To cultivate these characteristics in new students, the University of Oregon offers freshmen a range of programs emphasizing shared learning among students and instructors. Pathways, Freshman Interest Groups, Freshman Seminars, the Robert Donald Clark Honors College, and the Honors Track put students in small, personalized communities that allow independent learning and a high degree of interaction between instructors and students. Pathways is an innovative curriculum of integrated courses and activities designed to help students explore thematically related academic subjects.
Pathways are open to all first-year students.
Before orientation, students should fill out and return the reservation form in the Course Schedule for First-Year Programs, mailed to IntroDUCKtion students in June and Week of Welcome students in August. During orientation, students should see a Pathways representative at the Pathways desk in the lobby of the advising area. Freshman Interest Groups , or FIGs, are an exciting initiative open to all incoming freshmen. The courses they pursue are thematically linked to encourage the exploration of academic majors, and are designed to satisfy general education requirements. Recent FIGs have focused on architecture, business, medieval studies, English, and Environmental Studies.