Welcome to Freshman Seminar!
This course will introduce students to academic life at the university and help them become a part of our community at St. Edward’s. Although the seminars are focused on very different topics, they all share a common goal: students join a community of learners and actively engage in academic and co-curricular exploration. As they do so, they will develop the critical thinking skills necessary to become successful students and lifelong learners by meaningfully confronting questions of social justice through the course materials and co-curricular experiences.
What is Freshman Seminar?
Freshman Seminars are not lecture courses, but are instead classes where students and faculty actively engage with one another as they discuss course materials. In addition, students and faculty will participate in a variety of co-curricular experiences over the course of the semester where they leave the classroom. For example, a seminar might go to an art opening, attend a book festival, or work on a service project with a local non-profit organization.
What is unique about Freshman Seminar?
Something that makes these seminars different from other classes you will take at St. Edward’s is that they are each part of a group of seminars clustered around a particular topic; for example, Sustainability, Social Justice, or Global Engagement. Students will attend co-curricular events with others from these Learning Communities.
Common Theme
Every year, St. Edward’s chooses a Common Theme that guides programming and discussions across campus. You will discuss the theme in your Freshman Seminars and some of the events you and your classmates attend will be related to the theme. For Fall 2025 we're excited to announce that the theme is Home and Shelter and our incoming students will read Not Too Late: Changing the
Climate Story from Despair to Possibility, edited by Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua, or
Making Room: Three Decades of Fighting for Beds, Belonging, and a Safe Space for LGBTQ Youth by Carl
Siciliano. You will receive a copy of the book of your choice at Orientation.
For more information, contact Emma Woelk, Sr. Director of Academic Initiatives
This year we are asking you to choose your own adventure and pick one of two books selected by a
committee of students, faculty and staff: Not Too Late and Making Room. Both Not Too Late and
Making Room explore the importance of creating a healthy, safe environment for ourselves and others, along
with the centrality of community, knowledge, labor, and service. You’ll have the chance to hear a little more
about both books and our common theme, Home & Shelter, from Freshman Seminar professors at your
Orientation this summer. You’ll then receive a copy of whichever you choose. Both books will prepare you
for the exciting discussions, events, and activities we planned for you in the fall.
One of the most important things we hope to do as a university is create a love of learning in our
students, and the first part of that happens with the Freshman Seminar common text, a book we ask
you all to read over the summer. This year we have chosen two books and students are asked to pick
one. Both Making Room and Not Too Late ask us to think about what it means to be safe in our home,
whether than is a building, a community, or a planet. We are planning a series of events and activities
in Freshman Seminars in the fall that revolve around this question, along with the themes of
belonging, sustainability and service. Being a careful reader will prepare you for success and active
engagement. Make notes in the margins, mark passages that stand out to you, and write down
questions you have. We look forward to learning together!
For more information, contact Emma Woelk, Sr. Director of Academic Initiatives, with any
questions about the common texts or the Freshman Seminar. And again, welcome to St. Edward's.
2024-2025: Defending Democracy
Book: On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
2023–2024: Accessibility
Book: Disability Visibility: First Person Stories from the 21st Century by Alice Wong
2022–2023: Reckoning with History
Book: How The Word is Passed by Clint Smith
2021–2022: Stamped
Book: Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds
Speaker: Jason Reynolds
2020–2021: Data & Justice
Book: Hello World by Hannah Fry
2019–2020: Immigration
Book: Dear America: Notes From an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas
Speaker: Jose Antonio Vargas
2018–2019: Identity
Book: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Speaker: Eli Kimaro
2017–2018: Immigrant Voices
Book: Detained & Deported: Stories of Immigrant Families Under Fire by Margaret Regan
Speaker: Erika Andiola
2016–2017: Food Justice
Book: Where Am I Eating? by Kelsey Timmerman
​Speaker: Kelsey Timmerman
Trip: Costa Rica
Students explore the Common Theme in Just Food
2015–2016: Justice
Book: Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Speaker: Bryan Stevenson
Trip: 28 students and three faculty members traveled to South Africa to explore justice, mercy and how these issues relate to race.
2014–2015: Hearts and Minds: Changing the Conversation about Mental Health
Book: Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan
Speaker: Susannah Cahalan
Trip: London
2013–2014: Expanding Human Rights
Book: Half the Sky by Nicolas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
Speaker: Jackson Katz
Trip: Three students built on their Common Theme trip to Bangladesh by continuing to stand up for human rights.
2012–2013: How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse: Dystopias and Sustainability
Book: World War Z by Max Brooks
Speaker: Max Brooks