Eight out of nine submitted Justice Brandeis Semester proposals for summer 2010 were approved by last Thursday by Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe. The approved programs are "Beacon Hill Summer," proposed by Profs. Eileen McNamara (JOUR) and Maura Jane Farrelly (AMST); "Collaborative Theater and the Theatrical Essay," proposed by Prof. Adrianne Krstansky (THA); "Ethnographic Fieldwork," proposed by Prof. Elizabeth Ferry (ANTH); "Health and Society Field Semester," proposed by Prof. Peter Conrad (SOC); "Pathologies of Criminal Law: Restoring Justice," proposed by Profs. Richard Gaskins (AMST) and Melissa Stimell (LGLS); and "Understanding the American Jewish Community," proposed by Prof. Len Saxe (Heller), "Web Services, Mobile Apps, and Cloud Computing," submitted by Prof. Tim Hickey (COSI), and "Environmental Health and Justice," submitted by Prof. Laura Goldin (AMST), were also approved.

"Conflict Resolution and Ethics in the Real World," proposed by Gaskins and Student Union President Andy Hogan '11, was withdrawn because it could be provided more easily in the fall than in the summer, according to Gaskins.

"After the approvals, I spoke with the dean, and I decided that for reasons of resources that we could provide it more easily in the fall than in the summer of 2010," Gaskins said. He explained that the cooperation of faculty members from the Legal Studies; Philosophy; and Health: Science, Society and Policy programs required for the proposal will be easier to coordinate in the fall.

"Science in Social Perspective and in Practice," proposed by Profs. Christine Thomas (CHEM) and Jeffery Agar (CHEM), was not submitted to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee for approval, Jaffe said. The proposal aims to provide a social and business perspective on science, according to an informational document provided to the Justice by Agar.

"My understanding is that our proposal was by far the most expensive of the JBS proposals and was cost prohibitive," wrote Agar in an e-mail to the Justice.

He added that changes are being made to the proposal so that it can be resubmitted.

"The key will be incorporating this JBS into the chemistry curriculum. If this were accomplished our proposal would be cost neutral or at least less expensive," Agar wrote.

All nine JBS programs were conditionally approved by the UCC last week.

Jaffe said that while the UCC approved the programs on curriculum grounds, he looked at the budget requirements of each proposal.

"I am thrilled excited about moving forward," Goldin said. She added that she will be working with JBS Manager Alyssa Grinberg, Hogan and others on getting the word out to students about her program.

Hickey said three new courses, that are parts of his JBS proposal have yet to be submitted to the Science Council for approval but that he expects that they will be approved. He added that up to five students have expressed interest in his program so far.

The Early Decision and Regular Decision deadlines for the summer JBS programs are Jan. 29 and March 15, respectively, according to the JBS Web site. The programs will begin June 1, as indicated on the Web site.

Grinberg said that the application for the JBS programs will be similar to that of the Study Abroad program at Brandeis in that it will require an essay, a recommendation from a faculty member and supplementary materials.

Jaffe said that the summer proposals will be taught by faculty who are "getting paid extra for it, and some of them are doing it instead of doing teaching they would do in some time over spring or fall."

He declined to give further details.



-Miranda Neubauer contributed reporting.