Last week, the College announced the inauguration of its Summer Study program for this coming summer. The program was approved by faculty last year and is designed to provide students with opportunities to participate in experiential, field-based courses that would otherwise be difficult to accommodate during the regular academic year.
“The idea originated with students who were interested in summer internships for credit and who approached the Educational Affairs Committee asking for such an option,” Dean of Curriculum Suzanne Gurland said.
She continued, “The committee thought that some curricular structure for the summer might be desirable, but last year the faculty voted down the possibility of credit-bearing internships. What remained was a piece of legislation allowing for the possibility of creating an academic program for the summertime.”
Gurland stressed the intensity of the committee’s efforts in spearheading the program. She and other administrators needed to consult with about 40 offices on campus, including Student Accessibility Services, Student Financial Services, the Office of the Registrar, and representatives for the Language Schools.
Once instructors began submitting applications for potential courses, the Curriculum Committee reviewed each proposal and determined whether the proposed course could grant credit. Administrative offices then assessed the feasibility of each course, both logistically and financially, incorporating the costs of housing and food in setting tuition fees (for which financial aid will be available).
Every summer, the College’s campus is fully occupied by students and faculty participating in the Middlebury Language Schools, posing a logistical constraint on possible locations for Summer Study courses. Gurland said that this limitation forced the committee to incorporate off-campus study into the plan and helped to solidify the idea of experiential, wholesome learning as the program’s main intention.
“I think a successful liberal arts education is one that gives students habits of mind that apply in virtually any situation they might encounter,” Gurland said.
She added, “The thing I love about experiential learning is that it puts students in some novel situation—say, a new country or culture—where they can demonstrate to themselves that those habits of mind and critical thinking skills can serve them in all kinds of arenas.”
Professor of Computer Science and Head of Cook Commons Matthew Dickerson will be teaching a summer course in Anchorage, Alaska, called “Essay Writing on Nature.” Dickerson, a scholar on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and an avid fly fisherman and beekeeper, has been interested in nature-writing for many years.
Dickerson said, “In Alaska, the wilderness happens at a much grander scale. So a big part of the course will be observations. After a guest presentation from a fisheries biologist or a reading about some environmental issue, we might then take a six mile hike into some remote watershed and experience firsthand what it looks like—observing, writing about, and discussing what we are learning. There will be a lot of hours of class each day.”
Gurland hopes prospective students do not view the Summer Study program as a vacation or an academically light experience.
She said, “There is a substantial academic component, these are rigorous courses. I really think that it’s experiential learning and that the ‘learning’ part is right there, front and center.”
Summer Study courses are required to meet for a minimum of four weeks with 32 hours of instruction. A maximum of two Summer Study credits are permitted to count toward the College’s 36-credit graduation requirement. Additionally, students may only count a maximum of four credits from Winter Term and Summer Study courses combined. Summer Study courses can fulfill distribution requirements as determined by the Curriculum Committee.
Gurland stated that the inaugural run of the Summer Study program will be somewhat experimental.
She said, “We’ll probably learn things from this experience that will help us figure out where the program is going to go in the future. There’s a lot of thinking going on about what we want Summer Study to be, but at the same time it’s going to show us what it can become.”
