WELCOME TO TRINITY!
The First-Year Seminars at Trinity date to the late 1960s, when they were among the first to be offered at any liberal arts college. All entering first-year students, unless they are enrolled in a specialized Gateway program, take a First-Year Seminar.
The seminars are small, discussion-rich classes, created out of a faculty member’s passion for a subject. Students read critically, engage intellectually with a diverse group of peers, write regularly, and develop research skills. The intimacy of a First-Year Seminar strengthens students’ academic habits of mind by encouraging them to become active participants in their own learning.
Each seminar instructor serves as the students’ pre-major academic adviser. Seminars also include a First Year Academic Peer Mentor: an upper year student who attends classes and serves as a peer advisor.
First-Year Seminars are a vital component of Trinity’s First-Year Experience. Led by faculty from a wide range of disciplines, these seminars are designed to reflect each instructor’s academic interests and expertise. Through these seminars, students will explore new ideas, question established beliefs, and gain valuable experience in meeting the high standards of academic challenge and achievement.
Gateway programs are living and learning communities where first-year students learn deeply in a specialized area with a small group of like-minded students starting in their first semester of college.
Each year, first-year students have the opportunity to submit scholarship for the annual publication of The First-Year Papers. This special publication allows students in their first year of study to showcase work done in Trinity’s First-Year Seminars and Gateway Programs. Selected papers are honored at Trinity’s Honors Day Ceremony in May.
First-Year Mentors bridge the gap between academics and student life. They act as liaisons and help support the transition from high school to college by encouraging their First-Year students to pursue academic and social opportunities on and off campus.
Learn more about our seminars and what the First-Year Seminar Program has to offer.
First-Year Seminar information for the Class of 2030 can be found on the Course Listing Webpage.
First-Year Seminar Instructors can access information through this Moodle site.
Emily Wickles ’20 reflects on her experience in the First-Year Seminar Program as a mentor to 15 new Trinity students. “Mentee-mentor relationships do not and should not stop after the seminar is over. These relationships are indicative of a greater mentoring culture at Trinity,” she says.
