The Berkeley Seminar Program has been designed to provide new students with the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member in a small-seminar setting. Berkeley Seminars are offered in all campus departments, and topics vary from department to department and semester to semester.

What emotional forces are at play as we search for and create meaning for ourselves? And as future leaders, how can we forge a life that allows us to contribute our full potential to the world? PASSION AND PURPOSE is a highly interactive Freshman seminar that challenges students to explore questions of meaning & emotion at an important time in their academic journey. No answers are guaranteed in this 1-credit exploratory seminar, but the questions we’ll be asking ourselves are assured to be compelling. We will draw upon readings from provocative thinkers on this subject of purpose, passion, and emotion. We’ll utilize improvisation and various interpersonal exercises to both form connections and stir insights. And we will shine focus on each student’s own life experiences and aspirations related to the question of developing one’s emotional intelligence.

TO APPLY: 1) add yourself to the waitlist and 2) send the instructor two paragraphs: one introducing yourself (a brief Who Am I?) and one explaining your interest in the class to cort@berkeley.edu. Enrollment is limited to 16 freshman and applications will be accepted on a rolling basis.

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