Wesleyan Joins Connecticut Universities in Offering Fast-Pace, High-Demand Winter Courses

Wesleyan is among universities offering students a chance to ramp up their learning between semesters by taking an intensive, "immersion" course in January.

Wesleyan University's winter session allows full class completion during eight five-hour days during the January vacation in Middletown. 

Classes are very small and offer an intimate learning environment with students and teachers. "These intensive courses provide opportunities for new insights as students engage with topics in a truly different format," according to the website.

Wesleyan's Student Assembly urged the faculty last October to support the winter session and to acknowledge the difficulty some have in enrolling in "high-demand" course during the fall and spring semesters, the needs of some who stay on campus during the January break, and others who work full time.

"From the all-student survey: 88.98 percent of students surveyed support the creation of a Winter Session," according to the WSA. 

"Course offerings could include popular gateway courses; off-site field-based courses; and once-in-a-lifetime courses co-taught by Wesleyan faculty and prominent experts in emerging fields, distinguished writers, filmmakers, leaders in the non-profit and political sectors, activists, and journalists."

The session is also encouraged for those who hope to graduate college in three years or who plan an upcoming session with a lighter work load.

Wesleyan classes which begin Jan. 8 are:

• Graphic Novel
• U.S. Foreign Policy
• Applied Data Analysis
• Introduction to Programming
• (Canceled) Sex, Drugs & Shopping: Scenes of Consumption in Post-War American Fiction

The University of Connecticut and Western Connecticut State University offer similar programs, according to The Republic.