TAMIU Offers Fall Continuing Education Courses for Enrichment
The Texas A&M International Office of Continuing Education announced a number of courses offered for the fall, including a new non-credit one taught by TAMIU Regents Professor of History Dr. Jerry Thompson.
A catalog is available at: www.tamiu.edu/ce.
The first in a series of non-credit courses offered this fall, “History of Laredo” will be taught by Dr. Thompson Saturdays from Aug. 26 – Dec. 9 from 9:30 – 11 a.m. The class will have lectures, field trips, speakers and presentations. Cost for non-credit enrollment is $200 and 40 percent of that will go toward a scholarship for a TAMIU history graduate student.
The non-credit course is open to the public. Register soon. Seats are limited to 15 people.
Students can expect a survey of the colorful and eventful history of the border community all the way from the Coahuiltecans and the First Americans of the area to Cabeza de Vaca and the exploration of the area by the Spanish. The class will also feature several experts on the Borderlands and their topics of expertise.
More about the course: Spanish colonization and the settlement of Nuevo Santander by José de Escandón as well as the founding of Laredo by Tomás Sánchez de la Barrera y Garza will be studied. The Mexican Era, the Texas Revolution, Republic of the Río Grande, the tragic US-Mexico War of 1846-1848, as well as the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo will be emphasized.
Fort McIntosh and the US military frontier will also be studied and discussed as will the role of Tejanos in the American Civil War. The growth of partisan politics in the community that resulted in the bloody Bota-Guarache gun battle on San Agustín Plaza in 1886 will be discussed as well as the social and economic impact of the arrival of railroads on the Río Grande.
The lively politics of the 20th century including the phenomenal economic growth and the various challenges the city faces in the 21st Century will also be covered.
Thompson, an expert in the Civil War in the Southwest, has taught in Laredo for the past 50 years. He is author or editor of twenty-six books on the US-Mexico borderlands and a recent Pulitzer Prize nominee for his biography of José de los Santos Benavides.
Another popular TAMIU professor, Dr. Jyotsna Mukherji, associate professor of marketing, will be sharing her knowledge in “Yoga for Wellness” Sept. 6 – Dec. 6, Mondays and Wednesdays, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m., location to be announced.
The special yoga class will focus on wellness, stress management and increased flexibility. Course fee is $280. It is open to the community, designed for teens to adults and offered at a gentle pace.
Other courses offered by the Office of Continuing Education include: SAT PREP course for high school students, paralegal certificate course, Texas Success Initiative (TSI) crash course, and online healthcare certification courses.
SAT PREP: math and prep and verbal and writing prep which is proven to raise test scores by 100 points.
Paralegal certificate: starts in September. This profession is projected to grow much faster than the national average for all occupations.
TSI: prepares students to take the college entrance exam in math, verbal and writing.
Health certification: courses in veterinary assistant, pharmacy technician and medical billing and coding will be 12 weeks long starting Tuesday, Sept. 12. Students will take the course half online and half in person. Students will read articles and complete assignments online before the class meets. There will be a TAMIU computer lab available for participants to complete their assignments on Monday evenings. Students will meet for labs on Tuesdays.
The Office of Continuing Education will also offer “Winter Camp for Kids!” Tuesday, Jan. 2 – Friday, Jan. 5, 2018.
To register for these courses, visit www.tamiu.edu/ce.
For more information, contact the Office of Continuing Education at 956.326.3068.
University office hours are 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday – Friday.
Additional information is available at www.facebook.com/txamiu.contedu/