It’s not too early to start preparing for summer classes, especially since a professor from the University of Texas at Austin is on campus today with an offer humanities students might not be able to refuse.

Professor Jim Ayres is at Iowa State as a part of a Big 12 faculty fellowship, said Susan Carlson, an ISU professor of English. She said the purpose of Ayres’ visit is “to promote not sports but academics.” Carlson is his ISU faculty contact.

Ayres will make trips to several other schools in the conference to promote his program “Shakespeare at Winedale.”

“Shakespeare at Winedale” is an academic course open to upper-division undergrads and graduate students. The course lasts from June to August in Austin, Tex., and the surrounding areas, and participants can earn six credit hours for it. The purpose is to study Shakespearean plays through performance.

Some people might be turned off at the prospect of an intensive study of literature that is hundreds of years old, but Carlson said that acting out the plays will make the program worthwhile.

“Shakespeare’s at his best when he’s performed,” Carlson said. “Seeing his plays on stage, you suddenly realize how alive it can be, how relevant it is to today.”

But that is not to say that only thespian types should apply for the program. “He’s not just looking for people who are actors or who have theatrical backgrounds,” Carlson said. “Those who will probably be most interested are humanities majors, but by all means, everybody is welcome.”

Ayres has also said that preference will be given to students who have never performed.

Over the course of 27 years, Ayres has directed 26 of Shakespeare’s plays at Winedale (this summer will mark his 27th), many of them more than four times.

The first part of the course, which lasts six weeks, is an individual study, correspondence, conference course, which prepares the student through reading of the texts, source materials, scholarship and criticism.

Once all of the students are warmed up and primed, the second part of the course begins.

It is taught, lived and played in residence on the 250-acre University of Texas Winedale Historical Center, which is near Round Top, Tex., in Fayette County German farm country.

For nine weeks, students become residents of Winedale, live in the Wagner House dormitory and study Shakespeare 15-18 hours a day, seven days a week, in an 1880 Theatre Barn.

The summer concludes with 24 public performances of the plays studied. Intense, to say the least.

But Ayres knows what he is doing. He has received five teaching awards, along with an invitation to teach at the University of London, Royal Holloway College, in 1998, and to take “Shakespeare at Winedale” to the New Globe stage in Southwark, London, next year.

“He’s a dynamic man,” Carlson said. “He’s been doing this for 27 years, so he’s got to love what he does.”

Ayres will be available in Room 215 of Ross Hall from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a break over the lunch hour, to talk to students and interview those who are interested in the summer program.

The cost for the course is the same as the usual tuition for six credit hours (about $658), along with a workshop fee of $50. Each student accepted receives a scholarship to cover room, board and texts.