Honors Collegium 50

Create your Roadmap

Enrollment: Instructor Consent. This course is for students participating in the College Scholars program. Priority will be given to juniors/seniors. Please connect with Kara Brown for the enrollment process. Kindly refrain from directly emailing the instructors for requests.

Course Description: Introduction to selected signature approaches to learning (interdisciplinary, experiential, integrative, illustrative), ways of being (inclusivity, self-awareness, curiosity, independence, resilience, generosity, distinctiveness), and habits of doing (collaboration, creativity, innovation). Incorporation of empirical research and writing from different academic disciplines to help students understand rationales behind those approaches and associated applications for undergraduate learning. Students design e-portfolio. Students develop personalized roadmap to guide their academic, personal, and professional growth during their undergraduate careers.

Mary Samuelson, Seminar 1

I am a Lecturer with UCLA Writing Programs and have been teaching Bruins for over 25 years. Proud recipient of the 2020 Honors Division Eugen Weber Teaching Award. As a member of the UCLA Prison Education Program, I advocate for prison reform and teach writing workshops for currently incarcerated students at California institutions and juvenile halls. As a faculty representative for New Student and Transition Programs, I enjoy welcoming new freshmen to campus each summer at Orientation. Previous publications include: The Los Angeles Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Mother Company, The Jewish Journal, Massage Magazine, Turning Wheel: The Journal of Socially Engaged Buddhism, The Daily Bruin. I currently live in Encino with my husband, two amazing stepdaughters, and our beloved dog, Angel.

http://www.laurimattenson.com/

Q & A

What is your home department at UCLA? Writing Programs

How long have you been teaching your HC seminar? Since 2003, and then the course was renamed in 2014. I update the curriculum each year.

What is your favorite part about teaching this HC seminar? It is deeply soul-satisfying to see how students embrace and appreciate this curriculum. It tends to facilitate individual growth and highlight our shared humanity.

What do you find to be the most compelling about the subject matter of this seminar? In school, most of us have learned to feed the mind—and ignore the body. When we integrate the two, we learn differently—and live differently.

What are the learning objectives for this course?

Re-introduce you to selected signature approaches to learning (interdisciplinary, experiential, integrative, illustrative); ways of being (inclusivity, self-awareness, curiosity, independence, resilience, generosity, distinctiveness); and habits of doing (collaboration, creativity, innovation) that characterize the UCLA Honors program.
Incorporate empirical research and writing from different academic disciplines to help you understand both: (1) the rationales behind those core elements and (2) the associated applications for undergraduate learning.
Engage you in designing an e-portfolio.
Facilitate your continued development of a personalized “roadmap” to guide your academic, personal, and professional growth during your undergraduate career.

Tara Prescott-Johnson, Seminar 2

Dr. Prescott-Johnson just loves a good story – she loves telling them, reading them, writing them, writing about them, and most of all, sharing them with students! She’s partial to comics, science fiction, and fantasy, but will check out anything that someone recommends. She spent 9 years living with students on the Hill as a Faculty in Residence and still enjoys debating the relative merits of Bruin Plate and the Study.

As a Continuing Lecturer in Writing Programs, Dr. Prescott-Johnson teaches courses on writing and literature at UCLA. She is the editor of Streaming the Sandman: Critical Essays on the Netflix Series, Neil Gaiman in the 21^st Century, Poetic Salvage: Reading Mina Loy, and co-editor of Gender and the Superhero Narrative and Feminism in the Worlds of Neil Gaiman. Her TEDxUCLA talk, “Hike Your Own Hike,” is available on YouTube.

Q & A

What is your home department at UCLA? Writing Programs

How long have you been teaching your HC seminar? Since Spring 2024

What is your favorite part about teaching this HC seminar?
Meeting with students for 1-on-1s, where the student decides where we go and what we talk about. Some of the activities I’ve done with students include driving golf balls at a range, shooting half-court shots on the Hitch basketball court, walking around Greystone Mansion, going to a hot yoga class, hiking in Will Rogers, and participating in a Passover Seder.

What do you find to be the most compelling about the subject matter of this seminar?
The subject matter is the students themselves! Who are they? Who do they want to be? How do they figure all this stuff out? What do they want to try? What can they teach each other? How can we help each other reach our goals? .

What are the learning objectives for this course?

Re-introduce you to selected signature approaches to learning (interdisciplinary, experiential, integrative, illustrative); ways of being (inclusivity, self-awareness, curiosity, independence, resilience, generosity, distinctiveness); and habits of doing (collaboration, creativity, innovation) that characterize the UCLA Honors program.
Incorporate empirical research and writing from different academic disciplines to help you understand both: (1) the rationales behind those core elements and (2) the associated applications for undergraduate learning.
Engage you in designing an e-portfolio.
Facilitate your continued development of a personalized “roadmap” to guide your academic, personal, and professional growth during your undergraduate career.

What’s an e-portfolio?

An e-portfolio provides a visual representation
of you in website form:
What’s your story?
Who are you?
What are your passions, skills, and talents?
What contributions have you or hope to make?
Where are you headed?

Sample E-portfolios

Krish Shah
Wiley Waggoner
Sara Daar
Eric Longo
Kienna Qin
Karen Madamba
Theodora Pui Hing Ng

Student Feedback

Honors Collegium 50: Create Your Roadmap

“Professor Samuelson has profoundly impacted my academic journey with her exceptional knowledge, genuine care, and generous guidance. Her lectures blend theory with practical applications, enriching my learning experience. She goes beyond expectations, offering invaluable insights into graduate school and career preparation, which have transformed my academic trajectory. Her mentorship has boosted my confidence, and her support in developing essential skills, from research presentations to personal statements, is unparalleled. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to learn from her and highly recommend her courses for a transformative educational experience.”

(for Professor Mary Samuelson) “I really enjoyed taking this class! I thought it was great that it really focused on the students and helping them figure out the path they want to take throughout college and beyond. I think the reflection it encourages students to do on the direction they want to take with their studies and career path is very valuable and something that a lot of students outside of honors would also really benefit from! Professor Samuelson also did a very great job teaching the class. Her instructions for assignments were always clear and detailed and class discussions were great for encouraging students to really analyze the class’ readings and relate them to their own lives.”

(for Professor Mary Samuelson) “Professor S is the best professor I have had in my UCLA experience. She is attentive and always assigns assignments that are meant to teach you. I have learned more in her classes than I have in a majority of my other classes. The class itself was excellent and has made me more prepared for life after college. I am a senior, who is not in the honors program, and in my last quarter I willingly took an 8 am just because I knew I could learn from her. Best decision I have ever made.”

(for Professor Tara Prescott-Johnson) “In my last quarter at UCLA, I reflect on a course that has stood out as the most enriching academic experience I’ve had. This course deepened my understanding and expanded my capabilities, introducing me to new horizons I had not imagined before. The “Skill of the Day” sessions, in particular, were both interesting and meaningful, significantly enhancing my engagement with the material. A major strength of the course was its focus on public speaking through presentation assignments. Historically, public speaking had been a challenge for me, but the supportive and constructive environment created by the instructor transformed my anxiety into excitement. Another significant strength was the personalized one-on-one sessions with the instructor. These meetings were invaluable as they extended beyond the academic environment, offering life lessons and personal insights. The instructor shared their journey and the challenges they overcame, instilling in me a deep belief in my potential career and personal life trajectories.”

“I absolutely loved this class, and Professor PJ (Prescott-Johnson). It’s such good planning for life, and I think everyone should take it at some point. I’d never before written a resume, or made a blog/website although they were on my “forever to do list that probably won’t get done”. So it was really useful! My teacher was amazing, so supportive, and dedicated to this class. I loved our one-on-one meeting, and learning about her life was amazing. I wish every professor could be this open and kind, she is so special.”

(for Professor Tara Prescott-Johnson) “This is an amazing course, and I genuinely think it is the best course I will take during my time here at UCLA. While the topics covered aren’t as conventional, I’ve found them to be incredibly interesting and profoundly important for my future. Practical skills like resume building were something the course was great at teaching, and it also just changed my mindset and perspective on my education and what I choose to pursue in life. The instructor was amazing as well, and very friendly while great at teaching skills and going through the curriculum. She was extremely available as well and made everybody feel comfortable in the classroom. I think the biggest strength of this course is its uniqueness in curriculum and concepts covered, and I’m sure it will prove very valuable to many future students.”