SUBJECT:    ONE-UNIT UNDERGRADUATE SEMINAR PROGRAM

For a Spring 2000 seminar, please respond by January 21, 2000. Contact Eve Murphy at Mail Code 0422, or phone Ext. 41709 or mailto:emurphy@ucsd.edu.

The One-Unit Undergraduate Seminar continues to be a very successful program with an average of 25 to 30 seminars offered each quarter. The success of this program reflects the genuine interest and concern of the faculty for undergraduate education. This letter is intended to encourage you (if you have not already done so) to consider offering a seminar in the 1999-00 academic year. The purpose of the One-Unit Undergraduate Seminar is to: a) foster closer interaction between undergraduate students and ladder-ranked faculty members, and b)introduce undergraduates to exciting areas of intellectual interest.

The seminars typically meet 8 to 10 hours a quarter with an enrollment limitation of 25 students. They are open to undergraduates at all levels, although 15 of the 25 spaces are reserved for lower division students. Individual variations can be accommodated if you inform Eve Murphy, the program coordinator, of your requirements.

All students are required to do work commensurate with a one-unit, P/NP course, and there is no CEP guideline beyond that. Credits are limited to 4 seminars (varying in topic) in a student's academic career and none of the seminars are counted toward college or departmental requirements. These seminars are intended to stimulate students' interest in subjects outside the mainstream curriculum. They have been very well received by students, as indicated by the extensive wait lists for many of them. Some students do drop their seminars, mostly due to time pressure from other areas, but, in most cases, the stated purposes are at least partially served.

There is a compensation to the faculty of $1,000 I & R support for a first-time offering and $500 for subsequent offerings (same or new topic). The one unit is not counted toward a faculty member's teaching load to avoid drawing the faculty away from their normal teaching duties. The great majority of instructors have found the seminars a worthwhile and interesting experience.

I hope you will seriously consider helping to improve the content and the atmosphere of undergraduate education on this campus by participating in this program.

David K. Jordan, Provost, Warren College