Academics
U Got Lucky: University of Florida Offering Course in Tom Petty
Running down a dream to get credit for studying the Florida-born rocker.
Cover of Warren Zanes’ bio of the late Tom Petty. (Image: Amazon)
This class just might stop your grades from freefallin’.
The University of Florida announced that it will offer a one-credit course based on the biography of the late rocker — who died unexpectedly earlier this year — starting in the fall of 2018.
The class, taught by journalism professor Clay Calvert, will be based on Petty: The Biography, written by Warren Zanes. Petty was born in Gainesville, where UF is located, and got his start with Mudcrutch, a band that was popular in his hometown and featured two members of his future band, The Heartbreakers.
Petty is rumored to have briefly worked at the University of Florida as a janitor, but was never enrolled at the school.
The once-a-week course will only be open students in the honors program and only take 15 students. Students will read a chapter or two of Zanes’ book each week and discuss what they thought was most interesting or important. They’ll also analyze some of Petty’s lyrics, according to a report in the Gainesville Sun.
No word on whether professor Calvert will bring in his guitar and do a version of “The Last DJ.” But it would be a lot cooler if he did.
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