All Zoom & Hybrid Classes   

This three-week mini-course will emphasize discussion and encompass two topical areas selected by the Foreign Policy Association for discussion -- U.S. Engagement involving the continent of Africa, and the Future of Human Rights and International Law in a Divided World, thereby exploring different topical areas than were explored during the Spring 2026 semester. An open forum will be maintained in one instance in an effort to be responsive to emerging issues of the day.

Imagine being wrongfully imprisoned for nearly four years and turning to art to help you describe, remember, and cope with being in prison for ‘looking like the enemy. Explore the artists and their works, arts and craft, photography, sculptors, and delve into the vocational skills made available in the ten camps. Learn more about the artists who survived the camp and later became famous in their respective fields after the war. GAMON – endure with dignity.

Have you ever been dive-bombed by mysterious winged creatures at twilight? You may have had an encounter with bats. These incredible animals have created wonder, trepidation and an entire franchise of super hero movies, but they're so much more! Learn about the real-life super powers bats have, and what to do if they decide to take up residence in your Belfry (er, attic)!

 

Curious about ChatGPT but nervous — even a little creeped out? You’re not alone. This class takes the mystery and anxiety out of AI. It’ll help you simplify everyday tasks, make technology less stressful, and discover what you didn’t know you could do. Learn simple, practical ways to use free AI tools to: • Respond to email — whether it’s an emotional family debate or an intimidating letter from your insurance company. • Understand confusing instructions, bills, or forms. • Plan bigger projects like downsizing, travel, or event hosting. • Organize what to watch, find your next book, or explore new hobbies. Along the way, you’ll learn how to stay in control, so that AI works for you. No experience or paid Activityounts are necessary.

Dive into the transformative world of breathwork and healthy movement— a journey to enhance awareness and improve overall well-being. Explore how breath control profoundly influences body-mind-breath interaction to calm, cool, balance, and energize. Engage in concentrated guided breathwork followed by intentional movement with breath in Gentle Chair Yoga. Use a chair in seated and standing poses for greater stability and balance. Experience how connection to your breath and healthy movement helps you to live more mindfully.

Explore Pensacola’s brief British period (1763–1781) and its lasting legacy. This presentation highlights the history and archaeology of British Navy shipwrecks in Pensacola Bay and what they reveal today.

In this engaging six-week online course, we will explore the works and legacies of charismatic classical performers through anecdotes, stories, humor, and rich audiovisual examples. The focus will be on artists who redefined technical brilliance, tonal richness, and showmanship on the piano, violin, cello, and other instruments. We will contrast performers who achieve a compelling balance of intensity, passion, and bold elegance—musicians whose distinctive sounds have captivated audiences over the past 150 years. Legendary figures such as Arthur Rubinstein, Jascha Heifetz, Lang Lang, and Itzhak Perlman will be the focal point of the course.

The debate about climate change can be summarized in four basic questions. These include 1. Is it warming?, 2. Why?, 3. What's the risk, either economic or otherwise? and 4. What can we do and at what cost? The current debate - as limited as it is - has focused generally on the last two but with some politicians renewing old arguments about settled science - questions 1 and 2. We will review the status of each of these questions while depicting pros and cons of various stakeholders.

This course is a continuation from last semester’s examination of human sexuality through an evolutionary and cultural perspective. Sexual selection theory is the lens through which we will view human sexuality in a biological and cultural framework. Topics include attractiveness, sexual orientation, parental investment, and the science of sex. Online research survey results will also be discussed.

Back by popular demand, this course continues the Spring semester series with new topics from faculty at the FSU College of Medicine. Topics may include medication management, approaches to improving health, dementia and depression, and lifestyle medicine for older adults. 

Have you ever felt unheard in everyday conversations, from medical visits to personal relationships? Dr. Halvorson emphasizes student participation, interaction, and experiential learning. This interactive (Fun) class explores the challenges of being heard in various situations; it encourages participants to use techniques for being understood.   
 

This course will cover the significant political, military, social, economic, and cultural developments in postwar Leon County. We will examine how global, national, and state history connects with and influences Leon County. Granular stories and major events will be described to illustrate those connections.

Imagine the laws and executive orders affecting the Japanese and Japanese Americans in WWII finding their way into current events. From the perspective of a third-generation Japanese American (Sansei), who had 17 family members incarcerated in three different camps, we will learn how the hatred of the Japanese resulted in over 120,000, 2/3 of whom were US citizens, being placed in prison camps for nearly four years. From the courage of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team to the Coram Nobis cases, we will look at camp life and what the camps are like today.

Through evocative photos and descriptions, this talk will cover the many ways to explore our Big Bend region by foot, bike, and​​​​​​​ kayak. It is also an armchair journey through our remaining wilderness, where native creatures still roam through unspoiled landscapes and waterways, and where we are only visitors who stay long enough to snap a few photos and absorb the feeling of wildness.

The story of how the “Me Decade” transformed into the final phase of the Cold War. Starting in the final months of 1978 and extending throughout 1979 the period of torpor, malaise, and polyester was replaced by revolution in Iran, near-meltdown at Three Mile Island, tectonic shifts in China, the reworking of the intelligence authority, and the onset of a proxy war between the US and USSR in Afghanistan. Through the use of video, documents, music, and news of the day, this will tell the story of how the seventies ended before the decade was over.

As people live longer, questions about memory, aging, and dementia have become increasingly important for individuals, families, and communities. This course provides a practical, evidence-based introduction to what constitutes normal aging, signs of cognitive decline, and when memory and behavioral concerns may signal a more serious condition.  Strategies that may help support brain health and cognitive well-being will also be discussed. 

Participants will learn about common age-related cognitive changes and gain an understanding of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease.  The course will examine types and stages of dementia, early onset dementia, and current diagnostic approaches.

In addition, the course will address the personal and social impact of dementia, including caregiving challenges and resources available for individuals and families affected by dementia.  By the end of the course, participants will be better equipped to understand memory changes and support themselves and others in navigating the aging process.

Join me for an intimate look into the evolution of my nature-inspired art practice and latest collection, Fossilizing the Forest Floor. In this presentation, I will share how my life and work are taking me a step deeper into the woods—quite literally.  How my evolving technique of permanently embedding organic elements—such as moss, bark, petals, and lichen—directly into my pieces coincides with my land conservation work. 

Explore how the turmoil of the late 1920s and early 1930s gave rise to infamous American criminals. This session compares Al Capone’s Chicago outfit, the Dillinger gang, and Bonnie and Clyde—their motives, methods, and lasting impact.

On November 3, all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 35 in the Senate will be up for re-election! Hundreds of local and state offices/issues will be settled! Turn-out in POTUS elections is around 60%. Mid-terms? Barely 40%! This mid-term may be more consequential than any recent election. So, let’s dig into all the national issues, looking at how they rank – by party affiliation, generation, and region. We’ll look at some of the better forecasts of results and we’ll conduct our own on-line, in-class polls of issues/results. YES, we will forecast the House – Senate results by party!

Meet the Purple Martin, North America’s largest swallow and a beloved, social bird now in decline. Learn about its unique habits, migration, challenges, and how you can help protect its future.

 

Revisit Harper Lee's beloved classic and explore the timeless themes that continue to resonate today. Through guided discussion, participants will examine key characters, moral dilemmas, justice, prejudice, childhood, and the social dynamics of Maycomb. Together, we'll consider the novel's enduring questions about conscience, courage, and compassion, and why To Kill a Mockingbird remains one of America's most influential works of literature.

Michael Kinnicutt presents an overview of ancient Roman history, spanning more than two millennia. Beginning with its founding as a kingdom in 753 BCE, we will trace the evolution of Rome from its humble, tribal beginnings into one of the world’s greatest empires. The tumultuous growing pains of the republic (510 – 27 BCE) culminated with the creation of an empire that lasted five centuries (27 BCE – 476 CE). After the Western part of the empire’s slow, but probably inevitable, decline, the legacy of Rome continued for another millennium in its final iteration as the Byzantine Empire (330 -- 1453 CE). We will focus on the political and military institutions, governance systems, and legendary personalities that combined to create a complex, and often combative, historical narrative.

The turn of the 20th century is a momentous period in Russian history, often underappreciated. While the 19th century is considered the Golden Age of Russian civilization, and the transformative events of the Soviet period attract much attention, this course will focus on the two decades known as the Silver Age of Russian literature and culture, when three revolutions occurred in Russia in quick succession. We will examine the political, philosophical, economic, and cultural developments of that period—and how Russia got from Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky to the Gulag camp.

This course will describe what it means to make a film and how that knowledge can improve how you think about and watch films. We will spend the first class learning about the entire process of making films, from initial ideas, shooting and editing practices, to the business side and distribution. Using this knowledge, we will then watch and analyze short films (films that are 40 minutes or less) that are award-winning and have universal themes. We will watch documentary, fiction, and animated shorts and discuss the themes, cinematic elements, and messages of each. Films from last summer will not be repeated.

This course explores the events surrounding American independence from the British perspective, investigating the political, cultural, and military responses to the crisis engulfing the Empire. In particular, it will think of the War of Independence as a civil war and consider how this perspective shaped attitudes to the conflict. The course will also consider how people in the UK itself, and other parts of the British world, were inspired by happenings in America, and sought to change conditions in Britain and other parts of the British Empire in the wake of American successes.

He’s a “Mean One,” but the Grinch is also part of how we celebrate the holidays. This course begins with a profile of Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, and how he created the character in his 1957 book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! We’ll then explore how Seuss’ book became a beloved TV special, look at Jim Carrey’s live-action film adaptation, 2018’s animated feature, and the influence that the Grinch has had on the holiday season and pop culture. “The Grinch: From Page, to Screen, to Holiday Icon” celebrates the impact that Dr. Seuss’ story and its message have had on our lives.

Join us as we step into the lives and worlds behind some of literature’s most enduring voices. We will journey along the Missis1-Session In-Personpi River with Mark Twain during the Gilded Age, discover the imaginative landscape and powerful works of the Brontë Sisters, and immerse ourselves into the vibrant, restless world of the Lost Generation with Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein in Paris during the Jazz Age. These lectures combine storytelling, history, and discussion, bringing these writers to life while revealing how their experiences shaped the works we continue to cherish.

In this course, students will explore how stars are born within vast clouds of gas and dust, how they shine and evolve over millions or even billions of years, and how they meet their dramatic ends as white dwarfs, neutron stars, or black holes. Along the way, we will investigate stellar color, temperature, size, and energy, while discovering how these attributes shape our universe. This course blends astronomy, physics, and cosmic storytelling into an engaging exploration of the universe’s most brilliant inhabitants.

In 1633 the deeply religious townspeople of Oberammergau in Southern Germany prayed to their God to stop the bubonic plague that had entered their village. The plague had been ravaging Europe during the Thirty Years War (1618-48), killing an estimated two-thirds of the continent’s population. The townspeople promised to honor their God’s life, suffering, crucifixion, and ascension with a performance every ten years. God heard their prayers. The course addresses the geography, traditions, art, music, woodcarving, and historic sightseeing places of Bavaria, and evolution of the play. Charges of its alleged antisemitic text and its revision and the historical development of types of customs, orchestral music, and glorious chorus over time are analyzed in this intensive six-week class.

Being a young country, we don't have a great deal of mythology, but these films released during the silent era and continuing past World War II, are as close to mythology as it gets. These films, made by Universal Studios, opened a world of fantasy and horror for two generations, and they continue to attract fans even today. Join film historian Nick Santa Maria as he guides you through this macabre world of Universal Monsters. You'll meet Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone, and many more. So, turn down the lights, pull up a coffin, and join us for some good horrific fun.

Learn the essentials of estate planning, including wills, trusts, beneficiary designations, and strategies for transferring assets. This practical course helps you make informed decisions, avoid common mistakes, and create a plan that reflects your goals.