Newest SCUE preceptorials will include course with Rodin

For students hoping to evade crowded classrooms and grade grubbing this semester, the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education is offering an alternative. After overseeing the program successfully for two semesters, SCUE is gearing up for the fall term with a fresh line-up of preceptorials. These mini-courses -- taught by some of the University's top professors -- are offered each semester for no credit. "It's learning for learning's sake," explained SCUE Chairperson Ari Silverman, a College senior. This fall, University President Judith Rodin will be joining the list of scholars teaching the preceptorials. Her course, "Profiles in Leadership," will allow several students to meet with Rodin and guest lecturers to discuss issues relating to local government and business management. "It's not just a chance to listen to Dr. Rodin," Silverman said. "It's an opportunity to have discussions -- with her participating." SCUE members coordinate registration for the courses and randomly select 10 to 15 students for each. Approximately 256 students attempted to register for this fall's preceptorials. Sixty-two students were turned away from the most popular course -- Urban Studies Professor George Thomas' "A Day on the Beach," a class centered around fly fishing. And 36 students were rejected from Associate Vice President for Campus Services Larry Moneta's "Road Rules," designed to expose students to life on other campuses. College junior Sarah Federman, who oversees SCUE's preceptorial program, explained that the committee takes care of any scheduling or costs that are involved in the courses. "The professor has to do pretty much nothing except come in and teach what they want to teach," she said. Religious Studies Professor Robert Kraft said he is not planning to lecture at all in his preceptorial, "The Jesus Tradition." Rather, he wants to coordinate his ideas with his students' to create the curriculum. "What's going to be discussed will not be programmed in advance," he said. "I'm not going in with a syllabus in hand." SCUE member Aaron Levy took a preceptorial with Anthropology Professor Janet Monge called "What Is a Museum and Museum Work Really Like?" last spring. "She's a great professor that I would not have had the opportunity to take a class with or spend time with otherwise, which is precisely one of the great aspects of the preceptorials," the College junior said. Other courses offered this term are "The Artist and Literature" with German Professor Horst Daemmrich and "Statistics and Literature" with Statistics Professor Ed Lusk. Most of the preceptorials, including Rodin's, will begin meeting later this month. SCUE will accept applications for Rodin's preceptorial starting September 18.