Courses – Fall 2025 / Old Courses
The courses listed below were offered in previous semesters.
Click on any title to view the related course page.
RACE RELATIONS IN AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT
Coordinators: Sandy Kessler, Bob Gottfried
We will explore the controversial subject of race relations in America by considering some classic and contemporary writings by American political thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson, George Fitzhugh, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Isabel Wilkerson, and Glenn Loury.
READING BLACK LIVES
Coordinators: Diane Crothers, Barbara Barnes, Penelope Pi-Sunyer, Ilene Winkler
By reading and discussing historical and contemporary accounts of Black Lives, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of those lives and the current condition of all Americans. We will explore Black lives through readings on individuals, social and political movements, and other topics. Possible readings for this semester may include new books by Bettina Love, Eddie Glaude Jr., Martha S. Jones, Heather McGhee, Ibram X. Kendi, and Les Payne.
READING EDITH WHARTON
Coordinators: Patricia Geehr, Arlene Curinga
We will read The Custom of the Country, published in 1913 after The House of Mirth (1905) and before The Age of Innocence (1920).
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
SCIENCE CLUBHOUSE
Coordinators: Steve Allen, Marion Schultheis
This discussion group is a place where new developments in science can be explored and where members can bring questions about any scientific issue and all can participate in finding answers.
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.
SLAVERY'S 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.