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Question: What walks on 4 legs in morning, 2 at noon, and 3 at night?

Welcome to
 THE UNDERGRADUATE CENTER
of Triton College

Answer: 'Man' is NOT the real answer!

...It's a great place to begin!

It is with heavy hearts that we in the Undergraduate Center say goodbye to all of you who have followed this remarkable department in its many phases down through the decades. The college has  closed the program after 35 years.

We know that many of you come into this site to stay in touch with what we are doing and with our latest innovations in interdisciplinary education, or just to catch up with old friends.  Your numbers include our former students, colleagues, administrators,  teachers both in the developed and developing worlds, professors of education, and lawmakers who are involved in local and regional educational legislation. Some of you are the second generation.  You are the children of students who began college with us in the 1970s and 1980s. You write to us from around the U.S. and around the world.  We acknowledge you, and we are grateful to you for your kind messages of support over the years.

We regret to inform you of the passing of Dr. Wager in May of 2013. He left us a hero of philosophy, and taught as long as he could, right up until his last class in the Spring of 2012.  He was still pestering students with his great old lessons about Mrs. Bartholomew, and death as the "friendly enemy."  He would want you to remember the struggles in which you and he  learned together in the old times.

Dr. Fencl has retired, and travels the country winning competition after competition with her show dogs.  Dr. Salzman has been re-assigned to the Behavioral Science faculty, where he still teaches sociology, history, and humanities in the cranky, volatile and subversive way he always did. He also has had an appointment in the history department over at Dominican for about 15 years.

So although we may not be around in the ways that we used to be, we will always be around.  Whether we are in this world or the next, it doesn't matter.  You still have an assignment due for us.  It will always be due.  You are still responsible for measuring up in the best way you can to the highest standards of scientific and intellectual proof.   We expect the highest performance from each of you in the acquisition of truth, and the penetration of the mysteries of the universe, just like we always did.  You must strive for us to measure up to this standard, and you must try to keep faith with us, your teachers, in everything you do, and in every part of your life.


Here is your last interdisciplinary teaching from your teachers in the Undergraduate Center Department : 

 

Always remember to question your assumptions.

 

Remember the lesson of Professor Librescu, and the lesson of Merlin the Magician (bottom of this page). 

 

And lastly, whenever someone tells you that they know something is absolutely true with that smug air of authority, raise yourself up before them and challenge them, like we taught you to do.     Say , "Oh yeah?  Where's your proof?"  Hold your heads up high and be proud , just like the scholars who rose up from out of the cave in Plato's Republic (Book V).  Have the courage to fight the shadowy, flickering reflections of the puppets and their powerful sophist masters, just like your teachers taught you to do in the Undergraduate Center,  and just like Socrates did in the Golden Age of Greece.  You see, it was never about grades and books and attendance policies. It was always about freedom.

Dr. Terry Fencl
Dr. John Wager
Dr. Allen Salzman



The "Undergraduate Center" department offers "General Education" transfer courses in convenient "packages" of connected courses. This interdisciplinary, team-taught approach helps students develop high level academic skills for almost any transfer major. And because students get to know each other (and the faculty) very well, the chances for success are improved--it's like being in a college in a college!
 

[Courses]Course Offerings: Check out the current "packages" of course offerings, and see why it makes sense to take the courses together instead of separately.

[Faculty]Faculty: Find out more about the program's faculty (Terry Fencl, Lesley Miller, Allen Salzman,  and John Wager), or leave them email messages.

[M-W-F Syllabi]Fall Speech/Sociology/Philosophy Syllabus: Requirements, assignments, and schedule for the M-W-F 3-course package of SPE101, SOC100 and PHL101.


  December 18--January 20, 2011 "Interim" : HIS 192-370--online. "History of Asia & the Pacific II, (Emphasis placed on the Far Pacific Island regions)         NOTE:  This course will satisfy your diversity / third world requirment.
 
 
    FOR SPRING, 2010   Civil War "HYBRID" PACKAGE!! Click on the waving  Uncle Sam bobble-head for Registration and LOGIN information.

[M-W-F Syllabi] On-Line Interdisciplinary Studies Courses.  Take one at a time, or more than one--They are all "connected" with interdisciplinary material.  We offer courses in Sociology, Social Psychology, Introduction to Philosophy,   Ethics, Principles of Effective Speech, and Introduction to Theater. (Click on course title for preview of the course.)

[Want to know the real answer to the riddle of the Sphinx? Sign up for these courses!]Spring Theater/Social Psychology/Ethics Syllabus: Requirements, assignments, and schedule for the M-W-F 3-course package of SPE130, PSY201, and PHL103.

  NEW !   For Spring 2005 !  IDS 101 and IDS 102.  Take one of these courses, and opt to make it count towards either your Fine Arts or Humanities Gen. Ed. requirements.
 

[Spring Tue/Thur Syllabus]Child Psychology/Intro to Fiction Syllabus: Requirements, assignments, and schedule for the Mon.-Wed. package of PSY216 and ENG103.

[Readings]Readings: View or download electronic texts of assigned readings.

[Resources]Resources A menu of other 'Web Sites' useful to Undergraduate Center students.

[Video Resources]Audio-Visual Resources Some helpful Triton Library video, film, and computer resources.

[Calendar]Campus Events Calendar A monthly calendar of campus events.

[Discussion Groups]WebBoard Discussions Student Lounge, Class Discussions for Theater and Ethics.


 

[Visit PARIS!] We also offer courses offering the chance for INTERNATIONAL STUDY for COLLEGE CREDIT at LOW COST, going to places like France, Spain, Greece, Germany, England and Italy. Click on the links below for details on some upcoming trips, and to be put on our mailing list for future trips.

All trips give college-level academic credit in the course 'HUM 296 (Special Topics).'  A limited number of travel scholarships (usually for $200) are available for these trips.

You can now fill out anon line applicationfor information on future trips.

Passport Application Information


STUDY  &  TRAVEL PROGRAM  of   TRITON COLLEGE 
 

PLAN  TO COME ALONG ON OUR 2015 TRIP TO   FRANCE !  

WHEN:   Spring Break,  Mar. 14-21, 2015   (TENTATIVE DATES)

We will engage as much as possible in historical study of France and Normandy, including the following:

1.   The Centennial of World War I (1914-1918)  

2.   The 71st Anniversary of D-Day (June, 1944)
Click HERE for a Rick Steves video clip of the Normandy battle region.

HOW MUCH ?  Under  $3400.00 (subject to change)

(There may be a charge for Triton  Tuition   if you take the associated course or courses at Triton College.)


Click here for the tour website and  TRIP   ITINERARY (Click the LINK at the Bottom Right). You can also enroll at this location


Still curious?    CLICK  HERE  if you want to fill out our form to be sent more tour information by me related to this trip.

Made up your mind?  Ready to go to FRANCE ?       CLICK HERE    to   APPLY ONLINE   for the trip by going directly to the tour provider's website. 
(If the above link does not work, go to :

www.efcollegestudytours.com/1453708HR

IMPORTANT:    the Tour   Number:     When you enroll , you will need the following tour number to get to the right place: 

1453708HR

If you are serious about going, but it is close to departure, I would like for serious travellers to contact me, and also to put in your application directly by calling Customer Service :  

 1.800.665.5364  x3659   .   Give them the Tour Number you see above.
  Time lapse photos that show
the building of the Eiffel Tower in 1887



PLAN  TO COME ALONG ON OUR 2010 TRIP TO

PARIS, the Loire Valley, and Normandy during Spring Break,  Mar. 11---19 (approximate dates), 2010.
If you want to be sent more information, click the above, and send email to      Allen Salzman (salzmana@triton.edu). 



 2008:   Germany, Czech Republic and more:
Travel with Triton's Criminal Justice Program, and learn about law enforcement in Eastern Europe.



Ireland, 2006:  David  Prine's Photos

Southern Italy, 2005

Photos from the trip

Itinerary of the trip

http://undergraduatecenter.dhs.org/2005_italy/ 

New!You can now fill out an on line application for future trips.  Get your application in early. 
 
Group Photo in Toledo, Spain, 2004 Spain, 2004

Photosfrom the trip

COSTS: Itemized breakdown from the tour provider, which lists all of the costs associated with the tour. 
Itinerary: for the day-to-day schedule on the trip.

 
 

Phases in the Construction 
of the Eiffel Tower, 1889
 FRANCE: March 2003
The trip started in Paris, then went to Versailles, then Chartres Cathedral, the chateaux of  the Loire Valley, St. Malo and Caen in Normandy (including a stop at the Normandy beacheads from D-Day), Rouen, and finally back to Paris. Thursday,  Mar. 13 to Sunday, Mar. 23. 
PHOTOS  Sent while we are on the trip, so everyone can see what's going on in France....
Here are some important links for the tour in France: 
COSTS:   are estimated from under $1700 to under $2000, depending on age and accomodations selected. Click here for a complete breakdown.     Your tuition costs are also on this page. 
ITINERARY
HOW ABOUT A TOUR OF PARIS?
XE.com Personal Currency Assistant Currency Conversion 
ITALY: March 2002 

Photos from the March 2002 Grand Tour of Italy are now available!
APPLICATION:   Click here for an application. 

 

(Keep in mind that although you have to be a Triton student to go on these trips, being enrolled in the included 1-hour HUM296 class makes you a Triton student for the duration of the trip. So if you are transfering to another school with the same spring break time, or if you are out of school entirely, you can still go.)

Here are some photo highlights from the last few Undergraduate Center trips:

 
GREECE:   Fourteen Triton students and faculty were in GREECE for Spring Break 2001! 
Dr. John Wager sent back digital photos and digital videos of some of their activities; Click here to see these photos and videos.

 
[Italy and France Trip Details]
ITALY & FRANCE (Venice, Florence, Pisa, Nice and Paris)  Mar. 2000.Italy and France were GREAT!  Everyone returned from the March 9-18 2000 Spring Break trip, even though there were threats from several students that they might accidentally lose their passports on the way to the airport.  The photos from the trip are now on line at http://undergraduatecenter.dhs.org/2000_italy/trip.html
You can use them in any way you wish

 
[Visit Ireland, Scotland and England!]
BRITAIN (including IRELAND, SCOTLAND and ENGLAND) Mar. 1999. 

 
[China]
CHINA including Beijing, the Great Wall, Xi'an, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, May -- June, 1999.

 
[Gondolas in Venice] ITALY including VENICE, FLORENCE and ROME, Mar. 13-22 1998.

 
[Germany]
GERMANY  Austria and Switzerland, Mar. 21-30 1997.
WebCT 2001 Powerpoint Presentation "Removing the Boxes"
Learning Communities Presentation "The Community of One"

Page created by John Wager


Photo of Librescu  Liviu Librescu (August 18, 1930 – April 16, 2007) was a Romanian-born Israeli professor,  whose most recent position was Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Virginia
Tech.   His major research fields were Aeroelasticity and Unsteady aerodynamics. The 76
year-old Holocaust survivor was shot and killed in the Virginia Tech massacre while holding
off the gunman at his lecture hall entrance so his students could escape. 

*  *  *

"The best thing for being sad," replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then--to learn." --Merlyn the Magician, advising the young Arthur, from The Once and Future King, by T.H. White