Summer at URock

Rockland, Maine - Folks outside higher education often wonder what happens at a college in the summertime. Unlike elementary and secondary schools, the university schedule runs 12 months per year. This summer just under 250 individuals are enrolled at University College at Rockland, a distance education center of the University of Maine System. These students are a mix of some of the 600 students enrolled from the spring term as well as many students "from away" who live and work in Maine in the summer and who need to pick up some additional college credits.

URock's summer course schedule includes over 600 classes from the 7 campuses of the University of Maine System delivered face-to-face, via interactive television, through videoconferencing or online. The type of students and the courses they take are varied. For instance, this summer many teachers are taking summer courses for recertification from University of Maine at Machias or the University of Maine at Presque Isle; UMA mental health and human service students are working in mid-coast summer internship placements getting real world experience; several English students are taking an online literature course called, "Summer Reading List", a self-designed, self-paced reading intensive course in which students tackle the literary classics they've always wanted to read.

Just a few weeks ago 53 URock students took a bus trip to Boston enjoying exhibits at the Museum of Science and the Aquarium as well as other city attractions. This week a class of 13 UMA students enrolled in a watercolor painting class took a day trip to the Farnsworth Art Museum to enjoy the new exhibit, "Impressionist Summers: Frank W. Benson's North Haven"; on Tuesday, 43 URock students attended the extraordinary HD production of "The Tempest" at Rockland's Strand; and, two students from a course in Professional Writing published articles in the first issue of The Scene, the new magazine of Courier Publications. URock students have many opportunities both in and outside the classroom.

Each day URock academic advisors meet with potential new students and guide them through program choices, the enrollment process and financial aid as they prepare to start college. Returning students are still registering for courses that meet academic program requirements. URock seems on target to serve another 600 university students this fall.

For more information about University College at Rockland programs and services contact them by phone at 800-286-1594 or visit the website at www.learn.maine.edu/rockland.