Spring Break
Communiversity returns in the spring
by Miranda Neubauer
Senior Writer
News | 11/6/07
Posted online at 4:47 AM EST on 11/6/07
Communiversity-a program established and implemented in the 1970s and '80s in which students, faculty and staff have the opportunity to teach classes on subjects not part of typical curricula-will restart with a three-week session this winter, members of the Student Union said.
The program will run from Jan. 22 to Feb. 15, according to a campuswide e-mail sent out by this year's Communiversity Coordinator and Castle Senator Rebecca Wikof '10 last Wednesday. Communiversity was also restarted with a session in winter 2005 by Aaron Braver '07, then the East Quad senator.
"The idea is Brandeis teaching Brandeis and to give someone something that they couldn't necessarily get inside a Brandeis classroom," said Kimberlee Bachman '08, Student Union director of academic affairs.
Members of the Union said that this year's noncredit minicourses may include juggling, cooking and knitting. Students can sign up to teach a class until Nov. 12, and professors, staff and graduate students also received letters inviting them to participate, and to submit applications by Nov. 16, Wilkof said.
Bachman explained that planning for the program last academic year "fell under the radar," but that she trained Wilkof to be this year's coordinator because of Bachman's enthusiasm for the project's continuation.
Bachman said Communiversity's organizers are planning to advertise the program and book rooms earlier this year. "People will hopefully be anticipating Communiversity when they get back [from break] instead of … seeing stuff for the first time," she said.
Wilkof said she hoped students would expect Communiversity to occur every year, and that the program could become a model for other institutions, noting that a similar program takes place year-round at the University of California at Berkeley.
Bachman said the Department of Student Activities is co-sponsoring the program this year by helping to finance advertisements and materials for the classes.
The program will run from Jan. 22 to Feb. 15, according to a campuswide e-mail sent out by this year's Communiversity Coordinator and Castle Senator Rebecca Wikof '10 last Wednesday. Communiversity was also restarted with a session in winter 2005 by Aaron Braver '07, then the East Quad senator.
"The idea is Brandeis teaching Brandeis and to give someone something that they couldn't necessarily get inside a Brandeis classroom," said Kimberlee Bachman '08, Student Union director of academic affairs.
Members of the Union said that this year's noncredit minicourses may include juggling, cooking and knitting. Students can sign up to teach a class until Nov. 12, and professors, staff and graduate students also received letters inviting them to participate, and to submit applications by Nov. 16, Wilkof said.
Bachman explained that planning for the program last academic year "fell under the radar," but that she trained Wilkof to be this year's coordinator because of Bachman's enthusiasm for the project's continuation.
Bachman said Communiversity's organizers are planning to advertise the program and book rooms earlier this year. "People will hopefully be anticipating Communiversity when they get back [from break] instead of … seeing stuff for the first time," she said.
Wilkof said she hoped students would expect Communiversity to occur every year, and that the program could become a model for other institutions, noting that a similar program takes place year-round at the University of California at Berkeley.
Bachman said the Department of Student Activities is co-sponsoring the program this year by helping to finance advertisements and materials for the classes.
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