Carolina Alumni Review - March/April 2007

Maymester: An Intense
Three Weeks of Study

If an insect can be born, live and die in three weeks, then the average Carolina student should be able to complete a course in the same amount of time.

“My friend in the laboratory says the life cycle of a flea is three weeks,” said Bobbi Owen, senior associate dean for undergraduate education. “Can you imagine taking a course where you get to see that life cycle from beginning to end?”

Come May 15, UNC students will have that opportunity.

Registration opens March 23 for upper-classmen and March 27 for all other students interested in taking a three-week session at the close of the spring semester that will award three credit hours for one class offering three hours of instruction every day.

“An interim session really engages students intensely,” Owen said. “I don’t think summer is a really good time to do calculus or reflect on the entire works of Shakespeare. You wouldn’t want to read Ulysses in three weeks.”

The new “Maymester,” a component of the University’s 2006 quality-enhancement plan, will run through June 1 and has 500 available spaces in 24 specially designed courses for this new concentrated format, said Jim Murphy, dean of the summer school.

“There’s a real range of courses,” Owen said. “We’re being a little experimental.”

Students have the opportunity to travel to Fort Bragg, South Carolina and Scotland, for example, giving some the chance to experience life “abroad” without affording an entire semester’s worth of commitment, Owen said.

The cost per credit hour (including tuition and fees) is $165 for resident undergraduates, $170 for resident graduate students, $390 for out-of-state undergraduates and $395 for out-of-state graduate students.

Owen emphasized that these courses are ideal for those who might need to work, obtain an internship or spend time with family during the summer.

A pilot program, the Maymester is a three-year commitment for 2007, 2008 and 2009, after which it will be reviewed and assessed.

Carolina Center for Jewish Studies

Album quilt made for Eleanor Israel Solomons (1794–1856), private collection. photo: college of charleston library, special collections. visit online exhibition, “a portion of the people: three hundred years of southern jewish life,” at www.lib.unc.edu/apop

“Carolina was one of the first major public universities to offer courses in Jewish Studies more than 50 years ago. The College of Arts and Sciences is now building on that leadership with an interdisciplinary Center for Jewish Studies that brings attention to the prominence of Jewish culture and history in the story of Western civilization. MADELINE LEVINE, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences

“Carolina has provided me with so many fascinating and creative ways to study Judaism. After graduation, I’ll continue my studies with a Phillips travel scholarship to explore Jewish life in China, Vietnam, Singapore, and Thailand.”

ROBIN GRAHAM,’07

ccjs.unc.edu

Engaging our Students The Center offers an undergraduate minor with more than 30 courses enrolling over 1,000 UNC students each year.

Building our Faculty In order to move from an undergraduate minor to a comprehensive major in the College of Arts and Sciences, the Center seeks to create new faculty positions.

Involving the Community We invite the public to hear leading international scholars, musicians, artists, filmmakers, and public intellectuals we bring to campus. Our faculty travel throughout the state, to urban communities and rural areas, to lecture on Jewish life, history, culture, and religion. All are welcome to attend.

Join us Contact us at ccjs.unc.edu to view our public lecture series schedule and to learn more about the Center and how you can get involved.