Office of Undergraduate Education,
Student Engagement
TRANSFER SEMINARS AVAILABLE FOR FALL 2013:
These are available to new transfer students
We recommend all students eligible register for one. Speak with your advisor for more information!
TransferSeminar 1-credit classes (UUNI350 – 1 credit, graded A-E)
These classes are designed specifically for new transfer students to get to know each other and a member of our faculty in a small class setting. They are great opportunities to learn about a cutting edge topic from our best faculty while developing the skills needed to be a successful UAlbany student. Classes meet once a week for 55 minutes and provide students with an intimate learning experience designed to help them acclimate to the academic challenges at the University at Albany.
Professor Rita BiswasGlobalization and Social Thought
#9870M 1:40-2:35ED 123
College students worldwide are using iPhones, eating Big Macs, wearing Levis’s jeans, drinking Coca-Cola. Is there a convergence of tastes and preferences to some global norm? Is globalization doing more harm than good? Does foreign aid destroy incentives and the entrepreneurial spirit? Should collectivism and group performance have primacy over individualism and individual performance? Is the European Union destined to fail? These are some of the questions students will explore through guided research from various sources across campus and through participation in a series of structured debates in class around these issues. The course will blend important transitional issues like navigating campus resources into an academic experience that will allow transfer students to connect with each other and a member of the UAlbany teaching faculty.
Professor Florence HuntHow Do You Succeed in University When Life Gets in the Way?
Three Sections available:
#9787MPC 355
#9788 WPC 355
#9789 F PC 355
You’re here! You did it! Transferred into a University with a dream of becoming more than you are now. But… ‘out there’ still exists. You know, life…the real world… friends, family, work, and more. How will you react when ‘life’ intervenes in your educational plans? The author Walter Anderson said, “Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have - life itself.” We will be exploring how to survive life and fulfill our educational potential too.It is in the act of learning about life that we fulfill our purpose. Our ‘grade’ comes, hopefully in old age, when we are waiting for our own last goodbye. It is at that point when we will perform our own final self-assessment and grade our own lives. My students often ask me if I have any regrets. I don’t hesitate when I say no. I have not always made the best choices. I have not always done the right thing. However, each choice or action I made I own. All of them helped to make me who I am now. How can I regret them? It is not what we have done that we regret, but rather what we wish we had done. When we grade ourselves at the end of our lives, we will deduct points for that. [Coming Out of the Tunnel] So let’s see how we can achieve our dreams, build our character, and live our lives fully.
Professor Sue FaermanLeadership
#9768W 4:15-5:10HU 24
Before coming to UAlbany, you likely had the opportunity to observe other students as leaders of student clubs and teams, or you may have observed your supervisor at a job you held, and you likely made judgments about whether or not they were good leaders. Similarly, others may have observed you and made judgments about your leadership. How do people decide whether or not someone is a good leader?
The fact is that people often talk about the importance of good leadership for the effective functioning of groups and teams, organizations, and political entities, but we don’t always agree on what good leadership is. For example, some think of good leaders as individuals who have good ideas and can provide a vision that others want to follow. Others think of good leaders as individuals who listen to others’ ideas and work to build consensus. In this seminar, we will explore the concept of leadership. After examining both current and historical theories of leadership, students will have the opportunity to develop their own ideas about what makes effective leaders, as well as learn some tools and techniques that can be used to increase their leadership capacity.
Professor Kevin BronnerPersonal Financial Planning for College Students
#9767M 2:45-3:40BA 215
This course will instruct students how to conduct financial planning related to events such as 1) student loan payments, 2) credit card debt, 3) housing costs, 4) automobile payments. Basic accounting principles will be reviewed in class to enable the students to understand personal finance issues. Students will be able to construct a real or hypothetical personal financial plan.