Schools

Chicago Summers, and Our Classes at Roosevelt University, Are One of a Kind


photo of Buckingham Fountain with Roosevelt University in the background

CHICAGO–(ENEWSPF)–April 17, 2015.  Consider it cosmic payback for those brutal Chicago winters: Chicago summers are awesome. And at Roosevelt, an intriguing variety of classes ensure students gain credits while taking advantage of all the fun.

In “Managing Tourism, Festivals and Special Events,” students will get a behind-the-scenes look at the Taste of Chicago food festival and visit Navy Pier, Legoland and other tourist favorites.  For the class “Transit in Transition,” students will travel all over the city by various methods—bike, train, bus—as part of broader discussions about how transit design shapes cities and people. Students who take “Ecology of Tallgrass Prairie” at the Schaumburg Campus will learn about plant species by identifying them firsthand through visits to five different prairies.  

The graduate class “Human Sexuality,” offered at both campuses, will include some unconventional outside-the-classroom assignments. Counseling students will study various expressions of human sexuality by interviewing members of fetish communities and visiting adult establishments, such as bookstores or strip clubs.

Other summer classes don’t have field trips, but they do have fascinating topics—like serial killers. The online course “Serial Murder” will give students a chance to dive into the psychosocial dynamics of serial murder, research on serial killers and their motivation, and the public’s obsession with such gruesome cases. In “Movies and Mental Illness,” on the Schaumburg Campus, students will watch and analyze films that depict psychological conditions, such as As Good as it Gets (obsessive-compulsive disorder) and Fatal Attraction (borderline personality disorder).

Students can also take classes on environmental literature and writing (Writing Urban Nature), preventing bullying (Navigating Peace), examining the class and racial divides of Chicago (Summer in the City), local architecture (Chicago: Architecture and Urbanism; scroll down) and the history of photography (Pinhole to Camera Phone). See all summer 2015 classes in the Course Finder; summer session starts May 16.

Professors and students say summer classes are no less rigorous than academic-year courses, but they are more laid-back because of fewer outside stressors (as in, other classes) competing for time and attention. Students take advantage of the break to get ahead, or use it to catch up to an expected graduation date.

Tricia Leja, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in hospitality and tourism management, took a hospitality class last summer in Chicago to earn enough credits to graduate this May. She said she loved the class, and she’s all set to graduate according to plan.

“I learned so much about Chicago that I would have never learned otherwise,” she said. “I liked that it was very interactive and we were able to be outside instead of being stuck in a classroom on a nice summer day.”

Summer classes are offered in several different formats, from 10-week classes that meet a few hours a week to 1-week classes that meet eight hours a day, Monday through Friday. That compressed format is how Professor Mike Ensdorf teaches his two summer photography classes. He takes students outside to shoot, using a variety of cameras and techniques, and to photography exhibits around the city.

“Students devote a full week and I devote a full week when we’re not doing other classes,” Ensdorf said. “It’s meant to be intensive. The energy level is really high.”

And after a day—or just a couple of hours—spent in class, students have their evenings to enjoy all Chicago has to offer, from playing volleyball on Lake Michigan to music and food festivals.

“It is magnificent. There are so many things to do,” said Nathan Stoll, a sophomore studying psychology who took chemistry classes last summer. “Nothing compares to summer in Chicago. It’s definitely a life experience.”

Source: www.roosevelt.edu


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