Episode 22 of Liberal Arts Voices focuses on a very unique series of courses offered through the College of the Liberal Arts and Outreach: the Adventure Literature Series. English Professor and founder of the Adventure Literature Series Robert Burkholder joins the podcast along with several students who have participated in the program.

Professor Burkholder discusses the main goal of the Adventure Literature Series: to make the study of English and the humanities more concrete by combining coursework with outdoor adventures. He describes how the courses are aimed to link readings to a variety of outdoor enhancement experiences in hopes of transforming the study of literature into more of an embodied activity. The Adventure Literature Series currently offers four courses: “The Beach: Cultural Artifact/Environmental Reality,” “Cape Cod Literature,” “Sailing the Chesapeake Bay,” and “Wilderness Literature.”

Stephen Brenner, Wildlife and Fisheries Science major, discusses his experiences in the Wilderness Literature course, including: canoeing, camping, and “stump sitting.” He talks about how the course offers a unique combination of literature and kinesiology.

English major Laura Dzwonczyk talks about her experiences in the Cape Cod Literature course. Laura discusses the benefits of being able to visit the sites that the class read about and even getting to meet one of the authors featured in the course.

Kia-T’Nique Thomas, who is minoring in English, speaks about her experiences sailing, examining wildlife, and even crabbing in the Chesapeake Bay course.

Lastly, English graduate student Mark Sturges talks about how he has been able to work with Professor Burkholder on a variety of the Adventure Literature courses. In The Beach course, in particular, Mark discusses the interesting class discussions that arose as a result of visiting landmark sites featured in the course readings.

You can go online to find out more information about the Adventure Literature series. You can also visit the LAUSatPSU Flickr page to see photos from these courses.

Liberal Arts Voices: Episode 22

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