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EIN MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
June, 2009
NEW EIN WEB POSTINGS FOR JUNE
Under MANAGING YOUR LLI
Online Classes – A compilation from across the Network
Under LLI PROGRAM IDEAS 1
Saturday Lecture Series – Lifelong Learning of Hilton Head Island
From Big Bang to Understanding Humanity – OLLI, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
We’re OLLI But Who Are We? – OLLI, University of S. Maine, Portland
Spring Seminars – ALP, University of Connecticut, Hartford
The American Revolution Lecture Series – Adventures in Learning, Colby-Sawyer, NH
Friday Films – MICL, Modesto Junior College, CA
American Expositions – Academy of Lifelong Learning, Saratoga Springs, NY
Under LLI PROGRAM IDEAS 2
LLI News for June
Under LLI CONGRATULATIONS
LLI Congratulations for June
NE/EAST CONFERENCE CHANGE
EIN has just learned that due to medical reasons, the 2010 NE/East LLI Conference, to be held at
the LLI at SUNY New Paltz in New York has been cancelled. At this time, we are looking for
another program in either the New England or East region to come forward and offer to be the
host, at a date to be determined by the host program. There is $3,000 in seed money just waiting to
be given to the host program. Please contact EIN if your program is interested in hosting a
conference next year. There’s still plenty of time to plan one.
The Southeast Regional Conference – July 29-31, 2009 - is still being held next month.
WORLD U3A CONFERENCE
The World Conference, scheduled for February 8,9,10, 2010, and organized by the Indian Society of
U3As in association with Chitrakoot University and WorldU3A.org now has a website. See
http://worldu3aconference2010.org. LLI members are welcome to attend.
NEW AFFILIATES
EIN welcomes the following new affiliate programs:
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, University of CA, San Diego
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, UCLA Extension, Los Angeles
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Boise State University, Idaho
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, University of N. Carolina, Wilmington
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, University of Nevada, Reno
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Widener University, Exton, PA
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, University of Rhode Island, Kingston
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Casper College, Casper, Wyoming
Nancy Merz Nordstrom, M.Ed. June, 2009
Elderhostel Institute Network
ENCORE FELLOWSHIPS
The Serve America Act creates Encore Fellowships for Americans age 55 and older to serve in one-
year management and leadership positions with nonprofit organizations. Each year, 10 Encore
Fellows from each state will be matched with qualifying organizations. In addition to their service,
they will receive leadership training and help with post-service placement. Encore Fellows will
receive a minimum stipend of about $23,000, with the federal funding at least matched by the
recipient organization. The first federal Encore Fellowships created by the Serve America Act
are expected to be selected in 2010. The Corporation for National and Community Service is
working out details of the new program; you can monitor progress and learn about opportunities for
public input at www.Encore.org (EIN thanks Kali Lightfoot for this information.)
CALL SENIOR PLAYERS
This past spring, the Cheshire Academy for Lifelong Learning (CALL) Readers' Theatre class at
Keene State College, NH presented four plays. Readers' Theater involves shorter or abridged plays
performed by actors with scripts in hand and minimal staging. On April 24, they presented Oscar
Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" and "Combover," a comic conversation between a man
and his barber. On May 1, two more plays were presented: Chekhov's comic "Marriage Proposal"
and "At Halftime, " a coach's halftime harangue of his "over-fifty women's basketball team" who is
losing badly to a team of nuns.
OLLI HELPS PBS
Members of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Boise State University in Idaho volunteered
during the recent Idaho Public Television Fund Drive. They also received a message from IPTV
letting them know they had been selected as a sponsor of the month because they value their
support. That means the TV station will carry an ad in their monthly schedule publication and will
highlight the Institute on the air. Well done to all who participated.
BRAIN BOWL
In April members of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of North Florida,
Jacksonville, took part in Brain Bowl 2009. They cross trained their brains with games and activities
throughout the day while listiening to Brookdale and Mayo Clinic doctors share tips on maintaining
a healthy brain and lifestyle. They enjoyed a fun-filled day of learning with free admission, parking
and lunch
VISION, CONSCIOUSNESS AND CREATIVITY: A NEUROLOGICAL APPROACH
Would you like to understand why you can almost walk into a painting by Ingres or Sargent but
must ponder a Picasso? In this course, members of the Osher Lifelong Leaning Institute at the
University of S. Maine in Portland did just that. They considered changes in art, after the invention
of the camera and the discovery of electrons, and took a neurological approach to sight creativity
and the self. Viewing different works, they saw how the consciousness of the artist and the viewer
interact. By reading from popular neuroscience and artist’s statements, they considered how they
constructed meaning from what they saw, and how they created and grasped abstractions
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Nancy Merz Nordstrom, M.Ed. June, 2009
Elderhostel Institute Network
KHRUSHCHEV IN IOWA
2009 is the 50th anniversary of one of the most fascinating occurrences in the history of
international diplomacy. In September of that year, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev accepted
an invitation by Roswell Garst, an American farmer and seed company executive, to visit Garst's
farm in Coon Rapids, Iowa. Garst had been selling corn to the Soviet Union for several years and
was a confidant of Khrushchev. The Soviet leader was interested in finding out why Americans were
so much more successful at agriculture than his own people. Their classic meeting in Coon Rapids
took place during the height of the Cold War. Approximately 600 members of the world's press
were present to observe the unprecedented meeting between an Iowa farmer and a world-renowned
Communist leader. Citizen-diplomat Garth's initiative opened the doors to improved US-Soviet
communications and the open trade policies of today. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of
Khrushchev's visit to Iowa, The Institute for Lifelong Learning at Western Iowa Tech Community
College held a free public lecture, "Khrushchev in Iowa," on April 23. Their special guest was Liz
Garst, granddaughter of Roswell Garst. Historian and political analyst Russ Gifford explored the
background and significance of Khrushchev's visit to Coon Rapids. He also used photos and news
stories to show what Iowa looked like at the time of the Soviet "invasion" of America's heartland.
Gifford used the vantage point of 50 years to see how Khrushchev's efforts fared, how his efforts
presaged Mikhail Gorbachev's attempts at reform 30 years later, and what might have been had the
"Iowa Initiative" continued. This presentation was made possible by generous grants from
Humanities Iowa and the Iowa Association for Lifelong Learning.
SENIOR LEARNING CATALOG
The University of Wisconsin Madison published its first “Senior Learning Program at UW-
Madison” catalog this past spring. The catalog contains all the programs being offered through the
UW-Madison Division of Continuing Studies, as well as programs at the Osher Lifelong Learning
Institute and PLATO. One-stop shopping for later-life learners.
LIFELONG LEARNING ACADEMY EXPANDS LOCATIONS
The Lifelong Learning Academy at the University of S. Florida, Sarasota/Manatee has added two
new class locations. Along with classes in Sarasota, additional classes are now being offered at the
Anna Maria Island Community Center in Anna Maria, Florida and at The Studio at Gulf and Pine,
also in Anna Maria. These two new locations have been added to the LLI listing on the EIN web
site so prospective members can see all the possible learning venues.
PROSTITUTION AND MODERN ART
Members of the OLLI program at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina recently examined
Prostitution and Representation in Modern Art by Elizabeth Howie, Ph.D., Visual Arts. Pablo Picasso’s
1907 Demoiselles d’Avignon not only inaugurated the Cubist movement, but continued a practice of
using images of prostitute bodies for radically groundbreaking painting practices. Édouard Manet’s
Olympia of 1865, arguably the first modernist painting, likewise revolutionized painting with a
portrayal of a prostitute. This presentation examined prostitution and representation in the era
bracketed by these two works.
HIDDEN LIBRARY TREASURES
Members of the RISE program at Rivier College in Nashua, NH recently explored the many
different opportunities on local library websites. Class participants found out how to reserve new
materials, got updates about library events, joined online book clubs, reserved museum passes and
subscribed to newsletters.
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Nancy Merz Nordstrom, M.Ed. June, 2009
Elderhostel Institute Network
THE BIG READ
The Curriculum Committee of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Alabama
Huntsville, teamed up with the Huntsville Library this past winter to bring members a special course
entitled “The Pharaoh’s Library.” This course was offered in conjunction with other activities
associated with the “Big Read Egypt/U.S. – 2009” program. The course was held at the library for
six Mondays and was open to the public.
IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO HAVE A HAPPY CHILDHOOD
Reclaiming our “joie de vivre” (joy of life or joy for living) was the emphasis in this class at the
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Nevada, Reno. It covered how, as aging
adults, we can get in touch with the creative child who lives within all of us. That child within will
teach us how to play again with more humor, laughter and joy in order to face life’s continuing
challenges! There were stories told, movies, dances, guest speakers, “Bucket Lists” to explore and
many more exciting, silly, fun-loving experiences!
ORGANS: HOW THEY WORK, THEIR HISTORY & MUSIC
Members of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
recently learned all about the workings of this complex musical instrument, its evolution, and its
major geographical styles. They also focused on how the various sounds are produced using
drawings and musical examples, traced a partial history of the instrument using pictures and records,
and studied some of the musical forms that have developed for this instrument.
LEADERSHIP: GRAHAM AND SCHWARZKOPF
Members of the Middlesex Institute for Lifelong Education (MILES) in Connecticut were recently
treated to a video presentation about a conversation on leadership issues between Katharine
Graham, former publisher of The Washington Post, and former General Norman Schwarzkopf.
The program originally took place at the Bushnell Auditorium in Hartford under the sponsorship of
The Connecticut Forum.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN JEWELRY
Members of the Rose Institute for Lifelong Learning in Beachwood, Ohio recently examined
Victorian and Art Nouveau Egyptian jewelry with a local gemologist, appraiser and jewelry historian.
They learned about the materials and motifs that the best jewelry masters of the period used to
design and make their jewelry.
FORENSIC PATHOLOGY
This topic continues to be very popular at LLIs with the Lyceum program at Binghamton University
in New York being the latest to offer a glimpse into this complex world. Participants were
introduced to the cause, mechanism and manner of death with a local forensic pathologist. They
learned the difference between a coroner, medical examiner and forensic pathologist; how autopsies
are conducted; the evaluation of wounds, and heard about sample cases.
INSIDE ADVERTISING
A former director of advertising for Proctor & Gamble took members of the Lifelong Learning of
Hilton Head Island program into the world of advertising. Participants got an in-depth look at how
advertising is created, distributed, and measured; its role in the economy, and application not only to
the marketing of famous brands, but for political campaigns and public service efforts. They
reviewed many famous TV and print campaigns and learned how they were developed.
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Nancy Merz Nordstrom, M.Ed. June, 2009
Elderhostel Institute Network
RADIO DAYS: PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE
This spring, members of the Shoreline Institute of Lifelong Learning in Connecticut were treated to
two classes on this interesting topic. The first was with a New Haven radio legend, Bud Finch. He
talked about the history of radio, providing personal anecdotes from his many years as a performer,
administrator, creative director and advertising executive. The second class looked at the changing
face of radio and explored Internet radio and how it is impacting the future of radio. New
technology is bringing radio back to its roots in a unique way and the class was given a tutorial on
how to access internet radio stations as well as regular radio stations out of antenna range.
SHADOW BALL: THE NEGRO BASEBALL LEAGUES
The trials and triumphs of the African-American ball clubs that produced some of the greatest
players such as Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige and Rube Foster were recently studied by the L.I.F.E.
program at Burlington County College in New Jersey.
THEY’RE BACK: PIRATES!
Pirates are again all over the news. Members of Learning in Retirement at Sacred Heart University
in Stamford, CT recently focused on Indian Ocean piracy and the two areas where it is rampant –
Indonesia and Somali. The facilitator compared past techniques and the goals of both ancient and
current pirates and how nations have fought back.
MY YEARS WITH C-SPAN
Members of the Lifelong Learning Institute, Manassas, Virginia were treated to a presentation by
Brett Betsill, who worked at C-SPAN for 26 years. From this vantage point he witnessed not only
some of the most interesting of political times, but also the impact of the exploding information
technology industry on the political process.
WAVES AND PIECES OF THEM
Members of the PLATO program at the University of Wisconsin Madison took a course that
covered vibrations, propagating disturbances and their quanta. The course also covered water,
sound, lights, deBroglie, solitary, radio, x-ray, gravity and shock waves. Participants studied how
they all work and what they have in common.
A STUDY OF DISEASE
Members of the Drury University Institute for Mature Learning in Missouri recently learned about
Emerging Diseases and Culture and Disease: How Human Beliefs and Behavior Influence Illness.
Participants came away from both courses with a better understanding of this complex topic.
THE CASE OF THE MISSING FACE
Members of the Baylor Institute for Learning in Retirement in Texas, under the direction of an
anthropology professor, learned how to put clay on skull models to do a facial reconstruction, a
technique used for assisting medical examiner’s offices and law enforcement agencies in identifying
bodies.
ENERGY CONSERVATION
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina will not hold
classes on Fridays until early August as a way to help the college conserve energy.
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Nancy Merz Nordstrom, M.Ed. June, 2009
Elderhostel Institute Network
INSTRUMENTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Have you ever heard a koto, or sung to the music of the harplike zither? Do you wonder what a
hurdy-gurdy sounds like? In this program, members of the OLLI program at Saginaw Valley State
University in Michigan took an around the world tour of musical instruments. From the penny-
whistle of Ireland, to the kalimba of Africa, and right back to North America with an Indian
mouthbow, the presenter shared stories of the history of these instruments, and songs that would
have been played on them a hundred years ago.
GUARDIAN AD LITEM
Members of the Osher Lifelong Learning Program at the University of N. Florida in Jacksonville
recently attended a box lunch at which they learned about the State of Florida Guardian ad
Litem Program. The program is a network of professional staff and community advocates,
partnering to provide a strong voice in court and positive systemic change on behalf of Florida’s
abused and neglected children. There are 21 local Guardian ad Litem programs in 20 judicial circuits
in Florida, including Jacksonville.
NEW BOOKS FOR LLI COURSES
Thanks to the ENCORE Center for Lifetime Enrichment at North Carolina State University in Raleigh for these
suggestions.
What You Can Change and What You Can’t, by Martin E.P. Selligman. This book questions the validity
of the Freudian assumption that childhood events have a major influence on adult personality.
Except in rare and traumatic cases, this commonly held assumption does not stand up to scrutiny.
An Essay on Population, by Thomas Malthus, shows how a great book does not have to be 100%
“correct” and also how we can learn from Malthus’ mistakes – some lessons about how to question
policy analysis and prescription.
Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet, by Jeffrey Sachs. Discusses how three major
challenges – heading off global warming and environmental destruction; stabilizing the world’s
population; ending extreme poverty – are global problems that require global solutions. This will
mean new forms of political leadership and collaboration rather than doing it alone.
Tilli’s Story: My Thoughts Are Free, by Lorna Collier and Tilli Schulze. A true story of a young farm
girls and how she lived through the occupation of her village, first by the Nazis and then the
Russians. (Suggested by the WISE program, Assumption College, MA)
NEW WEB SITES FOR LLI COURSES
FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE ACT –
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/spying/fisa.html
Compilation of policy and opinion pieces on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and
the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (FAA, signed into law in July 2008). Includes many letters and
other documents against the FISA Amendments Act, which "[u]ntil Congress enacted the FAA,
FISA generally prohibited the government from conducting electronic surveillance without first
obtaining an individualized order from the FISA court." From the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU).
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Nancy Merz Nordstrom, M.Ed. June, 2009
Elderhostel Institute Network
FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE ACT –
http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fisa/
Compilation of government documents concerning the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)
of 1978, which "prescribes procedures for requesting judicial authorization for electronic
surveillance and physical search of persons engaged in espionage or international terrorism against
the United States on behalf of a foreign power." Includes material on the FISA Amendments Act
(signed into law in July 2008), several Congressional Research Service reports, related court
decisions, and more. From the Federation of American Scientists (FAS).
AMERICAN JOURNEYS: COLUMBUS TO KEROUAC –
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/harrison/exhibits/journeys/
This exhibit presents a "selection of treasured manuscripts, books, and artifacts, which trace some of
the remarkable journeys that brought us from 1492 to the mid-twentieth-century era of social
protest." Maps, drawings, photos, and other digitized material are accompanied by brief essays on
topics such as travels by indentured labor, runaway slaves, the Harlem Renaissance, and John
Steinbeck and Dust Bowl travelers. From the University of Virginia Library.
THE ART OF THE AMERICAN SNAPSHOT 1888-1978 –
http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2007/snapshot/index.shtm
Companion to a 2007 exhibit that "traces the evolution of snapshots in America from 1888, when
George Eastman introduced the first Kodak camera, to 1978." Flip through an online book to view
snapshots, "photographs usually made by amateurs and intended to document personal history. ...
Their casual, loose style has influenced fine are photographers as well as other artists." From the
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
That’s all for this month.
Nancy Merz Nordstrom, M.Ed.
Elderhostel Institute Network
Nancy.merz-nordstrom@elderhostel.org
www.elderhostel.org/ein/intro.asp
617-457-5564
One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture,
and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.
…Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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