UW-RF Home > University Communications Home > This Month's News Releases

University Communications

For more information contact mark.a.kinders@uwrf.edu or brenda.k.bredahl@uwrf.edu.

Sports Writing Class Offered in Scotland

DEC. 13, 2007--Students enrolled in any four-year undergraduate program in the United States have an opportunity to spend six weeks in a historic manor in Scotland learning, observing and writing about the country and Scottish sports through a special course offered by the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

The course is offered by the UWRF journalism department and taught by Jim Thies, of Hudson, who has been the sports information director at UWRF for 30 years. He is also assistant director of University Communications for UWRF.

There are several key parts to this special writing course, Thies said. "Students will have the opportunity to visit Scotland and learn about its culture on a personal and sports-related level. Students will hone their writing skills in a variety of articles," said Thies, who has supervised hundreds of journalism students during his career at UWRF.

"Students will have a chance to see sports in a different culture and to experience life in Scotland, a country with a great sports history," says Thies. "They will learn about traditional Scottish sports such as football (soccer), rugby, cricket, golf, curling and more."

The class will run from May 22 to July 11 and is limited to the first 15 students admitted to the class. The class will travel within the country to learn about the sports in the Highland Games (traditional Scottish events such as the caber toss, stone and hammer throws, and tug of war), which contributed to the ritual of modern athletic events. Students will watch football, tennis, cricket, and as a special experience, will visit the St. Andrews Links to see the Old Course, the home of golf, and the British Golf Museum.

Students will be expected to complete assigned readings and produce samples of feature, opinion, pre-event, and post-event articles. Students will be expected to take the three-credit sports journalism course and a three-credit Scottish Culture Colloquium course.

Thies is a member of the College Sports Information Directors Association (CoSIDA) and has received numerous awards for his writing and publications from CoSIDA and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Sports Information Directors Association. He is also editor-in-chief of the Kansas City Chiefs Summer Training Camp Web site and the internship coordinator for the training Camp.

Course fee is $4,900 (plus approximately $1,000 for airfare), which covers two day trips, a bus pass for the summer term, a room-and-board plan including breakfast Monday-Friday and lunch Monday-Thursday each week. Students will also have full use of the Dalkeith House facilities that include numerous communal study and lounge spaces as well as use of kitchen when meal service is not running. Student participants also have access to program recreation equipment and the 1,000 acre walled estate grounds known as Dalkeith Country Park.

The class is one of several offered through the UWRF Wisconsin in Scotland program. For more information, visit the program's Web site at: http://www.uwrf.edu/wis/.

For more information about the course contact Thies at 410 S. Third St., UW-River Falls, River Falls, WI 54022, 715-425-3846 or by e-mail at: james.g.thies@uwrf.edu.

-30-

Last updated: