The Trinity College First-Year Seminar Program provides small, discussion-based courses intended to excite new students' intellectual curiosity and interest, develop their academic skills, and help integrate them into the community of scholars that is Duke University.
First-year seminars are offered in a wide variety of academic disciplines within the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Many have an interdisciplinary focus, while others engage students in intriguing topics within a single academic field of study. Topics range from global environmental change to film and from visual culture to how urban design shapes politics.
First-Year Seminars all bear the 89S number (e.g., History 89S). Taught by our leading faculty, these signature classes enroll only 15 first-year students per section, allowing our students to engage closely with faculty, with each other, and with ideas at the heart of the seminars.