The College Voice

Mercer will be offering classes over the winter break for the first time this December and January. Almost 30 courses will be offered, both on campus and online, giving students a way to brush up on core skills or accelerate their path to a degree by fitting in a few extra credits. Students from other colleges may also use the opportunity to take classes while on holiday break.

The new winter session will offer two different varieties of classes. First there are three-week courses that will be offered from January 4, 2010 to January 22, 2010. These classes will meet three or four days a week. The second kind of classes will be offered online through Mercer's Virtual College. These courses will be six weeks long, beginning December 21, 2009 and running until February 1, 2010. Although not every course will be available during the new session, the college believes it will be beneficial to students and the public.

"Mercer was one of three community colleges in the state of New Jersey that did not have a winter session. We believe we are providing a need," said Dr. Donald Generals, Vice President for Academic Affairs at Mercer.

The new winter session will mark the first time in Mercer's history that classes will be held during the winter break. Registration for both sessions began on October 26, and initial interest has been high.

"There was interest and based on early enrollment, that interest continues. Two classes filled after the second day of early registration. We are adding new sections after the first week of early registration," said Generals.

Josh Onoroti, a sophomore business major at Mercer, plans to take a class during the winter session. "I have to take Macroeconomics for my major and the winter session is convenient because I can get the class over with in less than a month," he says.

The college is also hoping that non-Mercer students who want to get ahead or catch up during their winter break from another college will sign up. "We have advertised the session to the public and Mercer students," said Savita Bambhrolia, Director of Admissions and Outreach at Mercer.

Sam Kelly, a student at Delaware Valley College, said she may take advantage of the winter session at Mercer. "I might have to because I have way too many science class requirements so I just don't have time for the other stuff," she said.

While the winter session offers students more options than they previously had, it is not necessarily helpful to all students because the options of courses to take are still limited.

Since Mercer offers courses in over 60 different disciplines, the largest of which, Information Systems Technology (IST), itself contains over 30 different courses, the courses being offered over the winter represent only a small portion of what is available in the fall and spring.

"The problem for me is that none of the courses I need to take are being offered [during the winter session]," says Brendan Belluscio, a first-year politics major who transferred to Mercer from Wake Forest.

The decisions of which classes would be offered in each of the disciplines were made by their respective deans, according to Generals. "[Their] decision was based on their view of high demand courses and courses that were adaptable to a short term," he said.

In order to fulfill the course requirements, students must complete the same amount of course work as during a typical 15 week semester, but in less than half the time. "The courses will contain the same information; and students will be expected to meet the same academic standards," said Generals.

In order to do this, students will need to spend more time in class each week. "Similar to the summer sessions, the time will be condensed. For example, the average 3 credit course will require class attendance for four days a week and three and a half hours each day," Generals said.

The Arts and Communications Division, the Business and Technology Division, the Science and Health Professions Division, and the Liberal Arts Division are all offering courses on the West Windsor Campus during the winter session. Three courses are available on the James Kerney campus. They include English Brush-Up (ENG 036) which is designed for strong students who narrowly failed ENG 034 or ENG 024 in the fall semester, African American History (HIS 109), and Tech Studio (IST 033).

A complete list of courses available during the winter session and their prerequisites is available on Mercer's website.

The deadline to register for on-campus classes is December 23 in-person and January 4 online. The deadline to register for online classes is December 21 both in-person and online. Any changes to the list will be viewable on Mercer's website.

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