Course Descriptions
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Ancient Egypt: Its Origins and Early history through the Pyramid Age (3100-2180 BC)
An overview of Early Egypt and its institutions, starting with “Egyptomania”—why Egypt so intrigues us, then examining its geography and climate, and religious institutions. The early period of Egypt’s history (3100-2700 BC) is little known, our understanding of this period changing almost daily with new excavations. The Pyramid Age (dynasties III-V) is a time of immense governmental centralization which allowed the construction of some of the most impressive and lasting monuments in world history---a group of nearly ninety pyramids, from Zoser’s Stepped Pyramid through the colossal pyramids of Dynasty IV at Giza. Lectures will be entirely visual to provide the feeling of “being on the spot” as we discuss each institution, early ruler, his/her monuments and the fantastic art of the time. We end with the transformation of the Old Kingdom into a time of localism and warring factions. When: Mondays, Sept.9-Oct. 7, Oct. 21-28 (7 sessions) Location: MAC Time: 10-11:30 a.m. Course Leader: Ray Thompson Chapters from My Life: A Course in Memoir Writing In this class participants will write a series of short essays that form the basis of a memoir. Each class will include tips on good writing; a block of time to write using a suggested topic; and for those who want to, time to read out loud and get feedback from the rest of the class. Enrollment limited to 15. When: Mondays, Oct. 21-Nov.4, Nov. 18-Dec. 2 (6 sessions) Location: MAC Time: 1-2:30 p.m. Course Leader: Jane Conly Delmarva’s Birds: Their Lives, Loves and Challenges In the first meeting we will review the species of birds regularly found on Delmarva, including their habitats and times of year most likely to be seen. We’ll also discuss good birding locations on Delmarva. In week two, we’ll examine “How Birds Work”, covering the basic anatomy and physiology of birds as well as a bit on avian intelligence. In the third session, we’ll discuss migration, a major and strenuous event in the lives of many of Delmarva’s birds. We’ll discuss the geography and mechanics of migration as well as navigation and orientation, how birds find their way between their summer and winter homes. For the last week, we will discuss “family life”, reproduction and parental care, including singing and other courtship behaviors, the heavy workload of the parents and mention some species that relinquish the care of their young to others. Along the way, we will highlight ways in which human activities have made birds’ lives even more challenging. When: Mondays, Sept.9-30 (4 sessions) Location: MAC Time:2:30-4 p.m. Course Leader: Ellen Lawler Political Legitimacy On Trial: The State of Delmarva While many take existing borders for granted, there are signs of unrest both within the United States and internationally. How can we define a given set of borders as politically legitimate? Using the book, A Brief Relation of the State of Delmarva, we examine the question of political legitimacy, answers to which require an understanding of historical and natural forces that have shaped existing boundaries. From this, we can apply empirical observations to come to term with measuring coherence across the Delmarva Peninsula, and in so doing, provide an answer to the question of the political legitimacy of existing boundaries or to a long festering proposal for a separate State of Delmarva. When: Tuesdays, Sept.10-Oct.1 (4 sessions) Location: MAC Time:10-11:30 p.m. Course Leader: Phillip LeBel Great Decisions: Current Challenges Facing The World The course is a presentation by video of current political and economic challenges the world is facing. There will be an introduction of the day’s topic followed by a video – or in some cases two videos if the topics are related. Following the video a discussion will take place concerning the day’s topic. The topics are: Global migration; Middle East; Nuclear Negotiations; Nationalism in Europe (and at home); Trade with China, Mexico, Canada, and Europe; Cyber Conflict; and The Current State of Diplomacy. Course participants may order the Great Decisions 2019 Briefing Book from the Foreign Policy Association online at https://www.fpa.org/great_decisions/?act=gd materials or by calling 800 477 5836. The cost is $32 plus shipping. The book is not a requirement for the course. When:Tuesdays, Oct.15-Nov. 19 (6 sessions) Location: MAC Time:10-11:30 a.m. Course Leader: Dale Godfrey When it Takes a Village: Short Stories From Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood to the Naked City, “Where do you come from?” is often a way of asking “Who are you?” This course will focus on fiction that puts community front and center—often in the starring, rather than supporting, role. We’ll read and discuss an international selection of short stories relating to topics such as “Local Charity,” “Model Cities,” “Community Worship,” “Neighborhood Watch,” “School Board,” and “One of Us.” Readings will be provided via e-mail. When: Tuesdays, Oct. 29-Nov. 19, Dec. 3-10 (6 sessions) Location: Bethany Lutheran Church Time:10-11:30 a.m. Course Leader: Nancy Hesser The Pacific War Won This is a follow-on to Mr. Roberts’ recent courses (Pearl Harbor & Pearl Harbor Avenged), but those are not prerequisites. It will cover World War II in the Pacific from early 1943 to the Japanese surrender. Major campaigns and events discussed will include the amphibious operations in New Guinea, the Solomon and the Marshall & Gilbert Islands; the Marianas campaign (including the Battle of the Philippine Sea); the liberation of the Philippines (including the Battle of Leyte Gulf); the Iwo Jima & Okinawa campaigns and the final events in the war, including the decision to drop the atomic bomb and the Japanese surrender. When:Tuesdays, Sept.10-Oct.1 (4 sessions) Location: MAC Time: 12-1:30 p.m. Course Leader: Michael Roberts Thought for Food: Short Stories From Eden’s fateful fruit to Babette’s feast, the food we eat—or dare not—feeds the imagination as well as the body. Creative fiction writers the world over have looked to food as a way to explore the range and depth of human experience, hoping to satisfy their readers’ appetite for tasty tales. This 6-week course offers no recipes, cookbooks, or dietary guides—just a smorgasbord of short stories and foodie discussion topics from a varied menu, including “Cooking Lessons,” “Just What You Knead,” “Fruit, Freshly Filched,” “Meat and Potatoes,” “Food Fights,” and “Dessert Cart.” When: Wednesday,Sept.18-Oct. 23 (6 Sessions) Location: Bethany Lutheran Church Time:10-11-30 a.m. Course Leader: Nancy Hesser The Artist’s Way In this course, participants will examine how Divine Spirit can lead to ever widening experiences of faith and appreciation of their lives as creative beings. It’s never too late to discover our natural creative talents. We will explore the creative energy offered by our universe and discover it as our very own. As a participant in the Artist’s Way, authored by Julia Cameron, course members will engage in whole or small group discussion, journal writing, and hands-on experiences. Participants should order a copy of the Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, by Julia Cameron before the beginning of the class. Paperback copies are available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Enrollment limited to 14. When: Wednesdays, Sept.25- Oct.30 (6 sessions) Location: SU Blackwell Hall Time:10-11:30 a.m. Course Leader: Sophia Sonen |
Westward Bound: The United States Expands
Over four sessions, a vivid power point presentation will tell how, as the population of the new United States nearly doubled in the early 1800s, land became scarce and people moved west. Eventually, the dangerous, frequently terrifying, expedition of Lewis and Clark, the additional land of the Louisiana Purchase, the annexation of Texas and Spanish holdings that would become California and nearby states, drew thousands to the Pacific rim. American life was aided immeasurably by the Lincoln era’s immense new presence—the Railroad—joining the coasts. And, in 1959, after years of opposition and security haggling, Hawaii territory and former Soviet-owned Alaska came into the Union. When: Wednesdays, Nov. 6-20, Dec. 4 (4 sessions) Location: MAC Time:10-11:30 a.m. Course Leader: Eleanor Mulligan Understanding Communicable Diseases in the Context of Today’s Health Challenges Although much of today’s emphasis in health care is on noncommunicable diseases, or what have come to be known as chronic diseases, communicable diseases are still very present and can raise serious public health concerns. Examples are the current worries about vaccine hesitancy and the spread of measles and about the potential of a global pandemic related to some known or unknown virus or other organism. This course will focus on understanding the basic concepts of communicable diseases including their definition, the types of organisms involved, the context in which they occur, the dynamics of how they are transmitted, their short-term and long-term effects and strategies for treatment and prevention. Attention will be given to those communicable diseases of most concern in today’s environment such as mosquito-borne diseases, vaccine-preventable diseases that are re-emerging, and other diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria that remain as challenges to public health. The potential effects of climate change, travel, and mass migrations on the spread of communicable diseases will also be discussed. It is hoped that students will acquire a basic knowledge of communicable diseases that will inform interest in, and understanding of evolving health challenges. When: Wednesdays, Sept.18-Oct. 23 (6 sessions) Location: MAC Time: 12:30-2 p.m. Course Leader: Karin Johnson Benedict Arnold: America’s Greatest (well, almost) Revolutionary War Hero If you ask Americans who Benedict Arnold was, they invariably answer that he was a traitor. But few would be able to tell you the circumstances of his defection, or that prior to his defection he was one of the most successful (if not the most successful) battlefield commanders in the Revolutionary War. He was highly praised by common soldiers and his fellow officers, including George Washington, who referred to Arnold as a “persevering and enterprising officer”. It is unlikely that the colonists would have achieved ultimate victory without Arnold’s military contributions. How did this merchant from Connecticut, with virtually no military background, become one of America’s greatest generals; and why did he suddenly defect to the British and fight against the cause for which he had shed so much of his own blood? In this class we’ll look at Benedict Arnold’s early life, his involvement in several key battles as a colonial officer, the background to his defection and the interesting events surrounding it, and his service in the British army. It’s a fascinating story of love and war, intrigue, hairbreadth escapes, victories and defeats; and it’s all true! When:Wednesdays, Sept. 11-Oct. 9 (5 sessions) Location: MAC Time: 2:30-4 p.m. Course Leader: Steve Gehnrich Shakespeare This course features in its first session an overview of Shakespeare’s life and times, as well as how to make his language readable. Sessions two through six will look each week one of these plays: The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Macbeth, and The Tempest. All of these plays are available in many text versions (any will do), the internet, as well as film versions. Each class session will include brief scenes from the play of the week. When:Thursdays,Sept.12-Oct.1 (6 sessions) Location: MAC Time: 10-11:30 a.m. Course Leader: Ron Dotterer Death, Dying and Bereavement Death, dying, and bereavement affects everybody; it is a fundamental aspect of the human experience. Yet, for so many, it remains either a taboo subject of conversation or provokes high levels of discomfort. Recognizing this, death education courses are now common in university curricula as well as in continuing education seminars for health care and mental health professionals. Furthermore much work is being done to help educate the general public. This course will examine such issues as ethics, grief, loss, the health care system, and the roles of religion and spirituality, but will go beyond the academics of death education. It serves as a catalyst for a personal search into the mortality of the significant people in our lives, and ultimately, of our own mortality. When:Thursdays,Oct.24-Nov.21, Dec. 5 (6 sessions) Location: MAC Time:10-11:30 a.m. Course Leader: Carolyn Stegman Mr. (and Miss) Shoreman Goes to Washington – Delmarva and the New Republic In the first generation of the United States, Eastern Shoremen and Shorewomen had a say in how the new republic was to evolve. This course will examine four Shore people and their efforts to influence the course of the fledgling nation. Topics include: 1) Jacob Gibson – Banking on Manumission, 2) Littleton Dennis Teackle – Inflating a Tech Bubble, 3) John Crisfield – Averting a War, and 4) Anna Ella Carroll – Preserving the Union. Class members will explore how these Shore people attempted to change the course of history – sometimes with success. When:Thursdays,Sept.19-Oct.10 (4 sessions) Location: MAC Time:12:30-2 p.m. Course Leader: Phillip Hesser Arts and Artists—Focus Women Artists-Part 2-- “You Can’t Hold Them Down!” This survey course will be examining women artists of Europe and the USA. There will be 4 classes. This class will pick up where the Spring Women Artists class left off. Part 1 is not a prerequisite for Part 2 as each woman artist is dealt with individually and in the context of her time. The Part 1 course finished with two 19th century women artists of the Impressionist Era. That will be our starting point. The artists to be covered will evolve. As the last course was written much modern research arose broadening this subject matter. Many new discoveries of unknown women artists and their stories were unveiled, and then added to the course syllabus. This morphed the original plans for the course, enriching our knowledge, and fascinating all in the class. The same will happen as this class is written and designed, so an exact accounting of the women artists to be covered cannot be stated categorically here. You have to trust the journey! When: Thursdays, Oct.24-Nov. 14 (4 sessions) Location: MAC Time: 1-2:30 p.m. Course Leader: Terry Murray Comparative European Government Systems: Part II This course is a continuation of the course of the same name offered last semester. Even though they are all based on popular sovereignty and power, democracies vary extensively in tradition, form and function. This course will continue to look at European democratic systems in France and the European Union which differ considerably in their structures and the distribution of power among the different institutions and branches of government. Why the difference? The course will explore the historic, social and cultural factors which give the governmental systems in France and the enigmatic European Union their distinctly different forms, while still remaining fundamentally democracies. When: Fridays, Sept. 13-Oct. 18 (6 sessions) Location: MAC Time:10-11:30 a.m. Course Leader: Todd Becker |