Tulsa Courses   

Back again by popular demand, retired CIA officer Meredith Woodruff, who served 25 years in the Agency and retired as its most senior female officer in operations, will describe life in the world of espionage. With only two sessions, she’ll provide an overview of how spies work and then leave most of the class time for those questions you’ve always wanted to ask.

Join us for an eclectic mix of weekly speakers who will present interesting and relevant information you’ve come to expect from Osher programming. 

Tulsa Town Hall Schedule: 

• September 21: Dr. Jennifer K. Clark, Physician & Kelley Scott, Founder and Executive Director of Clarehouse - Healthcare Decision Making
• September 28: Dr. Jennifer K. Clark, Physician & Kelley Scott, Founder and Executive Director of Clarehouse - Caregiver Skills Demonstration
• October 05: Dr. Jennifer K. Clark, Physician & Kelley Scott, Founder and Executive Director of Clarehouse - Navigating the Healthcare System
• October 12: Paige Scheuerman, Outreach Coordinator for the Medicare Assistance Program (MAP) - Medicare 101
• October 19: J B Nicholson Hunt, Former Family Caregiver - Finding Help for Caregiving
• October 26: Kathleen Fitzgerald and JB Nicholson Hunt - Senior Games 
• November 2: Dr. Bart Ford, Assistant Professor and director of the Behavioral Immunology Lab of Tulsa (BILT) at the OSU Center for Health Sciences - Sleep and Immunity
• November 9: Dr. Randy Kluver, Associate Provost and Dean - Chào to Main Street: The Effort to Resettle Vietnamese Refugees in Western Oklahoma [Listen to a recent radio interview with Dr. Kluver and Clinton, OK, residents (both refugees and community members who welcomed them) here: https://www.kgou.org/show/how-curious/2026-08-25/how-did-one-oklahoma-family-help-250-vietnamese-refugees-to-start-over-after-the-fall-of-saigon]

In this course we will complete monoprints using acrylic paint. We will use the prints to make mixed media forms of art including collage and weaving.

We'll view the films in class together; on the first class period the moderator will lead the dialogue. We'll sign up participants to lead discussion on each of the five upcoming sessions but if you aren't keen to lead a session, this will be an arm twist free environment and we'll have others who can volunteer -- don't let that keep you away from this amazing series and the rich conversations that will follow!

Step beyond the gates and discover cemeteries as places full of stories, history, and beauty. In this four-week course, we will explore cemeteries not as places of sadness, but as meaningful spaces that connect us to people, art, and the past. Together, we’ll uncover the lives behind the headstones, learn to interpret symbols and gravestone art, and share stories that reveal the history of our communities. Through discussion, images, and optional local exploration, you’ll learn how to “read” a cemetery in a whole new way. This course is designed to be engaging, social, and thought-provoking, perfect for anyone interested in history, storytelling, genealogy, or simply seeing familiar places with fresh eyes. No experience needed, just curiosity!

Do you wish you knew more about how to appreciate poetry? This course will help you develop skills to approach reading and interpreting poetry with confidence. We'll discuss and practice reading strategies, from learning to recognize and scan metrical patterns, to placing poems in their historical context. Drawing from primarily the British and American poetic traditions, we'll follow several forms, like the sonnet, from their origins up to present innovations.

Feeling frustrated with your device or wary of trying new Apple tech tools? Getting a new device - or trying out new options on a current one - can be intimidating. But it can also be a blast! Let's take the guess work out so you can just enjoy the benefits without the stress.

Join us for four outstanding films starring Barbara Stanwyck: Stella Dallas (1937), Remember the Night (1940), Ball of Fire (1938), Double Indemnity (1944), Christmas in Connecticut (1945), and Sorry Wrong Number (1948).

Each week, the Flavors of Tulsa group will enjoy a unique dining experience at one of the restaurants in the McNellie's Group. Participants will visit The Tavern, a modern take on the classic neighborhood pub; Wild Fork, known for its elegant cuisine; Malfi Enoteca, offering an authentic Italian dining experience; Fassler Hall, a lively German-inspired beer hall; and other distinctive restaurants in the group.

Participants will purchase their own meals, allowing them the flexibility to choose menu items that fit their tastes and budget.

Week 1: We will discuss the history of Greenwood and its place in Oklahoma and African American History.

Week 2: We will discuss the events of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and tour the Greenwood Rising Museum.

Week 3: We will turn towards the legacy of the Race Massacre on Tulsa and tour the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park.

Week 4: We will wrap up our exploration with a discussion of the centennial and consider the impact of this event 105 years later.

If time allows, we'll watch news clips from profiles done about the centennial to ground this discussion. Additional guest experts may be added to this course as well. 

We're transforming the classroom into a clay studio for the afternoon! Each participant will select among a mug, a cup, or a planter to create with the guidance of expert Kris Potter.

Making connections between nonviolent living and international peace in a turbulent time, this course discusses and explores multiple dimensions of inner work and outer relationality for a better world. Drawing upon stories, films/videos, writings, contemplation, and participants’ own lived experience, this course cultivates participants’ new awareness. Engaging the process of establishing nonviolent relationships with the self, the other, and the world, we tune in with the integrative force of nonviolence within each of us to reimagine the landscape of interpersonal, intergroup, international, and planetary peace as everyday practice.

The topics include (but not limited to) shadow work and individuation, body/mind/spirit connectedness, collective trauma, compassion, and international peace traditions. In a challenging time like ours, are you willing to hold tensions and tap into transformative potentiality of re-orienting personhood and relationships?

The United States is much more religious than European countries, but that is changing. In the 1940s and 50s, the mainline denominations had churches that were packed, and the denominations promoted and taught social justice. Judaism was shaped by the Holocaust, the creation of Israel, and splits within the U.S. community.  The 1960s began a change, both away from the denominations and towards alternatives to Christianity, such as Buddhism and Islam.  Evangelicalism emerged in the Jesus Movement, the charismatic movement, and also in the rise in the South of white evangelicalism.  After 1980, white evangelicalism became increasingly politicized and focused on abortion and distrust of government.  Now, with the second Trump administration, with sexual harassment scandals, and with a public moving away from religion, we are again in times of change.