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Summer High School Program
Ave Maria University is excited to host its 4th annual High School Summer Program this July 2009. The summer program is designed for students entering their junior and senior years of high school who wish to experience the dynamic balance of life and academics at the college level.
Course Offerings and Descriptions Week One: July 12-17, 2009 Week Two: July 19-24, 2009
•· Biology
•· C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien: Myth, Magic and Miracles
•· Drama Program
•· The Classical Tradition and the Moral Life
•· The Theology of John Paul II & The Theology of the Body
•· Biology
•· Drama Program
•· Latin Immersion Program
•· The Theology of John Paul II & The Theology of the Body
•· Cubes and Crashes: The Mathematics of Fun and Profit (or Loss)
What is offered? A weeklong opportunity to experience the dynamic social and spiritual life of Ave Maria University, combined with an array of academic programs to appeal to a variety of academic interests (see course titles and descriptions below).
Who is invited? High School students entering their junior or senior year.
When are the sessions? There are two separate weeklong sessions.
Week One: July 12-17, 2009
Week Two: July 19-24, 2009
Where is it held? Ave Maria University's beautiful, state-of-the-art campus in Ave Maria, FL. Ave Maria is located in Southwest Florida, 20 miles east of Naples.
What does it cost? $500 for the weeklong session (includes tuition, room, board, and all activities), $900 for two weeks.
There is also a Youth Conference that will be held 17-19th on campus. Participants in the High School Summer Program are welcome either to stay through the weekend if they attend the first session or arrive early if they attend the the second session. We offer a discounted cost of $40 for High School Summer Program students who would like to attend the Youth Conference.
Any questions? Please contact Michael Williams at the Ave Maria University Office of Admissions: (239) 280-2552 or michael.williams@avemaria.edu.
Course Information and Instructor Biographies
Ave Maria University offers two week-long sessions of its high school summer program. Participants attend only one course per session. If an applicant is interested in multiple course offerings, he may choose to attend both weekly sessions and participate in a different course each week.
The Classical Tradition and the Moral Life
Modeled after the Witherspoon Institute program offered annually at Princeton University and taught by the same faculty, this course focuses on the integration of classical Western thought and Christian moral principles. Students will carefully examine some of Plato's most important dialogues and seek to understand how this giant of Western thought provided the philosophical and moral basis for the Christian tradition that followed him. The second course component focuses on the relationship between faith and reason, and seeks to apply an understanding of the Christian intellectual tradition to pressing moral issues in contemporary life including science, bioethics, sex and marriage.
Course Instructors:
Dr. Michael Sugrue is Professor of History at Ave Maria University. He earned his B.A. from The University of Chicago and his M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D from Columbia University. Before coming to Ave Maria, Professor Sugrue taught history, philosophy, religion, literature and politics at Princeton University. In his ten years at Princeton, Dr. Sugrue was a member of the Council for the Humanities and the department of politics. Dr. Sugrue has also taught at Johns Hopkins and Columbia.
Dr. Seana Sugrue is Associate Professor of Politics and Chairman of the Department of Politics at Ave Maria University. Dr. Sugrue holds the degrees of B.B.A. from Bishop's University, LL.B. from the University of Ottawa, and both LL.M. and D.C.L. from McGill University. She came to Ave Maria University from Princeton University, where she was the Associate Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. Her research interests include civil liberties and constitutional governance, the role of law in the formation of a just society, civic institutions such as the family, and pro-life concerns.
Required Reading: Click here for required reading list
Students should carefully read and bring with them the following works:
Plato: Apology; Crito; Euthyphro; Meno; Phaedo
J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: Myth, Magic and Miracles
This course focuses on the common themes of myth, magic and miracles in the writings of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.
Best known today for his fiction, Lewis also produced a large body of nonfiction work, engaging both the imagination and the intellect in defense of traditional Christianity. Students will examine Miracles, Lewis' brilliant argument for the necessity of affirming the existence of God and the compelling reasonability of accepting Jesus Christ for what he claimed to be.
In their study of J.R.R. Tolkien, students will examine his life and his philosophy of myth in order to understand the Catholic influence on Tolkien's seminal work The Lord of the Rings. They will then study the work itself, unlocking the layers of religious applicability that emerge from the story.
Course Instructors:
Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., Th.D., is Professor of Theology and theologian in residence Ave Maria University. He holds the degrees of B.A. and M.A. from Gonzaga University; M.A. from the Fourvière Jesuit Faculty of Theology in Lyons, France; and Th.D. from the University of Regensburg in Germany. He is the Founder and Editor of Ignatius Press. Fr. Fessio wrote his dissertation on the ecclesiology of Hans Urs von Balthasar under the direction of Pope Benedict XVI (then Professor Joseph Ratzinger).
Professor Joseph Pearce is Associate Professor of Literature and writer in residence at Ave Maria University. He previously taught at Ave Maria College in Michigan. Mr. Pearce has published numerous books on the great Christian intellectuals including J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Hilaire Belloc, G.K. Chesterton, and Oscar Wilde, to name but a few. He lectures widely around the United States and Europe. He is the Co-Editor of the St. Austin Review and the Editor-in-Chief of Sapientia Press.
Required Reading:
Students should carefully read and bring with them the following works:
C.S. Lewis: Miracles
J.R.R. Tolkien: Tree and Leaf; The Lord of the Rings
DRAMA PROGRAM
This course is designed for students with all levels of experience - from those trying drama for the first time to those with extensive theatrical experience. Students will explore basic acting theory, musical theater, contemporary theater, Shakespeare, fencing, and more. The week will finish with a small showcase of scenes and monologues that each student will work on throughout the week.
Biology
Bacterial Friends and Enemies
Natural and synthetic discovery of new antibiotics
In the 2008 Summer Science Week, students will take a hands-on look at the world of the bacteria and antibiotics. In the lab students will sample the tremendous diversity of bacteria living on and around us. The small sub-set of these bacteria that cause disease are a serious problem, and these bacteria are most commonly treated with antibiotics. In this summer program students will attempt to discover new antibiotics using natural and synthetic approaches.
Instructors
The labs in the summer science week are taught by professors from the Department of Biology and Chemistry at Ave Maria University.
Dr. Paula Castagnet studies the metabolism of polyunsaturated lipids in the retina and the brain. She teaches courses in pharmacology and general biology.
Dr. Stephen Cronin has studied plant viruses and the cell biology of yeast and teaches genetics and microbiology.
Dr. Ernesto Quintero's research interests include the production of bioactive metabolites such as antibiotics by marine bacteria and estuarine microbial.
Dr. James Peliska's research interests include the study of the mechanisms of mutation generation in organisms leading to the development of drug resistance and the characterization of novel HIV reverse transcriptase inhibitors.
Format:
Students will spend 4 hours a day in the lab and take a guided field trip to explore the wildlife of Southwest Florida.
Tentative Schedule:
Monday The bacteria around us
Tuesday The perplexing problem of antibiotic resistance
Wednesday How bacteria spread resistance to their neighbors
Thursday Searching for antibiotics in nature
Friday Discovery of antibiotics with synthetic chemistry
LATIN IMMERSION PROGRAM
Experience Latin in this one-week immersion program. Begin to speak, to read, to write, to sing and to pray the perennial language. There will be sessions for true beginners as well as intermediate students. The focus will be primarily on learning conversationally, with memorization of formulae to promote conversation and learning by association of actions and words. Co-curricular activities will include music sessions, common meals with instructors and students, and performances of skits.
Course Instructors:
Bradley Ritter, Ph.D., is assistant professor of classics and early Christian literature. He has taught at both Temple University and Johns Hopkins University. He is currently at work on a manuscript entitled Civic Integration of Jews in the Greek Cities of the Roman Empire. His main research interests are the Jewish Diaspora in the Greek and Roman worlds, Hellenistic and early Roman imperial history. He received his M.A. in Latin and Ph.D. in Classics from the University of California, Berkeley.
Required Reading:
Lingua Latina, Pars Prima: Familia Romana
The Theology of Pope John Paul II & THEOLOGY OF THE BODY
This course will feature an overview of the vast theological works produced by the late Pope John Paul II/Karol Wojtyla, with a special emphasis on the idea of vocation in the Holy Father's work. Students will explore the theology of the body, consecrated life and marriage in the context of John Paul II's theology.
Course Instructors:
Michael Waldstein, Ph.D. is the Max Seckler Professor of Theology. He previously served as founding president of the International Theological Institute in Gaming, Austria, and was the St. Francis of Assisi Professor of New Testament there. He is a member of the Pontifical Council for the Family and is a Distinguished Fellow of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He holds the degrees of B.A. from Thomas Aquinas College in California, Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Dallas, S.S.L. from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, and a Th.D. in New Testament from Harvard Divinity School. His published works include his definitive translation of John Paul II's Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body, "The Common Good in St. Thomas and John Paul II" (Nova et Vetera), and "Dietrich von Hildebrand and St. Thomas Aquinas on Goodness and Happiness" (Nova et Vetera).
Dr. Daniel Dentino is Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at Ave Maria University. Dr. Dentino holds a B.A. from Franciscan University of Steubenville and an M. A. in Religious Studies from Providence College, and a Ph.D/M.B.D. in Systematic Theology from Duquesne University. The subject of Dr. Dentino's dissertation was on the Christian Anthropology of Theology of the Body of Pope John Paul II. Dr. Dentino teaches Sacred Scripture and the Theology of Pope John Paul II at Ave Maria University.
Cubes and Crashes: The Mathematics of Fun and Profit (or Loss)
Cubes with Dr. Jorge Calvo. A standard 3x3x3 Rubik’s Cube has 6 sides each of which has 9 colored stickers. By turning 21 moving pieces, these 54 surfaces can be rearranged into more than 43 quintillion possible configurations. Allowing a second for each turn, it would take 1 400 trillion years to go through all of these configurations. However, using a little mathematics, we can find our way to the ONE solution in considerably less time.
Crashes with Dr. Michael Marsalli. Did Wall Street's "rocket scientists" and their complicated mathematical models cause the recent market turmoil? What is a credit default swap anyway? This session will be a gentle introduction to some of the basic mathematical ideas in financial engineering: interest, leverage, present and future value, forward contracts, futures, and options. A knowledge of intermediate algebra, exponents, and graphing would be helpful.
Course Instructors:
Dr. Calvo's greatest achievement was solving the Rubik's Cube on national TV in just over one minute, thereby becoming the unofficial Rubik's Cube Champion of Costa Rica at the age of ten. People in his home town of Moravia still stop him in the street and say, "Jorge, I remember when you were a little kid and you did that thing with the cube on TV." He earned his S.B. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). He taught at Williams College and North Dakota State Univeristy (NDSU) before joining the faculty at Ave Maria University in 2004. He has written several articles and edited two volumes on geometric knot theory, and was the 2003 recipient of the NDSU College of Science and Mathematics Award for Excellence in Teaching. But nobody wants to talk about that. It's Rubik's Cube this and Rubik's Cube that. Nevertheless, Dr. Calvo is not bitter.
Dr. Michael Marsalli is Professor of Mathematics and Chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Physics. He previously taught at Illinois State University and Ave Maria College in Michigan. He specializes in operator algebras. He is also interested in fostering an adequate understanding of mathematics as a liberal art integrated within the broader curriculum. Dr. Marsalli holds the degrees of A.B. from the University of Chicago and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.