The University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) General Education "Clusters" are innovations in student-centered undergraduate education focused on complex phenomena that require an interdisciplinary perspective. UCLA gerontology and geriatric faculty recognized the opportunity to introduce freshmen to the field of aging through this new initiative. In 2000, with support of the College of Letters and Science, the School of Medicine Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology created "Frontiers in Human Aging: Biomedical, Social and Policy Perspectives." The active and cooperative student-centered teaching of aging that is integral to this course has successfully contributed to the development of intellectual skills needed for academic and life success in over 1,200 freshman honors students. (Contains 2 figures.)