|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Lifetime Learning in a University Setting |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Our Exciting Winter 2008 Course Schedule:
Courses arranged in order from Monday morning to Thursday afternoon for each session
Winter: January 14 to March 6
Click here for an archive of course schedules from previous sessions.
(Registration at this time is now closed.)
W001 CONGRESS AND THE 2008 ELECTION Class Full This course will look at the process and the politics of the upcoming Presidential election. Because of changes in the primary system in recent years, the two political parties should have their candidates selected by February, and then the real campaign will begin. The American people are demanding change, as evidenced by the extreme and unusually low approval rating they have given both Congress and President. The bitter partisanship that has made Congress so dysfunctional and polarized will be analyzed, as well as the relationship between the President and Congress. When nothing appears to get done, can a new President and a new Congress make a difference? Course Leader Dan Miller represented the Sarasota-Manatee area in the U.S. House of Representatives for ten years before retiring in 2003. He is a former college professor and entrepreneur and had never run for elected office prior to his election to Congress. He served on the Appropriations Committee and was a strong fiscal conservative. Since retiring from Congress, Dan has returned to academia and teaches at colleges and universities in the United States, Canada and Mexico. He was a Fellow at Harvard in 2003 and is developing the Manasota Institute of Public Policy and Leadership at the Sarasota Campus of USF. Date Mondays, Jan. 14 - Mar. 3 No class Jan. 21st Top Time 9:30-11:00
THE “CRUCIAL DECADE,” 1945-1955 History ends where memory begins. Through common reading, beginning with Eric Goldman’s “The Crucial Decade—and After,” and shared experiences (our own and/or our parents’), we will recall together the decade following V-J Day. Topics to be considered for inclusion (subject to class consensus) include the Cold War, Korea, and McCarthyism, the Rosenburg and Hiss trials, the GI Bill, Levittown, the elections of 1948 and 1952, the beginnings of the civil rights movement, the baby boom, TV, consumerism, and the religious revival, liberalism and conservatism. Our ultimate objective will be to seek to reconcile memory with history in the context of this important period of our past. Course Leader Alfred H. Jones holds a Ph.D. in American History from Yale University, and taught 20th century U.S. history at the University of Minnesota, Iowa Sate University, and the University of New York before retiring to Sarasota. Equally important, he remembers many of the events and personalities of the “Crucial Decade,” and thus can engage the class in recalling the period. Date Mondays, Jan. 14 - Mar. 3 No class Jan. 21st Top
Time 9:30-11:00
This course will explore the basic drawing techniques such as: perspective (one-point and 2-point); composition; and light and shading. Emphasis will be placed on a variety of media, including pencil, charcoal, and pastels. Subjects will range from still life to basic figure drawing. All skill levels are welcome. Materials needed include: One drawing pad of “Newsprint” (rough surface) 18” x 24”. Two drawing pencils: one soft (3B), one medium (HB) or #2 pencils with soft lead; two kneaded erasers (small); box of charcoal sticks or two charcoal pencils; box of pastels (introductory set or small beginner’s set); two stubs “optional” (two #3 or one #3 and one #8). Course Leader Jonathan Palmer was an instructor for the Milford Board of Education, Milford, Ct. in the Adult Education Program. He taught Drawing I, II, Oil Painting, and Art Appreciation. Jonathan studied with Harold Seroy, Art Director, Warner Brothers Studios, and Harold Harrinton, designer and builder of stage sets, New York City. Date Mondays, Jan. 14 - Mar. 3 No class Jan. 21st Top Time 9:30-11:00
Managing your money requires good financial planning. This course will strive to make complicated issues user-friendly. A six-step process is used to show how managing the different areas of your finances involve each other: cash flow-income versus expenses; net worth, your assets and liabilities; insurance- how to determine if and what you need, such as life, health, long-term care, auto, etc; investments-how to construct a portfolio based on your needs and risk tolerance, financial and market risks; retirement-how does your financial life change, what do you need, how do you manage your finances differently when you retire; estate planning- making it easier for your heirs to manage your estate, use of wills and living trusts. Additionally, special areas of interest are addressed, such as funding education for children or grandchildren, purchasing or renting property, permanent residency, etc. This will be a lecture with some discussion. Course Leader Barbara Levy is a Certified Financial Planner, conferred in 1987 by the College for Financial Planning in Denver, Colorado; a financial consultant in New York City for 28 years; and instructor of financial planning in the Adult Education Division of Marymount Manhattan College from 1984-2001. Date Mondays and Wednesdays 4 weeks: Jan. 14 - February 4 No class Jan. 21st Top
Time 11:30-1:00
W005 CONTEMPORARY LATIN-AMERICAN LITERATURE Texts: House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, ISBN 0-553-27391-4, Bantam Book. Pablo Neruda: Selected Poems – A Bilingual Edition, edited by Nathaniel Tarn, Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 0-395-54418-1 A Chilean writer now residing in the United States, Isabel Allende, niece of Salvador Allende, a former president of Chile, is perhaps one of the most famous women authors in the world today. House of the Spirits, based on her life in Chile and especially on her grandparents, traces several generations of women in a country where men and machismo reign supreme. Pablo Neruda, also a Chilean, is one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century and is quoted and alluded to in Allende’s novel. The prolific Neruda (1904-1974) wrote over three thousand pages of poetry over a long career, and he received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971. We will read selected poems (although participants may wish to read the entire collection) as well as his essay “Toward an Impure Poetry.” Jan. 14th – Read and bring to class House of the Spirits and Pablo Neruda’s poem “And How Long,” pp. 352-55. Jan. 28th – House of Sprits Feb. 4th – House of Spirits Feb. 11 – House of Spirits, Pablo Neruda Feb. 18th – Pablo Neruda Feb. 25th - Pablo Neruda Mar. 3rd – Pablo Neruda Course leader Florence Starr Hesler, Ph.D., has a B.A. from Douglass College of Rutgers University, an M.A. from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Delaware. She has won and co-directed several grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities on subjects dealing with the encounters of the Spanish with the Aztecs, Maya, Inca, Pueblo and Taino. Date Mondays, Jan. 14 - Mar. 3 No class Jan. 21st Top Time 11:30-1:00
W006 MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS AND BREAKDOWNS: MANAGING SURVIVAL IN A COMPLEX AND FRAGILE MEDICAL CULTURE Travel the medical maze with Mrs. B., newly arrived in Sarasota, as she struggles to gain medical access in order to address the ever increasing number of psychosocial and physical health care issues. We learn how to deal with problems of widow-hood, aging, and newly uncovered ailments as she faces communication failures, gains insight into the culture of health care providers, learns about the bills of rights for patients and physicians, understands issues of medical ethics and legal obligations (including HIPPA regulations, informed consent and advanced directives, and the various aspects of private and public insurance. As we travel with Mrs. B. and her family, we study aging in terms of nutrition and obesity, vascular disease, diabetes, cancer care and preventative medicine, degenerative physical and mental disorders and drug interactions. We learn how to deal with accident prevention and household hazards, emergency care, the often complicated issues of both routine and intensive inpatient care as well as ambulatory hospital, rehabilitation and hospice services. As we struggle alongside Mrs. B., we look back at those events in the history of medicine that have brought us to the present, helped us stay current, and pointed us in the direction of tomorrow. Finally, we examine and compare those issues, which we have taken for granted: food, drink, memory, physical fitness and access to care, with the nature of health care throughout the civilized world. Course Leader Samuel Gross, an Emeritus Professor of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, finished his career as a bone marrow transplant physician and cancer center director. He has authored or co-authored over 200 articles and 11 books on various aspects of cancer, hematology and health care issues. After discharge from the US Marine Air Corps at the end of WWII, he attended Bowdoin College (A.B.), Amherst College (M.A. and the University of Rochester (M.D.). He has held professorships at Case Western Reserve University, University of Florida, Duke and the University of North Carolina. Date Mondays, Jan. 14 - Mar. 3 No class Jan. 21st Top Time 11:30-1:00
This course will be a “tight” reading and discussion of Plato’s “Apology.” Socrates, position and beliefs on various issues will be viewed in detail. One’s responsibility to one’s beliefs and obligation to one’s society will be a large part of the class. No background in philosophy will be required, but it would be helpful. Course Leader Jerry Lazar trained as a political philosopher with additional studies in education and psychology at North- ern Illinois University. He has both undergraduate and graduate degrees covering several fields, and has worked as a political philosopher and educator for more than 30 years. For a number of years he has been adjunct faculty at the Michigan State University Center for Ethics in the Humanities in the Life Sciences. Additional professional efforts include serving on the Michigan Ethics Resource Network Board for 6 years. Currently he is a member of the Sarasota Memorial Ethics Committee and the Palliative Care and Hospice Committee. Mr. Lazar served on the ethics panel for the Human Genome Project and has published several articles on medical ethics. Date Mondays, Jan. 14 - Mar. 3 No class Jan. 21st Top Time 1:30-3:00
W008 PLANNING FOR YOUR FINANCIAL FUTURE The financial future for most people has never seemed more uncertain. This course provides a hands-on look at the issues, options, and legal landscape that will determine how comfortable your financial future will be. The course will show how to assess accurately options and to make choices that work best for you without falling into sales traps or being blindsided by making unrealistic assumptions. The course will help the students to understand and plan for the ever-shifting options for health care and investing, and what the real long-term outlook for Social Security and Medicare might be. Course Leader Jan Lazar has two Masters degrees, as well as the professional designation as a Certified Financial Planner. She has worked as a financial manager in the public sector and has had her own consulting practice in financial and management consulting for the past 14 years. She has taught financial planning and investing at the community college level for the past 20 years and has published articles on financial planning, budgeting, health care, and Social Security. She has often been quoted in the media on pension and health care issues and has served as chair of a national committee on budgeting and management. Ms. Lazar is Past President and an Honorary Life member of the Michigan Municipal Finance Officers Association. Date Mondays, Jan. 14 - Mar. 3 No class Jan. 21st Top Time 1:30-3:00
Discover the joys of journaling. Throughout history people have recorded their lives. Journal writing (as differentiated from keeping a diary) frees the writer to explore memories and family myths, allows the writer to jump into his/her life at any moment or place without the need to be concerned with a beginning, middle or ending, or sequencing the stories. Memoir is not autobiography. It’s more the exploration of what the writer’s life stories mean to him/her. Course participants are encouraged to write each week to bring a piece to share with the group. Novice journal writers will be provided a tool-box of modes, techniques and jump starts for their writing. Course Leader Doris Kanter was a teacher and administrator in Westchester County, NY, for twenty years . In the Catskills, where she summers, she teaches journal writing and use of journal for writing memoirs for The Writers in the Mountains. She has a B.A. from NYU, a B.S. in education from Teacher’s College, New Haven, Connecticut, an M.S. and Professional Diploma in Administration from SUNY, New Paltz. Date Mondays, Jan. 14 - Mar. 3 No class Feb. 18th and Jan. 21st Top Time 1:30-3:00
W010 HIGH-PROFILE MURDERS OF MANATEE COUNTY Law Enforcement Topics (a two-part course) Part 1: A review of three (possibly four) local mass murders that occurred in Manatee County. Crime scene processing, collection and preservation of evidence, interviewing and interrogation of witnesses and suspects, as well as the arrest of perpetrators will be discussed. The stories of these tragic incidents are told from the time the police arrived at the scene and eventually solving the crimes, to the actual sentencing by the trial judge. The difference between serial murderers and mass murderers will also be discussed. Part II: A discussion of the following criminal justice programs: JUVENILE OFFENDER’S BOOT CAMPS –Are they effective? STOP (Stop Turning Out Prisoners) – Should inmates serve 85% of their sentence? LIFE (Leading Inmates to Future Employment) - Should inmates work while incarcerated? CELL SHOCK – Does shock incarceration deter crime? DEATH PENALTY – 376 inmates are on death row in Florida. Are we kidding ourselves? EDUCATION – Are uneducated young men filling our prisons? Course Leader Charlie Wells served as Sheriff of Manatee County for over twenty years. Prior to being elected sheriff, Charlie served as Bradenton Police Chief, Twelfth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Investigator, and a Florida State Trooper. Charlie holds a B.A. degree in Religious Studies and an A.A. degree in Criminal Justice. He served forty-one years in law enforcement prior to retiring in April 2007. Charlie is now a consultant for several clients and owns a private investigative agency that has clients in the United States and in the Caribbean. Date Mondays, Jan. 14 - Mar. 3 No class Jan. 21st Top Time 1:30-3:00
W011 COMPUTERS: BEGINNERS! WANT TO FEEL COMFORTABLE USING A COMPUTER? You will learn the basic and become comfortable exploring different functions of a personal computer. The course gives students hands-on experience while learning basic operations, terminology and safety tips, beginning word processing skills, Internet exploration, and e-mail techniques.The computer classroom for this course is equipped with laptops that use the Windows XP-operating system. It is suggested you have a Windows XP based personal computer to practice on at home plus an Internet service provider (i.e., Yahoo, AOL, Comcast, Verizon, MSN, Tampabay Road Runner, etc.). Course Leader Sally Valenti has a B.S. in Education, with graduate studies at the University of California. She taught Family and Consumer Sciences in California and Piscataway, New Jersey for a total of 29 years. Additionally, Sally held the position of Technology Coordinator at a school in New Jersey. She is a recipient of the New Jersey Governor’s Teacher Recognition Award. Date Tuesdays, Jan. 15 - Mar. 4 Top Time 9:30-11:00
Shared inquiry discussion allows everyone to read and enjoy great works of literature. Its effectiveness comes from the egalitarian approach it takes: discussion is based on the text at hand and only that text. Materials: Great Books Anthologies, Series Two. The paperback anthologies offered by the Great Books Foundation provide an inexpensive and convenient way to use great texts as the basis of exciting discussion. Having everyone use identical books with the same translations and page numbers makes it easier to refer to the text and eliminate confusion during discussion. The text is available through the Campus Book Store. The package (Series Two) contains two paperback volumes and a study guide. The Winter session selections are in Volume 1 and Volume 2. Assignments: Class participants will be required to read selections prior to the class meeting. Please read The Crito by Plato prior to the first class meeting. Authors included this term are Dewey, Euripides, Aristotle, Dostoevsky, The Bible, Hobbes and Melville. Course leader Charles Sprandel has a B.A. in History and Political Science from Albion College and an M.S. in Japanese Studies and Comparative Education, University of Michigan. He taught English at Meisei University in Tokyo, Japan. Additionally he taught History and Philosophy of Education at the University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio. Mr. Sprandel taught at Maumee Valley Country Day School and was head of the high school at Maumee Valley. His many experiences include the post of Adjunct Professor of U.S. History at Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio. Date Tuesdays, Jan. 15 - Mar. 4 Top Time 9:30-11:00
W013 MORE MAGIC OF DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Digital imaging offers boundless creative possibilities. The needed gadgets are available and affordable, and one can enjoy it at any level, from beginner to advanced. We will delve into many aspects of photographic enjoyment like composition, travel, portraits, museums, aquariums, architecture, sunrises and sunsets, water, and macros. Let’s explore further together, to learn about this new world. We will help you intelligently choose a camera, and then to squeeze out every last bit of pleasure and quality possible from your chosen equipment. We will look at camera image capture, and producing quality output: e mail, web images, prints that are “a cut above” and slide shows with music and transitions that keep your audience awake and impressed. We will touch upon equipment specifics, cameras, scanners, printers, computers, and image storage & improvement. Field trips are also planned, with photographic exercises to improve your results. Requirements - Computer familiarity is very desirable. Course leader Jack S. Winberg, M.D., holds degrees in medicine, biochemistry, and microbiology. He was on the faculty of the University of Illinois and Northwestern Colleges of medicine, where he taught and practiced clinical psychiatry, and did research on brain metabolism. Since retirement he has been teaching digital imaging and is an active chamber music cellist. He taught Computer Graphics at SCTI and various courses in digital imaging at the Johnston Photographic Institute. Date Tuesdays, Jan. 15 - Feb. 26 Top Time 9:30-11:00
This course is a discussion of current issues by a group of peers. Each week the group selects a subject for discussion the following week to be facilitated by a volunteer from the group. Participants will be expected to come to the table prepared and willing to contribute to the discussion. Suggested reading includes local and national newspapers and news magazines. We hope these seminars will lead to an increased understanding of the issues and a greater appreciation for all points of view. Members of the class will alternate serving as facilitator. This is a continuing program; however, newly registered members are most welcome. Course Leader Lou Bevilaqua is a retired General Electric Senior Executive where he ran the Small Aircraft Engine Business which required travel and relationships in 60 countries. He holds Engineering degrees from Cornell and a Master’s from Northeastern University. In addition to being an avid reader and a self-proclaimed history, news and current issues junkie, he is actively involved in digital photography and sports car collecting and racing. Date Tuesdays, Jan. 15 - Mar. 4 Top Time 11:30-1:00
W015 JEWELRY FABRICATION FOR BEGINNERS Everyone has a creative side, so explore yours! Learn to fabricate one-of-a-kind necklaces, bracelets and earring creations. Go from original design to completed projects. Explore the principles of color and design and acquire the skills to do basic stringing and closure techniques. Collect unused beads, amulets and charms. Learn how to combine them into jewelry creations. Materials list will be supplied in advance by teacher. Course leader Judith Levine attended Rutgers and Fairleigh Dickenson universities, and attained a B.A. in art and art education. She earned an M.F.A. in visual arts from Montclair State University, N.J., where she was on the art education faculty. She was an art teacher and district supervisor in Parsippany, N.J., for more than 30 years. Currently, Judith is the coordinator of teacher professional development at Liberty Science Center, Jersey City, N.J. and grants coordinator and educator at the Van Wezel performing arts hall in Sarasota. Judith was the recipient of several grants to travel, study and collect the art of Tibet, West Africa, Egypt and Indonesia. She designs and creates limited-edition ethnic jewelry. Date Tuesdays, Jan. 15 - Feb. 26 Top Time 11:30-1:00
If you have ever been curious about your family history, this is the course for you! With both the beginner and the experienced researcher in mind, we will discuss how to begin your search, how to use primary and secondary records, and how to continue researching after the course has ended. Proper and consistent documentation of sources will be stressed. Records in the United States and Europe will be examined. Computer programs and computer research will be evaluated. Publishing your family history will also be covered. The associated topics of surnames and heraldry will be briefly looked at as they relate to genealogy.
Course Leader Sue Holt has an Associate Degree in Library Science from Gateway Technical Institute in Kenosha, Wisconsin and a Bachelor’s degree from Carthage College, in Kenosha. She was employed in the reference department of the library at Carthage College. Genealogy has been her passion for over forty years. She has researched in many of the U.S. states and several foreign countries, taught classes on the community college level for 30 years, and written articles on various phases of genealogical research. Date Tuesdays, Jan. 15 - Mar. 4 Top Time 11:30-1:00
W017 WESTERN LITERARY TRADITION, PART IV: VIRGIL: AENEID Virgil is the second great Western epic poet. The Aeneid provides the great, glorifying mythos of the Trojan origins of Rome and establishes the lineage and legitimacy of its first and greatest emperor, Caesar Augustus. It also includes, among other things, one of the great western tragic love stories (Dido and Aeneas) and one of the most important Western stories of descent into the Underworld. According to Dante, "The spark that warmed me, the seeds of my ardor / were from the holy fire [of Virgil]-- the same that gave / more that a thousand poets light and flame.” The Aeneid thus is one of the most influential and important works in the 'Athenian' strand of the western Literary tradition. Course Text: The Aeneid of Virgil, Allen Mandelbaum, trans. Bantam Books, 1981. ISBN 0-553-21041-6 Course Leader Paul Johnston received a B.A. from Columbia, and an M.S. in Reading from Southern Connecticut State University, and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in English and American Literature from New York University. He has taught at Schuyler Academy, the Harrisburg Academy, Middlesex Community College, and Montclair State University. He is a member of the T.S. Eliot Society, the Sarasota James Joyce Society, and the Sarasota Classics Reading Group. Date Tuesdays, Jan. 15 - Mar. 4 Top Time 1:30-3:00
W018 ART AND SOCIETY Class Full he course will begin by probing the mysteries of prehistoric cave art, and then will wend its way through the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Baroque periods, ending before the birth of the modern art movement. It will be a selective exploration of the art of Western civilization with two digressions that will focus on African and Egyptian art. The emphasis will be on how art reflects the culture and society that produces it, highlighting the ever-shifting changes in social practice and values and how they are revealed in art. Lectures will use Power Point and other visual aids. There will be an open discussion after each lecture. Course Leader Goody Hirshfeld is a founding member of Living Art Seminars, an arts-in-education enterprise of which the Roman N.Y. Times wrote, “I never knew art could be so much fun.” She is also the co-author of five books that comprise the “Meet the Masterpiece”, series published by Scholastic, Inc. Since retirement, Goody has lectured at various venues in Sarasota as well as spending the last seven years as a dedicated Ringling docent. Date Tuesdays, Jan. 15 - Mar. 4 Top Time 1:30-3:00
Developed by the Foreign Policy Association in 1954, the Great Decisions discussion program is the oldest and largest grass-roots world affairs educational program of its kind. The program is designed to encourage debate and discussion of the important global issues of our time. Discussion groups are an important first step in gaining an understanding of the direct and indirect impact that international affairs have on your life. Through the process of reading, discussing and expressing your own informed views on important international issues, you will discover the linkages between “global” and “local” concerns. The program provides materials that help people reach informed opinions on the issues and participate in a simulation of the foreign policy process. Great Decisions discussion groups meet all over the United States. Members of the class are required to lead one of the topics in the Great Decisions course. There is a $15 charge for the Great Decisions 2007 Briefing Book (available at the Campus Book Store). Prior to the first class, please read Topic 1. Course Leader Harriet Polejes has had over thirty years, experience leading Great Decisions groups in Buffalo, New York, Wilmington, Delaware, and the Academy for Lifelong Learning. Her career was focused primarily on college guidance in a private independent college prep school in Wilmington, Delaware. Since moving to Florida she has been involved in a myriad of volunteer activities. Date Tuesdays, Jan. 15 - Mar. 4 Top Time |
