Interdisciplinary Studies

First Year Seminar Program

We welcome you to your first year and we look forward to assisting you in achieving educational excellence and becoming an involved member of the SSC community. We ask you to begin thinking about the following:

• Is there an academic experience common to all first students at SSC?
• If so, can we name it and qualify it?
• How does this college experience impact our lives here at Salem and our citizenship in the world?

We recognize that your first year on campus is the foundation of your personal, academic and professional growth. To help you make the transition to college life and college-level work, all undeclared first-year students are required to successfully complete:

• IDS 108 (First Year Seminar I)
• IDS 109 (First Year Seminar II)

Many of the particulars of the FYS curriculum will be shaped by each FYS professor's discipline, research interest, selected readings, and inclusions of current topics and themes. In addition, your FYS professor is also your academic advisor for the duration of the first year and/or until you are accepted into a major.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course the student will:

• Be familiar with the academic and personal challenges involved in college life and be able to identify strategies for meeting them.
• Be familiar with the various programs, facilities, and resources of Salem State College and learn to use them for the purposes of educational and personal growth.
• Have developed the ability to work in groups and understand the dynamics and potential value of group work.
• Have gained a deeper appreciation for diversity, developed a clearer understanding of the diverse nature of the SSC community, and learned about the expectations for all members of that community.
• Understand that education is a participatory process in which critical thinking, active engagement and decision-making are central.
• Have been introduced to a variety of disciplines and fields of study.
• Have gained a deeper understanding of their unique interests, aptitudes and areas for growth and considered paths of study and career choices in light of them.
• Have developed critical study, research, and professional skills necessary for success throughout their college career.
• Have had access to support and mentoring throughout their first year at SSC.