UM Academies | Two-Week, Non-Credit

SSA 103. Business Academy – An Entrepreneurship Crash Course

This course is designed to expose students to the world of entrepreneurship, understand the fundamentals of business, and explore the ideas around startups.

Students will learn the core concepts of design thinking, problem identification, innovation, customer development and best practices for problem solving. Guided by in-house and community experts, students will engage in project-based, experiential learning. 

Students will also be trained on project management and exposed to cutting-edge digital tools to help students organize their ventures, prototype solutions and market their ideas. Students will be able to walk away with a skillset and mindset that will benefit their critical thinking in any professional area or career. 

Instructor(s): Enrique Triay | Samantha Palmer-Shields | Michael O'Donnell

SSA 103. Business Academy – Business and Entrepreneurship

This class will cover all of the important business subject areas including accounting, economics, finance, marketing, management, business technology and, especially, entrepreneurship.

We will learn a little about each topic area with a focus on providing real world examples such as techniques of analysis employed, case studies, and lessons from the instructor’s personal business experience.  Students will engage in a few outside the classroom experiences such as business visits or visits to places of interest from a business perspective.

We will learn how to make a business plan and we will even have in-class presentations to other members of the class in a “Shark Tank” format where we present our business ideas and strategies to each other.

Instructor(s): David Spigelman

SPA 107. Spanish Immersion Academy: Español sin Pasaporte

Do you want to improve your Spanish fluency? This program is a unique opportunity to level up your español and go on a study abroad adventure without traveling overseas! Based in the city of Miami—at the University of Miami—this program provides you with a chance to travel to and experience one of the most diverse communities in the U.S.       

Combining intensive Spanish classes, cultural activities, and tours, the Spanish Immersion Academy provides language practice and immerses students in the Hispanic/Latino culture and community in Miami.

Program Highlights

• Gain Spanish fluency
• Meet and study with other students for around the U.S.
• Increase cultural understanding through authentic language use and instruction
• Participate in afternoon activities in Spanish with bilingual counselors
• Spend about 50% of each day immersed in their target language

Instructor(s): Dr. Nicholas Sheets

SSA 108. Crime Scene Investigation and Forensic Science Academy

Students will go into the field to gain an introductory understanding about forensic investigation of a crime scene. Forensic investigation is the process of examination and identification surrounding a death from unnatural causes by law enforcement. Forensic investigation is accomplished through the knowledge of approaching a crime scene, gathering evidence, and analyzing all aspects of a crime scene.

Join crime scene criminalist, forensic firearm, and fingerprint specialists to collect evidence, analyze “instruments of death and destruction” that caused the demise of the individual and uncover latent prints left at the crime scene establishing the identity of the perpetrator. Students will learn the basics of the identification and analyses of the structure and function of the human skeleton and how it relates to Forensic Anthropology.

Forensic Anthropology is the study of the recovery, identification, investigation, and analysis in a medicolegal context of human skeletal remains.  The class will include all 206 bones of the human skeleton, assessment for sex, age, stature, ancestry, and identity, demonstration of skeletal measurements, and determination of bone pathology and trauma.

This exciting program will introduce you to the human skeleton, its features and characteristics necessary to determine sex, age, ancestry, time of death, and in the end, provide scientific evidence needed to assist law enforcement in their investigation of death and the identity of human remains. Follow the footsteps of the criminalist and forensic archaeologist, discover, and recover human skeletal remains. We will also look into some of the newest fields enlisting forensic science, which applies science to law and prepares you with the necessary skills to provide your results in a court of law.

Search the hidden secrets employed by forensic behavioral analysts who assist criminal investigations to provide behavioral assessments of unknown offenders, threat analyses, interviews, prosecutorial and trial strategies, and ultimately expert testimony. Participate in the investigative technology available to law enforcement such as digital and cyber forensics by extracting information and data from computers, the Internet and following an individual’s digital footprint for the evidence essential in prosecuting cyber-crime. As our society has grown more complex, it has become more dependent on rules of law to regulate investigative activities. This course will take you from a crime scene to the courtroom.

Instructor(s): Monica Faraldo

 SSA105. Shark Research and Conservation Academy

In partnership with the University of Miami’s Shark Research and Conservation Program, the Shark Academy is an interactive program that dives deep to learn about ocean predators in the classroom and the field.

This program offers the opportunity to learn about sharks hands-on in the field with the SRC team, including night fishing for sharks, and sampling both large and small species. It also includes five days of classroom instruction where students will learn about the biology, ecology, and conservation of shark species, including key research methods and skills for studying sharks. Topics will include shark anatomy, sensory biology, and movement, and behavior. Students will also learn how changes to global oceans are affecting sharks, and how these iconic species can be conserved. During their five days in the field, students will learn hands on how to work on a research vessel, deploy and retrieve common types of research sampling gear, and collect data and biological samples from sharks while maintaining animal welfare. Students will leave the program with a new understanding of the work done by conservation biologists studying sharks in the lab and the field.

This course will be taught by instructional staff from the Shark Research and Conservation Program at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. Students will have opportunities to interact with shark scientists and graduate and undergraduate students working within the program. High-impact learning activities are at the core of the program, including hands-on lab and field research experiences. Shark Academy will provide an unforgettable introduction to shark research.

Instructor(s): Dr. Catherine Macdonald, SRC Staff