Faculty and students who participated in the University's inaugural January Term, held over the past two weeks from Jan. 3 to Jan. 14, deemed the program a success.
"I thought my class went very well," said Politics Prof. David A. Waldner, who taught a course on nation-building in Iraq. "I would give most of the credit to the students who were stunningly motivated and deeply disciplined. In fact, I suspect that if a course had been imbedded in a regular semester, we would not have been able to sustain such a concentration on the issues due to outside distractions."
Some January-term classes were offered far away from Grounds in locations such as New Mexico and Italy.
Other courses were specifically designed for the January Term in order to address new and timely topics.
Politics Prof. Larry J. Sabato, whotaught a class entitled Virginia Government and Politics, described the session as intense.
"The students were self-selected and frankly I had as good a class as ever," Sabato said. "They were all first-rate students and they wanted to be there, having given up two weeks of skiing in that time. Also, since they were only taking one course, they really stayed focused on the subject."
Sabato said he hopes the January Term program continues next year, but added that a faculty member or a student should only participate if he or she can devote their full attention to a class.
Other professors echoed Sabato's and Waldner's praise for the program, although English Prof. Peter Baker said the schedule leads to some minor problems.
"You are up against some practical constraints that are not related to the absolute number of hours you spend in the classroom," Baker said. "In an English course, there are real limits to what you can expect students to read, for example, in two weeks."
Baker also said the intensity of the program is quite exhausting.
"I dragged through the second half with a cold and it was difficult," he said. "When you're meeting a class four hours a day, missing a day of class is like missing a week and a half."
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