Mini Courses range from practical to unconventional

Registration is open for this summer’s Wisconsin Union Mini Courses. Most of the courses begin the week of June 20.

The self-supporting program, sponsored by the Wisconsin Union Directorate, began in 1972 with 22 courses and an enrollment of 122 people, says Jay Ekleberry, student services program manager for the Memorial Union. Today, about 120 different course sections are available each term, with five terms offered each year (summer, fall I, fall II, winter and spring). Because students comprise about 50 percent of mini course enrollment, the classes are scheduled around the university’s course schedule. The program averages 6,300 participants each year.

“Mini Courses is perhaps the most eclectic noncredit program in southern Wisconsin,” says Ekleberry, “with courses from the highly practical, like Basic Investments, to the just plain fun, like our new water-skiing course this summer. The most popular courses change, as does the program, with the desires and needs of the university community.”

Ekleberry cites woodworking, yoga, jewelry-making, calligraphy, salsa dance and travel courses as the most popular.

Mini Courses are open to students, Wisconsin Union members and UW–Madison faculty and staff (including UW Hospital employees).

Pre-registration in the courses is required and is accepted up to the day the course begins. More details and registration information are available online at http://www.union.wisc.edu/minicourses. You also can register by phone at 262-3156, by mail at 800 Langdon St., or in person from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday in Room 509 of the Memorial Union.

Emily Walther (right front) and Erin Hoffman (center), both age 7, and others in a Wisconsin Union Mini Course called Exploring Pottery, build art projects out of clay and make bowls on pottery wheels. The class, lead by MFA graduate student Rachel Dorn (right rear), is designed to give parents and children a chance to learn about and experiment with clay. Courses are open to any UW–Madison employee, student or Wisconsin Union member. (Photo: Michael Forster Rothbart)

Sabi Attiyeh (right), executive chef and owner of the Casbah restaurant, leads a course in Mediterranean cooking, demonstrating preparation of a six-course meal, which the class promptly devours. Undergraduate student Molly Mroch (center) gave the class as a holiday gift to her father, David Mroch (left) who has passed on the favor by cooking at home some of the Mediterranean meals he learned. “Madison has been a good community for first-generation immigrants like me,” Attiyeh says, “so I like to give back to my community by teaching about my culture.” In June, he will lead a one-day “vegetarranean” (vegetarian Mediterranean) class in which he and the students will buy fresh produce at the farmer’s market, then return to the Casbah to cook it. (Photo: Michael Forster Rothbart)

Undergraduate students Tom Chia (front) and Lisa Jackson (rear) practice rescue breathing and CPR skills as part of a daylong First Aid-CPR certification class. Jackson took the class for her elementary education teacher certification health minor. (Photo: Michael Forster Rothbart)