By Susan Peterson

Gazette Staff

What leaps to mind when we think about the '50s? What events and images spring up?

"Grease" and "Happy Days," and figures such as Rosa Parks and Elvis, are tossed back in reply to Alice Jardine's probing questions during the second week of her course in the Harvard Summer School.

Jardine, a professor of Romance languages and literatures and chair of women's studies in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, is teaching Women, Popular Culture, and the American 1950s: I Like Ike, But I Love Lucy, to a class of 19 women who, except for a few, are offspring of the very baby-boomer generation they are studying. The course is one example of a broad spectrum of courses being offered in the Summer School this year.

Approximately 4,900 students are enrolled in Harvard's eight-week Summer School, with more than half from countries around the world -- including Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Turkey, and Venezuela. Among them are almost 900 high school students, 290 students from Harvard and Radcliffe, and other college students taking courses.

This is Jardine's first time teaching the well-liked class in the Summer School, which explores the American 1950s and hence -- the baby-boomer generation in relation to the 1990s. The course looks at how the historical, political, cultural, and economic frameworks of the '50s have powerfully influenced the past 40 years and will continue to affect the coming century.

Jardine is introducing this cultural sweep through an extensive reading list as well as videotapes -- such as Sunset Boulevard and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, juxtaposed with "creepy crawly" science fiction films like The Day the Earth Stood Still and Creature from the Black Lagoon. She has also invited guest lecturers such as Robert and Jennifer Meeropol '94, the son and grandaughter of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg -- the husband and wife who were convicted of spying for the Russians in 1951, and later executed.

"I was trying to think about who was and wasn't allowed to speak in the '50s," Jardine said, explaining how she chose the course's title. She sees the title as both serious and playful, questioning the status of "I" within the popular sayings, "I Like Ike" and "I Love Lucy" from the political and entertainment arenas.

One student was intrigued enough by the title to give the course a try.

"I always wanted to learn more about the '50s, and I heard it was a very respectable class," said Alyssa Draper, who will be a senior in high school in Boise, Idaho, this fall. "It's also the most homework I've ever had."

Teaching Summer School to such a wide range of students and covering a broad range of topics can be challenging for anyone, but Jardine approaches the subjects through historical perspectives, launching conversations about World War II and then leading into entertainment or other subjects.

"How did we get from Nagasaki and Hiroshima to Disneyland in 10 years?" Jardine calls out, prompting the students to consult the time line she handed out at the beginning of class.

"It's not just about the bomb, but also about TV and its influence," she explained in an interview. "I like to help people start thinking about the relationships among events, images, facts, and figures."

"Already it is July 1," Jardine continued, referring to the political handover of Hong Kong to China. "We are living right now through several momentous endings and new beginnings with direct links to the 1950s."