Profs get clever with course promotion

What's in a name?

A lot, professors say - in a course name, at least.

As Advance Registration draws to a close, professors acknowledge that an eye-catching course title can make a big difference in enrollment - both in the number and types of students who end up taking it.

That's why, for some, creating unusual course titles is a strategy for attracting attention.

German professor Christina Frei, for instance, said her course "Lords of the Ring" has been popular since she first offered it five years ago, around the time that the first Lord of the Rings film came out.

Frei said she wanted her course - which explores the role of the ring in German mythology - to have a recognizable title, so she played around with the lettering of the famous trilogy.

The name of a course can even determine the gender composition of its students, English professor David Wallace said.

When he teaches "King Arthur and his Knights," mostly male students enroll, but when he teaches the exact same material under the name "Masculinity, Chivalry and Romance," he gets mostly women in his classroom.

He added that when he teaches courses meant for freshmen, he tries to give them more "attractive" or "welcoming" titles so as not to frighten them away.

On the other hand, Wallace said he gives genuinely difficult courses genuinely difficult titles because he doesn't want to "delude" his students.

He said he's been "quite pleased" with some course names he's written recently, including "From Beowulf to Virginia Woolf" and "Premodern Women: From Runaway Bride to Mad Madge," which he will teach this fall.

Nursing Professor Sarah Kagan said she hopes students will be attracted to her course "Sweet Little Old Ladies and Sandwiched Daughters: Images and Issues in Our Aging Society," whose title takes advantage of common stereotypes.

"The really academic sounding titles can be overly pedantic and turn students off," she said.

Many students agreed, saying that course titles are a significant factor in their decision process, at least when it comes to elective courses.

College freshman Courtney Johnson said she took the course "Massacres in History" because "it had massacres in the name, pretty much."

Similarly, Engineering sophomore Andrew Xue said the title "Monsters in Japan" was enough to outweigh his other options when he was selecting a seminar to take this semester.

Still, professors try to make sure that their course titles don't send the wrong message.

"You don't want it to backfire," said Romance Languages professor Frank Pellicone, who will teach "Blood, Sweat and Pasta: Italian-Americans in Literature and Film" in the fall. "You run the risk of losing students who are looking for a meaningful, intellectual exchange."

In any case, many students say they need to investigate beyond a title to make the best decision.

"Classes with unique names may catch my eye . [but] if it doesn't sound interesting or fulfill my requirements, then I wouldn't be more likely to take it," College junior Yael Bortnick said.

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