FSS > Undergraduate Division > Letters & Science > UC Berkeley

Seminars for Freshmen: Fall 2013

Seminars depend on the regular presence and active participation of every student. Sharing ideas in class is an important academic skill that can be acquired only through practice. The vigorous discussions that characterize the most successful seminars depend on the commitment of each and every member of the class.

Seminar professors often choose to explore unexpected topics that may not directly relate to the focus of their departments. We don't want you to miss a hidden treasure. If you are interested in the past, for instance, don't look only at seminars offered by the History Department. The pop-up menu below lets you search for seminars by topic.

Not all seminars are included in the topic search. The complete list of seminars for freshmen appears below. Seminars are very popular; we recommend that you choose a couple of alternatives in case the seminar you are most interested in is full. You may enroll in only one seminar during Phase I of TeleBears, so choose wisely!

Creating Change = Creating Change Seminar Connections@Cal = Connections@Cal Seminar = On the Same Page Seminar = Berkeley Arts Seminar = Food for Thought Seminar

  • Food for Thought African American Studies 24, Sec. 1: Language and Politics in Southern Africa (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Chemical Engineering 24, Sec. 1: The Science and Engineering Behind Food (1 unit, P/NP)
  • On the Same Page Chemistry 24, Sec. 1: Computation in Chemistry (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Creating Change Chicano Studies 39A, Sec. 1: Chicano Civil Rights Movement (1.5 units, P/NP)
  • Creating Change Connections@Cal Civil and Environmental Engineering 24, Sec. 1: The Design and Construction of Biosand and Membrane Filters for Developing Countries (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Classics 24, Sec. 1: Homer's Odyssey and the Quest for Home, Fulfillment, Happiness and Meaning (1 unit, P/NP) NEW
  • Comparative Literature 24, Sec. 1: Reading and Reciting Great Poems in English (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Creating Change Connections@Cal Berkeley Arts Seminars Food for Thought Computer Science 39P, Sec. 1: Photographing History in the Making (2 units, P/NP)
  • Electrical Engineering 24, Sec. 1: Gadgets Electrical Engineers Make (1 unit, P/NP)
  • English 24, Sec. 1: Shakespeare Comedy: Twelfth Night (1 unit, P/NP)
  • English 24, Sec. 2: Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1 unit, P/NP)
  • English 24, Sec. 3: Reading Art Spiegelman's Maus (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Creating Change Environmental Science, Policy, and Management 24, Sec. 1: Issues in Natural Resource Conservation (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Creating Change Environmental Science, Policy, and Management 24, Sec. 2: Conservation and Environmental Problem Solving (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Environmental Science, Policy, and Management 24, Sec. 3: Discussions on Evolutionary Biology (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Environmental Science, Policy, and Management 24, Sec. 4: Soil Pollution and Remediation (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Creating Change Ethnic Studies 24, Sec. 1: The Obama Administration and the Politics of Immigration Reform (1 unit, LG)
  • Creating Change Berkeley Arts Seminars Geography 24, Sec. 1: What Does It Mean to be Modern? (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Food for Thought German 24, Sec. 1: Post World War II Reflections on the Holocaust: (Auto)Biographical Perspectives (1 unit, P/NP)
  • German 39H, Sec. 1: The World of Yesterday: Vienna 1900 (3 units, LG)
  • German 39M, Sec. 1: Modes of Reading: Joseph, Job and Moses in Literary Criticism (3 units, LG)
  • History 24, Sec. 2: In Their Own Words: Documentaries on Endangered Children and Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa (1 unit, P/NP)
  • History 39N, Sec. 1: The Chinese Detective (4 units, LG)
  • History 39O, Sec. 1: The Great War: Crucible of the Twentieth Century (4 units, LG)
  • On the Same Page History 84, Sec. 1: American High: Years of Confidence and Anxiety, 1950-1964 (2 units, P/NP)
  • Industrial Engineering and Operations Research 24, Sec. 1: Overview of IEOR (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Food for Thought Integrative Biology 24, Sec. 1: Biology: The Study of Life (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Integrative Biology 24, Sec. 2: How and Why Do Birds Sing (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Integrative Biology 24, Sec. 3: The Stone Age (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Integrative Biology 24, Sec. 4: Islands as Model Systems (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Creating Change Integrative Biology 24, Sec. 5: Ethnobiology, Nutrition, and Global Food Systems (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Integrative Biology 24, Sec. 6: Animal and Human Navigation: Which Way Is Home? (1 unit, LG)
  • Integrative Biology 24, Sec. 7: The Age of Dinosaurs: What Do We Know? (1 unit, LG)
  • Integrative Biology 24, Sec. 8: Randomness and Heritable Memories in Biology (1 unit, LG)
  • Connections@Cal Integrative Biology 24, Sec. 9: Night (and Day) in the Museum: What Really Goes on in Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology? (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Creating Change Jewish Studies 39H, Sec. 1: The Paradox of Survival: An Introduction to Modern Jewish Thought (2 units, LG)
  • Connections@Cal Food for Thought Journalism 24, Sec. 1: Reality TV: From Deadliest Catch to Here Comes Honey Boo Boo (1 unit, LG)
  • Legal Studies 39D, Sec. 1: Current Political and Moral Conflicts and the U.S. Constitution (2 units, LG)
  • Food for Thought Letters and Science 24, Sec. 1: Looking at Berkeley Buildings (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Linguistics 24, Sec. 1: Language Myths (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Connections@Cal Materials Science and Engineering 39A, Sec. 1: The Berkeley Experience (1.5 units, P/NP)
  • Mathematics 24, Sec. 1: Using Random Walks in the Physical and Social Sciences (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Creating Change Mathematics 24, Sec. 2: What is Happening in Math and Science? (1 unit, P/NP)
  • On the Same Page Mathematics 24, Sec. 3: Mathematics in Film and Fiction (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Mechanical Engineering 24, Sec. 1: Art and Science on Wheels (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Molecular and Cell Biology 90A, Sec. 1: Evolution–Creatures, Not Creation (1 unit, LG)
  • Food for Thought Molecular and Cell Biology 90A, Sec. 2: Sampling the Performing Arts at Berkeley (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Connections@Cal Food for Thought Molecular and Cell Biology 90B, Sec. 1: Insulin as a Window on Discovery in Biology (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Connections@Cal On the Same Page Molecular and Cell Biology 90E, Sec. 1: Matter, Mind, Consciousness (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Music 39M, Sec. 1: Classical Vocal Works of African-American Composers (3 units, LG)
  • Native American Studies 90, Sec. 1: Myth, Memory, and History: Understanding Native America (4 units, LG)
  • Near Eastern Studies 24, Sec. 2: Egyptian Archaeology at Cal (1 unit, LG)
  • Nuclear Engineering 24, Sec. 1: How It's Made (1 unit, LG) NEW
  • Connections@Cal Food for Thought Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology 24, Sec. 1: Asian Martial Arts Films: The Samurai Movie (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Creating Change Connections@Cal On the Same Page Food for Thought Physics 24, Sec. 1: The Physics-Computing Partnership (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Food for Thought Physics 24, Sec. 2: The Big Bang (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Physics 24, Sec. 3: Physical Biology of Single Molecules and Cells (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Creating Change Political Economy 24, Sec. 1: Political Economy in Contemporary Perspective (1 unit, P/NP) NEW
  • Creating Change Political Economy 24, Sec. 2: What is Political Economy? Theories from Ancient to Modern Times (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Berkeley Arts Seminars Portuguese 24, Sec. 1: Hello Brazil: Literature, Arts, Society (Special Emphasis This Semester on the Amazon) (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Psychology 24, Sec. 1: The Shattered Mind (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Creating Change On the Same Page Psychology 24, Sec. 2: How Can We Use Computer Technology to Improve Mental Health? (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Psychology 39M, Sec. 1: The Psychology of Movies: Seeing, Knowing, and Feeling (From the Minds of the Coen Brothers) (2 units, P/NP)
  • Connections@Cal Food for Thought Rhetoric 24, Sec. 1: Decoding the Mysteries of Literature: an Introduction to Close Reading (1 unit, LG)
  • Slavic Languages and Literatures 24, Sec. 1: The Brothers Karamazov: Let's Read It Together (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Slavic Languages and Literatures 39N, Sec. 1: Travellers: Fictions, Travelogue, Memoir (3 units, LG)
  • Creating Change Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies 24, Sec. 1: Documentary Playmaking: School Integration, Little Rock, 1957-58 (1 unit, P/NP)
  • Creating Change Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies 39D, Sec. 1: Representations of the Holocaust in Contemporary Theatre (2 units, LG)
  • Vision Science 24, Sec. 1: The Human Eye (1 unit, P/NP)

    Freshman and Sophomore Seminars are co-sponsored by the Undergraduate Division
    of the College of Letters & Science and the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education.
    For further information about the program,
    contact Alix Schwartz (alix@berkeley.edu / 642-8378).
    Problems and errors should be reported to the webmaster.

    Copyright © 2011 UC Regents. All rights reserved.