While many UB students will depart home this summer for time away from school, others will stay behind to earn credits and participate in various programs scheduled for the warmer months ahead.
In addition to the usual summer courses - which Associate Vice Provost Katherine Ferguson said is "one of the largest academic course schedules in the Northeast offered this summer" - UB will offer a variety of programs and activities as part of the new "UB This Summer" program.
Incoming freshmen can participate in the Academic Challenge and Enrichment Program, specifically designed to help them adjust to college life before classes officially start. Prospective employees can take seminars like "Career Perspectives," which will educate them in fields such as business, bioinformatics, education, law and nursing.
UB will also host sports camps and intramurals, art shows, musical performances and dances at the Center for the Arts.
A lunch and lecture series will also be offered on a range of topics, from film and politics to geology and writing, along with a series on aging geared toward seniors in the community.
"I think they'll get a pretty good turnout," said Karla Roillano, a junior biology major, after reading about the upcoming shows coming to the CFA like Ray Charles and the North American Rock Guitar Competition.
Ferguson said she began designing the program last summer and developed an aggressive campaign that includes billboards, colorful flyers, newspaper advertisements, posters and an official Web site to generate student, faculty, and community interest in spending the summer at UB.
"My hope is that we will generate awareness and participation as a result of the marketing," said Ferguson.
Ferguson said the new initiatives to spice up the campus during the summer came with the Millard Fillmore College no longer being in charge of summer classes.
"In previous summers we would have an academic schedule marketed independently," she said. "But by eliminating Millard Fillmore, we're marketing it differently by putting all the classes and programs under the same umbrella."
Robert Newman, associate professor of English, said this summer at UB will be a busy one.
"Just looking my class lists, they're all bulging," Newman said. "I have 50 students in my pluralism class alone. It's going to be a toughie, but it's good to see."
In recent summers, Newman said, he has noticed more students filling up classrooms and walkways.
"Reaching back 10 years, there were people bumping around not knowing how to bump into someone else," he said. "Now it's a lot of bustle."
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
