Even when the summer time comes, the Wittenberg campus is still hot with activity. A slew of courses will be offered for students over the course of five terms this summer.
Summer sessions at Wittenberg are organized by the School of Community Education (SCE). Proposals for course from faculty and academic departments began to be accepted early last fall, which created the push for the majority of the summer courses. While the designers of the summer courses encouraged suggestions and requests from students around December last semester, there was not much input, according to Dr. Thomas Taylor, dean of the SCE.
The SCE partnered with faculty to determine when to schedule a course and determine the best times for each professor. Though some courses do not fit these specific terms, the designers of these classes create specific schedules that fit the needs of these courses. Other terms are created around the schedule of the May term.
One of these classes is Dr. Darlene Brooks-Hedstrom’s Archeological Field Methods. This class allows students to spend several hours per day using archeological methods to participate in excavation and learn the proper ways to conduct a dig. The May term schedule concentrates the area of study for participating students so that they can focus on their tasks and get the sense of what a real dig is like. Brooks-Hedstrom stated that this is the second year she has taught the class during the May term.
Other students are taking more traditional classes this summer.
“I’m taking intro to communications and American Television History,” said junior Jeff Hurley, who is staying at Witt this summer. “I’m excited for the summer classes for the smaller, intimate classroom experience.”
At the same time, many students that stay on Wittenberg’s campus do other things over the summer. Many students who stay on campus participate in internships or community service. Sophomore Rebecca Schreffler will be living on campus this summer as she conducts research with Dr. Raymond Dudek in the chemistry department.
“It is a paid position that will help me gain knowledge for graduate/professional school,” said Schreffler. “I’m looking forward to not only the research but also the weekly seminars where we get to learn about other chemistry research happening here and dinner outings as a large group.”
Some of Wittenberg’s summer offerings also take students off campus. This year, there are several study abroad options available to students that will send Wittenberg all over the globe. Classes taught through study abroad field studies will take students this summer to a range of countries including Poland, Cuba, Lesotho, Japan, and Germany.
With all these offerings, Wittenberg will remain active with students over the summer. The many classes and field studies available provide students with a variety of choices to keep their months off school occupied.
Connor Jensen, class of 2016, who will be living at Wittenberg over the summer said “I’m excited to be able to spend more time on campus with the friends that I’ve made over the past two years.”
