PORTER CORE COURSE (COLLEGE REQUIREMENT):

All first time college students are required to take the college Core Course in their first fall quarter at UCSC. Students admitted as transfer students are exempt from the Core Course requirement but may take the Core Course at their option pending available space; lower-division transfer students who prior to enrolling have not completed at least one UC-transferable college English composition course with a minimum grade of C (2.0) or better, are able to take the Core Course to satisfy the C1 requirement. In addition to satisfying the college requirement, the Core Course satisfies general education requirements as well. The course allows students to meet with a cross section of their peers and provides access to upper-division students who act as resource persons. The tutorial format of the course provides close attention to writing. The course focus on "Writing Across the Arts" provides a springboard for students to think about how arts and cultural heritage interrelate at the same time it asks students to consider important contemporary California artists.

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ACADEMIC PROGRAMS:

In addition to the Porter Core Course, which provides students with a small seminar experience in their first quarter, the college offers an array of courses that focus on the college theme: the intersection of creativity and community/society. Promoting and developing the artistic and creative contributions and understanding of our students to contemporary California is our aim and ambition. Students are invited to deepen their appreciation of the arts and issues by taking "Ways of Knowing" (Porter 80K) which explores issues of creativity in different disciplines in Winter Quarter. A variety of small unit courses expose students to topics as diverse as Working in TV and Film, Sundanese Gamelan, Day of the Dead and Arts Education in the Community. Collaborative projects that come from faculty and students may also be offered as college courses.

In the college "Pedagogical Practicum" a small group of students have the opportunity to act as undergraduate teaching assistants for the Porter Core course.

Fall 2009 – Porter College Courses (PDF)