How To Give
As part of the Plan for Academic Enrichment, the nationally recognized Undergraduate Teaching and Research Award (UTRA) program allows students the opportunity to conduct intensive work with faculty members. This process introduces undergraduates to the demands of teaching and research endeavors in higher education.
Recent UTRA topics have covered a wide spectrum of interests. Last year, one student worked to simplify the genetic tests performed on patients to detect Alzheimer's and cardiovascular diseases; while another group of students created an online museum displaying investigations into the alternative arts and cultures of Brown's home state.
UTRAs provide a valuable opportunity for deeper exploration of a subject and allow a student to develop a more self-directed approach to his or her education. Your gift to the Brown Annual Fund helps ensure that the academic opportunities available to Brown students continue to match their intellectual aspirations.
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We teamed up on an UTRA examining major historical problems in American popular culture. We covered a broad range of topics including minstrel shows, music, and advertising. Professor Smulyan in the American Civilization department gave us a lot of autonomy in deciding the subjects we wanted to pursue. Our research took us through the collections of the John Hay Library as well as the Library of Congress; along the way, we had fascinating opportunities to work with primary sources such as magazines, sheet music, and ads dating as far back as the late 19th century. Our findings will become part of a textbook for a college-level survey course dealing with these issues. That is the most rewarding aspect of our work
— it will result in a tangible learning tool for other students."
Jason Becker ’09
North Bellmore, NYKatie Meyers '10
Chris Suh '10
As part of the Plan for Academic Enrichment, Brown has created a schedule of courses exclusively for first-year students-the First-Year Seminars. Designed to be an integral part of departmental curricula, these courses offer students a chance to participate in small group discussions that help them develop the skills and confidence for a life of creative, synthetic, and critical exploration of ideas and information.
First Year Seminars exemplify the kind of active, collaborative learning and open intellectual inquiry which has always made Brown such a special place. In just three years since the launch of the First-Year Seminar program, the University has expanded its freshman seminar offerings to 60 courses for the 2005-2006 academic year-enough for more than 83 percent of the Class of 2009.
As a university-college, Brown participates in the transition of students from listeners to collaborators. The sooner that process starts, the greater the rewards. Your gift to the Brown Annual Fund helps to bring this opportunity to our first-year students.
"I became an Environmental Studies
concentrator because of my first-year
seminar, ‘Environment and Society.’
It was enlightening to explore the environmental justice movement and realize how close it hits to home. Professor Brown, who wrote one of the course’s textbooks, got to know each of us personally. Our class also hosted an Earth Day event on campus that marked the 100th anniversary of
Rachel Carson’s birth, complete with
guest speakers and a thoughtful
post-lecture discussion."
Molly Jacobson '10
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