Program History
Supplemental Workshops in Science has been part of the Cal Poly campus since Fall Quarter 1991. Its original focus was in Liberal Arts classes such as history, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. After several years, the program shifted to the life sciences because it was determined that the need was greater in that area. Annually, some 140 lectures from all the colleges are examined in order to determine if Supplemental Workshops is positioned well and on track. At the present time, SWS is focused on nearly a dozen lectures.
Cal Poly Plan: because of its success in helping students master course concepts, Supplemental Workshops was designated as a Cal Poly Plan program for academic year 1996-1997. It received continued funding for the years 1997-98 and 1998-99.
The Cal Poly Plan permitted significant program expansion from 8 to 20 facilitators per quarter. Each facilitator leads two groups. Workshops continue to be focused in the College of Science and Mathematics in the departments of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Statistics. Moreover, the College of Business and the College of Agriculture are represented through statistics and soil science classes.