Piles

Today is the deadline for butchers and bakers and candlestick-makers to submit course proposals to teach in the Fall 2011 semester through the ExCollege. It’s an exciting time here, as we get to peruse the interesting courses that folks are proposing to teach. Piles of mail and regular walk-ins produce proposals about everything from acoustical architecture to branding and identity to cultural communication. And that’s just the As, Bs, and Cs! As our office staff scrambles to process all of the applications, we prepare to send out requests for letters of recommendation and then reviews by Tufts faculty members. If proposals make it through that, it’s on to interviews with a Tufts faculty member and two students. And then finally, the ExCollege board will make selections for the fall offerings. The application count isn’t final yet, but looking at the piles we’re processing, I’d say we’ll top 100 proposals again. So narrowing it down to 22 or 23 final selections isn’t easy or fast. But it IS exciting.