FALL SEMESTER 2021 - COURSES
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES
Monitoring Local Government: An Investigative Journalist’s Guide
Brant Houston
Tuesdays, 1:30-3:00
September 14 through November 2
Format: Webinar
This course will provide a window into how to monitor and interpret local government activities, using the tools of investigative journalism. We will explore how to find information and data that is already available on the local government agencies, but may be difficult to locate. Sessions will focus on using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain information that is not online, and how to collate information and data to measure how well an agency is performing and how efficiently tax revenues and fees are being spent.
Instructor: Brant Houston is a professor and the Knight Chair in Investigative Reporting at the University of Illinois. He is the author of The Investigative Reporter’s Handbook and Computer-Assisted Reporting: A Practical Guide. He served as executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors, an association of 5,000 members, for more than a decade and was an award-winning journalist at daily newspapers and more recently at nonprofit newsrooms. He is a co-founder of the Global Investigative Journalism Network, which has more than 180 nonprofit newsrooms as members. He has taught numerous well-received courses at OLLI, with students noting the wealth of journalistic resources he includes in his exceptional presentations.
A Changing Middle East
Janice Jayes
Tuesdays, 11:00-12:30
September 14 through November 2
Format: Webinar
As the U.S. scales down the War on Terror model of engagement it initiated two decades ago, it is leaving behind a dramatically different Middle East. Russia has returned to exercising a robust role in the region, China is pursuing the Belt and Road Initiative – a 21st century Silk Road, the UAE and Israel have emerged as major players in the use of AI in foreign policy, and Turkey and Egypt are competing in North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean. This class examines the way state actors are reinventing the region.
Instructor: Janice Jayes teaches in the history department at Illinois State University. She enjoys looking at contemporary world affairs as both a historian and political scientist. Her current research interests are on the transformation of non-state actors in the last two decades and the way this is upending the twentieth century model of state-centered world order. She looks at the way these transformations affect many regions, but concentrates on the Middle East, North and Central Africa, and North America. Her OLLI courses have been among the most well-received and highly enrolled offerings of recent years. One student in her spring 2019 course on Yemen commented, “This is the best class I have ever taken at OLLI” and another noted simply, “She is the best of the best.”
The World after COVID: Prospects, Dangers, Temptations
Richard Tempest
Tuesdays, 3:30-5:00
September 14 through November 2
Format: Webinar
From the Justinian Plague (541-549 AD) to the Spanish Flu (1918), pandemics have caused upheaval on the vastest of scales. History teaches that if there is one thing we can be certain of, it is that the post-COVID world will be a very different place. This course will examine the likely outcomes of the COVID-19 emergency at home and abroad. Our two primary lines of inquiry will be the geopolitical and geocultural, with a focus on how the global changes already under way, and those that are yet to come, will impact Americans’ private and public lives.
Instructor: Richard Tempest is a Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Illinois and a Senior Editor at the Journal of Political Marketing (Chicago). He holds a BA, MA, and PhD from the University of Oxford and has published on Russian and world history and culture in English, Bulgarian, Russian, and French. His study Overwriting Chaos: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s Fictive Worlds (Boston: Academic Studies Press) came out in 2019. The focus of his current book project is the dynamics of charismatic leadership in the twenty-first century. His numerous OLLI courses and lectures have had extremely strong reviews for his deep knowledge of the subject and engaging presentation style.
FILM STUDIES
Countercultures in the Movies, 1930s-1960s
Sandy Camargo
Wednesdays, 11:00-12:30
September 15 through October 6 (4-week)
Format: Meeting
This is a 4-week course that meets during the first half of the semester. Another course, on early Romanticism in music, taught by Cathrine Blom, meets in this time slot during the second half of the semester. That course requires a separate registration.
Unlike independent and experimental films, mainstream commercial films are designed to appeal to broad audiences. As a result, representing potentially explosive social and cultural issues becomes a problem to be solved by filmmakers as much as a banner to be waved. We will look at examples where commercial cinema and non-mainstream values intersected in the United States and Europe from the 1930s through the 1960s. Important institutional contexts will include the functions of stars and marketing, as well as the stylistic innovations that were a major source of these films’ critical and commercial appeal.
Instructor: Sandy Camargo was a Senior Lecturer and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies at the University of Illinois. She has recently retired, after 17 years of teaching film studies at the U. of I. (plus 13 years before that at the University of Missouri). She has taught courses on film analysis; film style; genre theory; crime films; film in Australia, Britain, Canada, and Ireland; countercultures in the movies; and American film since the 1950s. She presented a well-received course on film style in spring 2021, after having taught several thought-provoking international film courses between 2010 and 2012.
HISTORY
Gettysburg
Fred Christensen
Wednesdays, 1:30-3:00
September 15 through November 3
Format: Webinar
This course will examine the Civil War’s most famous battle, its aftermath, its human cost, and its significance. We will begin with a look at the nature of 19th-century warfare and the military and political situation in early summer 1863. Then full and detailed coverage will be given to the ten days of retreat and pursuit after the battle. The course will consider the options, choices, and possibilities open to Lee and Meade during those days of the battle and its aftermath. The history of Gettysburg is full of dramatic events and controversies, and we will address many of them here.
Instructor: Fred Christensen is a former history instructor at the University of Kentucky and assistant professor of military science at the University of Illinois. He teaches noncredit classes for OLLI and other venues, in five areas of history and archaeology: Britain, Germany, early America, Israel/the Holy Land, and military history in general. This is his 28th OLLI course since 2008. Students regularly praise his detailed, richly illustrated presentations and well-chosen supporting materials.
Walt Whitman and 1860s America
Connor Monson
Thursdays, 9:00-10:30
September 16 through October 7 (4-week)
Format: Webinar
This is a 4-week course that meets during the first half of the semester.
In this course, we will cover the life and times of the transcendentalist poet, Walt Whitman. Through Whitman’s story, we will get a glimpse into four different aspects of the Civil War-era United States that illustrate how the nation was rapidly changing. The lectures will start in 1860 when Whitman published his first reprint of Leaves of Grass up to mid-1865 when he wrote his moving elegy to Abraham Lincoln, “O’ Captain, My Captain!” We will discuss the rapid shifts in literature, immigration, abolitionism, military service, international relations, medicine, and national politics.
Instructor: Connor Monson is a graduate student at the University of Illinois pursuing library science and public history, with plans to complete a Ph.D. in American History and teach at the undergraduate level. His undergraduate major was in American History with a focus on the mid-19th century. He has published a senior honors thesis as well as two peer-reviewed articles with the digital history organization Sourcelab; all three articles concern American political movements and parties. He currently serves as Sourcelab’s Vice-Chairman. Connor has taught history courses at Parkland College community education for nearly two years. His first two OLLI courses, in 2020-2021, received enthusiastic evaluations for the fascinating and well-constructed presentations and his deep knowledge of the subject matter.
LITERATURE AND ART
Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth **Course registration closed. Course is full.
Parley Ann Boswell
Thursdays, 11:00-12:30
September 16 through November 4
Format: Meeting
In 1897, Edith Wharton and her friend Ogden Codman Jr. published a book on interior design called The Decoration of Houses, in which they challenged the excesses of 19th-century house design favored by the moneyed class of New York. Eight years later, Wharton challenged the same excesses and values of the wealthy class she knew so well with another book about a house, this time a novel that made her famous: The House of Mirth. To begin, we will read an earlier Wharton novella, The Bunner Sisters (1892). Then we will experience gilded New York with Lily Bart, a 29-year-old society beauty who needs to find a rich husband. We will tend to our exquisite Lily carefully, as she tries to thrive in this 1905 hothouse of mirth.
Any edition of The House of Mirth will do for this class.
Instructor: Parley Ann Boswell graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign just months after Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece The Godfather Part II was released. Now Professor Emerita of English, at EIU she taught Film Studies and American Literature – from colonial through early 20th century – for thirty years. This is her seventh OLLI course, and her courses receive exceptional reviews for being well-organized, interesting, and informative. A recent student noted, “I have always loved Edith Wharton, but I know so much more now.”
Art of Spanish Colonial South America
Bernard Cesarone
Wednesdays, 3:30-5:00
September 15 through November 3
Format: Webinar
This course was originally scheduled to be offered in fall 2020, and we are delighted to offer it this semester.
This course surveys the art of the Viceroyalty of Peru (Spanish colonial South America), one of the great cultural mixings in the era of globalization. After providing historical and artistic background on the Spanish and Inca cultures, the course examines the art of the viceroyalty from the conquest (1533) to independence (ca. 1820). Topics covered include missionizing art and architecture; the arrival of European painters; the development of local indigenous schools of painting, especially the Cuzco school; artistic developments during the Enlightenment, and the indigenous response to them; and mural painting in indigenous villages.
Instructor: Bernard Cesarone retired in 2015 after a career working on information and data projects in the UI’s College of Education. During this time, he pursued his decades-long interest in art, receiving a doctorate in art history, with a specialization in Spanish colonial art, though his interests range widely, to India, northern Europe, and elsewhere. He has owned and operated a gallery showing folk art from India and Latin America, and he has curated exhibitions of folk art at KAM and at the Tarble Arts Center at EIU. He has taught courses at EIU and at OLLI, where his courses in 2013-2014 received strong evaluations for his detailed, informative visual materials.
MEDICINE AND HEALTH
Women in Medicine
Néstor A. Ramírez, MD
Mondays, 1:30-3:00
September 13 through November 1
Format: Webinar
This course offers an exploration of the difficulties, blocks, discriminations, and prejudices faced by women in their attempts to enter the medical profession, with a survey of some of the “firsts” achieved by women here, in other countries, and in diverse medical fields. We will also review the mistreatments and injustices inflicted upon women as patients due to misconceptions about their physiology and psychology and to extreme misogyny and male chauvinism.
Instructor: Néstor A. Ramírez was born in Bogotá, Colombia, completed his medical studies and internship in Bogotá, and later spent seven years in the jungle area of southeast Colombia as a general practice physician with the Territorial Health Service. He came to the U.S. and did a General Pediatrics residency at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center, both in Memphis, Tennessee. Afterwards, he held a fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at the Regional Medical Center of the University of Tennessee. He came to Illinois in 1986 and started working as a neonatologist, first in Champaign, then in Springfield, and later in Chicago, until 2016. He worked as a physician reviewer for Blue Cross/Blue Shield until October 2017. He retired from active practice, but has continued his involvement in organized medicine at the county, state, and national levels. He was President of the Illinois State Medical Society in 2017-2018 and has been elected to be the Trustee for Region 5 (21 counties in Central and South-Central Illinois) for three years (2019-2021). His recent OLLI courses and lectures on medical topics have received extremely positive reviews for his engaging presentation style and the useful information he provides.
We Are All Immunologists Now **Course registration closed. Course is full.
Ed Roy
Mondays, 9:00-10:30
September 13 through November 1
Format: Webinar
The COVID-19 pandemic has made everyone aware of the importance of the immune system. This course will provide the basics of how the immune system works. Cells of the immune system are incredibly diverse, and they constantly protect us from infectious disease. Cells of the immune system act as a mobile nervous system, detecting danger, responding to the danger, healing wounds, keeping a balance between our cells and the other life forms within our bodies. The immune system also deals with rogue cancer cells, and recent work has shown the therapeutic potential of enhancing immune responses to cancer. The course will emphasize responses to infectious disease and cancer immunotherapies.
Instructor: Ed Roy is an emeritus professor of Physiology at the University of Illinois. He received his Ph.D. from UMass Amherst and did postdoctoral work at The Rockefeller University, studying the neuroscience of hormones. He joined the U. of I. Psychology Department in 1979. In 1993 he redirected his research from neuroscience to the immunology of cancer. With support from an NIH Re-Entry Grant, he re-trained as an immunologist, and moved his academic position to the Medical School, where he taught immunology to first year medical students. He began a long collaboration with David Kranz, a T cell biochemist also interested in therapeutic applications of T cells. He taught his first OLLI course, a well-received offering on immunotherapies for cancer treatment, in fall 2020.
Bringing Balance, Flexibility, and Calm to your Life with LV Chair Yoga™
Robin Goettel
Monday, 10:00 – 11:30
October 11 – November 1 (4-week)
Format: Meeting
This is a 4-week course that meets during the second half of the semester.
The pandemic may have heightened emotions of anxiety, sadness, and loneliness. This often results in issues we have within our physical body, such as increased heart rate, shallow breathing, and muscle tightness in jaw, neck, shoulders, and back. Practicing chair yoga is a form of self-care that can address many health issues, while improving balance, flexibility, and inner- and outer-strength. This yoga class creates a safe environment by teaching proper ways to do poses and adapting them to individual challenges and varied levels of flexibility.
At the beginning of each class there will be a presentation focusing on topics including finding contentment; responding to stress through mindfulness; bringing balance to your life; garnering gratitude; and improving posture. In each class, students will practice yoga postures with Robin for 50 minutes while sitting in a chair. Robin has been teaching chair yoga on Zoom for several months and is well-acquainted with this format.
Instructor: Robin Goettel has practiced many styles of yoga for 45 years. Since retiring, she became more involved in promoting wellness as a certified Lakshmi Voelker Chair Yoga™
teacher. She received additional training by participating in a National Yoga Alliance Conference and continues to glean the latest research from the International Association of Yoga Therapists. Robin has taught chair yoga classes since 2014 at five senior facilities/fitness centers in C-U. Through her OLLI Chair Yoga classes over the past 5 years, her students have noted that the postures and breathing techniques they learn have created a sense of calm, happiness, and balance to carry into their daily lives.
MUSIC
The Interplay between Music and Society – Early Romanticism
Cathrine Blom
Wednesdays, 11:00-12:30
October 13 through November 3 (4-week)
Format: Webinar
This is a 4-week course that meets during the second half of the semester. Another course, on countercultures in film, taught by Sandy Camargo, will meet in this time slot during the first half of the semester. That course requires a separate registration.
Focusing on the Romantic Period, ca. 1730-1900, this course will address the question of why composers wrote certain kinds of music during specific time periods. We will concentrate on the most important composers of the period: Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Weber, and Brahms, and show how they changed the scale and scope of music – striving for the sublime, emulating painting and literature, and becoming autobiography, poetry, and folktales in music.
Instructor: Cathrine Blom earned her Ph.D. in musicology at the University of Illinois, where she also earned a B.A. in psychology with a minor in music. She also has a working background in physics, participating in Norway on analysis of CERN experiments prior to coming to the U.S. At Illinois, she co-taught the primary introductory music classes for majors several times, and received an honorary mention for the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award in the College of Fine and Applied Arts. Her OLLI courses on both music and science topics are highly regarded; one recent student noted, “She made a very difficult topic much easier to understand.”
Jazz as Protest – Still the Voice of the People
Jenelle Orcherton
Tuesdays, 9:00-10:30
September 14 through November 2
Format: Meeting
Jazz has a long history of being music of protest and the soundtrack for a social justice movement. This class will touch on some pivotal pieces and musicians who have taken a claim in the movement, which in recent years has grown in volume, intensity, and urgency. Artists will include Nina Simone, Art Blakey, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, James Brown, Gil Scott-Heron, Kamasi Washington, and Jon Baptiste.
Instructor: Jenelle Orcherton is a jazz performer and educator, with training in Education and a recent Masters' in Jazz Performance from the University of Illinois. She is the Artistic Director and Founder of the Champaign-Urbana Jazz Festival just celebrated its fifth successful season. She has served on many jazz and community organizations including the Saskatoon Jazz Society, Music Defying Boundaries, and most recently, the Urbana Public Arts Commission. Jenelle has over fifteen years of education experience and is passionate about giving all audiences the opportunity to engage with jazz. She receives enthusiastic reviews for her OLLI music courses, with students citing her knowledge of the subject and lively in-class discussions.
RELIGIOUS STUDIES
A Rabbi Encounters Tribal Nations Philosophy and Religion in The Metaphysics of Modern Existence by Vine Deloria, Jr.
Rabbi Norman Klein
Wednesdays, 1:30-3:00
September 15 through November 3
Format: Meeting
Our course will explore the subject matter and point of view of this seminal writer of the Lakota Sioux who became by default, and in all modesty, one of the most outspoken and yet respected presenters of a new synthesis of Western and traditional Indigenous American religious and philosophical thought. While we will cover a variety of different tribal ways of thinking, and refer to a number of other works by Deloria and other writers, the course will focus on and discuss the text of The Metaphysics of Modern Existence. Among the many philosophers and thinkers Deloria reacts to are Paul Tillich, Teilhard de Chardin, Claude Levi-Straus, and C. G. Jung. We shall explore and debate his comparisons between Western Thought and Tribal Peoples Thought, keeping in mind that Deloria provides a window into, but not a summary of, all Tribal Peoples’ thinking.
The 2012 edition is available inexpensively on Amazon if the class member chooses to purchase it; however, the instructor will provide in-class excerpts to explain and discuss.
Instructor: Norman Mark Klein is retired as the emeritus rabbi at Sinai Temple in Champaign after serving as the interim rabbi at temples in Canada and Florida. Before becoming Rabbi Emeritus at Sinai Temple, Champaign, IL, he served as rabbi from 1995 to 2013. Rabbi Klein was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1985 and was rabbi at temples in Pennsylvania and Texas between 1985 and 1995. Rabbi Klein came to rabbinic school at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion with an interest in literature, having done graduate work at Indiana University, Bloomington (A.B.D. in the Ph.D. program of the English Department, with a minor in film production), his thesis work on the subject of the interaction of character and place in contemporary novels set in exotic places. His rabbinic thesis focused on a contemporary Israeli novel. A representative review from a recent course noted that he is “very knowledgeable and good at leading discussions.”
SCIENCE
Astronomy 101: A Retiree’s Guide to Backyard Skywatching
David Leake
Fridays, 10:00-11:30
September 17 through November 5
Format: Webinar
Instructor: David Leake has been sharing the stars with the community since he saw his first constellation in 5th grade. He retired in the summer of 2019 after 30 years at the William Staerkel Planetarium at Parkland College, the last 20 as director. There he taught Physics and Astronomy in addition to welcoming over 20,000 school children to the planetarium. In 2005, Dave won the ICCTA outstanding faculty member award, the first Parkland faculty to win the state award. Dave was instrumental in working with local entities to acquire “dark sky park” status for the Middle Fork River Forest Preserve. His first OLLI course on the cosmos, in fall 2020, received high marks for his vast knowledge of the subject matter and engaging presentations.
Mammals, Mammary Glands, and Milk: It’s All about Lactation
Walter Hurley
Mondays, 3:30-5:00
October 11 through November 1 (4-week)
Format: Webinar
This is a 4-week course that meets during the second half of the semester. Everyone is mesmerized by the newborn animal trying to get milk from its mother. We often readily associate with other mammalian species, being one ourselves. We have developed many relationships with a range of mammals over millennia, relying on them for food, fiber, power, and other resources. This course is intended as an introduction to fundamental concepts and perspectives that will help us better understand the diversity of mammals, the lactation process, and the production of milk. A comparative approach will be central to this brief exploration of mammals, mammary glands, and milk. Instructor: Walt Hurley is a Professor Emeritus of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He has served on the faculty in Animal Sciences for 38 years. His area of research has been lactation biology and mammary gland biology, particularly with respect to dairy cattle and swine. He has taught a number of undergraduate courses at Illinois, including his long-standing course on the biology of lactation. He has previously taught and lectured at OLLI on basic concepts principles about milk, its composition and production, and its use by humans, receiving strong reviews for his thorough knowledge of the subject.
WELLNESS
Blueprint: Take On a Life of Your Own
Lindsay Haitz and Gina Johnson
Mondays, 11:00-12:30
September 13 through November 1
Format: Webinar
After 2020, many of us realized that we cannot take our mental health and wellbeing for granted. This series will guide you to know yourself, accept yourself and be yourself in all situations. We will train skills in the following areas: emotional awareness, self-regulation, self-talk, optimal mindset, habit formation, recovery (self-care). Additionally, you will develop your "blueprint motto" to represent your life principles, purpose and vision. This course is designed to be interactive and our goal is to create an emotionally and psychologically safe environment to support your individual growth.
Instructor: Lindsay Haitz is a licensed professional counselor and Associate Certified Coach who holds a Master’s in Mental Health Counseling from Lee University in Tennessee. She has worked at the Harvard Medical School and the College of Medicine at the University of Chicago, and she is currently a Career Services Specialist at Disability Resources and Educational Services within the College of Applied Health Sciences.
Gina Johnson holds a Master’s in Social Work from the U. of I. and is a licensed clinical social worker and certified trauma therapist. She served on the Board of the Urbana Business Association from 2018 to 2020, and she is a current Board member of 40 North/Champaign County Arts Council.
This is their first OLLI course.
SPRING SEMESTER 2022 - COURSES
The 8-week semester begins on Monday, January 31, 2022
Registration opens on Wednesday, December 15 at 9:00 a.m.
About OLLI Spring Courses:
All courses meet for 8 weeks unless noted in the course descriptions. Spring semester 2022 courses will be offered in three different formats: in-person, online via Zoom, or hybrid. For our hybrid courses, members will register to participate either in person or online.
Our online-only courses will be offered in the Zoom Meeting format. The Zoom Meeting format is the one that most people are familiar with: students are seen on camera in tiles across the screen, and they can control their microphones so they can interact with the instructor and each other. The instructor can share materials with the class.The online component of the hybrid courses will be offered in the Zoom Webinar Format. In Zoom Webinar, students will see the instructor and their materials on the screen; but the students will not be on camera, and their microphones will be muted. The Webinar format offers increased security, fewer accidental interruptions, and larger capacity for registrations (which means no wait lists for courses in the Webinar format). Facilitators will assist online participants with questions for the instructor.
In order to attend OLLI classes in person, members must-- be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as defined by CDC guidelines (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated.html) or have tested negative for COVID-19 within 48 hours prior to participating in a class (in accordance with updated UIUC guidelines);
-- wear a mask while indoors at all times (including instructor);
-- physically distance in the classroom.
By registering for the in-person format, you are affirming that you accept and will abide by these conditions.
Online-only and in-person courses will have capacity limits, so interested students are encouraged to register early. Courses with low enrollment may be canceled on January 17, 2022. Early registrations will help avoid cancellations!
We are pleased to present these descriptions of our Spring courses, arranged by subject area.
The schedule of class meeting times can be found HERE with additional information included in each listing below.CONTEMPORARY ISSUES
Living History in Modern Turkey
Janice Jayes
Tuesdays, 9:30-11:00 a.m.
February 1 through March 22
Online: Zoom Webinar
The Republic of Turkey celebrates its history at every turn. Portraits of Ataturk, Hittite-inspired public sculpture, and Ottoman-themed soap operas are only a few of the ways that the past is woven into daily life. This class looks at Turkey’s modern relationship with its history by examining the ways in which some historical eras are celebrated, as well as the way other events and eras are sources of controversy. It will explore key eras in the history of the region as well as how those eras are remembered – or not – today.
Instructor: Janice Jayes teaches in the history department at Illinois State University. She enjoys looking at contemporary world affairs as both a historian and political scientist. Her current research interests are on the transformation of non-state actors in the last two decades and the way this is upending the twentieth century model of state-centered world order. She looks at the way these transformations affect many regions, but concentrates on the Middle East, North and Central Africa, and North America. Her OLLI courses have been among the most well-received and highly enrolled offerings of recent years.
Mind Science and Modern Cultural Response
Bruce Michelson
Mondays, 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
January 31 through March 21
OLLI Osher Classroom
Where do fresh ideas about consciousness and human nature impact our literature, the arts, movies, TV, and even the fabric of our daily life? Without second-guessing the philosophy or science behind these formulations, we can discuss how some of them have taken hold over the past two hundred years, and how they can resonate in our thinking about what it means to be human. We will review the cultural impact of several modern descriptions of consciousness, the mind, and personal identity. Where and in what shape do we see them turning up -- regardless of how they are grounded in fact?
Instructor: Bruce Michelson is Professor Emeritus of American Literature, Emeritus Director of the University of Illinois Campus Honors Program, and Global Studies Faculty at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the author of a number of works on Mark Twain, translator of Georges Clemenceau's Claude Monet: The Water Lilies and Other Writings on Art, former President of the Mark Twain Circle of America, former President of the American Humor Studies Association, and author of articles on Richard Wilbur, Robert Lowell, Edith Wharton, Garrison Keillor, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and other literary subjects. He is a 2-time Fulbright Professor(universities of Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, and Liège; Fulbright Ambassador. This is his first time teaching an OLLI course.
Triumvirate: America, China, and Russia as Global Actors and Rivals
Richard Tempest
Tuesdays, 1:30-3:00 p.m.
February 1 through March 22
Hybrid: OLLI Osher Classroom and Zoom Webinar
The destinies of our world are being shaped by three geopolitical partners and rivals, the United States, China, and Russia. Led by veteran politicians who preside over very different political systems, each nation-state in this triumvirate faces major challenges, some shared and some unique, while competing for leadership in a fluid, occasionally chaotic international environment. Our course will look at how Joe Biden, Xi Jinping, and Vladimir Putin are attempting to achieve a historic reconfiguration of the global hierarchies of economic, military, and cultural preeminence. Who will emerge the victor in this all-important contest?
Instructor: Richard Tempest is a Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Illinois and a Senior Editor at the Journal of Political Marketing (Chicago). He holds a BA, MA, and PhD from the University of Oxford and has published on Russian and world history and culture in English, Bulgarian, Russian, and French. His study Overwriting Chaos: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s Fictive Worlds (Boston: Academic Studies Press) came out in 2019. The focus of his current book project is the dynamics of charismatic leadership in the twenty-first century. His numerous OLLI courses and lectures have had extremely strong reviews for his deep knowledge of the subject and engaging presentation style.
A Year After the Capitol Riot: What have we learned so far?
Brant Houston
Fridays, 9:30-11:00 a.m.
February 4 through February 25 (4-week, session I)
Hybrid: OLLI Osher Classroom and Zoom Webinar
This is a 4-week course that meets during the first half of the semester.
A year has passed since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack and during that time there have been arrests, investigations, hearings, and documentaries. This class will review what has been disclosed on how the riot came to be, the role of QAnon and other fringe groups, and the participation of Trump advisers, lawyers, and operatives in the planning of the events that resulted in the riot. And the class will look what more may come to light in the coming months and hearings.
Instructor: Brant Houston is a professor and the Knight Chair in Investigative Reporting at the University of Illinois. He is the author of The Investigative Reporter’s Handbook and Computer-Assisted Reporting: A Practical Guide. He served as executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors, an association of 5,000 members, for more than a decade and was an award-winning journalist at daily newspapers and more recently at nonprofit newsrooms. He is a co-founder of the Global Investigative Journalism Network, which has more than 180 nonprofit newsrooms as members. He has taught numerous well-received courses at OLLI, with students noting the wealth of journalistic resources he includes in his exceptional presentations.
FILM STUDIES
Canadian Film
Sandy Camargo
Thursdays, 6:00-7:30 p.m.
February 3 through March 24
Online: Zoom Meeting
Canada, like every other country except the United States, uses its national cinema as an expression of, exploration of, and advertisement for its national identity. We will look at Canadian films with the aim of discovering what issues Canadians see as central, as worthy of display, and as problematic. We will look at the relationship between these film representations and actual social and political ideas and practices. We will also see how Canada negotiates its economic and industrial relationship to the 800-pound gorilla of the film world: Hollywood.
Instructor: Sandy Camargo was a Senior Lecturer and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies at the University of Illinois. She has recently retired, after 17 years of teaching film studies at the U. of I. (plus 13 years before that at the University of Missouri). She has taught courses on film analysis; film style; genre theory; crime films; film in Australia, Britain, Canada, and Ireland; countercultures in the movies; and American film since the 1950s.
Classic Film Treatments of Famous French and Russian Novels
John Frayne
Fridays, 1:30-4:00 p.m.
February 4 through March 25
OLLI Osher Classroom
In the 1930s, an explosion of interest in Hollywood in filming classic fiction extended to the best known French and Russian novels. Hollywood by the mid-30s had learned to join sound with the imaginative visual effects of the silent era. These older adaptations of classic fiction are consistently preferred to newer adaptations, largely because of the superb character acting of the older versions. In versions of novels by Leo Tolstoi, Alexander Dumas, Victor Hugo, and Fyodor Dostoyevski, we will see vivid performances by such stars as Greta Garbo, Charles Laughton, Fredric March, Jennifer Jones, Claude Rains, and Peter Lorre. These films of the 1930s were famous for their luxuriant and inventive production values.
Instructor: John Frayne was from 1965 to 1997 Professor of English, Comparative Literature, and Film Studies at UIUC, and is now an Emeritus Professor. He specialized in Modern British Literature and Film Studies. From 1985 to present, he has been radio host on Saturdays (formerly also on Sundays) at radio station WILL-FM, where he hosts “Classics of the Phonograph,” and Opera Broadcasts. Since 2000, he has been classical music critic for the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette. In recent years, he has volunteered at the Champaign Public Library FriendShop, serving on the Board and the FriendShop committee.
HISTORY
Discovering the Ancient Sky: The Archaeology of Astronomy
Sarah Wisseman
Wednesdays, 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
February 2 through February 23 (4-week, session I)
Online: Zoom Webinar
This is a 4-week course that meets during the first half of the semester.
From the beginning of humanity, people have gazed at the night sky and tried to explain the movements of celestial bodies and how they relate to human events. The sun, moon, stars, and planets have been used to mark the passage of time, decide when to plant or harvest, navigate, and plan rituals and celebrations. The archaeological record is rich with practical and symbolic examples: monuments aligned with the sun or moon, calendrical marks and star patterns on artifacts, and lunar phases recorded on clay tablets. This 4-week class will range from early astronomical observations in Babylonia to sun and moon gods around the world and ancient observatories in Europe and the Americas.
Instructor: Sarah Wisseman, Ph.D, is the retired Director of the UI Program on Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials (Illinois State Archaeological Survey, Prairie Research Institute). She received her degrees in Anthropology (Harvard University) and Classical and Near Eastern archaeology (Bryn Mawr College) after spending two years in Israel studying Biblical archaeology. Her primary research areas are the science of Egyptian mummies, ceramic technology, experimental archaeology, and archaeometry. Sarah has taught numerous well-received classes at OLLI. She also writes archaeological mysteries.
Ancient Britain
Fred Christensen
Wednesdays, 1:30-3:00 p.m.
February 2 through March 23
Hybrid: OLLI Osher Classroom and Zoom Webinar
Stonehenge, Avebury, Maiden Castle—these are the sites that come to mind when considering what Winston Churchill called “the Birth of Britain.” This class will examine British prehistory, emphasizing the latest findings, debates, theories, and controversies. Instructor-made films will portray archaeological sites including Boxgrove, the Cheddar Caves, Grimes Graves, Silbury Hill, and others. The class will portray changing ways of life revealed by archaeology, from Ice Age hunters through Neolithic farmers and Bronze Age warriors to the Iron Age chieftains encountered by Julius Caesar in 55 BC. Thoroughly updated since its last presentation in 2014, the class will distinguish between rational theories and romantic dreams—and with topics like the Celtic heritage and the significance of Stonehenge, there are plenty of both.
Instructor: Fred Christensen is a former history instructor at the University of Kentucky and assistant professor of military science at the University of Illinois. He teaches noncredit classes for OLLI and other venues, in five areas of history and archaeology: Britain, Germany, early America, Israel/the Holy Land, and military history in general. This is his 29th OLLI course since 2008. Students regularly praise his detailed, richly illustrated presentations and well-chosen supporting materials.
Greece and Persia: The War that Created History
Frank Chadwick
Wednesdays, 3:30-5:00 p.m.
February 2 through March 23
Hybrid: OLLI Osher Classroom and Zoom Webinar
Although ancient cultures compiled chronicles and lists of important events, Herodotus is widely held to be the father of "history," meaning a study which tells a story and makes a point about the events it relates. He did this to tell the story of the struggle between two cultures: Greece and Persia, and the wars which resulted. This course will examine that struggle, from the rise of Cyrus the Great (559 BCE) through the conquest of the Persian empire by Alexander (330 BCE), and will try to answer these questions: Who were the Greeks? Who were the Persians? What really happened?
Instructor: Frank Chadwick has previously taught courses on Writing the Novel, the 1973 Arab Israeli War, and World War Two, as well as study groups on writing, films, music, and history. He spent much of his career writing military history and designing war games. In addition to eleven science fiction novels and short stories, and over a hundred published game designs, he has written almost three hundred articles and columns, and fourteen military history books, of which the Desert Shield Fact Book (1991) reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list. He is currently writing a trilogy of historical novels set in ancient Persia at the time of Alexander's conquest.
The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt
Connor Monson
Tuesdays, 11:30 a.m. -1:00 p.m.
February 1 through March 22
Hybrid: OLLI Osher Classroom and Zoom Webinar
In this course we will cover the life and times of President Theodore Roosevelt. He was a man full of deep contradictions, mixing positive and negative traits in equal measure. Brilliant, talented, courageous, stubborn, and ruthless he pursued multiple careers across his lifetime. In his domestic politics he helped to create the National Park System, busted trusts, and helped to reform the way our food is made. However, his foreign policy was expansionistic and paved the way for more than a century of violent conflicts around the world. Roosevelt helped to create the United States of America as it exists today, for better or worse.
Instructor: Connor Monson is a graduate of the University of Illinois with an M.LIS degree and professional training in public history. His undergraduate major was in American History with a focus on the mid-19th century. He has crafted a senior honors thesis and two peer-reviewed articles with the digital history organization Sourcelab. All three articles concern American political movements and parties. He served as Sourcelab’s Vice-Chairman. Connor also worked as a project intern at the Museum of the Grand Prairie, specializing in instructional design and collections management. His next step on his educational journey is to pursue a graduate degree in history.
LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY
Jung’s Offspring: Writers and Others Influenced by Carl Jung
Rabbi Norman Klein
Mondays, 1:30-3:00 p.m.
January 31 through March 21
OLLI Osher Classroom
Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who influenced many people outside his specialty in the fields of anthropology, literature, philosophy, and religious studies. Among these are Gaston Bachelard, Joseph Campbell, Philip K. Dick, Freud, Herman Hesse, Jean Piaget, Carl Rogers, Alan Watts, and many more. Because of time constraints, we are going to focus on eight figures, mostly in the arts, mostly writers, who were influenced by Jung. We will apply Jungian archetypes to their work, and interpret what they have produced, at least in part, as the result of the intellectual and or personal influence of Jung and his disciples. We shall focus on the following figures (besides Jung himself), devoting one class to each figure or grouping: Laurens van der Post, Hermann Hesse, Morris West, Robertson Davies, Philip K. Dick, Vine Deloria, Jr., Joseph Campbell. The first of eight sessions will be devoted to Jung himself.
Instructor: Norman Mark Klein is retired as the emeritus rabbi at Sinai Temple in Champaign after serving as the interim rabbi at temples in Canada and Florida. Before becoming Rabbi Emeritus at Sinai Temple, Champaign, IL, he served as rabbi from 1995 to 2013. Rabbi Klein was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1985 and was rabbi at temples in Pennsylvania and Texas between 1985 and 1995. Rabbi Klein came to rabbinic school at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion with an interest in literature, having done graduate work at Indiana University, Bloomington (A.B.D. in the Ph.D. program of the English Department, with a minor in film production), his thesis work on the subject of the interaction of character and place in contemporary novels set in exotic places. His rabbinic thesis focused on a contemporary Israeli novel.
The Life and Works of Hannah Arendt
Willis Goth Regier
Fridays, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
February 4 through February 25 (4-week, session I)
OLLI Osher Classroom
This is a 4-week course that meets during the first half of the semester.
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) was one of the endangered intellectuals who fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s and settled in the United States. In New York City she found work, learned English, and made her international reputation with the publication of The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951). She fortified her status as an original thinker with a sequence of brilliant books, especially The Human Condition (1958) and The Life of the Mind (1978). Her articles in The New Yorker on the Eichmann trial, later converted to a book (1963), ignited a controversy that continues to this day.
Mildred Pierce meets Strangers on a Train
Parley Ann Boswell
Thursdays, 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
February 3 through March 24
Hybrid: OLLI Osher Classroom and Zoom Webinar
We may know the titles Mildred Pierce and Strangers on a Train from the movies—both were adapted by Hollywood studios into now-classic films. But the novels that inspired these movies are also worth our attention: James M. Cain’s Mildred Pierce (1941) and Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train (1950) represent the best of American mid-20th-century storytelling. Let’s read them as a pair and explore how they complement each other. Along the way, we will enrich our understanding of perhaps the most American of all genres: the taut, obsessive, deceptive world of American noir.
Instructor: Parley Ann Boswell graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign just months after Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece The Godfather Part II was released. Now Professor Emerita of English, at EIU she taught Film Studies and American Literature – from colonial through early 20th century – for thirty years. This is her eighth OLLI course, and her courses receive exceptional reviews for being well-organized, interesting, and informative.
Rivers Into Islands: An Introduction to Illinois Poet John Knoepfle
John Palen
Fridays, 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
March 4 through March 25 (4-week, session II)
OLLI Osher Classroom
This is a 4-week course that meets during the second half of the semester.
John Knoepfle, 1923-2019, devoted his life to poetry. He published more than 20 books of original work and translation, and his publishers included University of Chicago Press and University of Illinois Press. Yet he remains lesser known; for example, there is no author page devoted to him at the Poetry Foundation Website. This course will introduce OLLI scholars to the life and work of this quiet but powerful contributor to the poetry of the Midwest.
Instructor: A Midwest native and life-long resident, John Palen had a 50-year career as a journalist and university teacher. In retirement, he continued his love of teaching in OLLI classes focused on journalistic issues. Now he is shifting to his other life-long pursuit — poetry. John's poems have appeared in magazines, journals and books regularly since 1969. An admirer of John Knoepfle since meeting him in St. Louis in the 1960s, he’d like to introduce OLLI scholars to the life and work of this Midwestern poet who is not as well-known as he deserves to be.
MUSIC
The History of Ballet
Lei Shanbhag
Tuesdays, 3:30-5:00 p.m.
February 1 through March 22
Online: Zoom Meeting
Ballet is a major western dance form that originated from the Renaissance Era in 14th century Europe. It has been an integral expression in arts and culture of western history ever since. Understanding the history of ballet will help us understand western history through this unique form, with ever changing techniques, methods, esthetics, artistic and cultural aspirations. We will examine each historical period from the Renaissance till today. Lectures, discussions, videos, films, and references will be involved. Basic ballet moves and steps will be demonstrated. Course notes will be posted online after each class.
Instructor: Lei Shanbhag has been practicing ballet for more than 30 years since she came to the United States from China as a graduate student. Ballet’s rich history always intrigues her. She believes ballet can be a means not only for appreciating its artistic excellence but also gives us deeper means to understand the history of the western world. She has been teaching the history of Ballet as part of course “Ballet for Adult Beginners” for two years from 2018-19. She has been teaching ballet for adult beginners, Yoga, and Zumba for the since 2013.
The Interplay between Music and Society – Romanticism and “The New German School" CANCELLED
Mondays, 3:30-5:00 p.m.
January 31 through February 21 (4-week, session I)
OLLI Osher Classroom
This is a 4-week course that meets during the first half of the semester.
Focusing on the Romantic Period, ca. 1830-1900, I will continue my earlier lectures on Music and Society to address the question of why composers wrote certain kinds of music during specific time periods. In these four lectures I will concentrate on the most important composers of the Middle Romantic period, the “New German School”: Liszt, Berlioz, and Wagner. I will discuss how they changed the scale and scope of music, moving from the most intimate to the grandest, introducing Program music – music telling a story, to the invention of a new type of opera, Wagner’s “Gesamtkunstwerk,” integrating drama, music, song, poetry, and staging into a complete and continuous work of art.
Instructor: Cathrine Blom earned her Ph.D. in musicology at the University of Illinois, where she also earned a B.A. in psychology with a minor in music. She also has a working background in physics, participating in Norway on analysis of CERN experiments prior to coming to the U.S. At Illinois, she co-taught the primary introductory music classes for majors several times, and received an honorary mention for the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award in the College of Fine and Applied Arts. Her OLLI courses on both music and science topics are highly regarded; one recent student noted, “She made a very difficult topic much easier to understand.”
Jazz in This Week: Revisiting 1959
Jenelle Orcherton
Thursdays, 9:00-10:30 a.m.
February 3 through March 24
Online: Zoom Meeting
Some say jazz came of age in the '50’s and 1959 proved to be a pivotal year across all avenues of jazz. We look back at each corresponding week in 1959 and dig into who was playing, what albums were being released, plus who was making it and the larger social contexts of that music. Join us as we look back in time to find the links between then and now!
Instructor: Jenelle Orcherton is a jazz performer and educator, with training in Education and a recent Masters' in Jazz Performance from the University of Illinois. She is the Artistic Director and Founder of the Champaign-Urbana Jazz Festival just celebrated its fifth successful season. She has served on many jazz and community organizations including the Saskatoon Jazz Society, Music Defying Boundaries, and most recently, the Urbana Public Arts Commission. Jenelle has over fifteen years of education experience and is passionate about giving all audiences the opportunity to engage with jazz.
SCIENCE & MEDICINE
America’s Multifaceted Folk Medicines
Nestor Ramirez
Tuesdays, 3:30-5:00 p.m.
February 1 through March 22
OLLI Osher Classroom
Instructor: Néstor A. Ramírez was born in Bogotá, Colombia, completed his medical studies and internship in Bogotá, and later spent seven years in the jungle area of southeast Colombia as a general practice physician with the Territorial Health Service. He came to the U.S. and did a General Pediatrics residency at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center, both in Memphis, Tennessee. Afterwards, he held a fellowship in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at the Regional Medical Center of the University of Tennessee. He came to Illinois in 1986 and started working as a neonatologist, first in Champaign, then in Springfield, and later in Chicago, until 2016. He worked as a physician reviewer for Blue Cross/Blue Shield until October 2017. He retired from active practice, but has continued his involvement in organized medicine at the county, state, and national levels. He was President of the Illinois State Medical Society in 2017-2018 and has been elected to be the Trustee for Region 5 (21 counties in Central and South-Central Illinois) for three years (2019-2021). His recent OLLI courses and lectures on medical topics have received extremely positive reviews for his engaging presentation style and the useful information he provides.
Computing: From Little Bits to Big Ideas - CANCELLED
Wednesdays, 9:30 a.m.-11:00 a.m.
February 2 through March 23
Online: Zoom Meeting
Instructor: Lenny Pitt is a recently retired Professor, Associate Head, and Director of Undergraduate Programs of Computer Science at the University of Illinois. A university designated Distinguished Teacher-Scholar and winner of the Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, he has long been involved in bringing computer science to a larger audience, and has participated in numerous outreach activities, offered K-12 teacher workshops, run summer camps, taught programming classes from elementary school through university and beyond, and authored computer science and programming curricula for middle-school.
Natural Disasters, Part I: Danger from Above and Beyond
Stephen Marshak
Wednesdays, 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
March 2 through March 23 (4-week, session II)
OLLI Osher Classroom
This is a 4-week course that meets during the second half of the semester.
Instructor: Stephen Marshak was a faculty member of the Department of Geology at UIUC from 1983 - 2018. For eight years, he was Head of the Department of Geology, and for ten years, he was Director of the School of Earth, Society, & Environment. He has won several teaching awards at the College and Campus level and was listed on the "List of Outstanding Teachers" almost every semester. His research in has taken him to field sites around the world. Steve also writes college textbooks that are used worldwide. He has previously taught four OLLI courses and has given noon-hour lectures.
Opticks: Optical Instruments from Ancient Times to the Present
David Tracy
Mondays, 3:30-5:00 p.m.
February 28 through March 21 (4-week, session II)
OLLI Osher Classroom
This is a 4-week course that meets during the second half of the semester.
Instructor: Dave Tracy earned his B.S in physics at the University of Florida. After a 2.5-year stint in the Peace Corps teaching high school math and physics in Malaysia, he obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1972. Following postdocs at Imperial College in London and at UW, he switched gears and entered industry, working over 20 years developing semiconductor processing equipment and analytical instruments for chemistry and biochemistry, mostly involving optics. He retired from Perkin Elmer as VP, Science and Technology in 2000. Since then, until 2018, he consulted in instrumentation and optical design for startups, research institutes, and large corporations, in the US and abroad. He has accumulated about 50 patents. This is his seventh OLLI course.
SEC_RITY is not complete without U!
Roy Harold Campbell
Mondays, 9:30-11:00 a.m.
January 31 through February 21 (4-week, session I)
Online: Zoom Meeting
This is a 4-week course that meets during the first half of the semester. The benefits of today’s information and computing systems and networks are overwhelming. What safeguards protect society from this technology? Using a variety of more easily understood examples, the course overviews current-day problems and practices. Topics include Information Assurance, Cybersecurity and Cyberwarfare, Cybercrime and Cyberterrorism. Information Assurance is the practice of assuring information and managing risks related to the use, processing, storage, and transmission of information. Cybersecurity is the protection of computer systems and networks. Cyber Warfare involves the actions by a nation-state or international organization to attack and attempt to damage another nation's computers or information networks. Instructor: Roy H. Campbell is the Abbasi Professor emeritus of computer science at the University of Illinois. He joined the faculty in 1976 and led the Systems Research Group until his retirement in 2019. He worked on Vosaic, an early video streaming system. He made contributions in operating systems, parallel computing, distributed systems, security, and the internet of things. He served as the director of the Assured Cloud Computing University Center of Excellence at UIUC and authored the textbook 'Assured Cloud Computing'. He was Associate Dean of Information Technology for the Engineering College (2016-2019) and chaired the Senate Executive committee (2013-2015).
WELLNESS
Blueprint: Take On a Life of Your Own
Lindsay Haitz and Gina Johnson
Mondays, 6:00-7:30 p.m.
January 31 through March 21
Online: Zoom Meeting
After 2020, many of us realized that we cannot take our mental health and wellbeing for granted. This series will guide you to know yourself, accept yourself and be yourself in all situations. We will train skills in the following areas: emotional awareness, self-regulation, self-talk, optimal mindset, habit formation, recovery (self-care). Additionally, you will develop your "blueprint motto" to represent your life principles, purpose and vision. This course is designed to be interactive and our goal is to create an emotionally and psychologically safe environment to support your individual growth. This is the second time they are offering this popular OLLI course.
Instructors: Lindsay Haitz is a licensed professional counselor and Associate Certified Coach who holds a Master’s in Mental Health Counseling from Lee University in Tennessee. She has worked at the Harvard Medical School and the College of Medicine at the University of Chicago, and she is currently a Career Services Specialist at Disability Resources and Educational Services within the College of Applied Health Sciences.
International Folk Dancing
Judy Lachman
Fridays, 9:30-11:00 a.m.
March 4 through March 25 (4-week, Session II)
OLLI Illinois Classroom
This is a 4-week course that meets during the second half of the semester. Folk dancing is fun and enjoyable. It is good exercise and relieves stress. We will be learning four to eight dances during the four weeks of class. I will talk about the derivation of each dance and give an overview of the history of folk dancing. The primary focus of the class is dancing, so please wear comfortable clothing and shoes. All dances that I teach will be non-contact, either in their original form or as modified for this class. Instructor: Judy Lachman is a retired teacher and has been folk dancing since college. She began teaching folk dancing shortly after college. She loves teaching and she loves dancing. She decided to continue combining these two loves into a retirement ‘career’ of teaching folk dancing. She co-taught three OLLI dance classes. She knows the dances well and is able to teach them in a clear and concise manner.
An Introduction to Tai Chi and Qigong Fundamentals CANCELLED
Mike Reed and French Fraker
Saturdays, 9:00-10:30 a.m.
February 5 through March 26
OLLI Illinois Classroom
This course that has been a popular mainstay of OLLI’s wellness curriculum for more than a decade. The sessions will gradually introduce the 8-Movement Form and will provide suggestions for making tai chi part of a comprehensive health strategy, exposure to tai chi foundations (tai chi form, mindfulness/meditation, dynamic qigong), and methods to incorporate mindfulness/meditation exercises into daily activities. The course is intended both for students who are new to tai chi and those who have taken it at OLLI or elsewhere in the past.
Instructors: Mike Reed has been studying and practicing Tai Chi and Qigong since 1998. He has shared his experience and understanding for the past 23 years with local students at OLLI, Savoy Recreation Center, research participants at UIUC and in a variety of other settings.
French Fraker is a retired professor of Counseling Education at Eastern Illinois University. He has been practicing Tai Chi for 13 years and has co-taught Tai Chi for 8 years. He has also taught Introduction to Meditation/Mindfulness at OLLI.
Popular Ballroom Dances
Alex Tecza
Wednesdays, 6:00-7:30 p.m.
February 2 through March 23
Online: Zoom Meeting
With growing popularity of ballroom dancing and more exposure on TV, new studies have been conducted to test the benefits of this activity. The multidimensional benefits of dancing include all areas of health - physical, mental, social, and emotional. In this course, you will learn the basics of popular ballroom dances and how to create your own patterns so you can have fun improvising. Learn how to dance in the privacy of your own home! Dances taught in this session will include Tango, Mambo, East Coast Swing, and Rumba.
Instructor: Alex Tecza is a professional ballroom dancer and teacher. His achievements include titles of North American champion, professional national and world finalist, Dancers Cup Tour Professional Couple of the Year award two years in a row, and several wins in professional Standard, Smooth, Rhythm, and Showdance divisions. Aside from ballroom dancing, Alex is also an AmSAT (American Society for the Alexander Technique) certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. Locally, he has taught master classes and workshops for Dance Department at UIUC and Regent Ballroom, choreographed and performed in prod uctions at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and has coached Illini Dancesport team. Alex teaches students of all ages and levels. He taught his first OLLI course in the fall 2017.