Let me know what you think you'll need from us.. . . it could take a little time to implement . . .
FOLLOWING IS AN INITIAL DRAFT TO MY DEAN. INPUT INVITED . . . with the caveat that I would not expect to please all commentators. And, I may not post
the final version except to Springer by 2u2 . . .
Dear Dean . . .,
RE Course/degree proposal
It has come to the realization of several compadres and myself on the largest website devoted to the topic that this subject, to our knowledge, does
not have even a bona fide Community College course of any significant substance and certainly not a degree program. Whenever anything significant and
new surfaces, there is persistently record breaking interest in the occasional media or TV treatment of the topic. It seems to me, our College could
easily be a forerunner in this subject area.
The subject is UFO's--a hobby of mine since Jr High. The largest website on the topic is
WWW.ABOVETOPSECRET.COM...
A summary of their recent [last 6 months stats] is as follows:
[Springer, could you offer something for here?]
There is a community oriented ONE LECTURE course at Yavapai College in AZ. And, occasional flash-in-the-pan courses of a similar nature have cropped
up from time to time here and there.
The late Dr John Mack--a Chief Psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School was a leader in some of the ground breaking research in the field. Alas, he
suffered the usual . . . harrassment of colleagues and others for his interest and solid research on the topic.
So, the topic would certainly entail controversy. However, there is a wealth of material that could support even a BA degree in the topic.
It could be approached as basically a sociological phenomena. My preference would be for a cross-disciplinary perspective looking fair-mindedly at all
aspects of the phenomena and I believe that would be the consensus of what is most desirable from the ATS membership.
ATS has a wealth of well read lay experts on the topic as well as many members devoted to exploring the topic. It would be an excellent collaborative
organization with which to kick-off and maintain such a degree program or even merely an initial set of courses to see what the interest was in such a
line of study.
Attached is an off-the-top-of-our-heads list of courses which we are convinced could readily be supported by a wealth of material and potentially even
some internationally known instructors were it set-up to be administered online.
I hope thi sis sufficient info to toss the idea into the hopper for consideration. Please feel free to ask me any questions you think might be
fruitful or just your curiosity.
"Springer" is one of the chief administrators of the website with excellent connections at the websites' home in the UK as well as across the pond
in the U.S. I can probably obtain his email should you wish to communicate with him directly.
Sincerely,
