The Collegium of University Teaching Fellows (CUTF) offers outstanding graduate students the opportunity to develop and teach lower division seminars in their area of expertise. These unique courses cover all areas, from the humanities to the life, physical, and social sciences. Undergraduate students take courses that are at the cutting edge of a discipline and benefit from a small-seminar environment. General education credit is granted for most seminars, which are offered in winter and spring quarters only. Enrollment is limited.
The Fiat Lux Seminar Program is a cornerstone of the innovative undergraduate curriculum at UCLA. These seminars provide students and faculty with small-group settings to engage in meaningful discussions on a range of topics. Students receive 1 unit of academic credit (Passed/Not Passed grading), and faculty members from across campus have the opportunity to share with undergraduates their areas of intellectual passion and expertise. True to the University of California's motto: Fiat Lux—Let There be Light, these seminars illuminate the many pathways of discovery. For details about seminar offerings each term, see the Schedule of Classes.
Honors Collegium, a series of interdisciplinary honors courses, offers a unique educational experience where students learn how to think critically and creatively and how to communicate effectively. Courses emphasize the breadth of an interdisciplinary approach to learning and focus on small classes and individual attention.
Undergraduate Student Initiated Education (USIE) is an innovative program designed to provide a select group of juniors and seniors with the opportunity to develop and facilitate, under faculty supervision, a lower-division seminar for their peers.
The application and selection period is during spring quarter. During the fall and winter quarters (of the next academic year), selected student facilitators work closely with their faculty mentors in two 1-unit independent study courses (one each quarter) focused on the content-area of their proposed seminar. In addition, student facilitators enroll in two 1-unit pedagogy seminars (one each quarter) in which various facilitation strategies and techniques are discussed in preparation for leading their own spring seminar.
Through the independent study courses and pedagogy seminars, student facilitators develop a formal syllabus for their spring seminars for review and approval by the USIE Faculty-Student Advisory Committee and the Faculty Executive Committee (FEC).
