SMU-in-Taos recently announced its course line up for this summer’s Cultural Institute. Like the entire SMU-in-Taos program, the Cultural Institute is located on the 295-acre SMU-in-Taos campus that has been used for over 30 years for undergraduate summer semesters and archaeological field school. The CI program began in 2005 and is open to the general public for one weekend in July, when seven courses in a variety of topics all taught by SMU faculty are offered.
One of the most popular courses offered, according to Allison Curran, liaison for the program, is The Secret City: Los Alamos and the Atomic Age, taught by James Hopkins and Cas Milner. The course includes a field trip to Los Alamos and a special presentation by Ellen Bradbury on the Russian espionage that took place during and since the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos.
The program also offers courses for the more adventurous, including a course in mountain sports adventures.
“The program is really something to look forward to as an alum,” says Curran.
The fee for a course ranges from $650-$750 and covers field trips, materials and some meals. The Cultural Institute program accommodates around 150-200 “students” each year, according to Curran. The students are made up mostly of SMU alumni as well as others from the Dallas and Santa Fe area, though some travel to the program from all around the country. Online registration opened Jan. 7, but some classes are already full. Special privileges to sign up for the courses go to Friends of SMU-in-Taos, a program designed to help collect funds for the SMU-in-Taos program.
SMU-in-Taos Cultural Institute. July 17-20
The Secret City: Los Alamos and the Atomic Age. Physical Challenge: Low. Fee: $700. Instructors: James Hopkins and Cas Milner.
Ceramics and Silver: Collecting Native American Art. Physical Challenge: Low. Fee: $650. Instructor: Marti Struever.
The Living Earth: Geology and Botany of the Northern Rio Grande Physical Challenge: Moderate to High. Fee: $700. Instructors: Bob Laury and Michael Esaili.
Georgia O’Keeffe and Modernism. Physical Challenge: Low. Fee: $700. Instructor: Randall Griffin.
Kivas to Cathedrals: Religious Art and Architecture of New Mexico. Physical Challenge: Low. Fee: $700. Instructor: Adam Herring.
Ancestral Images: Petroglyphs of the Northern Rio Grande. Physical Challenge: Moderate. Fee: $650. Instructor: Sunday Eiselt.
Digital Photography in the Land of Enchantment. Physical Challenge: Low. Fee: $650. Instructor. Hillsman Jackson.
Taos Mountain Sports Adventure. Physical Challenge: High (Options include fly-fishing, hiking, white-water rafting and mountain bike riding). Fee: $300 plus the cost of activities selected. Instructors: Lynn Romejko Jacobs and Jeanne Athos-Adler.
