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THIS PAGE INTRODUCES ACADEMIC ADVISORS TO A NEW COURSE:
ARS110 Explorations in Creative and Research Activities
The course home page is here.
We'll rely on advisors to identify and recruit students into this new course during Summer Orientation. We need your help because, while the goals of the course will be immediately familiar and sensible to us, their significance is surprisingly foreign to many inexperienced college students.
Thank you so much for your help recruiting appropriate students for this course!
Course description from the undergraduate catalogue:
A community-building seminar for first-year or transfer students ready to plan independent, mentored research and creative activities with the intention these will become integral to their college education. Assignments will focus on sharing and supporting the unique process of developing a project and connecting with mentors. The major course goal is to launch each student on a path toward a specific, future participation in a conference such as USM's Thinking Matters.
ARS110 is a one-credit course taught Fall Semester only
Class Meets: alternate Tuesdays, 2:45 - 4:00, in Portland. one section of 15 students. If it is full, please inform of us of additional student interest.
Prerequisites:
1) can be taken only by freshmen or transfer students
2) completion of college readiness requirements in math and English
3) permission of instructor OR an academic advisor*
* You can give students permission to enroll – students don’t need to contact the instructor. But please encourage them to contact us after they’ve enrolled so we can begin to learn about their interests.
Students can pursue any topic in ARS110 (art, history, science, etc). Their project may be related to their eventual major or maybe not related at all.
Students who take ARS110 don’t have to be “A” students. We are looking for spirited students who are ready to go for it. Perhaps ARS110 will help some students become engaged and invested in USM by exposing them to advanced opportunities while they are grinding through introductory courses.
Some students who take ARS110 will also be in Honors or Russell Scholars. That’s fine. Freshmen who take ARS110 will also be taking an EYE. That’s fine (their EYE and ARS110 courses will complement each other). Transfer students don’t have to take EYE but can take ARS110 and it may help quickly connect them with opportunities at USM.
Our contact info:
Adele Baruch-Runyon, Asst. Prof. Human Resource Development
abaruch@usm.maine.edu
David Champlin, Assoc. Prof., Biological Sciences
champlin@usm.maine.edu
Helen Gorgas Goulding, Office of Student Life
gorgas@usm.maine.edu
Some of us will be at Summer Orientation. Either you or students can ask us questions there, or ask us beforehand.
*** If you are interested in this course, please let us know. We’re looking for faculty and staff willing to meet with students in the course. Also, we’re especially looking for advanced undergraduates in any topic to meet with students in the course. ***
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Here's a little more info about the course. It’s a blurb that will be inserted into the advising folders of some, targeted students:
Many college students have a special interest, hobby, passion,
or area of expertise but new students might not realize how they can use this topic to create a community at USM through networking with other students, faculty, and staff who take their interest seriously. The topic could be anything from research in a chemistry lab, to working on the sets at theaters in the Portland area, to questions around poverty or social injustice at a local soup kitchen. The topic might be related to your college major or maybe it isn't related at all. At this point you may not have any idea what you'll choose for your major. But in any case, we think you'll find it exciting to discover the diversity of topics possible at USM and the surrounding region.
ARS110 Explorations in Creative and Research Activities is a new course designed to help introduce freshmen or transfer students to USM. Most courses at USM are three-credits, but our new course is a one-credit class. We'll meet Wednesdays, 4:10 - 5:25, every other week on the Portland campus. ARS110 will help each student identify and advance a question, interest, or passion into a college-level project with support from other students, faculty, and staff. We hope this will be the start of an ongoing project you continue with throughout college, creating a uniquely valuable learning experience. The point of this course is also to help build academic relationships, friendships, and connections right at the start of college, which will help you feel comfortable and confident in your transition to your new college. Too often, students feel isolated and confused during their first semester. Our goal in ARS110 will be to take a topic in which you already have a strong, personal interest and begin to develop it. In the process, you will build new relationships and friendships to help you quickly become comfortable and engaged in your college education.
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Thank you so much for your help recruiting appropriate students for this course!
If you have problems with this page, please contact: David Champlin.
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