In Person   

As part of the America 250 recognition for July 4, 2026, this course will explore the little-known impact the American Revolution had on the "Franklin: The Lost State." At the conclusion of the American Revolution, North Carolina ceded nearly 26-million acres of land to the United States. This left citizens in that unorganized territory on their own to create a new state: the State of Franklin. This presentation will explore why residents created their own state, where it was located, and the reasons why it ultimately failed.

King Lear may well be Shakespeare's greatest play, and performing the title role is the dream of an actor's lifetime. Together, we will explore Shakespearean drama in general, read and enact King Lear, and attend the Guthrie Theater's presentation of Kunene and the King, by South African playwright John Kani. Theater professionals will join us for discussions about bringing a play from the page to the stage. Neither experience nor comfort with Shakespeare is necessary to enjoy this course–just a desire to experience one of literature’s consummate works and ponder its contemporary parallels.

Recommended reading: https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/king-lear/read/

Robert Caro’s multi-volume study of Lyndon Johnson—the best biography in American letters—will soon be completed with its fifth and final volume. We will examine volume 4, The Passage of Power, which chronicles Johnson’s relationship with the Kennedys, both Jack and Bobby, from the late 1950s through the transition to the Johnson presidency.

Recommended reading: The Passage of Power, by Robert Caro (Knopf, 2012). 

Getting older has its ups and downs. Mindfulness can keep you balanced and resilient, come what may. This course will explore five simple mind and body practices to help you thrive in your later years. You'll learn to use gratitude, mindful activity, mindful eating, meditation and self-compassion to enhance daily life and smooth out the rough spots. A few easy practice exercises will give you some new tools you can use to live your best life.

The compensation for the stiffness in our bodies is the breadth of our imaginations. Aging is not just about growing older, it's about making the most of every moment. Aging can be a rich and fertile space for a fresh sense of purpose, creativity, and opportunities to contribute. Seniors will be inspired to explore new possibilities for their lives. Even the smallest of steps can lead to happiness, fulfillment, and a sense of accomplishment.This presentation explores how to cultivate a mindset of curiosity, contribution, and lifelong learning.

Recommended reading: If You're Alive, Your Mission on Earth Isn't Finished by David McNally, WISE INK, 2024.

Whether you're considering part-time work, volunteer opportunities, new hobbies, or simply seeking a more meaningful retirement, understanding your interests can provide valuable direction. Based on the Strong Interest Inventory and John Holland's six interest themes (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional), this interactive workshop will help you identify your own "compass," explore activities that match your natural interests, and discover new possibilities for a pleasurable, engaging, and purposeful next chapter.

Grand Canyon National Park is one of the most iconic landscapes on Earth, combining vast breathtaking scenery with deep geological and human history. From rim to river this course introduces how the canyon was formed, and describes human experience from ancestral Native cultures to more recent exploration, exploitation, conservation, and recreation.

In addition to information on options for a rewarding visit, this course includes a first-hand account of a recent visit to the park including an unforgettable 3 days at the South Rim combined with a 4-day backpacking experience below the rim.

Step into history in the Wabasha Street Caves – carved from sandstone to mine silica in the 1840s, then used variously for storage, mushroom growing and more until, as the Wabasha Street Speakeasy, they became a gangsters’ hangout during Prohibition. Our very entertaining Lost Souls Cave Tour will include no murderous mobsters, but as we hear about eerie occurrences, with lantern lights flickering on cave walls, we may well feel like kids telling ghost stories around a campfire. Just before Halloween, no less! A happy option: lunch together post-tour. Course fee: $17.

The leaves are changing and dropping from the branches of the trees all around us. This is the best time of year to learn how to identify trees using their leaves! Join a Garden Naturalist on a guided walk to learn how to use dichotomous keys and field guides to identify trees using their leaves, bark, and other key characteristics.  We'll meet at the Wirth Beach parking lot: 3200 Glenwood Ave. Hiking surfaces include paved and natural surface trails that feature changes in terrain and some hills. 

The leaves are changing and dropping from the branches of the trees all around us. This is the best time of year to learn how to identify trees using their leaves! Join a Garden Naturalist on a guided walk to learn how to use dichotomous keys and field guides to identify trees using their leaves, bark, and other key characteristics.  We'll meet at the Wirth Beach parking lot: 3200 Glenwood Ave. Hiking surfaces include paved and natural surface trails that feature changes in terrain and some hills. 

This approximately 1-mile tour of Lakewood Cemetery highlights the courage, resilience and influence of women whose essential contributions shaped cultural, educational and social advancement. Featuring a diverse array of trailblazers, advocates and quiet leaders, the walking tour honors both celebrated and lesser-known women whose legacies continue to resonate today. 

Have you ever wondered how the lights stay on across 15 states? Join us for an exclusive tour of the MISO Regional Control Center. Step inside the high-tech "nerve center" of the Midcontinent’s electrical grid, where expert operators manage a massive real-time energy market and coordinate the flow of electricity for 45 million people. See the giant video walls, witness the technology that balances supply and demand in seconds, and learn how MISO is leading the transition to a cleaner energy future. 

This is a course that explores the cultural cross-currents that defined America in the 1970s. While not designed to address or rehash the political developments of the era, obvious overlaps will occur when investigating the contextual environment of American socio-cultural experiences. Literature, film, television, sports, music and the vibrant 'liberation' ethos in society will attract our attention. Busing, affirmative action and other matters of culture in law and before the courts will be covered as well.    

Recommended reading: A Deep Funk in Funkytown by Tim Rosenfield, Smith Publishing, 2025. Available at: facinghistoryblog.com. 

Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby, first published in 1838, focuses on universal issues, such as family and marital relationships, debt, and power--as well as education, business, and the theater.  It is also a great read, with satisfying villains and heroes, as well as some good love stories.  Course participants will read and discuss the book in seven sessions.  The course leader will locate the novel in historical context and guide discussions.

Required reading: Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens, Penguin Classics, 1999. 

The United States Constitution comprises 7,591 words.  In this class, we will read every one of them aloud.  After each passage is read, the course leader will add comments and an explanation.  In this way, we will gain an understanding of how our constitution works.  We will learn how it allows us to govern ourselves, how it protects our rights, and how its amendments have changed it.

Hollywood was silent about the Holocaust until 1947. Thereafter, it addressed issues of antisemitism and Jewish assimilation through films in both direct and indirect ways. This course will screen several films that capture this process. We will also consider Hollywood itself as a “test case” of assimilation. We will watch several films together during our class meetings, but will have ample time for discussion and questions. Please note that this is a two-hour long class. 

Vergil’s Aeneid is the pivotal western epic, bridging the Trojan War Greek works attributed to Homer and subsequent masters Dante, Milton, even down to Joyce, Gaddis, and Pynchon. An opening lecture on the Aeneid and its influence will be followed by six discussion sessions on the poem, co-led by volunteer class participants.

Recommended reading: Contemporary translation of the Aeneid by any of the following: S. Bartsch, R. Fagles, R Fitzgerald, A. Kline, S. McGill & S. Wright, S. Ruden

One of the great novels of adultery, the first "realist" masterpiece, the first modern novel, or "a book about nothing" (Flaubert's own phrase)—Madame Bovary has been called all of these things.  We will try to understand what makes Madame Bovary not only a great novel but  one of the most influential novels in the history of the genre. Please read as much of the novel as you can before the first class. Course format will be mainly lecture but with discussion encouraged.

Required reading: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, trans. Lydia Davis, Penguin (2010).

In February 1964, over 70 million Americans watched the Beatles on Ed Sullivan — and nothing was the same again. This seven-session course takes a deep dive into the musical earthquake that followed: from the Beatles' ascendancy to the Rolling Stones' dangerous swagger, from Dusty Springfield's blue-eyed soul to the Who's amplifier-smashing fury. We'll explore not only the music, but also the music business, the technological changes, and the cultural forces that made it all possible. Beatle boots or go-go boots — optional.  

In February 1964, over 70 million Americans watched the Beatles on Ed Sullivan — and nothing was the same again. This seven-session course takes a deep dive into the musical earthquake that followed: from the Beatles' ascendancy to the Rolling Stones' dangerous swagger, from Dusty Springfield's blue-eyed soul to the Who's amplifier-smashing fury. We'll explore not only the music, but also the music business, the technological changes, and the cultural forces that made it all possible. Beatle boots or go-go boots — optional.  

More than sixty years after the Beatles first entered a recording studio, their music remains as influential and fascinating as ever. This lecture, listening, and discussion course traces the band's recording career from their earliest sessions through Let It Be. We will explore the stories behind the twelve U.K. studio albums, as well as key singles, EPs, and U.S. releases, examining the creative partnerships and musical innovations that shaped their remarkable career from 1961 to 1970. This is an updated version of the course previously offered in Fall 2024.

Jordan is a critical country in the turbulent Middle East, surrounded by Syria, Iraq, Israel, and the West Bank territory. Governed as a monarchy by the Hashemite Tribe, they have had just three leaders since the 1920's.  We will examine their history and demographics since the country's creation, and how it continues to play a key role in ongoing regional conflicts.  Why does the United States continue to be such a staunch supporter?

Puzzles of all kinds provide enjoyment and mental stimulation.  Solving puzzles is reported to benefit brain function by maintaining and strengthening mental competence, agility, and memory. Many people are familiar with Sudoku but may not be aware of the many other types of numerical logic puzzles. This course will explore the origins and specific rules of many of these puzzles. Solving strategies will be demonstrated and discussed. Class time will include opportunities to solve various puzzles in small groups. Whether novice or expert, this course is intended to be fun for all.

Soon after the publication of On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin began exploring the hidden lives of the wildflowers growing in the woods and fields outside his country home. His eccentric observations and ingenious, homemade botanical experiments have been overshadowed by his much more famous work, but they led him to discover things no one in his day had ever noticed about surprisingly animal-like abilities of the living, sentient beings we know as plants. This two-session course, one lecture and one lab,  is a look at Darwin’s second, much less famous, journey of scientific discovery. First class meets at Roseville Lutheran; Second class session meets at the Plant Growth Facilities Lab Classroom #132, 1552 Gortner Ave, Falcon Heights, MN 55108. Park: Gortner Ramp, St. Paul Campus. 

Why are we here? Not Minnesota, or even Earth, but how is it that we (and life in general) can even exist in the universe? If you like lying awake at night thinking profound thoughts, then this is the right course for you. Whether you prefer the actions of a divine hand or the random vagaries of quantum chance, there will be plenty to chew on. We will combine presentations with open discussions on the mysteries of life. Weekly readings will be on the internet, and participants wishing more detailed discussions are encouraged to explore the recommended books. 

Recommended reading: The Mind of God, Paul Davies;   A Fortunate Universe: Life in a  Finely Tuned Cosmos, by G.F. Lewis and L.A. Barnes

10-6: Sherrie Gette: More Everything Forever by Adam Becker. 

10-13: Maureen Smith: All the President’s Money: How the Men Who Governed America Governed Their Money, by Megan Gorman.

10-20: Merrily Mazza: The Think Tank Racket by Glenn Diesen.

10-27: Deborah Dillon/Steve Ballinger: Peak Higher Education: How to Survive the Looming Crisis by Bryan Alexander.

11-3: Phil Fishman: Suffrage by Ellen Dubois

11-10: Dan Hunt: King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild

11-17: Ann Knapp: The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt

When Animal Farm was originally published, Stalin's Russia was the target. Today its themes about attacks on personal freedoms, the rewriting of history, and ways of governing compromised, seems particularly relevant.  Let's examine Orwell's allegorical masterpiece in terms of its relevancy in our times.

Recommended reading: Animal Farm by George Orwell, any edition.

Jews, Christians, and Muslims are often in the news, but it's sometimes unclear what these traditions have to do with each other. This course offers a very brief introduction to three religions that have had an outsized influence on world events, both historically and in recent memory. Students will gain knowledge about the origins of these traditions, as well as some orientation to how they continue to relate today. We will not begin to solve any ongoing political disputes, but we will chip away at ignorance in hopes of better understanding. 

Recommended reading: Memories of Muhammad: Why the Prophet Matters (Omid Safi, 2010); The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions (Marcus Borg and NT Wright, 2007); Judaism: A Very Short Introduction (Norman Solomon, 2014). 

Executive functioning (EF) and self-regulation (SR) involve the highest level of human brain function, are required to perform new and challenging activities and are activated when we encounter obstacles in interpersonal interactions. Learn how the brain develops to provide EF/SR and its trajectory across the life span. How do relationships impact EF/SR? Trauma? How do EF/SR contribute to resilience? The course provides a nontechnical and comprehensive view of recent findings and their applications. Small group discussions will explore implications for you and your community. 

What actually works when conditions are unstable? Bruce Lee was more than a martial artist—he was a systems thinker who engineered motion under pressure. This course explores how Lee developed adaptable methods across martial arts, film, philosophy, and culture. Students will examine principles of efficiency, timing, and emotional control, applying them to performance, decision-making, and identity. Through case studies and discussion, the class shows how disciplined adaptability shapes resilience and creative power.

Recommended reading: The Bruce Lee Code by Thomas Lee, Career Press, 2023.

Join a convivial group exploring four distinctive breweries, tasting samples, comparing styles and learning about local brewing history. First we’ll meet innovators who built a small operation with a huge national reputation, in a brilliantly crafted, amazingly landscaped grain bin. Next we’ll gather in a cozy, brick-walled establishment, then the country’s first brewery founded to support Latino communities, and finally, at an early start time, a pub that grew from a guy giving his brother a home brewing kit for his 21st birthday. A happy option: having a meal together afterward in each pub. Course fee: $45

October 8, 4 pm: Bang Brewing, 2320 Capp Road, St Paul

October 15, 4 pm: Town Hall Brewery, 1430 Washington Ave, Minneapolis

October 22, 4 pm: La Doña Cervecería Brewery, 241 Fremont Ave N, Minneapolis

October 29, 3:15 pm (note early start time): Wooden Hill Brewing Co., 7421 Bush Lake Rd, Edina

Seasons: So much life, color, and expectation are packed into that single word. It conjures images of holidays, weather extremes, life cycles, culinary flavors, holy day calendars, agricultural cycles, sports schedules, and those oscillating periods of idleness and activity – with a suitable time for every purpose under heaven. Seasons are filled with cultural symbolism, moods, and commentary. Over the next year our OLLI @ Mia courses will delve into the overarching theme, “The Expansiveness of Seasons,” starting with Fall and its many meanings and implications for our lives.

Oct 7--Davu Seru, Givens Collection of African American Literature and Life

Oct 14--Ellen Engseth, Immigration History Research Center Archives

Oct 21--Aiden Bettine, Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies

Oct 28--Erik Moore, University Archives

Nov 4--Kate Dietrick, Upper Midwest Jewish Archives

Nov 11--Maggie Ragnow, James Ford Bell Library and Special Collections and Rare Books