Professor Onorato is a professor of experimental aerodynamics and the director of the Center for Fluid Dynamics at the Politecnico di Trino. Some of his research topics include gas dynamics of explosions and high-powered lasers, industrial lasers, and complex 3-D flows. He is a noted speaker and teacher and is teaching gas dynamics in the College of Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. (Photo/Larry Harwood) Four of this year’s nine FIRST visitors are teaching in the current session that runs July 10–August 10: Michele Onorato, professor at the Politecnico di Torino, is teaching a course focused on high-speed aerodynamics, supersonic flows with shock waves, rocket nozzles, and explosion dynamics. The course is for advanced aerospace and mechanical engineering students. Beatrice Chevallier-Caseau, associate professor at the Université de Paris, Sorbonne, is teaching a course covering the history and culture of the end of antiquity and the rise of the Middle Ages. Daniel Compagnon, professor in the Institute of Politics at the Université de Bordeaux, is teaching a political science course that considers constitutional, political, and geographic factors in the development of public policy that affects the use of natural resources and management of the environment. Jean-Pierre Gorin, University of California-San Diego professor and French filmmaker, is offering a class exploring film at the intersections of art and culture.

The summer season brings a change of routine and Summer Session on our campus is no exception. This summer, students attending CU-Boulder have a range of terms, faculty and courses to choose from, including the opportunity to enroll in courses taught by nine distinguished visiting professors.

CU-Boulder faculty and department chairs nominate candidates for the FIRST program. According to Carol Drake, director of Summer Session, faculty often want to work with a particular colleague or are aware of a professor who can bring in needed expertise for students. Those nominations go to the Summer Session dean in each school and college, who is responsible for helping to manage the summer program and ensure that the curriculum is appropriate, as well as that it meets students’ needs.

The culled nominations are reviewed by Drake and Anne Heinz, dean of the Division of Continuing Education and Professional Studies and AVC for Summer Session. “We’re looking for faculty who can augment the courses taught by our own faculty. In some cases, they’re engaged in research with our faculty,” said Drake. “Or they are bringing in a skill set that we wouldn’t have available to our students in the summer.”

Visiting scholars receive office and administrative support from the college or school they are associated with. Housing is provided in Reed Hall, the Bear Creek Apartments, or, for scholars who bring their families, at Family Housing, or Bear Creek if the children are older. The faculty housing exchange is also an option.

In addition to teaching, many of the visiting faculty present public lectures or talks, mentor students, and participate in department colloquia. This summer Robert Cox, president of the Sierra Club board of directors, spoke to the Denver Press Club. The English department held a symposium with D. A. Miller, a pioneer in the study of literature dealing with gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender sexuality, about the movie Brokeback Mountain. U.S. Tax Court Judge Maurice Foley met with law students.

Summer Session provides students with a way to enrich their education, pursue a double degree, or accelerate the time it takes to earn a degree. The majority of faculty teaching the 500 summer courses is drawn from the CU-Boulder academic ranks. Of the 7,300 students attending Summer Session, 6,500 are regular, degree-seeking students.