51st Exploration Term underway at BSC

For Immediate Release
Jan. 2, 2019

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—This month, students at Birmingham-Southern College are traveling the world, starting their own businesses, dabbling in stand-up comedy, tackling internships, and digging into research. It’s all part of Exploration Term, which started Jan. 3.

E-Term, as the one-month mini-semester is called, is one of the most innovative features of BSC’s academic program. Rather than carry a full course load, students choose a single credit-bearing “project,” which can include independent research, advancing their career goals through job shadowing, working, and interning; study away and service-learning experiences, or a wide range of courses on campus. Many faculty members use E-Term courses to present a new take on old information or explore areas of interest outside of their main areas of focus.

This January, the list of more than 50 projects offered on campus include “Blue Gold: The Science and History of Water;” “The Bombingham Project: Research in Motivated Bombings;” and “Senior Capstone in Business,” which pits students against each other to run their own companies, to name just a few. You can see the entire E-Term catalog here.

Many of the college’s graduates often report that E-Term was one of their favorite experiences on the Hilltop. Chattanooga resident Laurie Ziegler ’87 said a January term experience interning for a pediatrician helped her decide to specialize in pediatrics after pharmacy school; she spent the first eight or nine years of her careers in pediatrics.

“Now I work in long-term care in Chattanooga, so I’m working with patients on the other end of the spectrum. I still enjoy what I do, taking care of patients every day who are in a fairly vulnerable group. BSC taught me to broaden my horizons and see how other people live, and to find my place in society to help out folks,” Ziegler said.

Some of the most exciting E-Term offerings are faculty travel projects, where BSC students and faculty fan out across the country and the world—gathering knowledge or providing service. They are teaching English to schoolchildren in Uganda, studying human rights and conflict in Ireland, and exploring community sustainability in Costa Rica.

“Exploration Term gives our students possibilities that wouldn’t be available to them during the regular semester, including international travel, an intensive research project, or pre-professional internship for academic credit,” said Katie Kauffman ’03, director of Exploration Term and Contract Learning at BSC. “This year, we have more than 100 students traveling internationally, and approximately 170 students pursuing independent fields of study such as internships or intensive research.”

Students will also participate in a variety of E-Term activities on campus including martial arts, cooking workshops, movies, and guest speakers.