New York City and Arizona are just two of the locations students can study off campus this coming Mayterm. The Art and Business Mayterm that will be held in New York City, has created a lot of buzz within these two departments. Kenneth Bates, professor of Business, and Ryann Cooley, professor of Art and Communications, said this Mayterm opportunity allows both of these majors to bring different perspectives to the trip and overlap both the art and business worlds. “New York City is the epicenter of both the business and art worlds. There is no place like it,” said Cooley.
While in New York City, students will be studying about the history of the city, visiting museums, the Federal Reserve, and the stock exchange in addition to having a shadowing experience based on the interest of students. “In February when we figure out who is going, we are going to send out an email to the students to see what their interests are,” said Cooley. “From there, we’ll put them in a two day long shadowing experience so they can see what it is like to work in the art business”
This trip is different from past art Mayterms that have been focused on art history, photography, or drawing and does not meet Integrative Studies requirements; it is a business, art, or communications elective. Senior art and English major, Amanda Irwin is interested in the opportunities that will come with this Mayterm experience and said, “I want to see people in the field that I want to go into. I’ve heard a lot of people talk about it from the art side, and it’s really exciting.”
Sign-ups for the art and business Mayterm have already begun for business, art, and communication seniors. Sign-ups for juniors will open on Tuesday, Nov. 18th and Cooley suspects the course will fill fast. “We want to blend the two majors. There are 18 spots open; nine for business and nine for art,” said Cooley. Since there are only nine spots for art majors, Irwin said, “I’m kind of concerned that I won’t get in. I’m a visual studies concentration and I feel like we don’t have as many opportunities that studio majors have. I’m worried about it.” However, Cooley Said, “We plan on having two or three Mayterms, and then hopefully making the course into a semester long program.”
Along with the new Art and Business Mayterm is the Ornithology Mayterm, the study of birds, heading to Arizona. Eli Knapp, professor of biology and intercultural studies, stared Ornithology Mayterms in 2010 and has since then taken students to the Ozark Mountains, Ecuador, Maine, and all over Western New York. Unlike the art and business Mayterm, the Ornithology course satisfies an Integrative Studies requirement for non-biology majors.
Knapp came up with the idea of traveling off campus to explore the field of ornithology after numerous camping trips during the early years that this program was forming. “People loved the overnight trip. Everyone’s realness came out,” said Knapp. As a result, past years’ ornithology trips involve students spending two weeks on campus studying birds in Western, New York and then going into certain regions around the United States and the world to explore different birds in depth.
Senior biology major, Alan Vlieg, a 2012 veteran of the ornithology trip that traveled to Ecuador said the trip was exciting. “The trip is focusing on experiential learning and is more classification heavy,” said Vlieg. Additionally, Knapp said that is why he thinks this course is so popular. “It is heavily field based. It’s May. The flowers are out. The birds are mating. It’s a time for the white lab coats to be left hanging inside,” said Knapp.
Both Cooley and Knapp said these courses will be learning experiences for both students and faculty. “This course is still a work in progress. We’re still developing exactly what is going to happen on the trip,” said Cooley. In addition to Cooley and Bates experiencing a new course in New York City, Knapp is also looking forward to exploring the American southwest with students. Knapp said, “It’s the blind leading the blind, a co-learning experience really.”
Knapp also said one of his favorite parts of any off campus trip is when, “The class switches from being a class to being a little family. You grow and share experiences with people that you travel off campus with and no one else besides those in your group have the same memories that you do.”