Oklahoma City 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.

Get to know these restaurants that began as food trucks but zipped from wheels to a more permanent location: The Saucee Sicillan, Patty Wagon, Taste of Soul, MOB Grill.

Get to know the spouses of Oklahoma's executives through the years; while lesser known, these individuals often champion key initiatives that leave a lasting mark on Oklahoma based on personal passions/experiences.

This course centers on the life and activism of Clara Luper, a pivotal leader in Oklahoma City's Civil Rights Movement, whose grassroots organizing and youth-led sit-ins reshaped public space and policy. Students will examine Luper's work alongside a broader historical framework that contextualizes Oklahoma's path to statehood, including the displacement of Indigenous nations and the systemic oppression of Black communities prior to the Civil Rights era. By tracing the evolution of segregation, racial violence, and resistance in Oklahoma, the course highlights how local activism intersected with national movements for justice. Through archival materials, oral histories, and critical analysis, students will explore how Black Oklahomans challenged inequality, built community institutions, and reimagined freedom in a state marked by both promise and profound racial injustice.

We'll take a deep dive in the classroom learning about a state park in Oklahoma one week; then we'll hit the trails for that park the next week. We'll give it another go focused on the next park for weeks 3 and 4. The course will carefully address hiking safety and give us the opportunity to learn and explore our beautiful state together.

We will talk about science in schools today. How are the sciences valued and taught in today’s classrooms? How does it differ from 10, 20, or 50 years ago? We’ll look at hands on STEM classes – or STEAM now with the incorporation of the arts. Last but not least, we’ll learn about Starbase and how we became a highly successful program.

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

OKC Town Hall Schedule:

• September 23: Marilyn Luper-Hildreth
• September 30: John Hamill, a long-time OLLI instructor, musician, jazz historian and former adjunct professor at the University of Tulsa 
• October 07: Senator Kelly Hines, Retired Army Colonel and OK Senator - Night Stalkers; The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) 
• October 14: Greg Horton, Editor in Chief of the Oklahoma Gazette & Co-founder of EatingOKC.com - Food as culture, and food as cultural indicator 
• October 21: Dr. James Showalter, a long-time OLLI instructor, Historian, and Retired Faculty - Social Justice Photography
• October 28: Steve Sneed, Owner Winery and 4-time winner of the Oklahoma Max Knotts Winemaker Award - Wine History and Winemaking in Oklahoma
• November 04: Mike Knopp, OKC Riversports
• November 11: Sherry Marshall, John E Kirkpatrick President/CEO - Science Museum Oklahoma: Curiosity is Not Just for Kids

 

Lessons on how to present sleight of hand and details explanations on misdirection, as Meyers breaks the magicians' "rule" and teaches us tricks of his trade - or at least some of them!

The course will analyze how campaigns in the modern age are structured for success, looking at messaging strategies, costs for running, and ways to effectively engage voters. IMPORTANT: Please note the new dates/times for this course.

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.