Dear Colleagues,

Every spring, our first-year class takes a required one-credit seminar with some of our most dynamic faculty. These faculty engage with students in a small seminar setting once a week. We are writing to invite you to participate in this program by teaching a section of SBU 102.

This year, our first-year students joined one of three interdisciplinary Learning Communities:  Creativity, Technology, & Innovation; Global Health, Wellness, & Community; and Social Justice, Equity, & Ethics. (For additional information about the broader program, please follow this link to the For Faculty section of the website.) Topics for the 102 seminars will take their inspiration from these broad themes, and we welcome topics situated within whichever of these themes seems most relevant to you—even if the match might surprise some. We are also happy to help you find a match between your topic of interest and one of our broad themes! You may also want to build out topics that reach across themes, bringing students into conversation with each other and highlighting contributions that differing perspectives might offer on the same “thorny issue.”

The goal of these one-credit seminars is to build meaningful connections between our world-class faculty and first-year students. Research demonstrates that students who forge these relationships with professors during their first year tend to feel more connected to their areas of study and the University. Additionally, teaching a section of SBU 102 has the potential for a much broader impact on students both inside and outside the classroom. Working with faculty in their first year at Stony Brook helps build problem-solving skills, self-efficacy, resilience, and persistence through adversity. In sum, the 102s serve as a supplemental part of students’ curriculum to educate future scientists, historians, artists, business people, journalists, doctors, and scholars.

To indicate your interest in teaching, please fill out the online form HERE.

Typically capped at 20 students, classes will be scheduled for either 80 minutes a week for 10 weeks, or 55 minutes a week for 14 weeks. We will work to accommodate your schedule based on classroom availability. Compensation for SBU 102 will be $1500 per section for this one-credit seminar.

If you have any questions, please contact Mariana Torres, Director of the Undergraduate Colleges, at mariana.torres@stonybrook.edu.

We appreciate your support and are looking forward to partnering with you in our efforts with first-year students. 

Sincerely,
Rachelle Germana
Interim Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education