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The FOCUS Program is a voluntary, interdisciplinary academic curriculum for freshmen that was first established at Duke University. It received national acclaim and a similar program has since spread to Washington University in St. Louis. FOCUS is an acronym that stands for "First-year Opportunity for Comprehensive, Unified Study."

Duke students who register for FOCUS will be registered in Writing 20, several seminars, and an elective of their choice (three different courses each semester). FOCUS allows students to take part in small classes and those in the same topic also live in the same dormitory on Duke's East Campus.

Current programs for the 2006-2007 academic year at Duke include the following topics:

• Engineering Frontiers: Infrastructure and the Environment
• Evolution & Humankind
• Exploring the Mind
• Forging Social Ideals
• The Genome Revolution & Its Impact on Society
• Game2Know
• The Global Americas
• Global Health: Disease in Time and Space
• Islam Beyond Religion: Literature, Film and Popular Culture
• Memory & Invention: Medieval and Renaissance Worlds
• Visions of Freedom

At Wash U, however, the FOCUS program consists only of one year-long seminar course. It, too, is designed to encourage a close intellectual relationship between students and the professor, as well as amongst students who have a similar interest in the particular topic.

Current programs at Wash U include the following topics:

• Global Culture & the Individual: Intercultural Skills for the 21st Century
• Cuba: From Colonialism to Communism
• Law and Society
• Nationalism and Identity: The Making of Modern Europe
• The Theatre as a Living Art
• Writers as Readers
• Cooperative Living, Community Building, and Sustainability
• Cultural Contact in the Medieval World

• Duke FOCUS homepage
• Duke website
• Wash U FOCUS homepage
• Washington University in St. Louis website

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