UnderAcademy College was established by Talan Memmott in 2011 as an arena for pedagogical and curricular experiments around the idea of alternative online education. UnderAcademy does not have a campus or a central meeting place and uses various social media platforms for organizational purposes, as well as for the running of the courses that it offers. As Memmott states in his role as Provisional Provost (press release: February 1, 2012), “We are trying to do something different here. UnderAcademy is not anti-academic, it is under — like under the influence of the academy. And, we are not a university; we are called a college because of its phonological proximity to collage.”
UnderAcademy claims to situate itself as a “shadow-academic environment offering alternative courses in a variety of subjects” providing three Anti-Degree levels — the basic Callidus Parvulus (crafty little one), the advanced Paratus Adversario (prepared adversary), and the terminal Caput Magnum (big head). Class size is limited to 5-7 students, and courses generally run 5-7 weeks. The structure of the college is generally loose, with instructors (called Digressors) given free reign over course subjects and materials.
Examples of UAC course offerings:
Advanced Macaronics: Neology, Subjectivity and The Problem Of Persuasion Pedestrionics: Meme-Travel As Space-Time Haptic Telepathies and Divination Expostulation Contralto Amusement: Manacled Decrees Twiddling in Figures Communications 101: From Soothsaying to Telephony You Can Say That Again: Mass Culture Tautologies Today & Tomorrow-Today &C. Dogmatic Realism for Beginners Juicy Timeliness and Sublime Anti-Technics Entropy, Inertia, and Other Anti-Kinetics: A Feminist Way Of Looking The Congruency Of Poetics And Pop Culture: Discourse Of The Public Sphere, Sophia Coppola, And Al Pacino
UnderAcademy College “Fakulty” include the following, many of whom are authors and/or scholars of electronic literature:
Talan Memmott (Provost) Mez Breeze Chris Funkhouser Claire Donato Ray DeJesús Jeff Knowlton Maria Damon Jeff T. Johnson Alan Sondheim Belinda Haikes Søren Pold Eric Snodgrass Enid Baxter Blader Catherine Daly Carolyn Guertin Mark Marino