By the late 1970s, Wofford’s faculty members had ten years of experience in planning Interim projects. The process for considering and approving faculty and student proposals had been codified somewhat under assistant dean of the college Jerry Cogdell, who handled much of the administrative work of making Interim run smoothly. Over time, faculty members had become more adept at creating innovative projects, collaborating with each other, and developing new experiences for students.
In 1978 and 1979, projects that have become regular parts of Interim were being offered. Constance Antonsen was offering a fencing interim, Joe Killian was using the term to organize a college debate team, and students were able to study film as literature. Project offerings saw a mixture of in-class projects, such as Linton Dunson’s study of the Philadelphia Convention, Dennis Dooley’s study of Finnegans Wake, and John Bullard’s project on religious cults, and outside projects, such as field archaeology with Professors Adams, Harrington, and Abercrombie and photography with Vivian Fisher. The internships that students today value were getting organized, with Don Dobbs’ Institutional Medicine, David Prince’s Student Teaching, and pre-law internships with Dan Maultsby. John Pilley offered a project entitled “Man’s Best Friend” – a study of dogs. Students in that project can say that they knew him well before his national television appearance with Chaser!
The practice of performing a musical had also become established. Professors J. R. Gross and Vic Bilanchone led a production of The Threepenny Opera in January 1978. The custom of a joint music-theater performance has continued fairly regularly since the 1970s.
Travel offerings had improved considerably since 1968. In 1978, Vince Miller took a group of students to New York, Professors DeVelasco and Forbes took students to study the Visigoths in Spain, and Dennis Dooley and Ed Henry took students on a literary and cultural tour of Ireland, a practice that Dr. Dooley continued with one of his faculty colleagues virtually every other year until his retirement. In 1979, Tom Thoroughman took students to England to study history there. Jim Gross, Joe Killian, and Walt Hudgins took students on a 4-week study of arts, culture, and politics in modern Europe. Constance Antonsen took another look at the Renaissance in Italy and France.
Interim, then, by the late 1970s had evolved into something much like students in the 1980s and 1990s would find it. While some faculty had moved beyond the four walls of the classroom, and internship and travel projects became more common, many professors chose to study a topic different from their discipline but within campus. After a decade, Interim had become a definite fixture at Wofford.
