ALL classes are led by Volunteers
If you would like to volunteer to lead a course, send your name, contact information and course description to:
​assocforll@hotmail.com 

Meet the Course Leaders

Page Insley Austin practiced complex business litigation and antitrust law in Houston, Texas, and Washington, D.C., for over 20 years. In addition to her law degree, she has master’s degrees in philosophy and developmental psychology, and did graduate work in religious studies. She has taught each of those subjects and remains interested in all four, and particularly in their interrelation.

Joseph Chaikel currently teaches World Civilizations at Salisbury University. His major interests are Ancient Greece, Rome, and the Hellenistic Period.

Ted Corbett, Ph.D. history. In my long teaching career, my first job was at Florida State University, Tallahassee and my last at Bennington College, Vermont. I have also had a museum career, having been Director of the Cooperstown Graduate Program in Museum Studies. I have written eleven books on various history subjects, including Revolutionary Chestertown (2014). I have taught courses on American racial diversity and the history of the Eastern Shore.
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Dr. Ron Dotterer holds a B.A. with honors in English from Bucknell University, M.A., M.Phil, and Ph.D. with highest honors in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University. He was a professor for 21 years at Susquehanna University (where he founded the honors program, was assistant to the president, and chair of the Department of English) and for 24 years at Salisbury University, where he was professor of English and Dean of the Fulton School of Liberal Arts. He has published over 40 articles and six books on Shakespeare, Irish literature, poetry, women and the arts, film, and undergraduate research.

Dale Godfrey worked in communications, adult education, and IT for 33 years. He spent the last eight years prior to retirement at the Worcester County Board of Elections as the election information systems specialist. He contracted with the State of Maryland during the 2016 primary and general elections, as well as supporting municipal elections on the eastern shore of Maryland.

John Groutt, Ph.D. has a lifelong interest in history, archeology and world religions. He holds a degree from the Gregorian University in Rome, and a doctorate in Religion and Social Sciences from Temple University. He served as director of the Upward Bound Program at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore for twenty-eight years. He has a passionate interest in current environmental issues and is active in the Wicomico Environmental Trust and the Wicomico Interfaith Partners for Creation Stewardship.

Nancy Hesser, Ph.D., has taught literature in the US, DR Congo, and Mali. She lives with her husband and canine companions in the salt marshes of southern Dorchester County. Her ALL short story courses have focused on American regionalism, religious diversity, African voices, Central America, the Roaring 20s, and flash fiction, among other subjects.

One-time drummer with the Jack Rich Orchestra, Phillip Hesser has taught in post-secondary institutions in the US and Africa and managed educational programs for international and non-profit organizations. Author of What a River Says – Exploring the Blackwater River & Refuge, he can be found grooving to the Blue Note sides of the ‘50s and ‘60s, teaching and lecturing about life and livelihood on Chesapeake Bay, running the marshes with his pups Marshall & Bayly; or working on Sitting in Limbo: Life and Livelihood on the Tumps of Chesapeake Bay.

​Dr. Karin Johnson has undergraduate and graduate degrees in nursing from the University of Maryland and a doctorate in public health from Johns Hopkins. She is a Professor Emeritus at Salisbury University and has had a long career in higher education and public health that included many years of teaching epidemiology to both undergraduate and graduate students. In the current complex world of health care, Dr. Johnson believes strongly in providing others with a greater understanding of the basic concepts of health and disease so they can be better informed decision makers.
Art is Diane “Diantha” Mitchell’s passion. She enjoys painting, collage, drawing, creating designs, art paper, Fantastic Fans, and cards. Her mixed-medium creations include watercolor, acrylic, gouache, pastels, art pencils, gesso, art papers, and found objects. Diantha has experienced a wide range of artist experiences, including creating a number of Artist’s Way groups in Reno, Nevada, Baltimore, Easton and Salisbury, Maryland. She participated as a member of the Sierra Watercolor Society, Nevada Artist’s Association, and Women’s Art Forum in Baltimore, and she exhibited with Severn Graphics Galleries in Baltimore. She was the owner and director of Inspire Galleria of Possibilities Cultural Arts Center in Salisbury, MD. Her art works have been exhibited at the Salisbury Art Institute and Gallery in Salisbury, the UMES Mosely Gallery “Women of Color”, and in Onancock, Virginia’s Red Queen Gallery. Diantha has also exhibited her extensive work with Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity in a one-woman show in Boston, Massachusetts and as part of a group of Eastern Shore artists in the regional conference of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity.

Eleanor Mulligan began giving talks on American and European history and travel after spending over a decade in Europe, and wrote articles for the Baltimore Sun evening edition during the 1980s and 90s. For a number of years she has given visual presentations on American historical subjects and a variety of related topics. She holds undergraduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and from UMBC.

Terry Murray has a lifetime of experience making, studying and exploring art. She has traveled Europe and the United States seeking first hand exposure to internationally renowned art, galleries and sites of historic importance in the development of art. She has led studies in art, media, appreciation and history of art at all educational levels, nursery through university. Her articles and photographs have been published in national art education publications. Her watercolors, photographs and acrylics have been exhibited in numerous venues. She holds a BA in Studio Art, an MA in Art Education, plus 60 credits of additional graduate study. Currently, Terry creates art with the “Attic Artists Group,” painting in watercolor and acrylic paints, and is an active member of the Artist’s Way community in Salisbury.

Mike Pretl is a Baltimore native and graduate of Georgetown Law School who practiced law in Maryland for 45 years. He and his wife Michele Hughes have resided on the Lower Shore since 2004. Eschewing retirement, Mike has taught Environmental Law at Salisbury University, and has presented a variety of courses for the Association of Lifelong Learning – on climate change and other environmental challenges, on disinformation, the future of violence -- and the life, legacy and lyrics of folk singer Pete Seeger. Mike has been immersed in a number of progressive campaigns and activist causes, on the Eastern Shore and statewide, and has helped to launch numerous grassroots nonprofit organizations.

Mike Roberts holds a bachelor’s degree, with a major in History, from Duke University and a Juris Doctor Degree from the Washington College of Law, American University, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the American University Law Review. He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy, with two tours of sea duty in the Mediterranean fleet, and shore duty with the Naval Security Group in Washington. For over 30 years he practiced law in Washington, specializing in aviation and international law. While still in the Navy he attended graduate school at the University of Maryland, and studied under Professor Gordon Prange, the foremost authority on the Pearl Harbor attack. This led to a lifelong interest in and study of the subject matter of this semester’s course. Mr. Roberts taught a course similar to this in 2011, and has taught several other courses, principally involving World War II, in this organization and in the lifelong learning program at Washington College in Chestertown.

Dr. Carolyn Stegman taught Psychology of Aging at Salisbury University for many years. Simultaneously she began a long tenure at MAC, The Area Agency on Aging, serving on the Board of Directors, including two years as Chair, and finally serving as a consultant for MAC. Her novel, A Gold-Mended Life, tackles issues in aging.

Dr. G. Ray Thompson is Emeritus Professor of History at Salisbury University and co-founder and former Director of the Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture. He holds a Ph.D. in ancient Greek and Roman history, and studied at the American Academy of Classical Studies in Rome and at the American School for Classical Studies in Athens.