By Kassel Franco Garibay
Registration for Drew University’s 2018 SummerTerm opened March 12, with classes available for Drew students and students of other colleges and universities. Courses are offered from a wide variety of academic departments, allowing students to get 4 or 8 credits closer to graduation.
Tuition is offered at the price of $721 per credit, which adds up to $2,884 per 4-credit course and $5,768 per 8-credit course. In addition to this, students that wish to participate in the SummerTerm are required to pay different one-time fees which are listed out in the Summer 2018 Course List. Financial aid is not offered for summer classes.
For summer 2018, Drew will offer more than 60 different classes broken down into two sessions. Session I takes place from May 21 to June 29 and is followed by Session II, which begins July 2 and ends August 10. Courses range from many different departments including Art, Film, Computer Science, Biology, Chemistry and English. Session I also includes the popular Wall Street Program (ECON 281), an 8-credit program in which students go into New York City to learn about the relationships between the financial system and local, national and global economies.
In addition to providing opportunities for college students to lighten their course load for the fall and spring semesters, the Forest opens its doors for high school students seeking to earn college credits. An example for high schoolers is the program Global Perspectives through Irish History and Culture, a 3-week program taking place in Donegal, Ireland.
During Session II, students interested in theatre and playwriting can take part in the class Theatre in the Community (THEA 386) taught by Associate Professor Lisa Brenner. The Drew Theatre Department partners with the Newark Public School system to create a program in which Drew students mentor Newark high schoolers to create theatre and dance pieces for the entire month of July. “The summer course is really special,” said Lisa Brenner. “Since we are meeting on a regular basis we can really dive into theatrical production.” Sometimes trips into the city are included in the curriculum, and, since it is a CBL class, Civic Scholars can earn community service hours by participating in the class which is open to non-theater majors. Brenner says participants from other majors “felt it was one of the most transformative experiences of their lives.”
A big challenge of taking summer courses, according to Biology and Neuroscience Professor Roger Knowles, is the fact that missing three days of class during the summer is the equivalent of missing a fourth of the material.
The benefits of taking a summer course include the fact that there are fewer distractions on campus and students have the opportunity to dedicate all of their time to a single class, in addition to being able to form closer relationships with professors. “I took Spanish 201 the summer going into my sophomore year knowing that I struggle with Spanish,” said Alex Pearce (‘19). “I was able to have more personal attention than I would in the classroom during a regular semester.”
The Associate Dean for Faculty in Arts and Sciences, Dr. Maria Masucci, talked about the environment in Drew’s campus over the break. “There are also special offerings and a diversity of groups using the campus in the summer, from DSSI, to summer camps, Governor’s School and Summer College for high school students, so it is actually very lively in the summer,” Masucci said after pointing out that “Classes can go much easier just because you don’t have to worry about snow days!”
Two sections of Photography 1 will be offered during Session II, taking advantage of Drew’s campus over the summer. Professor Rory Mulligan said her favorite part of teaching Photography in the summer is the quality of light in students’ photographs. “It might sound trivial but photography literally means ‘writing with light,’” said Mulligan. “The summer allows for longer days and a really beautiful magic hour (the hour before sunset) that gives a real luminosity to student work that you can’t quite get in the colder months.”
