Saturdays and Sundays during spring term is a time for students to slack off and enjoy the sun. But those who enroll in weekend seminars and one and two-credit short courses will be bound indoors to the classroom.
Each term, select departments offer a variety of courses that can count toward general University or degree requirements. Students are attracted to these courses because many of them offer quick, easy credit in a short amount of time on a variety of topics, including the King of rock ‘n’ roll, sex education, watercolor illustrations and lifeguard certification. But the academic choice to learn during the weekends is worth taking advantage of, according to University faculty and community officials who will present many of the seminars.
The Substance Abuse Prevention Program is featuring more than 20 weekend seminars this term, and students can still enroll for many of them.
Miki Mace, the administrator of SAPP, said many of the workshops are conducted by people who work in the field — thus adding a different dimension to learning.
“It’s an opportunity for people to learn about another part of the world of work that they wouldn’t normally learn about,” she said.
But not all weekend seminars and one-and two-credit classes feature working professionals. Some of these courses are taught by University professors.
English professor Richard Stevenson said the program is the perfect alternative for students short on credits but who don’t have the money or time for summer classes. He warned, however, that students need to keep their schedules free to complete readings and course expectations.
“It requires a very intense use of time,” Stevenson said.
Local therapist Judy Vergamini will be leading a seminar Saturday that will explore the social, emotional and societal impact of divorce on children. Participants will be able to learn techniques for teaching and affecting positive change in children who have been influenced by divorce.
Vergamini, a private certified counselor since 1974, said her workshop is especially pertinent with the continually increasing number of divorced and separated families. The seminar is an opportunity for students to learn about how children are effected when their parents become divorced, Vergamini said, in terms of “learning development, peer interactions, trust, future relationships and their own self-esteem.”
In addition to showing a film on divorce, a panel of students will share their own experiences. She said this course is relevant to more than just students and those who have been personally affected by divorce. She recommended the course to educators, service professionals and friends of those who are experiencing the effects of divorce. Vergamini has been teaching seminars on related topics for more than five years.
Mace said other presenters are from a range of specialties such as anger management, youth street gangs, conflict resolution and domestic terrorism.
“The folks who are doing the training are the best of the best,” said Mace, who will be leading a two-credit seminar — Alcohol and the College Student — April 13 to 14 with SAPP program assistant Connie Sohm.
Mace highly recommended Jay Friedman’s April 21 seminar called Sex Matters. In a society which at times has trouble talking about sex, Freidman, a nationally award winning health educator, will help participants to discover a wide range of sexual issues confronting college campuses today
— from the first kiss to preventing sexually transmitted diseases.
SAPP seminars give participants 10 days to complete a take-home test and related readings to the topic of the course. The readings are posted on SAPP’s Web site, so Mace said students may find it in their advantage not to have to purchase textbooks by taking weekend seminars.
During the upcoming summer term, English Professor Benjamin Saunders will be leading ENG 399, Elvis Presley: The significations of an American pop-culture icon. The class will meet Friday and Saturday for four weekends during the summer, offering students an introduction to cultural studies and a focused study on this familiar public figure in American music.
English Professor George Wickes will be leading ENG 410 Americans in Paris, in which Stevenson said students can chose to earn between one and four credits while focusing on Americans who were drawn to Paris in the 1920s. Students in this course will read select books from authors Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein. This class will meet Saturday and Sunday during the weekend of June 22 to 23.
“Both are attractive courses experimenting with different time frames,” Stevenson said.