The First Year Seminar is a requirement for all new students at Penn State.

  • Students must take a first-year seminar (FYS) within the first two semesters of enrollment.
  • First-year seminars are either identified by the course abbreviation "PSU 005" or by the suffix "S, T or X."
  • FYS are normally taught by full-time faculty and the class size is limited to about 24 students.

The First-year seminars have two overarching goals:

  1. engage students in the scholarly community
  2. introduce students to the faculty

Activities to achieve these goals include:

  • Introducing students to university study and to Penn State as an academic community.

  • Acquainting students with learning tools and resources.

  • Providing opportunities to develop academic relationships with faculty and peers.

  • Introducing responsibilities as members of the community.

The sites linked to this webpage provide resources to students and faculty at Penn State Berks.

If you have questions about the FYS, please contact the First-Year Seminar Coordinator for Penn State Berks.

Tami Mysliwiec, Ph.D, Associate Professor of Biology, L17, Phone: 610-396-6274, or Email: thm2@psu.edu