History & Current Events   

In 1848 William and Ellen Craft did the impossible: they escaped from Georgia disguised as a white master with his black slave. Pursued and in danger of being retaken and tortured, they went public, speaking and touring northern states before fleeing to England. This class will be a deep dive into their history and encourage developing your ideas out loud. At heart, this is an American love story between a man and a woman, a couple and a country.

In October 1973, Israel fought and won the existential Yom Kippur War. We will discuss this conflict from the perspective of an ICBM Launch Officer who happened to be on "alert" during the decisive tank battle between Israel and Syria on the Golan Heights. This class will be paired with another single-session class: "The Titan II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile." Neither class is a prerequisite for the other.

As WWII enters its fourth year, American airpower begins to achieve air supremacy over the Axis powers. Rapid technical advances and superior training overcome German secret weapons and Japanese suicide attacks. This class will describe the airplanes and personalities during this time period.

California's location on the edge of the continent has led to unique trajectories for "superbly independent" women in general, and women artists in particular. This class will examine the histories of creative women in the state, many of them only newly "rediscovered." The focus will be on the cultural context in which these women confronted the Western modernist canon in painting as well as their pioneering work in photography and craft.

Chico State's tradition of academic excellence goes back more than 130 years. With over 900 faculty members and 13,000 students, the University's teaching and learning community is thriving. Discover the imagination, cutting-edge research, and expertise that flourishes in our own backyard!

A scintillating review of current themes in the media will be discussed in each class. Class members present a topic, discuss it, then open the floor for discussion and debate. Poetry, literature, scientific discovery, and educational progress are examples of the issues addressed. Special guests are welcome to present.

Are today's efforts to remove books from public and school libraries more widespread than book banning campaigns in the past? Is the type of material being targeted today different? How are libraries handling the growing demands to cull material from their shelves? We will explore these questions and get a librarian's perspective from Ontario, Wayne, Wyoming, and Livingston (OWWL) Library System Executive Director Ron Kirsop.

Through lectures, videos, and discussions, we will consider what five artists – Georgia O'Keeffe, Edward Hopper, Faith Ringgold, Wayne Thiebaud, and Audrey Flack – expressed about life in America. Participants will receive emails with something to read, something to watch, and a discussion preparation exercise in advance of each class meeting.

"Great Decisions" is the Foreign Policy Association's public education program about US foreign policy and global affairs issues. We will cover four of the Foreign Policy Association's topics and add some additional topics that are of interest to the class.

Join us for flora, fauna, and history. We will be treated to viewing the Jonesville Hotel with a local historian and resident. We will then hike in the meadows near the creek in Jonesville for about 3 miles at roughly 5500' elevation. Be prepared for uneven ground.

Each week we are inundated with local and national news articles involving the law. We will review recent cases as they appeared in the news and learn how the case was brought and the reasoning behind the outcome. Members of the class will be encouraged to suggest newsworthy cases.

Explore London: Its literary past and present, its museums and churches large and small, and its connections with royalty

In June 2020 we offered "Lessons from the Black Death" to examine how medieval societies responded to the plague and how the modern world was reacting to the pandemic, then only a few months old. Three years on, we're revisiting our assessments and noticing how, so far, modern America is recounting its history of the pandemic.

Mary Beard is is a professor of classics at the University of Cambridge, fellow of Newnham College, and Royal Academy of Arts Professor of Ancient Literature. She is unusual in that she is a popular TV personality while being well-respected by her peers. This class begins with her 4-part overview of the Roman Empire and continues with her examination of the lives of ordinary Romans in the series Meet the Romans. The class concludes with her exploration of Pompeii and programs about Caligula and the most famous Roman of them all, Gaius Julius Caesar.

The Original Carter Family disbanded in 1943, but their music lived on. Mother Maybelle Carter, as she was now known, formed a new group: The Carter Sisters. They performed on the radio, joined The Grand Ole Opry, and brought old-time music up into the urban folk revival of the 1960s and 70s. We will continue to trace Carter family history and sing their songs. Musicians, bring your instruments, but you don't need to be a musician to participate. Interest and enthusiasm will suffice!

Dogs were the first domesticated animals and have been our companions for thousands of years. This class will consider how dogs evolved from wolves; the various roles of dogs in human society; basics of dog biology, sensory systems, and behavior; dog-human interactions; village dogs; how dogs experience the world; and how we can become better partners with our canine companions.

This class will consider kingship in Shakespeare, drawing on scenes and passages from several different plays. You will be able to find materials in published sources or free online. Email Jack (jdayer@ucdavis.edu) for more specifics for guidance in making your decision or for doing any advance preparation you would like to do. If you want study just one play in full, it would be Henry IV, Part 1.

In 2004 Neil Shubin helped discover the previously missing but now-found link between fish (animals living in water) and amphibians (animals living on land). Now known as Tiktaalik, the "fish with hands," it lived approximately 375 million years ago. Using our inner fish as a case study, our true goal is to better understand how scientists establish scientific claims. In this learning through conversation seminar, participants must read one short chapter of the book before each class.

By looking at "great" buildings throughout history, we will learn about the principles of architecture; the importance of materials, technology, and patronage in the construction of a building; and how to look at architecture in general. Each week we will examine two or three important buildings and the role innovation plays in architecture.

How do we understand competing arguments about the justification for using armed conflict to change national borders? Typically we encounter contradictory principles such as territorial integrity and self-determination. Each class session will use short documents written by leaders as diverse as Pope Francis and Henry Kissinger. We will explore ideas and arguments employing the learning through conversation method and using the Russian invasion of Ukraine as our case study.

The Titan II was our first ICBM capable of instantaneous launch 24/7. We will discuss it from the perspective of the instructor, a former launch officer. This class will be paired with another single-session class: "50th Anniversary of the Yom Kippur War: Israel's Last Conventional War." Neither class is a prerequisite for the other.

The class will present a brief history of the disposal of trash through time, regulations affecting the disposal of trash, and the history of the Neal Road Recycling and Waste Facility (landfill). Learn about the recycling and diversion of wastes from the landfill, landfill operations, monitoring, amounts of waste disposed, as well as effects of disasters, electrical power generation, equipment used, and the future of landfill and related topics.

It seems the war in Ukraine will shape the 21st century in many ways. Suddenly, the history of eastern Europe has taken on a new importance for an understanding of what is going on. That is a major thesis of Yale's distinguished historian, Timothy Snyder, in his class "The Making of Modern Ukraine," available to the public at https://online.yale.edu/courses/making-modern-ukraine. We use his lectures to introduce each of our sessions in this two-semester class. In tandem with Professor Snyder's insights, we use a range of supplementary materials to foster an understanding of the region and its place in global affairs. Events as they unfold will provide a continuing source of class discussion.

In the mid-1800s a quarter-million men, women, and children made their way across the Great Plains in one of the great mass migrations of modern times. Historians estimate that one in 200 kept diaries of their journeys. While men focused on the business of the trek (mileage, weather, forage, and Indians), women saw the trip through different eyes, looking inwards to the changes occurring to their families. Their writing allows us to walk with them and thus attain deeper understanding of the courage and determination that allowed them to succeed in both the trek and their new land.