Course Schedule – Fall 2024 / Old Courses


The courses listed below were offered in previous semesters.

Click on any title to view the related course page.


READING THE RABBIS

Coordinators: Paul Golomb, Bob Reiss

The Talmud is the opus magnum of Judaism as we understand it today. It is a massive work – over 2700 folio pages – representing more than 600 years of comprehensive Jewish thought.

RISE AND FALL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE

Coordinators: Judy Hampson, Jennifer Jolly, Donna Ramer

At its zenith, Great Britain owned territories across the world and yet, during the 20th century, the empire started to crumble and now little of it is left. What happened?

RUSSIAN GEOGRAPHY

Coordinators: Stephen R. Baker, Pete Weis

The history of Russia, a country encompassing one sixth of the land on our planet, has been in large measure molded by the exigencies of its geography and influenced more by its rivers than its mountains

SHAKESPEARE: CYMBELINE

Coordinators: Roy Clary, Jim Brook, Ellie Schaffer

The class will read aloud and discuss Cymbeline, among the last of Shakespeare’s plays.

SIXTIES

Coordinators: Richard Byrd, Paul Golomb, Diane Reynolds

The 1960s were a time of metamorphosis in U.S. history. The citizenry’s perception changed; African-Americans looked beyond the narrow corridor of civil rights. Women and gays refused to allow themselves to be marginalized any longer. The Vietnam War questioned the entire Military Industrial Complex.

SLAVERYS ROLE IN U.S. CAPITALISTIST DEVELOPMENT

Coordinators: Richard Byrd, June Zaccone

It is impossible to understand our country without incorporating the role of slavery in its history. Slavery helped shape its institutions, legal and voting systems, labor and foreign relations, social welfare and much else.

SOCRATES AND THE PROBLEM OF PHILOSOPHY

Coordinators: Sandy Kessler, Steve Allen

What role should philosophy play in our public and private lives? In our class, we will consider this question by examining the character and ideas of Socrates as they appear in the writings of Plato, Aristophanes, Nietzsche and contemporary authors.

SYMPOSIUM

Coordinators: Sheryl Harawitz, Mary Ann Donnelly, Donna Ramer

Each day, we have between 50,000 and 70,000 thoughts, many of which drive our daily routines and needs.But there are those moments when a seemingly random thought sparks an idea that fuels the synapses and becomes a link in a chain of ideas that ignites significant change.

THE GREAT GATSBY

Coordinators: Lynnel Garabedian, Sandy Kessler

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, written a century ago, has long since been revered as an American classic.

THE NEAR EAST

Coordinators: Ann Goerdt, Bob Gottfried, Ellen Gottfried

Search for a map of the Near, or Middle East and you will not find a consistent set of countries. In this course, we discuss the countries that are geographically east of the Mediterranean Sea, thus eliminating the countries of North Africa.