor. One seminar even built "snow clearing aids for the less athletic."

Students receive six units of credit for their participation in the seminars and are expected to do a certain amount of reading and some presentations. While the academic work takes up most of the seminar time, about a third of it is devoted to group advising about general issues such as academic matters and adjustment to MIT. Upperclass associate advisors help with all aspects of the seminar.

Faculty report that seminars are often among their most satisfying interactions with undergraduates. But these seminars are generally volunteered on top of our usual academic loads and have been minimally valued as part of our academic mission by many departments. This has often made it difficult to recruit enough faculty participation in our busy world. We are working hard to attract wider interest in Freshman Advising Seminars, as well as a wider appreciation of their accomplishments.

In a wonderful gesture, the President and Provost have offered us a Scholarly Allowance of $1500 per seminar as an indication of their genuine appreciation of the program! We hope their recognition of the importance of leading a seminar will help convince you that this activity is viewed as a serious component of our educational mission.

About 800-900 freshmen hope for a Freshman Advising Seminar each year. To accommodate such a demand from the Class of 2002, we will need 125 seminars. Because we have only 80 commitments so far, there is some urgency in my request that you consider giving a Freshman Advising Seminar this fall. You will be joining a dedicated group of faculty who have found this style of interaction with our newest students challenging and uniquely rewarding. [See chart.]

If you might be interested in offering a Freshman Advising Seminar or would like more information about the program, please call Donna Friedman or Bonnie Walters (x3-6771; friedman@mit.edu; bon@mit.edu). Or e-mail me at sab@mit.edu.