Alumni return for classes

Most people think their college experience ends once they graduate. It may surprise some that many alumni also attend courses through a variety of programs offered by the Alumni Council. All are open to alumni, parents, staff and friends of the University.

These unique courses are distinct from both the Continuing Education Program and the Community Auditing Program, which are run through the University and admit University employees and area residents to undergraduate and graduate courses.

One of the council programs, called "Alumni Colleges," provides graduates with the opportunity to travel with faculty members, delivering lectures along the way. Recent trips have included the Galapagos Islands, the Amazon, Florence and Rome.

"We are currently in the first year of an expansion of our travel program which will get us up to the level of 20 trips each year by 2008," Andrew Gossen '93, associate director for alumni education, said in an email. The trips have been offered since the mid-1970s.

The council also offers "Alumni Studies," designed to promote continual learning at home and on campus. Annually the program features two semester-long courses, led by a faculty member, on subjects ranging from animal behavior to American politics and the Supreme Court.

The Class of 1946 began the program a little more than a decade ago "as an educational opportunity for its members," but it is now open to all alumni, parents and friends of the University, said Christine Hollendonner, Council assistant for alumni education.

Participants receive a syllabus, reading materials, lectures on tape and access to an email discussion group. They can also come to campus to attend special lectures. The studies program has brought in as many as 300 participants per course, Gossen said.

The @Princeton courseware, which involves multimedia presentations of lectures and courses on subjects ranging from game theory to Nelson Mandela, is another key component of the overall alumni education effort at Princeton. Though developed in cooperation with the Alumni Council, this program is actually produced by the Educational Technologies Center, part of OIT's Academic Services group.

The availability of the @Princeton courses has attracted many young alumni to the program; in fact, roughly half of the 8,000 registrants graduated within the last 10 years, said Douglas Blair '71, director of the courseware.

Gossen said that, as of now, most participants in the Alumni Colleges and Alumni Studies programs are older or retired. But he said, "we're working hard to bring new and exciting opportunities to this loyal audience."

One possible destination for a future young alumni trip is Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail, he added.

"We're also making a concerted effort to develop programs that will appeal to alumni who might not have as much free time," he said.

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Hollendonner said most participants take the alumni courses for personal enrichment "because of a professor, of a subject they want to know more about."

She added that the "social aspect" and the possibility of coming back to campus might be additional reasons for their popularity.

Politics professor Robert George co-taught the Alumni Studies course on American politics and the Supreme Court with Wilson School professor Chris Eisgruber last fall.

"There is something special about teaching older students. They are completely undistracted by concerns about grades, career ambitions, extracurricular activities etc. They completely dedicate themselves to learning," George said in an email.

He added that they tend to express gratitude for the opportunity to take a Princeton course, while bringing to it their own talents.

"They bring to the learning process a richness of personal experience," George said.

In a letter to the Princeton Alumni Weekly in 2000, Walter Smedley III '66 wrote that Alumni Studies courses "really do afford a great way for alums to reconnect in a meaningful way with Princeton."

Hollendonner noted that parents taking Alumni Studies courses often do so in order to better understand their children's Princeton experience.

"Kids are thrilled that their parents should share this experience," she said.