Students take First-Year Studies in their first two terms on campus. Each section of the course includes about fifteen students, allowing for close relationships between students and teachers. Because each section uses the same reading list, First-Year Studies also helps students to join in the life of a larger intellectual community, one that now includes generations of Lawrentians.

First-Year Studies lectures serve two purposes, for in addition to providing a context for class discussions, lectures help to create a sense of intellectual community among the students and teachers at Lawrence. The audience for a lecture usually includes over 300 students and at least 20 instructors. There is a separate lecture for every work on the syllabus, and the lecturers are chosen for their expertise in the fields covered by particular works.

You can click on any of the this year’s lectures below to listen to the audio recording.

2019-2020 Lectures