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Ardis Niemann Noonan (six.nnn@gmail.com), Study Group Leader
9/21-12/14, Mondays @ 9:00-11:00am
Study Group Description: This study group is an open forum discussion group. The suggested topics each week will be offered by both the study group leader and members. The topics or issues will relate to politics, legal, medical and contemporary social issues.
No homework or assigned reading is required. However, participants are expected to be informed and knowledgeable about issues which are prominent in the media.
Please note: ‘Start’ date of September 21st for this study group.
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: None
Other Costs: None
Hal Smoker (hpsmoker@gmail.com), Study Group Leader
11/2-12/14, Mondays @ 9:00-11:00am
Study Group Description: Using a historical perspective, this study group will examine how theories about human intelligence have evolved over the last 100 years, as well as how efforts to measure human intelligence have developed over that same period. Some basic statistical concepts will be presented to help understand both how intelligence tests are developed and how to correctly interpret what test scores mean. Finally, some enduring issues in the field of human intelligence will be discussed, e.g., the influence of heredity vs. environment, evidence of group/racial differences in measured intelligence, the effects of aging on intellectual functioning, multiple intelligences vs. a singular intelligence, and whether intelligence can be increased/taught.
This study group format will involve lecture and group discussion, as well as some voluntary direct experiences in responding to items typically found on intelligence tests.
About the Study Group Leader: Hal Smoker was a certified public school psychologist and licensed psychologist in Pennsylvania. Prior to spending the last 23 years of his career in public schools, Hal functioned as a counseling psychologist in a community mental health clinic for 8 years.
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: None
Other Costs: None
Sue Peters (cpeters37@cox.net), Study Group Leader
9/14-12/14, Mondays @ 11:15am-1:15pm
Study Group Description: George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss presents the life of young Maggie Tulliver who, as she matures, must confront the issue of personal values which are implicit in social conventions vs. those developed by the individual at great personal cost. Exhibiting the evolutionary ideas arising in England in the 1850’s and 60’s, the novel follows Maggie through humorous episodes and profound tragedy. Participants will read and discuss approximately 50 pages per session. Please obtain the Norton Critical Edition because the group will use some of the included essays along with the text.
Please Note: This study group will not meet on 11/23/09.
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot, Norton Critical Edition, W.W. Norton & Company, ISBN 0-393-96332-2; available in paperback at local bookstores and on-line.
Other Costs: None
Marilyn Brucks (normar2@comcast.net)/Sol Littman (solittman@aol.com)/
Myrna Silver (natsilver25@comcast.net), Study Group Leaders
9/14-12/14, Mondays @ 11:15am-1:15pm
Study Group Description: The 1930’s, the decade that left its mark on every family in America, was shaped by its inheritance of the 1929 stock market crash. It was a period of the breadline, the Dust Bowl, the WPA, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Bonus March, Hooverville, the sit-in strike, marathon dances and the organization of the United Auto Workers. It was a period of vivid personalities; Franklin Roosevelt, John Lewis of the United Mine Workers, Eleanor Roosevelt, Fiorella LaGuardia and Walter Reuther. It produced writers such as Steinbeck, Faulkner and Hemingway, artists such as Diego Rivera, Mondrian and Raphael Soyer, city planners such as Robert Moses and comic book heroes such as Superman. It saw the rise of the fascism and communism in Europe, and its allies in America. It saw the regulation of banks and the introduction of social security. And out of all this came ideas, initiatives and conflicts that permanently changed America and contributed mightily to what we are today.
This study group will focus on the leading personalities of the decade, the major changes in the movies, literature, the stage, popular songs, and the political currents that were offered as solutions to America’s problems.
But mainly we will ask two questions: “How did your family survive in the 1930’s?” and “What is the relevance of the 1929 Crash in 2009?”
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: None
Other Costs: $5 for study group material.
Chuck Peters (cpeters37@cox.net), Study Group Leader
9/14-12/14, Mondays @ 1:30-3:30pm
Study Group Description: The two novels to be discussed in this study group are John Updike’s In the Beauty of the Lillies and Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer. Both books deal with the loss of faith in American life and the importance of the movies in replacing it.
Please Note: This study group will not meet on 11/23/09.
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: See above; available through a variety of libraries and book dealers and through amazon.com for $10/new to a few dollars for used.
Other Costs: None
Dolores Vaughn (dvaughn706@aol.com), Study Group Leader
11/2-12/14, Mondays @ 1:30-3:30pm
Study Group Description: From the 1920s until the end of World War II, a distinctly American form of Expressionism evolved in the United States. This was an art distinct from Regionalism, the now better known style of the period. Unlike the Regionalists, Expressionist artists were often outsiders to what was then the American mainstream. Many were the children of turn-of-the-century immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe or Asia; many were African American. But whatever their background, all of these men and women brought a new spirit of idealism to American art. This study group will bring to light the work of a group of men and women whose art has for too long remained in obscurity.
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: None
Other Costs: None
Dr. Sandra Barr (Prof. of Humanities & Art, Pima Community College), Guest Presenter
Dolores Vaughn (dvaughn706@aol.com), Study Group Leader
9/15-10/27, Tuesdays @ 9:00-11:15am
Study Group Description: The course will explain background information about the techniques and processes of sculpture with the main focus on function and context--why did they make a certain type of thing, look a certain way, in that particular place and time. Sculpture from a variety of times and cultures will be discussed starting in the ancient world with a Paleolithic example (The Venus of Willendorf). Subsequent areas will include Greek sculpture (Cycladic through Hellenistic); Roman copies of Greek originals and original Roman sculpture; Renaissance sculpture; and finally the 18th century when many of the ancient pieces such as the dying Gaul and the Discus Thrower were restored. The final sessions will include a general/brief history of restoration of ancient sculpture. The focus will be on the Roman sculptor Cavaceppi, who owned the largest "chop shop" in Rome. This gives us an opportunity to end with "what is authentic and how does one begin to figure that out".
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: None
Other Costs: None
Jim Dinniman (dinnyd@aol.com), Study Group Leader
11/3-12/15, Tuesdays @ 9:00-11:15am
Study Group Description: This study group will trace the history of the US Foreign Intelligence structure from the National Security Act of 1947 to the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. Study group members will address the background, mission, organization, management and oversight of the entities that comprise our nation’s foreign intelligence establishment from the creation of the CIA to the establishment of a Director of National Intelligence Videos. Lectures and group discussion/presentations will be used.
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: None
Other Costs: None
David Hill (azcloudwatcher@comcast.net), Study Group Leader
11/3-12/15, Tuesdays @ 9:00-11:15am
Study Group Description: This study group will look at examples of homes from around the world from aesthetic, symbolic, psychological and cultural perspectives. Study Group participants will also have the opportunity to consider how notions of the magical, spiritual and symbolic become attached to the places were they live including ideas such as Feng Shui, house spirits and houses as living entities. Relationships with the places where we live, how they “communicate” with us and how we turn a house into a home will be examined. Members of the group will have the opportunity to discuss their memories about past and present homes and how they influence their lives. There will be discussion on how we choose to express or repress different aspects of our individual personalities in designing and decorating homes and the changes we consider to enhance our personal comfort and the expression of our ‘souls.’
About the Study Group Leader: David Hill has had a lifelong passion for both architecture and the psychology of the human soul, and has advanced degrees in both. David brings his knowledge and professional skills as both a Jungian-oriented psychologist/psychotherapist and architectural designer to this study group.
Enrollment: Limited to 15
Text: There is no required text for this study group, but the following are suggested readings:
Other Costs: None
Jesse Frey (ha4hva@yahoo.com), Study Group Leader
9/15-12/15, Tuesdays @ 11:15am-1:15pm
Study Group Description: This study group is about the presidential “rating game” and about the U.S. presidents of the 20th century. To get started participants will look at the rankings which have been created since World War II of all our presidents (terrific, pretty good, so-so, not so hot and dreadful). Presidential rankings like that are compiled from time to time from surveys of historians and other authorities. Here they serve to introduce a study of 20th century presidencies, in chronological order. The criteria for this study group are discoverable and, to a degree, objective: Vision – Charisma – Domestic Policy – Foreign Policy – Appointments – Luck. The purpose is to arrive at some conclusions about presidential leadership which do not shake down to easy homilies, and may conceivably have predictive value.
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: None
Other Costs: None
Cathy Davin (tontotoronto@cox.net), Study Group Leader
11/3-12/15, Tuesdays @ 11:15am-1:15pm
Study Group Description: Poetry has stirred the hearts and minds of men and women since early times. Poets find a way to say important things that might otherwise be left unsaid. Poetry comes in many forms, some easy to read, some more difficult. This study group will consider poets ancient and modern. Members who have a long history of reading and reciting poetry and members who wish to explore the question “So what is poetry anyway?” will find pleasure in this study group. Volunteer participation in presenting a favorite or a newly discovered poet is encouraged. Reading poetry aloud will demonstrate the power of poetry to express what it means to be human.
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: None
Other Costs: < $12.00 for copying of poems.
Ed Greenberg (ejgreenberg@comcast.net), Study Group Leader
9/15-12/15, Tuesdays @ 1:30-3:30pm
Study Group Description: This study group will be a two-semester course, the goal of which is to measure the extent, if any, that personal ideologies of various Justices have heightened or damaged the concept of impartial justice. This Fall ’09 semester will take Court history from 1800 to 1950, and for each of the two dozen controversies under discussion study group members will be provided a full description of the facts of the case, a detailed summary of both the majority decision and all concurring and dissenting opinions, and a thumbnail biography of each participating Justice.
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: None
Other Costs: $15.00 for copied notebook.
Bill Richards (r244@comcast.net), Study Group Leader
11/3-12/15, Tuesdays @ 1:30-3:30pm
Study Group Description: This study group will cover such topics such as: Time horizon, risk and risk profile, asset allocation, historical perspective, stocks, bonds, cash, withdraw from an account, annuities, and the academic work associated.
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: Latest edition of A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton G. Malkiel; available at most bookstores and new/used at amazon.com.
Other Costs: None
Ed Greenberg (ejgreenberg@comcast.net), Study Group Leader
9/16-12/16, Wednesdays @ 9:00-11:00am
Study Group Description: This study group will be a two-semester course covering 19th and 20th century theories of knowledge, art, science and history. This Fall ’09 semester will concentrate on the four giants of modern philosophy: Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, but with occasional references to the lesser lights like Thomas Carlyle, William James and Oscar Wilde. The study group leader will provide relatively short, but complete, chapter-by-chapter summaries of each book under discussion. Warning: While this material will be helpful, even necessary, for a full understanding of today’s intellectual trends, it is not always easy reading so be prepared!
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: None
Other Costs: $15.00 for copied material/notebook.
Allen Whiting (alsq@comcast.net), Study Group Leader
10/21-12/16, Wednesdays @ 9:00-11:00am
Study Group Description: This study group will examine three aspects of China’s power: Military, economic and policy. Each weekly session the group will discuss one chapter from the text, The Three Faces of Chinese Power: Might, Money, and Minds by David M. Lampton. This will mark the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China and associated readings may be added. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emphasized in her visit this past February how interdependent are our two economies and the need to seek cooperation in energy, climate, etc. This study group will end with discussion of how Sino-American relations are likely to evolve by 2015-2020.
About the Study Group Leader: Allen Whiting has written four books on China. He headed the East Asian Office on Intelligence in the State Department and served as Deputy Principal Officer in Hong Kong. Allen has taught at Northwestern, Michigan State, Columbia, University of Michigan, and The University of Arizona where he retired in 2001. He had also co-led a course on Chinese military in OLLI (Fall 2007).
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: The Three Faces of Chinese Power: Might, Money, and Minds by David M. Lampton, University of California Press, 2008; available in paperback
Other Costs: None
Vern Bryan (vwbaz2000@yahoo.com), Study Group Leader
9/16-12/16, Wednesdays @ 11:15am-1:15pm
Study Group Description: This study group will explore how throughout the ages a dominating selfish factor held by a select group of individuals has influenced, often determined, the course of history. This is a study about the pursuit of money (the power of wealth) through trade, war and financial manipulation often in the name of the gods and with the blessing of religious leaders and institutions.
About the Study Group Leader: Vern Bryan is a retired educational publishing executive who has spent the last few years leading various history and religion study groups at OLLI. Vern also serves on the OLLI/UA/Tucson Curriculum Committee.
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: To be determined.
Other Costs: None
Chuck Peters (cpeters37@cox.net), Study Group Leader
9/16-12/16, Wednesdays @ 11:15am-1:15pm
Study Group Description: This study group will consist of reading and discussing three books: The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende, a novel about a Latin American family and the social and political milieu in which they live. The second book is One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez about the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendia family. The third is The President by Miquel Angel Asturias, which is a story of a Central American dictator and his scheme to dispose of his political opposition.
Please Note: This study group will not meet on 11/25/09.
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: See above; available through a variety of booksellers and libraries and through amazon.com for .01 on up.
Other Costs: None
Bob Mercer (rdmissr@aol.com), Study Group Leader
9/16-12/16, Wednesdays @ 1:30-3:30pm
Please Note: You may register/participant in one or both of these study groups.
Study Group #1 (September 16 – November 11, 2009): Space technology history, personal experiences, and antidotes of others with whom the Group Leader worked at that time, to cover such topics as project and program objectives for assessing man's capabilities to operate in space up through meeting all the objectives for landing and returning crews from the moon, i.e., Projects Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, and even a little of the first US space station, i.e., the Skylab program, and early Shuttle flights. It touches on such details as NACA-to-NASA's formation, crew selections and training, flight operations, overviews of vehicle key design features, many side stories on important successful and not-so-successful flight incidents plus a little of trivia that past students seemed to like, a number of both earth-orbital and lunar-orbital flight experiments and studies, the challenges of program management, public affairs, some non-mathematical basics on orbital and space rendezvous mechanics, etc.
Study Group #2 (December 2 – December 16, 2009): This study group will review the reported history of the July 1947 “Roswell Incident” about extraterrestrial contact. It will cover corroborating aspects, including some prior incidents, as well as the purported “Majestic-12”-related US Government response, follow-up, analyses and policy decisions. Additional reports about extraterrestrials, beginning in the 1980’s to the present time, also will be reviewed and discussed. Participant research and reporting will be highly encouraged, and attendees will be asked to perform some home computer and/or book research.
About the Study Group Leader: Bob Mercer is an Aerospace Research Physicist with over 50 years experience in design and development of scientific aerospace experiments as well as in development, modification, flight testing, operational evaluation and utilization of aircraft, manned and unmanned spacecraft for research and technology. Bob was an early military assignee to NASA’s manned space flight programs and worked quite closely with the first three groups of astronauts. He is a retired Colonel in the USAFR with 30 years of service, half on active duty including considerable experience in technical intelligence.
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: No formal text, but a bibliography will be made available as well as recommendations on many Internet sites for those wishing to delve deeper into course subjects.
Other Costs: None
Various Guest Presenters and/or OLLI Study Group Leaders
9/16-12/16, Wednesdays @ 1:30-3:30pm
Study Group Description: A variety of short subjects will be presented by study group leaders and/or guest presenters sponsored by an OLLI member. These Short Subjects are typically a one- to two-day session; with each session running 2 hours.*
*Email notifications to membership and printed schedules and sign-ups will be posted on the OLLI bulletin boards at the facility prior to the study group offering (usually 1-2 weeks before scheduled date). So that the study group leader may make adequate preparations, members are asked to sign up after receiving notification for each study group they would like to attend.
Lu Rudolph (lurudolph@gmail.com)/
Glenn Bacon (gcbacon35@yahoo.com), Study Group Leaders
9/17-12/17, Thursdays @ 9:00-11:00am
Study Group Description: This study group will be using two texts. Chaos is the gold standard of popular books on chaos theory and SYNC is an up-to-date account of recent research. James Gleick’s Chaos is a classic of science writing. It chronicles the birth of a new science. This new science offers a way of seeing order and pattern where formerly only the random, the erratic, the unpredictable – in short, the chaotic – had been observed. The New York Times says “These are fascinating stories of insight and discovery, told with a keen sense of drama and excitement…Almost every paragraph contains a jolt.”
SYNC author Stephen Strogatz is a leader in the field of chaos research, especially the study of synchrony. The tendency to synchronize may be the most mysterious and pervasive drive in all of nature. But only very recently have scientists from disparate disciplines come to the realization that the study of synchrony could revolutionize our understanding of everything from the origin of life to certain types of human behavior. Brian Greene, author of The Elegant Universe, says “Steven Strogatz, a leading researcher and renowned teacher, takes the reader on a thrilling ride – from orbital patterns to sleep cycles, from flashing butterflies to heart rhythms, from traffic patterns to brain waves. With its contagious enthusiasm, and clarity of expression, SYNC gives us a compelling glimpse into what makes our universe tick.”
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Texts: Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick, Penguin Books, 1987 and SYNC: How Order Emerges From Chaos in the Universe, Nature and Daily Life by Stephen Strogatz, Hyperion Books, 2003; available new/used from amazon.com.
Other Costs: None
Isabel Aaronson (laaronson@cox.net), Study Group Leader
9/17-12/17, Thursdays @ 9:00-11:00am
Study Group Description: In 1971, Linda Nochlin, then professor of art history at Vassar, wrote an essay entitled “Why have there been no good women artists?” Her essay began the conversation about women in the history of art. In fact, art history texts up until the mid 1970’s virtually ignored women artists. Do the names of Hildegarde Von Bingen, Judith Leyster or Sofonisba Anguissola ring a bell? You’ll discover who these women were, study their work and what their lives were like.
Women have successfully been seriously involved in the arts through all of human history (although not without impediment). Join the study group leader and survey women’s role in the history of art and learn about women artists from many times and places. This study group will combine lecture and seminar-style discussion with participant reports. Reports will generally deal with specific artists, their work, their lives, and how they dealt with their societies. Each study group participant will be expected to report on an artist or topic of his or her choosing. Painters, sculptors and photographers will be covered.
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: While no text is required, the following two books are excellent sources: The Obstacle Race: The Fortunes of Women Painters and Their Work by Germaine Greer (A very informative and great read) and Great Women Masters of Art by Jordi Vigué (a good overview of painters, loaded with decent color reproductions); both books are available used and in paperback from amazon.com.
Other Costs: None
John Kaminski (kaminskijw@comcast.net), Study Group Leader
9/17-12/17, Thursdays @ 11:15am-1:15pm
Study Group Description: This study group will read contemporary short stories selected from an international anthology, “The Art of the Tale...” Two stories and their writers will be discussed each session. Several Nobel Prize winners are included in the reading list. The study group leader will provide a brief biography of the authors and some background on the story settings. The stories have been published from 1945-1985, and are written in a variety of styles: conventional, folktale, surrealism and postmodern.
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: The Art of the Tale: An International Anthology of Short Stories; available at amazon.com from $14.29/new to $5.50/used.
Other Costs: $2 for copied material.
Whitey Lightner (krobbird1@comcast.net)/ Ed Loebl (ecloebl@comcast.com), Study Group Leaders
11/5-12/17, Thursdays @ 11:15am-1:15pm
Study Group Description: This study group has been given twice before; Part II expanded on Part I, and Part III will expand on I & II. Lots of exciting things have happened since Genes II. The past two study groups will be reviewed, but are not a prerequisite for Genes III. This study group will primarily use the lecture format, with audio and visual support.
Examples of typical questions asked: Two of your four sisters have breast cancer. Should they be studied to see if they have a genetic form of breast cancer? Should you? Participants will be encouraged to do short presentations. Professors from the UofA will also participate (depending on availability) as guest speakers. In a recent course a participant, speaking of another person, stated “her strength came from her genes.” I asked myself, are there strength gene(s)? How many? Are genes responsible for all our physical characteristics and all of our behavior patterns? What is a gene? How do they work? Why do some genes cause cancer? The questions could go on forever.
There will be lots of time for questions, and plenty of time for interactive discussions (just ask prior ‘takers’). This is a fun introduction to an exploding area of science, strengthen your backs you science avoiders – join in the fun!
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: None
Other Costs: $8-$10 for copied handouts.
Lynn Bagley (alvinbagley@comcast.net)/
Linda French (ljf310154@yahoo.com), Study Group Leaders
10/1, 11/5 & 12/3, Thursdays @ 1:30-3:30pm
Study Group Description: The Book Discussion Group will meet once a month on the first Thursday of each month. The books selected for the Fall semester are:
October 1st: Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. This is a novel about a missionary family in the African Congo. It is a rabid indictment of Western colonialism and an expose of cultural arrogance and greed. This study group will be led by Linda French.
November 5th: The Scalpel and the Soul by Allan J. Hamilton, MD. A tragic error in medical education is that doctors are taught to think and not feel. This book is a moving account on what can happen when a doctor opens his heart and eyes to life’s spiritual lessons and to the mystery that thrives amidst the terror and trauma of life-threatening illness. This study group will be led by Lynn Bagley.
December 3rd: Luncheon and the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland. This is a novel that depicts a gathering of Auguste Renoir’s friends enjoying a summer Sunday. Narrated by Renoir and seven of his models, using settings in Paris and on the Seine, Vreeland illuminates the gusto, hedonism and the art of the era. This study group will be led by one of the participants.
Note: Members can sign up for both the Book and Film Discussion Groups because their schedules will be flexible and coordinated.
Enrollment: Limited to 25
Text: The costs of the books selected; available at most bookstores and at amazon.com.
Other Costs: None
Ruth Zales (mrzales@aol.com)/
Judy Kidder (judyandart@comcast.net), Study Group Leaders
9/17-12/17, Thursdays @ 1:30-3:30pm
Study Group Description: The Film Discussion Group will typically meet on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month. The group will choose films, view them in a local theater or in the classroom, and then discuss them. If appropriate, other video or documentary materials will be used. The group will also have flexibility to revise the meeting schedule as it chooses.
Study group members will be asked to participate in the film selection, view the film and participate in the discussions. Study group members will also be asked to “take turns” in leading the discussions.
Note: Members can sign up for both the Book and Film Discussion Groups because their schedules will be flexible and coordinated.
Enrollment: Open to assigned room capacity.
Text: Costs associated if theatrical films are selected and attended.
Other Costs: None
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