Summer is a great time for getting together, especially after the isolation many people experienced over the past several months.  Just as many of you are now getting ready to reconnect with friends and family you haven’t seen in a while, so too the college is preparing to return to in-person activities.  We will update you as to what that means for our locations as we get new guidance from the state and SUNY.  For now, we want to highlight some of the ways that you can interact with your classmates in person and virtually in your fall classes:

Study Groups are instructor-led courses that include regular in-person meetings with students, with topics ranging from Creative Writing and Data Analytics to Crisis Intervention and Accounting.  The groups typically meet every two weeks or so at our locations in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queensbury, Rochester, Saratoga Springs, Selden, and Staten Island.  You can find out more at the Study Groups Webpage.

If you would like in-person interactions, but can’t commit to biweekly meetings, we also have a residency mode of study that combines an online or independent component with periodic meetings. Two onsite residencies in October, the Adirondack Environmental Studies Residency, and the Revolutionary War Residency provide face-to- face opportunities with faculty and staff.  The college also has two virtual residencies that blend online learning and virtual classroom meetings: Saturday Residency and the Whole Health Living Residency.  You can find out more at the Residency webpage.

Finally, the recently added course COVID-19: Crisis and Resilience provides an opportunity to collaborate with other students by discussing and researching aspects of the pandemic.  This course takes a multidisciplinary approach to the various dimensions of our Covid-19 Pandemic experience from the viewpoint of an individual or community. In this course you are invited to reflect on and generate a response to the pandemic, either from an academic/research lens or through artistic expression. You can find out more by searching the term guide at www.esc.edu/register.  The course is listed as INMS 3996 Special Topics in INMS: COVID-19 Crisis and Resilience and is available in 2 and 4 credit options.

We hope to see you this fall!