THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 28, 1996 TAG: 9610280046
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: 117 lines
There's never trouble getting a good view of the professor teaching the freshman ``Emerging Diseases'' course at the College of William and Mary.
There are only 13 students, and the class meets around a conference table in a small room in Millington Hall.
Nor is there much danger of getting lost in daydreams during a droning lecture. While covering such topics as the competition between French and American scientists in AIDS research, instructor Beverly Sher doesn't go on too long before asking students to cough up some facts - and opinions.
And they oblige her.
During a class last week, Donovan Maust, 18, a freshman from Harrisonburg, defended some politicians: ``This was one time when Congress really seemed like the good guys. They were always willing to give money'' for AIDS research.
Brian Rogers, a freshman from Wilkes-Barre, Pa., began a drumbeat of criticism against health officials for not trying harder in the early years to screen out blood donations from gays. ``They said it was a violation of civil rights,'' the 18-year-old said, ``but I think if people were dying because of the blood they were giving, it doesn't make any sense.''
The class, which covers other recent outbreaks like those of the Ebola virus and the mad cow disease, is one of roughly 100 ``freshman seminars'' offered at the school this semester.
The seminars, which usually count for three credits, are designed to intrigue students with subjects ranging from Spy Stories to Applied Pseudoscience to African Film and Politics. They generally have fewer than 16 students, but carry heavy demands in writing and class participation. Students write at least 24 pages during the semester, but usually end up turning in more.
Since last fall, every freshman must take one of the seminars to help get adjusted to the rigors of college life.
``It's a way of introducing students not only to college-level work, but to the work they're expected to do at a place like this, which is relatively tough,'' said Colleen Kennedy, an associate professor of English and an assistant to the college's president.
``A lot of our students are incredibly bright and motivated,'' she said. ``. . .But they're not fully prepared to do the work we're asking them to do. This is taking them up a step.''
The subjects may be fun, but professors and students agree that the classes are no cakewalk. In classes so small, ``every student is responsible for something,'' said Teresa Longo, an associate professor of modern languages. ``There's no way to comfortably sit back and listen.''
Even so, many students say it's worth the hassle.
For Lindsay Ruhlmann, an 18-year-old New Jersey native, the Emerging Diseases class is a nice change from her other freshman courses, which often have 200 students.
``I like the fact that it's small and it's mostly discussion,'' Ruhlmann said. ``It's nice to have that . . ., especially in your first semester, when you don't know anybody.''
Mary Wilson, 19, a sophomore from Arlington, fondly remembers her seminar last year, an introduction to theater. ``It was a way to feel like you had a relationship with your professor,'' she said. ``There weren't 60 people with you.
``My roommate took two freshman seminars because she enjoyed the experience so much.''
Margaret A. Miller, associate director of the State Council of Higher Education, said: ``It sounds like a very good idea. It's obviously one of the reasons that students go to William and Mary: They expect to have access to top-flight faculty in a small college. That seminar delivers on that promise.''
Miller noted that state schools have other types of small, specialized classes for freshmen. In 1994, Norfolk State University began offering ``enrichment courses'' in math and English for freshmen who don't pass university entrance exams. The classes usually have no more than 20 students.
The University of Virginia offers small University Seminars - with titles such as Social Issues in Management and The '60s in Black and White - designed for freshmen. This fall, more than 400 students are enrolled in 33 seminars.
James Madison University used to have a different type of seminar. It required all freshmen to read three diverse books - once they included Homer's ``Odyssey'' and a study of homelessness - and draw connections between them.
JMU's vice president of academic affairs, Bethany S. Oberst, said the seminar was dropped a few years ago because few professors wanted to teach it and because the university found that it didn't serve its goal of improving writing and critical-thinking skills.
But at William and Mary, administrators and professors say there's sometimes competition among professors to teach one of the seminars. ``It's a good opportunity for the faculty to experiment . . . and teach things that are not part of the traditional curriculum,'' said Heather Macdonald, associate professor of geology.
Sher, a visiting assistant professor in biology, said, ``There's intellectual interaction here that doesn't happen in a lecture class. In lecture, sometimes you feel like you're talking to the moon and you're lucky if all your students are awake.''
William and Mary administrators say a survey last year showed the effectiveness of the seminars. Ninety percent of both professors and freshmen said the seminars were a valuable experience.
Said Longo, who has taught a seminar in Latin-American love stories: ``I've watched students come out of the freshman seminar and go to courses more ready to do what we're asking - which is to be in charge of their own writing and their own analysis.''
The writing requirements usually stretch beyond 24 pages. Kennedy's Introduction to Film Studies requires the following: a 10-page midterm paper, a 10-page final paper, two ``response papers'' to films every week and a ``theme'' written in class once a week.
Seminars also can include other demands. Joel Schwartz's Perspectives on Citizenship and Community, offered every spring, requires 35 hours of community service. In Wilson's theater course last year, students had to either write, act in or direct a play.
Not every seminar is dynamic. Students say some professors lapse into the lecture mode. Sometimes students themselves don't participate enthusiastically.
In his Great Mysteries of the Past anthropology seminar last week, Michael Malpass tried to get students talking about cave art. The response was sluggish. Malpass had to answer a few of his own questions.
But students said discussion sometimes hits a fever pitch when the class starts with small groups that form theories about the ancient mysteries, such as: Why did humans inhabit Australia?
``It forces you to use your own mind rather than force-feed you facts,'' said John Hanley, 19, of Glen Rock, N.J. by CNB