LEWISTON — USM’s Lewiston-Auburn College has announced several summer session programs with intensive four- and seven-week programs.

The arts and humanities program at USM LAC will offer its popular basic photography course and two dynamic new courses, “Writing Children’s Literature” and “New Media and Social Networking.”

Teaching basic photography is Peter Shellenberger, an instructor at Maine College of Art, co-founder of the Photography Cooperative and a founding member of the Portland Film and Video Artists Collective. He is noted for his work that draws on the history of science and photography creating images using the uranium oxide qualities of red-orange Fiestaware glaze of the 1930s and 1940s. The basic photography course is an introduction to black and white photography, including the history and aesthetics of photography, camera and lens functions, exposure methods, basic black and white film processing, printmaking, print finishing and presentation techniques.

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Barbara Walsh will teach “Writing Children’s Literature: How to Craft Compelling Stories.” This course is an exploration of how real life stories, details, characters and voices combine with images to create compelling children’s stories. It will include lecture, class discussion and writing workshops and is held in conjunction with the Atrium Art Gallery’s summer exhibition, “Tell Me a Story: A World of Wonders,” children’s book illustrations by Maine artists.

Walsh’s children’s book “Sammy in the Sky” is illustrated by painter Jamie Wyeth and was inspired by her family’s first dog. Sammy is in its fourth printing since its publication last fall. Walsh has worked for newspapers and magazines in Florida, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Ireland. She is also the author of “August Gale: A Father and Daughter’s Journey into the Storm,” a biography and memoir.

Michelle Lisi-D’Alauro will teach “New Media and Social Networking: Identity and Expression Online.” This course examines issues of online culture from privacy to political and social movements and the impact of online communities on language and thought. Lisi-D’Alauro has an MFA degree in creative writing from Columbia University.

USM’s Lewiston-Auburn College offers interdisciplinary bachelor and graduate degree programs with both online and on-site classes. The three summer session courses are part of the re-designed arts and humanities program that connects liberal arts education with the real world. USM LAC is at 51 Westminster St. Courses are listed on the USM website, usm.maine.edu/lac/course-list. For more information contact USM LAC at 753-6500 or email [email protected].