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Professors excited for new classes

The start of a new school year means the start of a new course load.

Registering for classes can be difficult when you’re not sure what to take.

Fortunately, MCCC strives for success for its students by expanding departments with topical and relevant courses.

New classes are offered each year and this fall is no exception.

New to the English department is Intro to Jacobean and Elizabe- than Drama. The class, taught by Professor William McCloskey, is some- what of an advanced course for students who have taken Intro to Shakespeare. Students get the chance to study some of Shakespeare’s less popular works, including Titus Adronicus, Twelfth Night, and Measure for Measure.

“I am really excited about this course because it will not only give students a chance to read some different Shakespeare plays, it will also put these plays in a literary context with earlier and later dramatists,” said McCloskey. “If you like to read plays that ‘made a difference in literature’, this is the course for you.”

The Engineering Technology Division is offering several new courses in the fall. The classes are scheduled in the new Career Tech- nology Center, which was built in an effort to expand the division.

“Our courses in the Tech build- ing are directly related to high- demand, high-wage, high-skill occupations,” said Cameron Albring, administrative assistant to the dean of Industrial Technology.

The division plans to roll out a new Automotive Services program with its first class being offered this fall. The program is a result of the growing demand for jobs in this field as well as the wages of positions, Albring said.

Automotive Repair and Maintenance posi- tions, for example, have an annual mean wage of $35,930, according to BLS.gov.  The class, Introduction to Automotive Services, will cover shop procedures and safety require- ments. Major automotive systems, accessing service and vehicle in- formation, and state and federal certification requirements are all discussed as well.

The IT division will also offer Introduction to Non-Destructive Testing. The course introduces students to the basic concepts of inspection methods in the NDT field. New opportunities also are be- ing offered in the Biology department. Environmental Science has been taught in the past at MCCC, but has expanded thanks to a new lab that will feature hands-on experiments. The class is taught by Biology professor Tracy Rayl, and it discusses major environmental issues, including climate change, resource management and deple- tion, and pollution. 

“Everything in nature is con- nected,” Rayl said. “Everything we do in our daily lives is influ- encing the world around us and this Environmental Science class helps us realize that.”

The class also features new experiments, where students examine local toxicity in the com- munity, study predator/prey relationships, and record local population data.

“Everyone has experiences they can bring to the classroom,” Rayl said “That makes for a really nice learning environment.”

The new Michigan Transfer Agreement will soon begin to require two science classes and one lab; Environmental Science will now satisfy those requirements.

“I really believe every student at the college should take Environ- mental Science,” Rayl said.

Full descriptions and dates & times of classes can be found in each semester’s class catalog. Catalogs are distributed throughout the campus and can also be found online at www.monroeccc.edu. For more information on how to register for classes, speak with a counselor in the Administrative building.