Students struggling through midterms may find it difficult to believe they will want to relive their academic experiences after graduation -- but the success of the Alumni College proves otherwise.
Established in 1964, the Alumni College is a program that allows alumni, parents and friends of the College to spend time on campus studying a specific topic, Alumni Continuing Education Program Manager Joyce Greene said.
'Want to keep learning'
High said one of the reasons the Alumni College is successful is because people "want to keep learning all of their lives," and keep in touch with their alma mater.
"One of the best ways to do this is to put them back in the classroom with professors," she said.
This year's program will offer three different courses in two separate sessions.
A course called "Landscapes of Murder" will be offered from August 6 through August 11. The course will explore the connection between settings in murder mysteries and various geographical areas, Director of Alumni Continuing Education and Alumni College Director Mardy High said.
Geography Professor George Demko is the Academic Director of the "Landscapes of Murder" course and is responsible for developing the curriculum and recruiting professors, High said.
The other two courses will be offered from August 13 through August 18 and are called "Legacies of World War II" and "Write."
"Legacies of World War II," led by Geography Professor David Lindgren, is being taught to mark the 50th anniversary of World War II, Greene said.
Most of the major issues the world faces today can be traced back to World War II, High said.
"Write" will focus on writing memoirs, Academic Director Joe Medlicott '50 said.
"The program will focus on each person in the class writing his or her memoirs," Medlicott said.
A retired English professor, Medlicott said "it's always very rewarding for a teacher" to see students write down information about their lives.
High described the program as a "wonderful vacation" for alumni. "They are coming because they love the stimulation."
Stet Whitcher '40, who has attended many Alumni College programs, expressed his satisfaction with the Alumni College in an interview with The Dartmouth last year.
"It's a vacation where you are stimulated," Whitcher said. "The brain is working."
Participants receive books and articles pertaining to their courses in advance, High said.
"They really do their homework and can get so much more out of it if they've done their reading," she said.
Although participants are not tested or graded, they receive letters of course completion that some schools accept as proof of further education, Greene said.
"This is like doing a course," High said.
The program is probably more intense than undergraduate courses because the topic is covered in such a short range of time, Greene said.
There are usually 12 to 15 lectures in the span of one week, High said.
"Faculty would always do more if they could," she said. The faculty enjoy teaching alumni, because their diverse experiences enable them to "bring interesting thoughts to the discussion groups."
An unusual feature of the courses is that they are broken up into "small discussion groups, so participants can have a good chance to really discuss their ideas," she said.
High said she develops ideas for the Alumni College from conversations with faculty, conversations with alumni and by reading what people are currently interested in.
She said she develops topics that reflect Dartmouth's academic strengths.
Specific plans
All three courses this summer offer numerous activities for participants along with the actual lectures and discussions.
Banquets, optional social hours and video sessions are just some of the things alumni can do outside the classroom, according to the Dartmouth Alumni College schedule of events.
Even in the classroom, participants will be exposed to diverse activities.
"Landscapes of Murder" will explore in-depth the works of regional authors, High said.
Actual writers from the area will have a panel discussion with participants in the morning, she said. The authors will then attend a book signing at the Dartmouth Bookstore.
Participants in "Legacies of World War II" will view movies such as "Bridge over the River Kwai," "Nasty Girl" and "The Deer Hunter," according to the schedule of events.
The participants in the "Write" course will have daily tutorials and be placed in groups of 10 people each, High said.
The course is designed more for beginning writers who are "trying to find their voice as a writer," she said.
Approximately 250 people will attend this year's courses, Greene said.
History of the program
The program did not offer two separate sessions until two years ago, Greene said.
The reason the program was broken up was to attract younger alumni who might have difficulty participating if given only one option, she said.
The first Alumni College hosted 177 participants who read such works as "Lord of the Flies," "Religion and the Modern Man" and "Walden," according to a pamphlet titled Dartmouth Alumni College History.
The program became so popular that the session in 1978 titled "Where Have All the Heroes Gone?" had to turn away 80 participants -- 301 people were actually able to attend the course, according to the History.
The program hosted311 participants in 1981, while it featured the course called "The Quest for Perfection: A Modern Pilgrimage Through the Middle Ages."
But a record number of 350 participants attended the 1990 course titled "Perestroika, Glasnost, and the Lessons of History."
