Thursday Session 1   

What are the biggest infectious disease threats today, and how do we respond? This course will introduce students to basic concepts of infectious disease epidemiology with real life examples and interactive group activities. Students will learn about selected infectious diseases, work through an outbreak investigation, and see the potential for disease transmission in various settings. Each class will begin with a lecture to introduce terminology and concepts, followed by hands-on activities.

Diligent savers enter the second half of retirement with little insight into the complex tax and distribution planning dangers that can wipe away the sacrifice made during their working years. This course is designed to educate participants about how to keep more of their retirement savings by effective use of planning opportunities available under current tax laws. This course is updated annually to reflect new legislative developments and tax planning opportunities.

Many White people fear there is a conspiracy by global elites to use Black and Hispanic immigration, policies on diversity, and demographic change to take White people’s jobs, culture, political power, and lives. Perceived threats to White people and other groups are being used around the world to tear down democracy and support authoritarianism. Ibram X. Kendi’s new book Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age documents the rise of great replacement theory and its central ideas. This course will help people understand the harm being done by this movement and how to counteract it.

Course Materials: Ibram X. Kendi, Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age, 2026 ISBN-13 978-0593978030

Step into the vibrant worlds of five legendary storytellers—without leaving your living room. This course explores the lives and works of Mark Twain, Margaret Mitchell, Charles Dickens, the Brontë Sisters, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Discover how Twain’s wit, Mitchell’s sweeping Southern epic, Dickens’s unforgettable characters, the Brontës’ gothic passions, and Conan Doyle’s clever mysteries were shaped by their times and imaginations. Each week blends biography, history, humor, and lively discussion.

During a time of strife between management and labor, a fire erupted in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City on March 25, 1911. The fire killed 146 workers, most of them immigrant young women. Neither the management nor the fire department were prepared to handle the disaster. It led to changes in state law and gave new direction to the life work of Frances Perkins, a witness, who would serve as Secretary of Labor for FDR.

In this course we will learn about the history of the great record labels of the Rock ‘n Roll era. Each of these labels brought something distinctive to the development of rock music. Each week, we will focus on a particular label and listen to songs by its key artists, including Howlin’ Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, The Temptations, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, the Beach Boys, James Taylor, as well as many others.

HOW OLLI SPANISH COURSES WORK TOGETHER

Because OLLI Spanish courses only meet once a week, moving from one level to the next may not always be automatic. Each course has a different focus, but all courses practice similar core skills such as speaking, listening, and vocabulary development. Repeating a course at a certain level is a normal and helpful part of learning a language as an adult. Instructor guidance may also help participants choose the course that best fits their current level and learning goals. Members may only take ONE level of Spanish at a time.

This course is appropriate for participants who are comfortable and successful at communicating in Spanish and want to further develop their reading and conversational skills. Participants are expected to be able to use present, past, and future tenses, and have significant vocabulary and understanding of syntax (or have successfully completed Spanish: Intermediate Level). The course is taught in Spanish and focuses on analyzing and discussing reading material. Weekly class material is provided.

 

This course builds on skills learned in Beginning Guitar, Part 1, although that course is not a prerequisite if members already have some basic guitar skills and knowledge. More advanced note-reading, single-note playing as well as scales, and additional chords will be covered. Students apply skills and knowledge to a handful of songs from the American tradition. 

Please Note: Members must bring their own guitars.

How can we enhance our enjoyment of documentary filmmaking while increasing our understanding of key developments across the planet? We will focus on five recent documentaries, all widely praised for using inventive forms of storytelling to illuminate globally important interactions in their chosen settings. They are Dawson City: Frozen Time (Canada), Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Congo), Nostalgia for the Light (Chile), A Night of Knowing Nothing (India), and All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (US). We will watch each film on our own time, then meet in class to expand on what we have seen.

This course will focus on the existing and emerging technologies and institutions that underpin modern economic markets, from central banks and global trade policies to AI, cryptocurrencies, and algorithmic trading. We will look at how markets and economies have changed over the centuries, and where they might be going from here as technology, politics, and the global order are now evolving faster than ever before. We will cover the big picture of history and global macroeconomics, while also drilling down to actionable lessons that can be applied to your own investing and portfolios.

HOW OLLI SPANISH COURSES WORK TOGETHER

Because OLLI Spanish courses only meet once a week, moving from one level to the next may not always be automatic. Each course has a different focus, but all courses practice similar core skills such as speaking, listening, and vocabulary development. Repeating a course at a certain level is a normal and helpful part of learning a language as an adult. Instructor guidance may also help participants choose the course that best fits their current level and learning goals. Members may only take ONE level of Spanish at a time.

This course is an introduction to very basic Spanish communication for beginning adult learners. The course will emphasize pronunciation, essential vocabulary, and simple interactions in a supportive and slower-paced environment. Greetings, introductions, subject pronouns, numbers, dates, time, articles and adjective agreement, and simple questions and answers will be covered. 

This course offers a historical and musicological study of the band The Grateful Dead from their cultural prehistory in 1964 through the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995. Emphasis is placed on musical analysis, live performance practices, lyrical traditions, technological innovation, and the band’s enduring influence on American culture and improvisational music. Members will listen to recordings and readings to understand The Grateful Dead as both a band and a social institution.