Summer at Franklin gives students and members of the local community the opportunity to explore new subjects and meet respected guest faculty from across the globe – not to mention the option to embark on a number of special Academic Travel courses taking students to different destinations around the world.

Among its 2016 Summer Faculty Fellows for Summer Session 1 (June 6-30), Franklin is honored to welcome Les Guthman, an American director, writer and executive producer who has brought science, exploration, adventure and environmental issues to screens of all sizes for over 25 years.

Guthman has the distinction of both having produced three of Men’s Journal Top 20 Adventure Films of All Time, topping National Geographic and the Discovery Channel, and having won the National Academy of Science (USA) nationwide competition for the best new idea in science television, which led to his film, “Three Nights at the Keck”, hosted by actor John Lithgow. He also co-directed Skiing Everest, a film about high-altitude skiers who climb and then ski down some of the highest peaks in the world.

More recently, Guthman has been documenting the successful detection of gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO Project 100 years after they were predicted by Albert Einstein, in a two-year longitudinal film project produced in collaboration with Caltech and MIT and funded by the US National Science Foundation.

BY-SA 4.0 Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes

Guthman will share these and other experiences in his Producing Digital Media: Communication and Media in Practice (COM327) course at Franklin. The course explores the impacts and capacities of new media technologies in producing social worlds and advocating social issues. As part of the course, students will produce a digital short story about an issue of social interest, and will carry out the entire process of producing, marketing, and showing the film.

Speaking of waves - soundwaves in this case - another exciting offering in FUS Summer Session 1 is From Mozart to Mahler (MUS 206), taught by Dr. Hrisanta Trebici-Marin. Dr. Trebici-Marin is a music teacher and Senior Researcher in Ancient and Modern Music, a music consultant and advisor and the author of numerous books and essays, articles and newspaper music reviews. She holds a PhD from the University of Vienna, Austria, and has received fellowships at Harvard University/Dumbarton Oaks Institute, University of Virginia, Charlottesville and the University of Copenhagen.

Prof Trebici-Marin’s course combines an overview of the Classic and Romantic periods in European music with an introduction to music listening and appreciation, providing a better understanding of the major musical genres and styles and covering the significant composers. The course is open to students with both substantial and more limited knowledge of music. Through guided listening, students will acquire familiarity with fine arts music, its fundamental genres, instruments and terminology.

Both courses meet from June 6 through June 30 at different times Monday through Thursday, and can be taken for credit or audited.

Many other courses are available over the two summer sessions, including business, communication, media, literature, fashion, politics, economics, the environment and more.

Interested? Check out the FUS 2016 Summer Program and find out how to apply (to take the course for credit) or how to audit.