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What Every President and Every Chief Academic Officer Should Know about College and University Summer Sessions—Redux
Authors:
Loy Lytle ,
Dean and Professor Emeritus
University of California, Santa Barbara, US
About Loy
Loy Lytle is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Dean Emeritus of Extended Learning Services and Summer Sessions at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a Past President of the North American Association of Summer Sessions and the Western Association of Summer Session Administrators, and the recipient of NAASS’s Honorary Life Member Award and past recipient of two Theresa Neil Research grants. Although retired from his administrative duties, he still conducts research, consults, presents, and writes on issues related to summer session administration, data collection and analysis, and program development.
William Kops
Professor, Extended Education
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, CA
About William
William Kops is a professor in Extended Education and the former director of Summer Session and General Studies at the University of Manitoba. He is a Past President of the North American Association of Summer Sessions and the Association of University Summer Sessions, and the recipient of NAASS’s Distinguished Service and Honorary Life Member Awards and the past recipient of three Theresa Neil Research grants. He teaches courses in adult and continuing education and his research interests are on issues related to higher education administration, continuing education for older adults, and self-directed learning.
Abstract
Using as a framework a paper titled “What Every President and Every Chief Academic Officer Should Know about College and University Summer Sessions”(based on a 1997 North American Association of Summer Sessions conference presentation by Ronald Wasserstein), we explore the extent to which research findings over the intervening 24 years support or question Wasserstein’s views. Topics include summer term organizational structures and administrative oversight, serving academic needs of students, instructional contributions and benefits of faculty, and the relationship of the summer term to the mission and goals of institutions. As well, we comment on Wasserstein’s arguments encouraging the alignment of the summer term with the rest of the academic year and recommending membership in professional associations to support the functions of nascent and established summer term offices. Finally, and understandably not part of Wasserstein’s discussion, we offer a perspective on the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic has affected and will affect the role of the summer term within universities and colleges.
How to Cite:
Lytle, L., & Kops, W. (2021). What Every President and Every Chief Academic Officer Should Know about College and University Summer Sessions—Redux. Summer Academe: A Journal of Higher Education, 14. DOI: http://doi.org/10.25894/sa.121
Published on
27 May 2021.
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