Eastern has more to offer students than reading, writing and arithmetic these days.

Family and consumer sciences offers a wine-tasting class during the summer that will be taught by a wine connoisseur from Italy. The class, which lasts two weeks, is Family and Consumer Sciences 4235-801 “Introduction to Italian Wine.” The only prerequisite to the class is to have the instructor’s permission.

Diletta Frescobaldi, the instructor of the class, comes from Italy and has a doctorate in marketing of Italian wine from the University of Florence. Frescobaldi comes from a family that has been in the wine business for 700 years and has sold approximately $60 million worth of wine last year, Painter said. She consults companies around the world about what wines they should buy.

“Each night we talk about a different region of Italy,” said James Painter, chair of the family and consumer sciences department.

The class will taste three wines each night from different regions, with detailed emphasis on Tuscany, Painter said.

Another class, offered by the sociology department, deals with “above ground archaeology,” said Gary Foster, chair of sociology.

The class, Sociology 3986-700 “Sociology Underfoot: A Sociological Examination of Cemeteries,” has two sections: one that is available to sociology students and one that is not.

“Students are able to take data from gravestones, then reconstruct past communities from this data,” Foster said.

Some students get their information directly from gravestones in Coles County, and some get it online from cemeteries in California and all around the world, he said.

The sociology students deal more with theory, analysis and research of the information collected from the gravestones. The other section of the course, which is off campus, is more generalized to give exposure to non-sociology students,” Foster said.

Recreation administration offers a course in rock climbing, Recreation Administration 3960 “Indoor Rock Climbing.”

Some students think they are signing up for the class purely to climb rock walls, but the course is much more involved, said John Henry Pommier, associate recreation administration professor.

The class takes a trip to Bloomington to Upper Limits, the world’s largest indoor climbing facility, Pommier said. The students also participate in a project where they develop a plan for a climbing wall and present either a real or a fictitious proposal, he said.

“Students love it,” Pommier said. “It’s a hands-on, fun class.”

Other unusual classes that are available include English 3604 “JRR Tolkein: Philosophical and Literary Themes,” History 4775 “History of Christmas” and Family and Consumer Sciences 4820 “Death and Dying.”