2013 summer classes

Beginning in 2013, College of the Atlantic is pleased to offer a limited number of undergraduate classes during the summer season. Current COA students and visiting students from other institutions are welcome to participate. Each course is one COA credit (3.3 semester credits).

Course dates and descriptions are below; you may also contact course faculty to learn more about the course and discuss whether it will be a good fit for your academic needs. Non-COA students must apply by no later than May 17, 2013.

For more information on applying to be a visiting student for a summer course at COA, please download the information and application forms available to the right.

Marine Ecology

Faculty:
Helen Hess (hhess@coa.edu) - Faculty Bio
Chris Petersen (cpetersen@coa.edu) - Faculty Bio
Dates: June 9–23

This summer field course is intended for students who have some familiarity with the natural history and ecology of local marine organisms along the coast of Maine and are eager to take their understanding to the next level in the context of an intensive summer course.  The class will meet all day, every day for 15 days, from June 9 through June 23, and will comprise several parts, including lecture and discussion of papers from the primary literature, field trips to explore diversity of local habitats, and several research projects.  We will work together on two class projects.  One will involve the reproductive biology of mummichogs, a small, estuarine fish that is locally abundant.  Although not on the scale of wild salmon runs, mummichog spawning is a frenzied spectacle of nature involving dozens of fish simultaneously releasing gametes in the shallows at high tide.  Students will collect data on spawning behavior and patterns of survivorship among eggs laid at intertidal sites.  The other class project will involve population biology of three species of intertidal snails and how parameters such as species abundance and diversity, size-frequency distribution, and population density vary among populations on various small coastal islands.  We will access these islands for censusing via sea kayak, and students interested in learning more about safety and navigation in sea kayaks will have that opportunity.  We may include an overnight trip if weather and timing permit.  Finally, students will also design their own independent projects, and they will meet individually with instructors to discuss hypothesis generation, experimental design, data collection and analysis, and final communication of results.  The final day of class will involve a presentation of individual projects.  Students will be evaluated on participation on the class projects and other activities, short written assignments, and the quality of the final project.

Intermediate/Advanced. Prerequisites: Marine Biology, Invertebrate Zoology or an intermediate-level course in ecology or behavior and permission of instructor.

*ES*  Class size limit: 16
Lab fee: $80

Writing for Performance:  Three Week Lab

Faculty: Jodi Baker (jbaker@coa.edu) - Faculty Bio
Dates: June 10–28, weekdays only. Class meets as a group from 1–5pm; mornings will be devoted to  individual meetings with the instructor, research, drafting and rehearsals.

This is a fast-paced, practice-oriented workshop geared toward generating a diverse portfolio of original performance material and developing effective and efficient habits for sustaining a personal creative process. Together we will study the work of solo artists such as Ruth Draper, Lord Buckley, Laurie Anderson, Spalding Gray, Anna Deavere Smith, Lisa Kron and Tim Miller as well as contemporary collectives such as Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Pig Iron, Rude Mechanicals, and Elevator Repair Service.  Students will spend a significant amount of time developing their own revision and rehearsal skills and exploring the unique challenges and possibilities that come with solo and collaborative theater making ventures.  We will consider the role of audience and location in creative process and we will establish a collaborative working ensemble to help guide and support the evolution of each original piece.  Assignments will include monologues, scenes and one very short play and pieces will be derived from various written and physical prompts as well as experiments in object, site-specific and documentary theater forms. The course will culminate in a final group performance of selected works. There will be at least one field trip.

Intermediate/Advanced
Class size limit: 12
Lab fee: $40

Trees and Shrubs of Mount Desert Island

Faculty: Nishanta Rajakaruna (nrajakaruna@coa.edu) - Faculty Bio
Dates: June 10–28, Weekdays, 9am–5pm

This course is currently full and not accepting applications.

This field botany course introduces you to the native and ornamental shrubs and trees of Mount Desert Island, many of which are also found throughout New England. Lectures will cover basics of plant taxonomy and forest ecology, focusing on the dominant woody plant species of the region. We will also discuss current stressors to plants and their habitats, including those associated with global climate change. Laboratory and field sessions will involve the identification of woody plants and an introduction to the native plants and their habitats on the island. The course is designed to teach botany and plant taxonomy for students interested in natural history/ecology, conservation biology, plant systematics, forestry, ethnobotany, herbarium/arboretum management, and landscape design. Evaluations are based on class participation, field/lab quizzes and a plant collection consisting of 25 specimens belonging to at least 20 plant families. The class will meet from 9am-5pm Monday-Friday. Each student is expected to have an individual meeting with the instructor for 1 hr each week. There will be three field-based quizzes and one lab quiz per week and the plant collection will be due by July 1, 2013.

Introductory/Intermediate. This class is a pre-requisite for other botany courses Nishi teaches including Plant Systematics, Evolutionary Processes in Plants, Plants with Mettle, and Plant Communities of the Americas. Recommended: some background in biology and a strong desire to be outdoors.