Article, CNN, February 25, 2002
http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/02/25/coffee.class.ap/index.html Professor Beau Weston has been teaching students for many years at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. Many years ago, as a way to be more accessible to his students, Weston started holding informal office hours at the local coffee house.
After a while, he was considered a regular at the establishment, and had become friends with a number of the other regulars - people who he only would have met in that unique environment. His random coffeehouse network led him to analyze and ultimately create a class about the effects of cafes on society.
The class is one of the first of its kind, and has made headlines due to its questionable academic merit. Officials at the college claim, however, that every course offered at the school is examined by faculty committee and held up to rigorous academic standards. Many students were humored by the offering, but didn't expect much from the class.
While this course may be unique, the study of the cafe and of coffee is a growing multi-disciplinary field. There have been academic interests in the subject from sociologists, anthropologists, chemists, and historians. In fact, Weston is using a book entitled "Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World," written the author Mark Pendergast, as one of his course textbooks.
