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Alums Look Forward to Back-to-Class

Some of the titles are irresistible, such as “The Milky Way Is a Cow Path: Science in the Poetry of Robert Frost.” Apparently, America’s premiere poet of the bucolic scene considered the principles of thermodynamics as well as the road not taken. Or how about, “No Prior Experience Necessary: Bungee Jumping Into Direct Sales.” Who knew that selling lip butter in other people’s living rooms could be fun and earn you $100,000?

These classes and thirty-nine truly varied others were on the slate of this year’s Back-to-Class program, organized by the Alumnae Association both Reunion weekends. Maya D’Costa, associate director of campus programs, has tackled the project for the last nine of its ten-year history. She pointed out that, since its inception in 1998, Back-to-Class has swelled from five offerings and 180 alumnae to thirty classes with nearly 800 alums filling up seats last year.

“As the program has grown, we have been getting a good response,” D’Costa said of both lecturers and attendees. “We try to include [relevant] classes as times change and needs change.”

Back-to-Class was developed in response to a push from alumnae interested in adding an academic feature to Reunion, remembers Karol Cooper, the former director of classes and reunions who organized the program its first year. That year, all instructors were faculty members or college staffers. In 2000, alumnae presented six of the sixteen sessions and received rave reviews, said D’Costa. Attendance levels jumped 86 percent. Inviting seniors and their guests in 2001 further increased attendance to almost 800 participants.

One of the most popular classes, offered regularly, is Vincent Ferraro’s session on American foreign policy and world affairs. The MHC professor of politics and international relations finds his adult learners engaging. “I truly enjoy the back-to-class experience,” says Ferraro. “My lectures are similar to those I give in class, but I can always assume that the alumnae will have a deeper historical memory and a better sense of contemporary events. Alumnae bring a wealth of information and a willingness to ask questions, which makes for lively and interesting conversations.”

Offerings for both technical newbies (Internet for Beginners) and tech-savvy alumnae (Video 101: The Basics of iMovie) were available this year. For the first time, a full-day class in Spanish immersion was organized, as well as a Saturday session for kids, and a tour of the Art Museum.

Back-to-Class owes its success to numerous individuals, but there is one group without which the program would fall flat. Notes Ferraro, “Every alumna carries with her an insatiable thirst for education. The intellectual excitement I experience when I interact with alumnae is delightful and profoundly substantive.”—M.H.B.

Photo of curator Wendy Watson giving a behind-the-scenes tour of the MHC Art Museum by Ben Barnhart