Instructor Bob Amundson has announced that he will again offer Humanities A220: Film as/and Literature this spring. The popular 3-credit, online course focuses on Film Noir and the literature that inspired these “dark films” which were produced between 1945 and 1955. Film Noir, a term coined by French film critics, has been recognized as a unique American cinematic art form. Common characteristics of these films include the use of black and white film and high contrast lighting, and voice-over narration allowing stories to unfold as a series of flashbacks.

Film Noir plot lines dealt with doomed love triangles, femme-fatales, obsessive/aberrant behaviors, lone-wolf and altruistic private eyes, and a host of alienated and flawed characters set against the backdrop of large, impersonal cities in post-World War II America.

The fiction that inspired many of these classic films has been recently “rediscovered” by colleges and literary critics, and the “look” of noir films has been mirrored in many graphic novels and recent films, such as Blade Runner, Sin City, The Crow and Dark City.

Students will watch several classic noir films and are assigned readings including works by Lionel White (“Clean Break”), David Goodis (“Dark Passage”), Patricia Highsmith (“Strangers on a Train”) and Kenneth Fearing (“The Big Clock”). For more information, please contact Amundson at bobamundson@hotmail.com.

Another fun and insightful online course offered next semester is Instructor Ron Levy’s 3-credit, ART 194: Ethics in Media and Photography: The Boundaries of Truth, Credibility and Deception in a Digital World.

Levy invites students to engage their senses and explore their assumptions, learn when to listen and when to be silent and to gain perspective when partaking of what is available in today’s vast media arena.

Last semester, Levy, a 30-year career photographer for magazines, newspapers and news agencies based in the U.S. and abroad, provided a presentation on the subject that can be reviewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE65BPzIYKs

Students with pending applications to attend KPC in spring 2017 are offered priority registration this week. The public can register the following week beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Nov. 28. Students are urged to register early to avoid disappointment.

KPC’s spring 2017 searchable schedule is accessible from the homepage under the Academics menu and registration is available at UAOnline. Spring semester classes begin on Jan. 17.

KRC will be holding the first annual EMT/Paramedic/Firefighting open house from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016 in the EMS classroom in Goodrich room 144. This event is intended to provide an all-inclusive opportunity for prospective students (and parents) to learn what benefits that these KPC programs have to offer.

There will be faculty advisors, instructors and former students available to provide information on the wide variety of opportunities available. Staff will provide tours of the emergency medicine laboratory and offer a detailed presentation covering the differences in the various programs (AAS Paramedic Technology, Firefighter 1 Academy, Emergency Trauma Technician, Emergency Medical Technician 1, 2, &3). Participants will learn about the advantages of various career paths, depending on each student’s ultimate goal. “We intend to provide guidance and advising to ensure proper course sequencing. Our intent is for students to leave with a ‘plan’ to guide them,” said Tiffany Perry, EMT instructor.

For more information, call Paul or Tiffany Perry at 262-0378 or 262-0278 or email peperry@alaska.edu.

This column is provided by Suzie Kendrick, Advancement Programs Manager at Kenai Peninsula College.