University of Delaware students need never wonder what it’s like to miss their campus over the winter months, thanks to the five-week, optional special session known in recent years on social media as #UDWinter. After a brief recess at the end of December, UD’s campus will again come alive with nearly 600 courses and dozens of unique campus-wide events. Students living in a residence hall for the spring semester have the option to stay for Winter Session at no additional cost, and students enrolled in six credits enjoy a 25 percent savings on tuition.

Since 2015, the Office of the Provost and Division of Student Life have helped to enrich the Winter Session experience by providing funding for special co-curricular programs. The funding, made possible by the Unidel Foundation, has supported more than 40 innovative programs aimed at furthering learning and fostering a more diverse, stimulating educational and social environment. Seventeen exciting programs are planned for Winter Session 2018:

Astronomy Seminar: The Department of Physics and Astronomy in conjunction with the Society of Physics Students will host an Astronomy Visualization workshop and luncheon in which participants will learn to make enhanced color images as well as 3D models from astronomical images and data taken by telescope.

Dive In Diversity Institute: This returning favorite is a four-week series of workshops and reflection allowing students to explore spheres of social identity, culminating in an experiential learning trip to Washington, D.C., with stops at Howard University, the Smithsonian Museum and more.

GeoScience Theater 3000: GeoScience Theater 3000 will replicate the feel of riffing on bad movies, but with a live audience and a geoscience flair. “Bad geology” movies ­­will include The Core, Volcano, The Day After Tomorrow, and Armaggeddon, somewhat recent big-budget productions with serious (and seriously laughable) scientific flaws.

Hot Chocolate Festival: Since 1993, the City Bakery on 18th in New York has hosted a hot chocolate festival, flooding an entire block with food, music, games, activities, and of course, dozens of flavors of rich, fresh hot chocolate. Since 2015, this annual #UDWinter tradition has condensed the essence of that grand festival into a single day affair that gives the UD community an excuse to get out of their labs, classrooms and offices, and connect with friends old and new.

Illumine: The Illumine program is a venue for students to have interfaith conversation about vocation and purpose. They will be tackling the question “What will I do with my life?” It is intended to bring students from religious and non-religious backgrounds together in an intentional community of equally curious, reflective, and respectful peers to explore what it is they most deeply value and how they will live in such a way as to honor those beliefs and priorities.

Learning about World Cultures through Food: Tuesday, Jan. 23 through Thursday, Jan. 25, dinner with an international theme will be served at Russell Residential Dining to Winter Session students. Nutrition faculty and students will collaborate with dining services to create a festive atmosphere.

Lecture/Performance and Q&A with Marcia Chatelain: The Honors Program will host Marcia Chatelain, who is a Truman Scholar and an associate professor of history and African American studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She teaches courses on African American history, food studies and women’s activism.

Pix Mix: A Short-Films Series on Disability & Diversity: This year’s short film series will highlight the intersectionality of disability among other aspects of diversity, and will facilitate conversations around different perspectives as well as reflection about vital elements of communities that are inclusive and welcoming of a range of disability experiences.

Pop Up Garden: A partnership between the University Student Centers, Plant & Soil Science, and the Theatre Department, will provide a living lab environment for the students preparing for the next Philadelphia Flower Show exhibit while creating a passive, ephemeral program that will bring natural beauty to the heart of Perkins Student Center.

Serving Better Together: Serving Better Together brings together a group of students from across religious and non-religious backgrounds to engage in meaningful conversation and relationship building through service, with a particular service emphasis on income inequality and housing insecurity in Newark and the surrounding area.

Social identity exploration program: Participants of this program will come to understand and explore their various identities and how the aforementioned identities impact the way they engage others in their social environment.

Social Justice Coffee Hour: The Social Justice Coffee Hour facilitates opportunities to discuss social justice issues in a comfortable, safe environment that includes a network of individuals at multiple career stages.

Study At Home: Study At Home is a series of events created to help students familiarize with parts of the University that they might not otherwise know about, discover local points of interest, and explore the nearby cities that offer great insight into the history and development of our region.

The Challenge Program: The Challenge Program for Associate in Arts Program students includes a 90-minute leadership seminar led by the Blue Hen Leadership Program, followed by lunch and a social activity at Launch Trampoline Park.

The Hookup Project: Sex Ed to End Sexual Misconduct: Attendees can participate in facilitated discussions and activities on topics of sexuality education, casual sex and hooking up, healthy sexuality, and the relationship with sexual misconduct.

Team games: Teams of two to four participants can enjoy games such as Kan Jam, Ladderball, Cornhole, Connect Four, Knock Hockey and Foosball, in addition to snacks from around the world and conversations about each country’s food, culture, people, politics and more.

Winter Session Quizzo: Four weekly Quizzo trivia nights will feature hosts from the UD community and their special topics of expertise. Participants will play four rounds in teams, and after every round participants will have an opportunity to win a raffle prize. At the end, the winning team will be crowned Quizzo champions and win the Quizzo prize.

“Winter at the University of Delaware can be uniquely beneficial to students at every stage of their career,” said Kathleen Kerr, associate vice president for Student Life and executive director of Residence Life and Housing. “It’s a great opportunity to reset, to reevaluate what you want to get from your UD experience, and then to pursue it.”

More information about these programs and other Winter Session offerings can be found online at sites.udel.edu/studentlife/winter.