The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf isn't even been permanently capped yet, but N.C. State University has moved aggressively to become among the first in the nation to offer an academic exploration of the lessons to be learned from the nation's worst oil spill.

The one-hour course will be offered in the fall semester, and be led by none other than former Provost Larry Nielsen, who returned to teaching this spring after resigning from his administration post last year, a casualty of the Mary Easley scandal.

The evening course, in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, is called "It's a Disaster: The Oil-Well Catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico", and can be taken with or without academic credit.

According to the course description it's expected "to explore the facts, causes and implications of oil exporation, extraction "and use in the U.S."

There's more information at Nielsen's NCSU web pages,  http://www4.ncsu.edu/~lanielse/