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- OSHER ONLINE ZOOM: The Rehnquist Court, 1986-2005: Moves Toward Small Federal Government
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Fee: $100.00
Dates: 7/14/2025 - 8/18/2025
Times: 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Days: M
Sessions: 6
Building: Online
Room:
Instructor:
Seats Available: 9
Osher Online Course - produced by the Osher National Resource Center
**To get to the course you will not be sent the Zoom link, but log into a portal (instructions will be provided to those enrolled)
**This course will be presented via Zoom and will not be recorded. Space is limited.**
**If you have a course package that you would like to use, please contact olli@sfsu.edu**
Introduction video: https://vimeo.com/1059746234
"Chief Justice William Rehnquist led the U.S. Supreme Court for nearly 19 years (1986–2005), overseeing cases on privacy, civil rights, the environment, the First Amendment, and states' rights. Under his leadership, the Court actively struck down federal statutes and precedent, often with conservative outcomes. However, as its composition shifted, some conservative rulings diminished.
This course examines the legacy of the Rehnquist Court, as well as his 15 years as an associate justice under Chief Justice Warren Burger. We will explore landmark cases, including Woodson v. North Carolina (1976), Craig v. Boren (1978), Miller v. Johnson (1995), Bush v. Gore (2000), Atkins v. Virginia (2001), and Lawrence v. Texas (2002)."
Instructor: Lauren Andersen is the director of the Utah Judicial Institute. Andersen practiced appellate law in the state of California and presented arguments to the California Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court. During this time, Andersen closely studied the Roberts Court. She has lectured about the Supreme Court and the death penalty. Her opinions were quoted by The New York Times and the ABA Journal. She was previously the director of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Utah.
If you do not see the "Add to Cart" button, there are three possible reasons. 1) Registration may not be open 2) You have not added a Membership to your cart or renewed your membership 3) You are not logged in: Click to Sign-In
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- OSHER ONLINE ZOOM: Stories of Adventure: The Norse Sagas
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Fee: $100.00
Dates: 7/16/2025 - 8/20/2025
Times: 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Days: W
Sessions: 6
Building: Online
Room:
Instructor:
Seats Available: 4
Osher Online Course - produced by the Osher National Resource Center
**To get to the course you will not be sent the Zoom link, but log into a portal (instructions will be provided to those enrolled)
**This course will be presented via Zoom and will not be recorded. Space is limited.**
**If you have a course package that you would like to use, please contact olli@sfsu.edu**
Introduction: https://vimeo.com/1033500407
Are you interested in stories rich with murder, intrigue, and sharp wit? This course will explore the Norse sagas, which are medieval tales rooted in Old Norse mythology, written in Iceland centuries after the Viking era. These stories range from realistic travel chronicles to epic sword-and-sorcery adventures, and they offer a fascinating glimpse into "Dark Age" swashbuckling. In this course we will also discuss how these stories continue to profoundly influence modern culture.
Instructor: Vic Peterson is the author of The Berserkers (Hawkwood, 2022; Recital, 2023), a novel set in a fictional Nordic country. He holds a BA in English from Kenyon College, and MA degrees in humanities from The University of Texas at Dallas and in religious studies from the University of Chicago, where he also completed coursework at the Booth School of Business. After a successful career as a business executive, Vic now focuses on writing and teaching.
If you do not see the "Add to Cart" button, there are three possible reasons. 1) Registration may not be open 2) You have not added a Membership to your cart or renewed your membership 3) You are not logged in: Click to Sign-In
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- ZOOM: Last of the Romanovs and the Russian Revolution
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Fee: $125.00
Dates: 7/16/2025 - 8/20/2025
Times: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Days: W
Sessions: 6
Building: Online
Room:
Instructor: Asya Pereltsvaig
Seats Available: 41
**This class will be taught on Zoom**
Watch the preview video here.
Last year marked the 130th anniversary of the enthronement of Nikolai II of Russia, the last Tsar in the Romanov dynasty, and the 120th anniversary of the birth of his only son Alexei. In this lecture, we’ll take a sweeping look at Russia at the time of the last of the Romanovs and on the eve of the Bolshevik revolution, from the royal family down to peasants, who still constituted the majority of the Russian population despite rapid industrialization and urbanization. We’ll see how Russia moved closer and closer to the Revolution and contemplate why the Bolsheviks ultimately won.
If you do not see the "Add to Cart" button, there are three possible reasons. 1) Registration may not be open 2) You have not added a Membership to your cart or renewed your membership 3) You are not logged in: Click to Sign-In
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- ZOOM: Your Write to Resilience
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Fee: $125.00
Dates: 7/10/2025 - 8/14/2025
Times: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Days: Th
Sessions: 6
Building: Online
Room:
Instructor: Kathryn Goldman
Seats Available: 2
**This course will be taught via Zoom**
Watch the preview video here.
Your Write To Resilience is a guided wellness practice.
This class provides participants with an opportunity to enhance their resilience through writing. This class is based upon extensive research which demonstrates that expressing our emotions through writing can improve both physical and mental well-being.
Kathryn will facilitate six 90-minute classes using a different writing prompts to explore resilience.
You will write in unrestricted 8 to 10-minute bursts. At the end of each burst, people can share what they have written if desired. This is not a writing instruction class. We do not engage in feedback or critiques.
Each week Kathryn will read poetry or prose and offer writing prompts on a variety of themes, e.g. human connection, gratitude, courage, or fear. Topics will be curated based upon the needs of the group.
The classes will be taught using the Zoom learning platform.
If you do not see the "Add to Cart" button, there are three possible reasons. 1) Registration may not be open 2) You have not added a Membership to your cart or renewed your membership 3) You are not logged in: Click to Sign-In
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- ZOOM: The Dead Sea Scrolls: Past Present and Future
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Fee: $125.00
Dates: 7/10/2025 - 8/14/2025
Times: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Days: Th
Sessions: 6
Building: Online
Room:
Instructor: Jehon Grist
Seats Available: 45
**This class will be taught on Zoom**
Click to watch Introduction video
This course will take students on a guided tour of the history, discoveries and mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls. In richly illustrated sessions, we’ll begin with an overview of the historical events leading up to the era of the Scrolls. From there we’ll visit Qumran, the home of the Scrolls, then tell the comedy of errors in the Scrolls’ discovery and publication. But the core of the class will be a deep dive into the Scrolls themselves and what they tell us about early Judaism and Christianity.
If you do not see the "Add to Cart" button, there are three possible reasons. 1) Registration may not be open 2) You have not added a Membership to your cart or renewed your membership 3) You are not logged in: Click to Sign-In
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- HYBRID (IN-PERSON): Sound and Vision: The Visuals of Popular Music
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Fee: $125.00
Dates: 7/11/2025 - 8/15/2025
Times: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Days: F
Sessions: 6
Building: Downtown Campus; 160 Spear St
Room: 505
Instructor: Richie Unterberger
Seats Available: 21
**This class is a Hybrid. This section of the class will be taught In-Person.**
Click to watch the course preview video.
Popular music has been packaged and promoted in many visually striking formats. “Sound and Vision” documents this evolution with hundreds of record covers, concert posters, and advertisements, from the days of wind-up gramophones through jazz, rock, soul, psychedelia, punk, and rap. Besides famous artifacts like withdrawn Beatles and Rolling Stones LPs and Fillmore posters, the course will also discuss work by famous artists like Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Robert Mapplethorpe used to promote recordings, and how the way music “looked” changed as record labels adopted signature styles and formats evolved from 78s, 45s, and LPs to cassettes and CDs.
If you do not see the "Add to Cart" button, there are three possible reasons. 1) Registration may not be open 2) You have not added a Membership to your cart or renewed your membership 3) You are not logged in: Click to Sign-In
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- HYBRID (ZOOM): Sound and Vision: The Visuals of Popular Music
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Fee: $125.00
Dates: 7/11/2025 - 8/15/2025
Times: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Days: F
Sessions: 6
Building: Online
Room:
Instructor: Richie Unterberger
Seats Available: 65
**This class is a Hybrid. This section of the class will be taught on Zoom.**
Click to watch the course preview video.
Popular music has been packaged and promoted in many visually striking formats. “Sound and Vision” documents this evolution with hundreds of record covers, concert posters, and advertisements, from the days of wind-up gramophones through jazz, rock, soul, psychedelia, punk, and rap. Besides famous artifacts like withdrawn Beatles and Rolling Stones LPs and Fillmore posters, the course will also discuss work by famous artists like Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Robert Mapplethorpe used to promote recordings, and how the way music “looked” changed as record labels adopted signature styles and formats evolved from 78s, 45s, and LPs to cassettes and CDs.
If you do not see the "Add to Cart" button, there are three possible reasons. 1) Registration may not be open 2) You have not added a Membership to your cart or renewed your membership 3) You are not logged in: Click to Sign-In
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- IN-PERSON: Musicology: Music and Culture
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Fee: $125.00
Dates: 7/11/2025 - 8/15/2025
Times: 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Days: F
Sessions: 6
Building: Downtown Campus; 160 Spear St
Room: 505
Instructor: Steven Savage
Seats Available: 20
**This class will be taught In-Person**
Watch the preview video here.
Why is music so important? As the great scientist and humanist Oliver Sacks states, music has “the power to induce brain states, thoughts, moods, mental landscapes, vision, transcendences, which are without precedent, without parallel and which cannot be evoked by anything else.” At the same time, we revel in the simple pleasures of the backbeat and in the joys of our favorite songs. How does an expanded knowledge of musicology affect our listening experience? Can we deepen our appreciation of music by exploring its relationship to culture? We will listen to music from many genres and discuss. Optional reading materials will be made available.
If you do not see the "Add to Cart" button, there are three possible reasons. 1) Registration may not be open 2) You have not added a Membership to your cart or renewed your membership 3) You are not logged in: Click to Sign-In
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- IN-PERSON: An Introduction to Taoist Tai Chi™
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Fee: $100.00
Item Number: 25SUMWE14211
Dates: 7/7/2025 - 8/11/2025
Times: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Days: M
Sessions: 6
Building: Downtown Campus; 160 Spear St
Room: 505
Instructor: Jennifer Spencer
REGISTRATION FOR THIS CLASS IS CLOSED. This class is already in session.
**This class will be taught In-Person**
Click to watch the course preview video.
The course is an introduction to the ancient Chinese practice of moving meditation designed to improve all aspects of personal health. Regular practice of Tai Chi has been shown to improve balance, reduce the likelihood of falls, improve immune function, reduce stress, and lower blood pressure, among many other benefits. Anyone who is able to walk is able to practice Tai Chi. Clothing that allows for comfortable movement and reasonably flat shoes are recommended.
Week by Week Outline
Week 1: Learn the first of the foundation exercises (Shaolin Temple tendon-changing-bone-marrow washing exercises) and then start learning and practicing the first four moves of the Taoist Tai Chi™ set of movements.
Week 2: Review week one, learn the second foundation exercise, and add moves 5 through 8.
Week 3: Review week two, learn the third foundation exercise, and add moves 9 through 12.
Week 4: Review week three, learn the fourth foundation exercise, and add moves 13 through 17.
Week 5 and 6: Review the first four foundation exercises and learn the fifth and sixth. Practice moves 1 through 17 and delve deeper into the health benefits of the moves.
**This class will be taught In-Person**
Click to watch the course preview video.
The course is an introduction to the ancient Chinese practice of moving meditation designed to improve all aspects of personal health. Regular practice of Tai Chi has been shown to improve balance, reduce the likelihood of falls, improve immune function, reduce stress, and lower blood pressure, among many other benefits. Anyone who is able to walk is able to practice Tai Chi. Clothing that allows for comfortable movement and reasonably flat shoes are recommended.
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- IN-PERSON: Transformations in Six 20th-Century Short Stories
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Fee: $125.00
Item Number: 25SUMAC14821
Dates: 7/7/2025 - 8/11/2025
Times: 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Days: M
Sessions: 6
Building: Downtown Campus; 160 Spear St
Room: 505
Instructor: Sarita Cannon
REGISTRATION FOR THIS CLASS IS CLOSED. This class is already in session.
**This class will be taught In-Person**
Watch the preview video here.
Metamorphosis can be painful, exhilarating, confusing, or some combination thereof. In these six masterpieces of the short story genre, we will explore how writers from diverse backgrounds portray the complexity of personal transformation. Starting with James Joyce’s stunning 1914 story “The Dead” and ending with Edwidge Danticat’s devastating 1995 short story “The Children of the Sea,” this course traces how the short story form is particularly suited to depictions of transformation. Students will learn about the historical, social, and cultural context of each story, practice literary close reading skills, and develop an understanding of the conventions of the short story genre.
Stories will be provided to students as pdfs.
Week by Week Outline
Week 1: Introduction to the Short Story Genre; James Joyce, “The Dead” (1914)
Week 2: James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues” (1957)
Week 3: Bharati Mukherjee, “A Wife’s Story” (1988)
Week 4: Sandra Cisneros, “Woman Hollering Creek” (1991)
Week 5: Sherman Alexie, “Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ at Woodstock” (1993)
Week 6: Edwidge Danticat, “Children of the Sea” (1995)
**This class will be taught In-Person**
Watch the preview video here.
Metamorphosis can be painful, exhilarating, confusing, or some combination thereof. In these six masterpieces of the short story genre, we will explore how writers from diverse backgrounds portray the complexity of personal transformation. Starting with James Joyce’s stunning 1914 story “The Dead” and ending with Edwidge Danticat’s devastating 1995 short story “The Children of the Sea,” this course traces how the short story form is particularly suited to depictions of transformation. Students will learn about the historical, social, and cultural context of each story, practice literary close reading skills, and develop an understanding of the conventions of the short story genre.
Stories will be provided to students as pdfs.
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- OSHER ONLINE ZOOM: The Economics of Public Policy Issues
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Fee: $100.00
Item Number: 25SUMHHO171
Dates: 7/8/2025 - 8/12/2025
Times: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 6
Building: Online
Room:
Instructor:
REGISTRATION FOR THIS CLASS IS CLOSED. This class is already in session.
Osher Online Course - produced by the Osher National Resource Center
**To get to the course you will not be sent the Zoom link, but log into a portal (instructions will be provided to those enrolled)
**This course will be presented via Zoom and will not be recorded. Space is limited.**
**If you have a course package that you would like to use, please contact olli@sfsu.edu**
Introduction: https://vimeo.com/1032064833
Economics plays a central role in shaping every aspect of society. This course examines a series of prominent policy issues with economics at their core. We will explore the origins of these issues, the underlying data and evidence, and the policy tools available to address them. Each lecture will be standalone, delivered by a subject matter expert with a Ph.D. in economics. Potential topics include climate change, healthcare economics, economic inequality, and more, with final selections based on the most relevant and timely issues at the start of the course.
Instructor: Geof Woglom, PhD is professor emeritus of economics at Amherst College, where he taught for over 40 years. He has held visiting positions at Cambridge, Harvard, and the London School of Economics. Woglom was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town and at Nanjing University. Over his career, he has served as an economic consultant for the International Monetary Fund, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Osher Online Course - produced by the Osher National Resource Center
**To get to the course you will not be sent the Zoom link, but log into a portal (instructions will be provided to those enrolled)
**This course will be presented via Zoom and will not be recorded. Space is limited.**
**If you have a course package that you would like to use, please contact olli@sfsu.edu**
Introduction video: https://vimeo.com/1032064833
Economics plays a central role in shaping every aspect of society. This course examines a series of prominent policy issues with economics at their core. We will explore the origins of these issues, the underlying data and evidence, and the policy tools available to address them. Each lecture will be standalone, delivered by a subject matter expert with a Ph.D. in economics. Potential topics include climate change, healthcare economics, economic inequality, and more, with final selections based on the most relevant and timely issues at the start of the course.
Instructor: Geof Woglom, PhD is professor emeritus of economics at Amherst College, where he taught for over 40 years. He has held visiting positions at Cambridge, Harvard, and the London School of Economics. Woglom was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town and at Nanjing University. Over his career, he has served as an economic consultant for the International Monetary Fund, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
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- IN-PERSON: Crafting Poems of Resilience and Resistance
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Fee: $155.00
Item Number: 25SUMAC14781
Dates: 7/8/2025 - 8/12/2025
Times: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 6
Building: Downtown Campus; 160 Spear St
Room: 508
Instructor: Kathleen McClung
REGISTRATION FOR THIS CLASS IS CLOSED. This class is already in session.
**This class will be taught In-Person**
Poet Stanley Kunitz wrote: “Poems would be easy if our heads weren’t so full of the day’s clatter. The task is to get through to the other side, where we can hear the deep rhythms that connect us with the stars and the tides.”
Does the day’s clatter seem especially loud right now? Join us this summer for six weeks of reading and writing poems that help us get through to another side. Together we’ll listen for deep, connecting rhythms and look at poems from a variety of times and places that comfort and provoke, nourish our souls and advocate for change.
Throughout history, while regimes have shredded safety nets and oppressed people, poets have woven beautiful, lasting webs of words and inspired/uplifted people. In this class, we’ll read and write both spiritual and political poetry that engages eloquently with our inner and outer worlds: prayers, manifestos, meditations, calls to action…sometimes all rolled into one!
Week by Week Outline
Week 1 Contemplative poems close to home
Week 2 Contemplative international poems
Week 3 Political poems of the United States
Week 4 Political poems globally
Week 5 Blending contemplative/political themes and approaches
Week 6 Blending contemplative/political themes and approaches
**This class will be taught In-Person**
Poet Stanley Kunitz wrote: “Poems would be easy if our heads weren’t so full of the day’s clatter. The task is to get through to the other side, where we can hear the deep rhythms that connect us with the stars and the tides.”
Does the day’s clatter seem especially loud right now? Join us this summer for six weeks of reading and writing poems that help us get through to another side. Together we’ll listen for deep, connecting rhythms and look at poems from a variety of times and places that comfort and provoke, nourish our souls and advocate for change.
Throughout history, while regimes have shredded safety nets and oppressed people, poets have woven beautiful, lasting webs of words and inspired/uplifted people. In this class, we’ll read and write both spiritual and political poetry that engages eloquently with our inner and outer worlds: prayers, manifestos, meditations, calls to action…sometimes all rolled into one!
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- OSHER ONLINE ZOOM: Behind Those Baby Blues: The Films of Paul Newman
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Fee: $100.00
Item Number: 25SUMACO191
Dates: 7/8/2025 - 8/12/2025
Times: 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 6
Building: Online
Room:
Instructor:
REGISTRATION FOR THIS CLASS IS CLOSED. This class is already in session.
Osher Online Course - produced by the Osher National Resource Center
**To get to the course you will not be sent the Zoom link, but log into a portal (instructions will be provided to those enrolled)
**This course will be presented via Zoom and will not be recorded. Space is limited.**
**If you have a course package that you would like to use, please contact olli@sfsu.edu**
Introduction: https://vimeo.com/1033522265
Paul Newman, the embodiment of charisma, captivated movie audiences with his iconic baby blue eyes, striking features, and powerful screen presence. Known for his multiple Academy Award-nominated performances in films like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), The Hustler (1961), and Absence of Malice (1981), Newman ultimately won an Oscar for The Color of Money (1986), the sequel to The Hustler. Alongside his acting career, he pursued a parallel path as a race car driver and dedicated significant time to entrepreneurial and philanthropic endeavors. This course will trace the timeline of Newman’s remarkable career, from his legendary collaborations with Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973) to his final roles in Road to Perdition (2002), Empire Falls (2005), and Cars (2006), where he voiced the retired race car Doc Hudson.
Osher Online Course - produced by the Osher National Resource Center
**To get to the course you will not be sent the Zoom link, but log into a portal (instructions will be provided to those enrolled)
**This course will be presented via Zoom and will not be recorded. Space is limited.**
**If you have a course package that you would like to use, please contact olli@sfsu.edu**
Introduction: https://vimeo.com/1033522265
Paul Newman, the embodiment of charisma, captivated movie audiences with his iconic baby blue eyes, striking features, and powerful screen presence. Known for his multiple Academy Award-nominated performances in films like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), The Hustler (1961), and Absence of Malice (1981), Newman ultimately won an Oscar for The Color of Money (1986), the sequel to The Hustler. Alongside his acting career, he pursued a parallel path as a race car driver and dedicated significant time to entrepreneurial and philanthropic endeavors. This course will trace the timeline of Newman’s remarkable career, from his legendary collaborations with Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973) to his final roles in Road to Perdition (2002), Empire Falls (2005), and Cars (2006), where he voiced the retired race car Doc Hudson.
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- ZOOM: Women Psychoanalysts: Stories and Theories
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Fee: $125.00
Item Number: 25SUMHH13511
Dates: 7/8/2025 - 8/19/2025
Times: 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 6
Building: Online
Room:
Instructor: Oliva Espin
REGISTRATION FOR THIS CLASS IS CLOSED. This class is already in session.
**This class will be taught on Zoom**
Watch the preview video here.
Despite its critics and its flaws, psychoanalysis continues to be a cultural force in the Euro American world. Far from being only relevant for the rich and famous, psychoanalysis permeates our everyday thinking and discourse in multiple ways. But today’s psychoanalysis, both in theory and in practice, is very different from Freud’s original perspectives. Although both women and men have contributed to the transformation of psychoanalytic thought, in this mini course we will focus on the lives, careers, and contributions of women analysts who influenced psychoanalysis. We will consider how these women helped broaden psychoanalytic theory beyond looking at family history to focus on relational, social, and cultural influences on psychological life. Even though some of these women were considered rebels at the time and were vilified by their more traditional (mostly male) colleagues, all of them refined and/or challenged the original Freudian concepts. Their impact is present in contemporary theories and practices of therapy and in common understandings of human psychology.
Week by Week Outline
Week 1- Introduction
Anna Freud: Her father’s daughter
Melanie Klein: The mother-child dyad and the mysteries of children’s minds
Week 2- Karen Horney: Feminist challenge to Freud
Week 3- Clara Thompson: On women and relationships
Frieda Fromm-Reichmann: Therapy in the rose garden
Week 4- Anna Maria Rizzuto and others: Religion and Psychoanalysis
Week 5- Nancy Chodorow: Mothers, daughters, and sons
Jean Baker Miller: Self in relation
Week 6- Lynn Layton and others: Social Psychoanalysis
Summary and Conclusion
**This class will be taught on Zoom. Note that class will skip July 22 and end on August 19.**
Watch the preview video here.
Despite its critics and its flaws, psychoanalysis continues to be a cultural force in the Euro American world. Far from being only relevant for the rich and famous, psychoanalysis permeates our everyday thinking and discourse in multiple ways. But today’s psychoanalysis, both in theory and in practice, is very different from Freud’s original perspectives. Although both women and men have contributed to the transformation of psychoanalytic thought, in this mini course we will focus on the lives, careers, and contributions of women analysts who influenced psychoanalysis. We will consider how these women helped broaden psychoanalytic theory beyond looking at family history to focus on relational, social, and cultural influences on psychological life. Even though some of these women were considered rebels at the time and were vilified by their more traditional (mostly male) colleagues, all of them refined and/or challenged the original Freudian concepts. Their impact is present in contemporary theories and practices of therapy and in common understandings of human psychology.
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- IN-PERSON: Early Modern Europe
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Fee: $125.00
Item Number: 25SUMHH13841
Dates: 7/8/2025 - 8/12/2025
Times: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 6
Building: Downtown Campus; 160 Spear St
Room: 505
Instructor: Steve Harris
REGISTRATION FOR THIS CLASS IS CLOSED. This class is already in session.
**This class will be taught In-Person**
Click to watch the course preview video.
What happened in Early Modern Europe didn’t stay in Early Modern Europe.
This period, from the invention of the printing press to the French Revolution created much of our modern world. This includes the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, global exploration, the birth of capitalism, and the very idea of change that define much of how we see ourselves. First, we will ground our survey in the ideas of “early modern” and “Europe” and get the lay of the land in the 15C. Over the following four weeks, we will take thematic looks at the people, their ideas and beliefs, the development of capitalism across a newly integrated globe, and questions of politics and power. We will conclude with the so-called “age of reason” and the beginnings of industrialization.
Week by Week Outline
Week 1: Introduction: What is “early modern”? What is Europe? What did things look like five hundred years ago? How did they get to the starting gate of modernity?
Week 2: God: Who believed what and why?
Week 3: Nature: Was there a “scientific revolution?” How did it work? What did it accomplish?
Week 4: The World: How did Europe connect to the rest of the planet? How did it come to dominate so much of it?
Week 5: Society: How did people live, work, think, and relate to each other?
Week 6: States: How did governments get organized? How and why did they fight? How was democracy reborn?
**This class will be taught In-Person**
Click to watch the course preview video.
What happened in Early Modern Europe didn’t stay in Early Modern Europe.
This period, from the invention of the printing press to the French Revolution created much of our modern world. This includes the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, global exploration, the birth of capitalism, and the very idea of change that define much of how we see ourselves. First, we will ground our survey in the ideas of “early modern” and “Europe” and get the lay of the land in the 15C. Over the following four weeks, we will take thematic looks at the people, their ideas and beliefs, the development of capitalism across a newly integrated globe, and questions of politics and power. We will conclude with the so-called “age of reason” and the beginnings of industrialization.
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- OSHER ONLINE ZOOM: History of Beer
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Fee: $100.00
Item Number: 25SUMHHO161
Dates: 7/8/2025 - 8/12/2025
Times: 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 6
Building: Online
Room:
Instructor:
REGISTRATION FOR THIS CLASS IS CLOSED. This class is already in session.
Osher Online Course - produced by the Osher National Resource Center
**This course will be presented via Zoom and will not be recorded. Space is limited.**
**If you have a course package that you would like to use, please contact olli@sfsu.edu**
Introduction: https://vimeo.com/1032421484
Historians, beer enthusiasts, and curious minds alike will enjoy this exploration of the history of brewing. We will begin in the distant past with the invention of beer around 4000 BCE. Then we will journey through time to the modern rise of craft brewing. Along the way, we will dive into fascinating topics including medieval brewing, beer in Shakespeare’s era, colonial brewing, Prohibition, indigenous brewing traditions worldwide, and the evolution of beer commercials. This course meets during happy hour, so feel free—nay, encouraged—to raise a glass and toast to history while we learn.
Instructor: Dr. Karl Brown teaches courses in modern European history, film and media studies, and the history of drugs and drinking at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater. Before his academic career, he installed and operated brewpubs in Japan and Greece. Brown co-founded Second Salem Brewing Company in Whitewater and is an avid homebrewer of beer, cider, wine, and mead.
Osher Online Course - produced by the Osher National Resource Center
**To get to the course you will not be sent the Zoom link, but log into a portal (instructions will be provided to those enrolled)
**This course will be presented via Zoom and will not be recorded. Space is limited.**
**If you have a course package that you would like to use, please contact olli@sfsu.edu**
Introduction video: https://vimeo.com/1032421484
Historians, beer enthusiasts, and curious minds alike will enjoy this exploration of the history of brewing. We will begin in the distant past with the invention of beer around 4000 BCE. Then we will journey through time to the modern rise of craft brewing. Along the way, we will dive into fascinating topics including medieval brewing, beer in Shakespeare’s era, colonial brewing, Prohibition, indigenous brewing traditions worldwide, and the evolution of beer commercials. This course meets during happy hour, so feel free—nay, encouraged—to raise a glass and toast to history while we learn.
Instructor: Dr. Karl Brown teaches courses in modern European history, film and media studies, and the history of drugs and drinking at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater. Before his academic career, he installed and operated brewpubs in Japan and Greece. Brown co-founded Second Salem Brewing Company in Whitewater and is an avid homebrewer of beer, cider, wine, and mead.
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- IN-PERSON: Women Artists in Renaissance Italy
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Fee: $125.00
Item Number: 25SUMAC12641
Dates: 7/9/2025 - 8/13/2025
Times: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Days: W
Sessions: 6
Building: Downtown Campus; 160 Spear St
Room: 505
Instructor: Maureen O'Brien De Geller
REGISTRATION FOR THIS CLASS IS CLOSED. This class is already in session.
**This class will be taught In-Person**
Watch the preview video here.
Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Caravaggio are among the most well-known Renaissance artists. They flourished due to the patronage of notable individuals, powerful rulers and civic organizations who commissioned their works. But what about the female half of the population? The Renaissance saw the rise of women artists who navigated many obstacles to succeed in the male-dominated Italian art world. Confident self-portraits, realistic still lifes, portraits of noted individuals and their families all reveal the women’s technical skill and ingenuity. By exploring works made by women, this course aims to reconsider a period of creative ingenuity and artistic excellence from their often-overlooked perspective.
Week One: Background to women artists in the Renaissance
Much of Renaissance art revolves around learning – about classical antiquity, philosophy, anatomy, or mathematics, not to mention the skills learned as an apprentice in a professional art studio. But gender norms of the time meant women’s education rarely exceeded what was needed to be wives and mothers. With almost no opportunities for apprenticeships with master/male artists, women were at a disadvantage. Talented women did become artists under certain circumstances, such as being born in a family of artists or being a nun trained as a manuscript illuminator or painter in a convent. In all cases, the public personae of women artists were closely tied to gendered ideas that expected a respectable woman to be virtuous, pious, and obedient to God and her father/husband.
Week two: Sofonisba Anguissola
Born into a noble family in Cremona, Anguissola’s family made the unprecedented decision to have her trained as a painter outside the family house. She moved to Spain at the height of her career and remained there for fourteen years. She became official court painter to Queen Isabel de Valois, an amateur artist to whom she gave painting lessons, as well as King Philip II. Returning to Italy, she continued to practice as a leading portrait painter until her late 80s. Anguissola's great success opened the way for larger numbers of women to pursue serious careers as artists. Some of her well-known successors include Lavinia Fontana and Artemisia Gentileschi.
Week three: Sister Plautilla Nelli
Sister Plautilla Nelli was a self-taught Dominican nun and the first known woman artist of the Renaissance in Florence. Like many daughters of wealthy families, she was placed in a convent which encouraged its nuns not only to pray but also to learn and draw. She became a prolific artist, overseeing a convent studio with perhaps as many as eight female nun followers. Nelli produced large-scale devotional paintings and manuscript illuminations for church and private commissions, including the largest and earliest known painting of the Last Supper by a woman.
Week four: Properzia de’ Rossi
Properzia de’ Rossi was a sculptor from Bologna, defying the stereotype that this art form should be reserved for men because it was seen as more masculine. She worked in a variety of mediums and taught herself to carve by working with peach stones. She was selected as one of several artists commissioned to create carved reliefs for the Cathedral of San Petronio in Bologna. She was also the only woman included in Giorgio Vasari's 1550 artistic biographical work Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects.
Week five: Lavinia Fontana
Lavinia Fontana was taught to paint and draw by her father, a prominent painter in Bologna. She was highly in demand as a portraitist by Bolognese noblewomen. She is regarded as the first female career artist in Western Europe as she relied on commissions for her income. She married a fellow artist and gave birth to 11 children (only three outlived her). Her husband took care of the household and served as an agent and painting assistant to his wife. The family relocated to Rome where she received commissions by many notable figures, including Pope Clement VIII, Pope Paul V and Pope Gregory XIII.
Week six: Artemisia Gentileschi
Artemisia Gentileschi is the most celebrated female painter of the 17th century. In an era when women had few opportunities to pursue artistic training or work as professional artists, her training by her father, Rome-based painter Orazio Gentileschi, provided her with the background to pursue an international clientele. Artemisia became a successful court painter in Florence, enjoying the patronage of the House of Medici and playing a significant role in courtly culture of the city. She subsequently spent many years working in Rome, Venice, Naples, and London, for the highest echelons of European society.
**This class will be taught In-Person**
Watch the preview video here.
Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Caravaggio are among the most well-known Renaissance artists. They flourished due to the patronage of notable individuals, powerful rulers and civic organizations who commissioned their works. But what about the female half of the population? The Renaissance saw the rise of women artists who navigated many obstacles to succeed in the male-dominated Italian art world. Confident self-portraits, realistic still lifes, portraits of noted individuals and their families all reveal the women’s technical skill and ingenuity. By exploring works made by women, this course aims to reconsider a period of creative ingenuity and artistic excellence from their often-overlooked perspective.
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