History & Current Events   

The Arts of Islam introduces the architecture and arts of the western Islamic world dating from the seventh through the seventeenth centuries. We will review Islamic monuments on the Arabian Peninsula, throughout the Middle East, North Africa, Spain, Turkey, and Iran. Particularly, we will look at the art of the book, paintings, ceramics, and metalworks.

Long forgotten by history, women engaged in organized military activities in large numbers from 1870 to 1900. Their actions challenged the long-held view that the military was an endeavor where women were incapable of participating. Their courage and persistence contributed to the passage of Women's Suffrage.

After America's entry into WWII, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) initiated a new concept to warfare: daylight strategic bombing. This class will explore the aircraft types used and the personalities of the people involved.

Many Americans are only dimly aware that capitalism is alive and well in "communist" China. But China is now an overwhelmingly capitalist country, emerging as a formidable rival to the United States. How is China doing it? In this course, we compare the US and Chinese models of capitalism and government, their respective strengths and weaknesses, and the factors that may determine the long-term future of each country. Which will be stronger? Which will be more stable? Which will be more influential?

Chico State's tradition of academic excellence goes back more than 130 years. With 1,000 faculty members and 15,500 students, the University's teaching and learning community is thriving. Discover the imagination, cutting-edge research, and expertise that flourishes in our own backyard!

Chico State's tradition of academic excellence goes back more than 130 years. With 1,000 faculty members and 15,500 students, the University's teaching and learning community is thriving. Discover the imagination, cutting-edge research, and expertise that flourishes in our own backyard!

Monet's devotion to painting the colors of specific times of day is well known. In my class, I'll discuss less familiar aspects of his art in which Monet blends observation with calculated design.

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 dealt with. Special guests are welcome to present.

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 dealt with. Special guests are welcome to present.

"Great Decisions" is the Foreign Policy Association's public education program about United States foreign policy and global affairs issues. Topics include: changing demographics, outer space, climate change, The Quad Alliance, industrial policy, drug policy in Latin America, and the White House agenda. We will select four topics each semester, plus additional topics of interest to the class.

"Great Decisions" is the Foreign Policy Association's public education program about United States foreign policy and global affairs issues. Topics include: changing demographics, outer space, climate change, The Quad Alliance, industrial policy, drug policy in Latin America, and the White House agenda. We will select four topics each semester, plus additional topics of interest to the class.

This class picks up where Part 1 left off. There is so much more to cover! We will look at illustration history in Japan, China, and Korea, with emphasis on fashion illustration and illustrators who concentrated on cartooning. I'll also talk about nature illustrations, the human body, and whatever else strikes our collective class fancy!

Over the past three years, OLLI has been exploring issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. These classes have provoked many questions, around which much stimulating conversation has followed. We agree that looking at unconscious racism is a self-examination that requires other voices. In this class we will read the book Caste by Isabel Wilkerson and use, at least in part, a study guide prepared for Oprah's Book Club. We plan to focus on how this book is and can be relevant to our daily lives.

We will slow-read eight speeches and additional selections from Lincoln on Democracy, edited by Mario M. Cuomo. We will follow Lincoln’s development as a politician, how he responded to the threat of the spread of slavery in the 1850s, and his delicate balancing act between constitutional rule of law and emancipation during the Civil War. As we confront autocratic challenges from Russia, China, and others, we are well served revisiting how Lincoln articulated his struggle to preserve and strengthen American democracy.

The original Carter Family recorded over 300 songs between 1927 and 1943. They would become known as the “First Family of Country Music,” their old-time Appalachian songs and musicianship profoundly impacting the bluegrass, country, folk, gospel, pop, and rock musicians who followed. In each class, we will trace some Carter Family history, then learn a few of their songs. Musicians bring your instruments, but you don’t need to be a musician to participate. Interest and enthusiasm will suffice. We’ll do it jug-band style!

W.B. Yeats, in his essay "The Celtic Element In Literature," spoke of visions of a world expressed by people who "believed that trees were divine, and could take a human or grotesque shape and dance among the shadows." Once a powerful people who dominated much of Europe, the Celts were reduced to a few small groups after the Roman invasions. However, their mythology survived, thanks largely to the efforts of medieval Irish and Welsh monks who wrote down the stories.

This class will offer a description of the 17 intelligence agencies that comprise the US intelligence community. It will include the five basic intelligence sources and a description of the six steps of the intelligence cycle. We will drill down into several of the intelligence agencies, such as the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency). Relevant books and periodicals will be recommended. Time permitting we will examine the polygraph examination, detection dogs, and contemporary spies and traitors.

This class approaches the parables in the social, cultural, and political setting of first-century Palestine. It will ask what the listeners of that setting might have heard when Jesus gave these parables, what they might have felt about the various characters Jesus sketched, and how the teachings might have challenged them personally. Taking seriously the fact that Jesus was executed as a revolutionary, it will probe why the Roman-backed government found the teachings the parables contained troublesome.

In nine sessions we will look into events in America's journey from the seventeenth century to the twenty-first century, guided by literary and artistic materials. Why do many of us know little of Black Americans' lives, nor much about Black American history? Questions we raise in this course will help answer that. Our inquiry will include asking: When did slavery start in America and when did it end? Why are monuments being targeted in protests? Do differences in skin color really matter?

This class will cover the science of forensic anthropology (the forensic study of human skeletal remains), including the investigation of crime scenes, forensic casework, and the development of forensic standards. Each session will cover a different aspect of forensic anthropology and time will be allotted for questions. We will first outline the practice of forensic anthropology, followed by the application of forensic anthropology to crime scenes and to human identification. Then we will focus on the development of forensic standards and why they are important for criminal trials.

This class will explore the political implications of the United States’ “proxy war” with Russia fought in Ukraine in order to assess the status of the current “geo-political world order.” In doing that the course will: 1) discuss the historic geo-political contours of the integrated inter-state world capitalist system, with a focus on the period from 1815 to 1945; 2) examine the configuration of the world order between 1945 and 1991; and, 3) place the Russian-Ukrainian Crisis within the context of shifting geo-political plate tectonics since 1991.

TED Conferences, LLC is a media organization that posts talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading." TED's early emphasis was on technology and design, consistent with its Silicon Valley origins, but it has since broadened its repertoire to include talks on many scientific, cultural, and academic topics. Join us for the opportunity to view and discuss various TED Talks and get to know fellow OLLI members better.

In this class, we explore how seven of the world's religions shaped the lives of one or two of their greatest followers, and in return how the religions and the cultures that gave birth to these disciples were challenged and changed by the vision and the sacrifices made. Perhaps the deepest question we will raise is how this could have happened unless the disciples were responding to a mystical force that challenged all three: the disciples, their religions, and their cultures.

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. Class will be outside to allow observation of landfill operations.

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. Class will be outside to allow observation of landfill operations.