First-Year Studies, formerly Freshman Studies, lectures serve two purposes, 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. 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. 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.

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Lectures from 2014

Borges: Collected Fictions, Madera Allan

Pontecorvo: The Battle of Algiers, Martyn Smith

Feynman: The Character of Physical Law, Douglas Martin

Skloot: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Kimberly Dickson

Lectures from 2013

FDR: First Inaugural Address, Arnold Shober

Lange: Migrant Mother, John Shimon

Woolf: A Room of One's Own, Karen Hoffman

Bechdel: Fun Home, David McGlynn

Brecht: The Life of Galileo, Timothy Troy

Stravinsky: Rite of Spring, Julie McQuinn

Borges: Collected Fictions, Madera Allan

Pontecorvo: The Battle of Algiers, Martyn Smith

West: Race Matters, Ameya Balsekar, Carla Daughtry, and Jerald Podair

Feynman: The Character of Physical Law, Douglas Martin

Lectures from 2012

Kandinsky: Improvisation 28, "Concerning the Spiritual in Art", Elizabeth Carlson

Woolf: A Room of One's Own, Karen Hoffman

Brecht: The Life of Galileo, Timothy Troy

Plato: The Republic, Thomas Ryckman

Bechdel: Fun Home, David McGlynn

Stravinsky: Rite of Spring, Julie McQuinn

Borges: Collected Fictions, Madera Allan

Gould: Bully for Brontosaurus, Bart De Stasio

Pontecorvo: The Battle of Algiers, Martyn Smith

Milgram: Obedience to Authority, Matthew Ansfield

Lectures from 2011

Bechdel: Fun Home, David McGlynn

Kandinsky: Improvisation 28, "Concerning the Spiritual in Art", Elizabeth Carlson

Plato: The Republic, Kevin Tracy

Shakespeare: The Tempest, Garth Bond

Davis: The Return of Martin Guerre, Edmund Kern

Zhuangzi: Basic Writings, Karen Carr

Borges: Collected Fictions, Rosa Tapia

Stravinsky: Rite of Spring, Julie McQuinn

Gould: Bully for Brontosaurus, Bart De Stasio

Milgram: Obedience to Authority, Matthew Ansfield

Lectures from 2010

Kurosawa: Rashomon, Brenda Jenike

Davis: The Return of Martin Guerre, Edmund Kern

Kandinsky: Improvisation 28, "Concerning the Spiritual in Art", Elizabeth Carlson

Plato: The Republic, Kevin Tracy

Shakespeare: The Tempest, Garth Bond

Zhuangzi: Basic Writings, Karen Carr

Stravinsky: Rite of Spring, Julie McQuinn

Bjørnerud: Reading the Rocks, Jeff Clark and Jake Frederick

Milgram: Obedience to Authority, Peter Glick

Lectures from 2009

Bishop: The Complete Poems, Faith Barrett

Einstein: Relativity, Megan Pickett

Kurosawa: Rashomon, Brenda Jenike

Plato: The Republic, John Dreher

Zhuangzi: Basic Writings, Karen Carr

Ridley: The Agile Gene, Nancy Wall

Borges: Collected Fictions, Rosa Tapia

Bjørnerud: Reading the Rocks, Marcia Bjørnerud

Gilliam: Brazil, Timothy Troy

Milgram: Obedience to Authority, Peter Glick

Lectures from 2008

Bishop: The Complete Poems, Faith Barrett

Plato: The Republic, John Dreher

Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time, Cathy Kautsky

Einstein: Relativity, Megan Pickett

Kafka: The Metamorphosis, Brent Peterson

Zhuangzi: Basic Writings, Karen Carr

Borges: Collected Fictions, Rosa Tapia

Ridley: The Agile Gene, Nancy Wall

Weber: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Peter Blitstein

Gilliam: Brazil, Timothy Troy

Milgram: Obedience to Authority, Peter Glick

Lectures from 2007

Coltrane: Alabama, Mark Urness

King: I Have a Dream speech, Jerald Podair

Einstein: Relativity, David Cook

Bishop: The Complete Poems, Faith Barrett

Plato: The Republic, John Dreher

Kafka: The Metamorphosis, Brent Peterson

Zhuangzi: Basic Writings, Karen Carr

Gilliam: Brazil, Timothy Troy

Borges: Collected Fictions, Rosa Tapia

Weber: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Peter Blitstein

Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene, Bart De Stasio and Beth De Stasio

Milgram: Obedience to Authority, Peter Glick

Lectures from 2006

Coltrane: Alabama, Mark Urness

King: I Have a Dream speech, Jerald Podair

Plato: The Republic, Daniel Taylor

Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, Karen Hoffman

Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac, Marcia Bjørnerud

Zhuangzi: Basic Writings, Karen Carr

Borges: Collected Fictions, Rosa Tapia

Gilliam: Brazil, Timothy Troy

Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac, Marcia Bjørnerud

Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene, Bart De Stasio and Beth De Stasio

Milgram: Obedience to Authority, Peter Glick

Lectures from 2005

Coltrane: Alabama, Mark Urness

King: I Have a Dream speech, Jerald Podair

Plato: The Republic, Daniel Taylor

Bishop: The Complete Poems, Faith Barrett

Italo Calvino: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, Jerzy Jura

Hiroshige: Visions of the Floating World, Frank Lewis

Zhuangzi: Basic Writings, Karen Carr

Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac, Jodi Sedlock

Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene, Bart De Stasio and Beth De Stasio

Milgram: Obedience to Authority, Matthew Ansfield

Fyodor Dostoevsky: Notes from Underground, Peter Blitstein

Lectures from 2004

Mussorgky: Pictures at an Exhibition, Michael Kim

Bishop: The Complete Poems, Faith Barrett