A&S faculty offer Summer Session courses

Students can stay on track, get ahead or learn something new this summer during Cornell’s Summer Session, which will be held entirely online for the first time.

Students can earn up to 15 credits by taking regular Cornell courses taught online by university faculty. Courses are offered in three-, six- and eight-week sessions between June 1 and Aug. 4.

In addition to the regular roster of online courses offered each year by the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions (SCE), many courses traditionally held on or off campus during the summer will be converted to online programs.

These special offerings include Cornell in Washington’s Enduring Global and American Issues: How the Coronavirus Pandemic is Rewriting the Rules of America and the World (GOVT 3071), taught by David Silbey, CIW’s associate director; and Practicing Medicine: Health Care Culture and Careers, a three-credit course focusing on COVID-19’s impact on health care, taught by Sam Beck, senior lecturer in the College of Human Ecology.

The College of Arts & Sciences is also offering unique classes this summer, including What Makes us Human? An Existential Journey Amidst Crisis (GOVT 3686). The class, taught by Uriel Abulof, visiting associate professor of government, uses the pandemic to analyze collective humanity. 

Other Arts & Sciences courses include Body, Mind and Health: Historical Perspectives for Future Professionals (STS 1451), Physics III: Oscillations, Waves and Quantum Physics (PHYS 2214) and China and the World (ASIAN 3327).

SCE is working to identify and launch additional summer online courses – with guidance from the provost’s office and in collaboration with college academic units, the Center for Teaching Innovation and eCornell – to help ensure continuity of education for undergraduate and graduate students.

Other offerings include courses in anthropology, architecture, astronomy, biology, business, chemistry, communication, computer science, design, economics, engineering, English, government, hotel administration, law, mathematics, music, nutritional science, physics, psychology, statistics, technology and veterinary medicine. Courses will be added throughout the spring; students are encouraged to check the Summer Session online course roster frequently.

For registration deadlines, review the Summer Session academic calendar. Visit summer.cornell.edu to register.

Shelley Preston is the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions' communications and marketing specialist. Alisha Gupta, communications assistant for the College of Arts & Sciences, contributed to this story.

A version of this story also appeared in the Cornell Chronicle.