Great Decisions
8 Weeks
We will explore the major foreign policy issues as examined annually by
the Foreign Policy Association. Topics will include: U.S. Trade Policy,
China & U.S. Policy, Missile Defense, Iraq, International Health Crisis,
Mexico, European Integration and Conflict Resolutions in Africa. The
Foreign Policy Association manual will be provided for a fee of
$12.00. |
Our Criminal Justice System
8 Weeks
The United States incarceration rate is higher than at any previous
time and is 6 to 10 times the rate of European nations. We spend
more on corrections than on higher education. This course will
focus on issues that have an impact on reducing crime and its
costs, and successfully restoring offenders to society. |
Villainy Through the Ages
6 Weeks
Starting with Satan, the prototype of evil, we will engage in a
philosophical evaluation of villainy. Does its definition change over
time and from place to place? Is it possible for an individual to be
both a hero and a villain? With a biographer as our guide, we will
explore the nature of villainy. |
Stellar Evolution
6 Weeks
This is the
third in a three-part
series on Cosmology,
although none are required
pre-requisites for any
of the others.
Stellar Evolution will explore the birth, life and death of a star.
Topics will include: giants, white dwarfs, neutron stars and black
holes. |
Contemporary Social Problems in the United States
8 Weeks
This course
provides a unique opportunity to explore, with leading experts, a
spectrum of contemporary social problems, and some proposed solutions to
these problems which affect our society, our economy, and the future
of our children. Included among others are the larger reality of
social injustice in the world today, the impact and the implications of
judging others, school financing and inequalities in educational
opportunities, the African-American experience (a personal journey), and
the forgotten Native Americans' continuing struggle for survival. |
Relativity and Quantum Mechanics for the Masses
8 Weeks
A new follow-on
course to the two-semester video
course by Professor Richard Wolfson.
Professor Morton Tavel of Vassar
College will again provide insightful and
humorous accompanying commentary.
No knowledge of physics or mathematics
is necessary, nor attendance
at the earlier series. |
Nutrition and Health
8 Weeks
The food and drink that we consume affect our health and well-being in
more ways than people realize. The presenters will be
dieticians, microbiologists, health officials and a gourmet chef.
Their topics will include: Foods that Fight Disease, Drinking Water
and Food Safety, Food Toxicology, Herbal Supplements, Diets, and How to
Prepare Lighter and Healthier Meals. The course will conclude with an
optional CIA cooking demonstration and a meal. |
Charles Dickens Era
6 Weeks
This course will encourage reading of Charles Dickens (David
Copperfield, Great Expectations, etc.) in order to develop a
familiarity with one of the world's greatest authors. It will
include a brief investigation of this period of British literary
history and an understanding of the rapidly developing industrial
era that influenced Dickens and other writers. To round out the
course there will be readings and discussion of great detective
stories by other authors from the period.
|
Brain, Mind and Behavior
8 Weeks
This course will include lectures, videos, and discussions on such
topics as: Darwinian Medicine, Evolutionary Psychology, Sex
Differences and Behavior, Learning and Memory, Stress and Emotions,
and State of the Mind. Optional Reading: Why We Get Sick by
Neese & Williams and The Moral Animal by Robert Wright. |
Dramatic Play Readings
8 Weeks
Lectures and an interactive approach to dramatic readings will include
discussion by a Professor of Theatre as well as readings and
interpretations by the class. We plan to include stimulating
playwrights such as Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, Harold Pinter,
and Gore Vidal. |
Four Great American Engineering Feats
8 Weeks
The electric light, the Panama Canal, the Brooklyn Bridge and the
airplane all are considered outstanding engineering accomplishments. We
will examine what it took to bring these about, both in terms of the
technologies, and of the personalities of the men and women who were
responsible for these developments. |
Opera in America
8 Weeks
This course will continue what had begun in the Fall of 2000, i.e. an
investigation of the history of the Metropolitan Opera as well as
opera in America from the beginning of the Twentieth Century to the
present. |
The Creative Process
6 Weeks
Silversmiths, novelists, sculptors, painters, poets, composers, dancers,
art galleries, and, of course, the theater are all part of the
creative process. Their study is exciting and can be considered
a meaningful antidote to the stultifying mechanisms of the computer age.
Henri Mattise once summed up his evolving creative life and works, "It
is like a song that mounts the vaulted roof, and adds understanding and
joy to our human lives." |
A Taste of the Renaissance
8 Weeks
The Renaissance represents one of the seminal periods in European
history. It lasted approximately from the thirteenth to the sixteenth
century and saw extraordinary developments in almost every field of
endeavor. It marked a humanistic revival of literature, and the
beginning of modern science and the modern state. We will explore the
role of the Renaissance in politics, philosophy, religion, science, art,
literature and music. |
Old Time Radio
7 Weeks
This course will consider radio from several perspectives:
historic, economic and sociological. After a brief
examination of the technological origins, we will consider the rationale
for its content. Major emphasis will be placed on the importance of the
cultural environment in which radio developed. The class will combine
presentations with listening to historic programs. |
Aspects of Psychology
8 Weeks
Presenters will speak on the following subjects: Community Psychology and
Care-giving for the Elderly, Out of the Frying Pan: Effects of Drugs on
the Brain and Behavior, the Gendered Life Span, Genetics and Lifetime
Marital Histories of the Greatest Generation, Adult Development and
Aging Theory, Practical Applications of Aging Theory, Brain Care Basics,
and Recent Research on Infants and Toddlers. |
Gilbert & Sullivan - It Ain't All Patter Songs
8 Weeks
Come to the world of Gilbert and Sullivan where things are seldom what
they seem. Skim milk masquerades as cream; Highlows pose as patent
leather; jackdaws strut in peacock feathers. Where in contemplative
fashion and a tranquil frame of mind, free flow every kind of passion,
some solution let us find. Let us grasp the situation, solve the
complicated plot - quiet, calm deliberation disentangles every knot. |
Love and Desire in World Film
8 Weeks
This course will focus on love, desire, and the complexities of
relationships as presented in films from around the world. We will be
tracing the construction of gender and the psychopathology of passion
within a sociohistorical context as we move from country to country.
We will view four films during the eight weeks of class to allow for
discussion. |
Women in the Bible
8 Weeks
Through selected readings of recent literature this course will
reexamine the roles of the Old Testament. The question will be raised
as to the roles that were assigned to women on the basis of their gender,
rather than simply as members of the emerging Jewish people. The course
will consider the potential of women for personal and intellectual
development, leadership and moral autonomy within the context of the
developing norms of the Israelites and their relationship to
God. |
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