Course Offerings
2007 BROWN BAG TUESDAYS
12:00 - 1:30 pm
Please Note: The Campus Center Conference Room is the old Student Center, it is connected to Women Work and Community Office, behind the Farmhouse building
January 9
Field Trip: 11:00 am Tour of Police Academy in Vassalboro (lunch available), if you wish to carpool from Augusta, meet at 10:15 am at the Augusta Civic Center lower parking lot
January 16
Art Ray: Step Back in Time - Trolleys of Waterville
124 Jewett Hall
January 23
Elizabeth Reinsborough: Northern Ireland - An Overlooked Gem
Campus Center Conference Room
January 30
Ruth Bookey: Refugee Invited Back to Berlin - My Story
Campus Center Conference Room
February 6
Field Trip: 10:00 am Tour of Margaret Chase Smith Library in Skowhegan, (if you wish to carpool from Augusta, meet at 9:15 am at the Augusta Civic Center lower parking lot)
February 13
Richard Bamforth: Colorful Scotland - Castles and Gardens
124 Jewett Hall
February 20
Elizabeth Reinsborough: China and Tibet - The Roof of the World
Campus Center Conference Room
February 27
Art Ray: Step Back in Time - Trolleys of Augusta
Campus Center Conference Room
UMASC Fall 2006 Course Offerings
BARTER
Instructor: Ken Baker
Fridays, 8 weeks, 9/15 – 11/3, 9:00-11:00 am
Trade what you have to get what you want. In today’s economy, this is a $21 billion per year business. This course could help you pay for your next vacation, go out to dinner, or enable you to help your favorite non-profit. Are you interested in increasing your net profit by 15%, move end-of-season inventory, or maximize any business in some other way? This is the course for you! Materials provided.
COMICS: REFLECTIONS ON THE FUNNIES
Instructor: Gloria Weisheit
Fridays, 6 weeks, 9/15 – 10/20, 9:00-11:00 am
Class will look at comics from our local newspaper and discuss what we see in them – American society, our humor, our politics, how we see men, women, children, work – all the aspects of American life. Materials provided.
CRUISING AT 55 AND GOING FOR 85+
Instructor: Suzanne Bazinet
Saturdays, 6 weeks, 9/30 – 11/4, 9:00-11:00 am
Understanding a bit about senior biology, senior chemistry, and the basics of senior nutrition may be just the tune-up that you need for the long haul. Our roadmaps will be the Food Guide Pyramid, the US Dietary Guidelines and US labeling regulations. We will go through the checklists for healthful grocery shopping, snacking, food preparation, eating out and eating at home. Also, we will develop some guidelines for evaluating the huge amount of diet information available from the government, health organizations, the media, and individual nutrition experts. We will stock up on information about interactions between and among foods, herbs, supplements, and prescription medications, so we can avoid detours and roadside emergencies. Care and maintenance in the form of healthful eating and exercise will allow us to enjoy our Golden Years. This class will begin September 30. Materials provided.
ELECTRICITY
Instructor: Art Ray
Saturdays, 5 weeks, 9/16 – 10/7, 9:00-11:00 am
The electrical energy which powers so much of our daily lives is often a deep mystery. Art Ray will guide you through the intricacies of a system which delivers electricity to homes and businesses. A few important technical terms and systems will be carefully explained. Some topics to be covered are systems that supply electricity, organization of our electrical delivery system, and the workings of each system. Also discussed will be outages, storm restoration, and how other utilities interact with the electrical delivery system. The final class will be a field trip to see examples of overhead and underground systems detailed in the class. Materials provided.
EXPLORING CLASSICAL MUSIC, PART 1: 1600-1865
Instructor: Chet Day
Saturdays, 8 weeks, 9/16 – 11/4, 9:00-11:00 am
We will take a musical walk through time: the Baroque period, the Classical period, and the first half of the Romantic period. Our guides will be (in order): Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Rossini, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Wagner, and Brahms – an average of two per week. On our trek we seek recorded excerpts containing each composer’s greatest hits. Our road map will be Phil G. Goulding’s entertaining text Classical Music-The 50 Greatest Composers and Their 1,000 Greatest Works. Textbook provided.
HANDS-ON-ART FOR BEGINNERS AND BEYOND
Instructor: Ruth Bookey
Fridays, 8 weeks, 9/15 – 11/3, 1:00-3:00 pm
The focus of this course is an introduction to various art media – encouraging exploration and use of those materials. There will be demonstrations and “how-to’s” whenever new materials or methods are introduced. There is also room for people with previous experience. The instructor takes the student where she finds him/her and encourages and helps as needed. Materials provided.
INTRODUCTION TO ISLAM
Instructor: Roger Smith
Fridays, 8 weeks, 9/15 – 11/3, 1:00-3:00 pm
Through a combination of lecture, text and video, this class offers an introduction to the life of Muhammad and the principals of Islam. Textbook provided.
IS IT LEGAL?
Instructor: Sally Wagley
Fridays, 5 weeks, 9/8 – 10/13, 9:00-11:00 am
In this five-week course, participants will gain insight into the legal system, with a focus on topics of special interest to people of retirement age. Subjects include: wills, trusts, estate planning, powers of attorney, guardianship/conservatorship, elder care, divorce and family law, grandparent visitation, consumer law and mediation. Information will assist participants in identifying their own legal needs, and will also appeal to those with a general interest in the legal system. This year the course will highlight sweeping changes in elder law enacted by the Maine legislature and by Congress, and may be of interest to past attendees of the course who want to receive updated information. Also, there will be a new session on age discrimination. This class will begin September 8 (no class on September 29). Materials provided.
JOY OF POETRY
Instructor: Ted Bookey
Fridays, 8 weeks, 9/15 – 11/3, 1:00-3:00 pm
This is a class for people who would like to enhance their appreciation and pleasure of poetry. We will read and discuss a variety of poems in order to explore how and why poems work and have the power to move us. It is a class, too, for those who already read poetry and might like to try writing poems and are not sure how to get started. Textbook provided.
PLAYING WITH PICTURES ON YOUR PC
Instructor: Edna Smith
Fridays, 8 weeks, 9/15 – 11/3, 1:00-3:00 pm
Students will learn how to straighten, crop, and “fix up” photos. We will discuss how to save pictures and use them for memory books and cards. It is not necessary to own a digital camera, but you must be computer literate. Textbook provided.
ROADSIDE GEOLOGY OF MAINE GLACIATIONS
Instructor: Lorraine Stubbs
Saturday 9/16, 9:00 am, Field trips on Thursdays
Students will look at the features of the Maine landscape that show glacial action which ended approximately 12,000 years ago. We will view eskers, marine deltas, old beaches, sand dunes, kames, relic lakes and learn how each was formed, and the ways they affect how we use them. Students will carpool to share expenses. Each will be an all-day trip. You may wish to bring a lunch or funds to buy lunch. There will be walking but it will not be strenuous. A great deal of time will be spent outdoors so please dress appropriately. The first class will be Saturday, September 16; the field trips will be on Thursdays. Materials provided.
SCIENCE AND RELIGION: CONVERGENT OR DIVERGENT VIEWS OF THE WORLD?
Instructor: Charles Acker
Fridays, 8 weeks, 9/15 – 11/3, 3:15-5:15 pm
Providing a historical perspective, this course will examine the development of science and its interaction with the theological view of the world. Topics will include the science/religion warfare hypothesis, faith and reason, God and nature, Galileo’s trial, arguments from design, Darwin and responses to evolution, and fundamentalism and creationism. Along the way we will learn something about the scientific method and differences and similarities between scientific and religious ways of understanding. About a third of the course will involve a video presentation. Outside reading will be encouraged. The class will be conducted in a discussion style. [Note for students who have taken this class before, content will cover ground – new and different from that of previous courses on this topic.] Materials provided.
SURVIVAL SPANISH FOR PRE-BEGINNERS
Instructor: Charles Acker
Fridays, 8 weeks, 9/15 – 11/3, 1:00-3:00 pm
Suppose you find yourself shipwrecked and cast up on the shore of an island where only Spanish is spoken. Or more likely, suppose you are separated from your tour group in Oaxaca and want to get back to your hotel or at least find the bathroom. In either situation, it would be handy to know a few (appropriate) Spanish words and/or be able to read some signs. The course (by a non-native speaker) will introduce you to rudimentary pronunciation, vocabulary, sentence construction and verb conjugation in the present tense. Warning: Part of every session will be conducted only in Spanish: a little challenging, but at the end of the first session you will surprise yourself by speaking/understanding some Spanish. Textbook provided.
THE RESTAURANT REVIEW
Instructor: Peter Rosenberg
Fridays, 6 weeks, 9/15 – 10/20, 1:00-3:00 pm
At the first meeting we will discuss how to rate a restaurant. What counts besides food? The next few meetings will be luncheons at some of the newer restaurants in the area. At each luncheon we will try to arrange to have the chef or owner give a talk about some aspect of food, finances, or restaurant management. At the last lecture we will write reviews and discuss if they might be published. Enjoy a luncheon with friends; learn about food, presentation, cleanliness, and service. The cost of each luncheon will be paid by the student. Participants may carpool if they wish.
THREE FICTIONAL HEROINES OF THE 20TH CENTURY
Instructor: Lincoln Ladd
Saturdays, 7 weeks, 9/23 – 11/4, 9:00-11:00 am
The heroines of three early 20th century American novels reflect the changing, emerging concepts of women in a time of transition. The novels are Willa Cather’s My Antonia, Sinclair Lewis’ Main Street, and Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, three enduring works of art that remain of interest today. This class will begin September 23. Textbooks provided.
INTRODUCTION TO STAINED GLASS
Instructor: Jim Todd
Tuesdays, 8 weeks, 9/12 – 10/31, 9:30-11:30 am, held in Lisbon Falls
Classes will be held at the Maine Art Glass Studio in Lisbon Falls. Students will be introduced to the techniques of stained glass art and will complete a suncatcher (materials provided). Each student will then be assisted to design and build a beautiful stained glass project of their choice. The Studio rental fee of $240 for 8 classes including the use of all Studio tools, will be shared between the students enrolled – minimum 8, maximum 10. The student’s share of this fee (nonrefundable) will be between $24 and $30 each, payable at the first class. Students will buy all their own glass and other materials for their choice of project – estimate of cost $20 to $80. The Studio offers a 10% discount on these purchases. Classes will be held on Tuesdays beginning September 12 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. (No scholarships allowed for this course).