Harding’s Communication Department is preparing to offer a new class option this summer focusing on the Beatles and their impact on media, culture and society.
The original three-credit-hour course that began last year covers “the impact of the Beatles on media, culture and society from the time they were created in the early ‘60s all the way to today because the Beatles still have an impact,” said course director Dr. Dutch Hoggatt.
This year, Hoggatt and his assistant in the class Dr. Jim Miller have decided to add to the three-credit-hour course a onehour, one week Beatles experience tour of Liverpool and London. The tour is set to visit key locations such as the Casbah Club, Penny Lane, Abbey Road, the British Library and other points of interest in England.
“The Department of Communication believes in experiential learning,” Miller said. “I am excited about this trip because it’s another opportunity for our students to connect what they learn in the classroom to the real world.”
To participate in the England tour, students must take the three-hour course here on campus, which runs May 13-24, meeting about four and a half hours per day.
This course can be considered an elective for any major.
“I would just encourage anyone, no matter what major you’re in to consider taking it,” said junior Holly Bohnett, who was in the class last year. “If you have any sort of interest in the Beatles, or even if you’re not that interested, it is the most incredible overview that you can’t get in any other setting.”
The intersession course on campus includes guest speakers such as Dr. Julie Harris, assistant professor of history, and Dr. Jim Nesbitt, assistant professor in the college of pharmacy. The course, as described by Hoggatt, is “a combination of a history course, a culture course, a media course, and a society course because we touch on elements of everything.”
The one-week England tour takes place directly after the intersession course, May 25 – June 2. The current estimated cost for the England tour is $3,000. One informational meeting has already been held but another one will take place Thursday, Feb. 7 at 6 p.m. in Reynolds C219. Any questions about the course can be directed to Dr. Dutch Hoggatt at dhoggatt@harding.edu.
