April 2008

CAMPUS NEWS

The Evergreens, the Amherst home of Emily Dickinson's brother, Austin.   photo by Michael Manson

Summer Classes Include Travel

If you've ever thought you couldn't sign up for a summer class because it might cramp your style on traveling, think again. This summer, the College of Arts and Sciences is offering a variety of classes that include experiential learning opportunities (AKA traveling to cool places covered in class discussion), and alumni are invited to participate.

These courses will bring to life an incredible opportunity for alumni, students, and faculty to learn and travel together. They represent a unique chance to not only to come back to campus, but to take a class that includes experiencing your topic of choice first hand in locations both domestically and internationally. Hands-on learning assumes a whole new meaning as distinguished professors, Kathy Franz, Kiho Kim, Keith Leonard, and Michael Manson will travel with their students to the origins of their course topics.

"One of the main reasons we do this trip is that the Romantics didn't want us just to study history; they wanted us to experience it. Our students swim in Walden Pond. They experience it as Thoreau did," says Michael Manson, professor of Literature.

• “The American Romantics at Home” will bring students to Concord, Mass., to appreciate the well of stimulation New England’s farms, rivers, and mountains provided to famous writers like Emerson, Frost, Alcott, and Thoreau. Course: May 12- June 26; Travel: June 30-July 7.
• “From Harlem to Paris” will take participants through the sections of Paris once frequented by the major African-American writers and musicians from the 1920s to the Civil War period after learning how they drew their artistic inspiration from the City of Lights. Course: May 19- June 26; Travel: June 16-24.
• “Holocaust Memory in the U.S. and Germany" will compare the politics, aesthetics, and differences between official and unofficial histories among the Holocaust memorials and museums in Germany and the United States. Course: May 12- June 2 Travel: May 17- 24.
• “Tropical Biology” will introduce lessons on the natural history of tropical flora and fauna, the island biogeography, and coral reef ecology and conservation of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Course: May 17-31; Travel: May 17-31.

For more information about these exciting programs, please contact Torshana Towles at 202-885-2435  ttowles@american.edu.

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