Academy of Seniors & Mornings with the Professors

ACADEMY
Fees Per Class –
1. THE MISUNDERSTOOD UNIVERSITY:
EXPLORING AMERICAN HIGHER
EDUCATION
What is the purpose of a college education? Is
a 4-year degree worth the cost? Do universities
adequately prepare students for life after college?
Come hear about these hot topics concerning the
state of higher education in America.
Lecturer: Richard Sullivan, Associate
Professor of Sociology,
Illinois State University
Dates: Mondays, September 9, 16, 23, 30
Time: 1:30 – 3:30 pm
2. THE CIVIL WAR YOU NEVER KNEW: PART 2
Explore how the war impacted ordinary individuals
and families and discover the intriguing
personalities behind the war-winning high-stakes
diplomacy in Washington.
Dates: Wednesdays, October 9, 16, 23, 30
Time: 1:30 – 3:30 pm
Can’t attend all four Civil War classes?
How Union Diplomacy Prevented a
Confederate Victory in the Civil War
Despite many military advantages and the
overwhelming sympathy of European elites, the
Confederate States of America (CSA) lost the US
Civil War in large part due to the superior diplomacy
of the Union, particularly Abraham Lincoln
and William Henry Seward.
Lecturer: W. Michael Weis, Professor of
History, Illinois Wesleyan
University
Date: Wednesday, October 9
Camp Douglas—Army Training Center/
Prison Camp in Illinois
Learn the history of Camp Douglas, one of the
most significant military facilities in Illinois during
the Civil War. Hear stories about both the 40,000
Union and 30,000 Confederate prisoners from
their letters, diaries, and journals.
Lecturer: David L. Keller, Managing
Director, Camp Douglas
Restoration Foundation
Date: Wednesday, October 16
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OF
SENIORS
$35.00 for members
$45.00 for non-members
= Walk-in, $15.00 for individual
session – pay at the door.
Relieving Chaos in Civil War-Era
Families
Discover how the establishment of pension
bureaus, orphanages, and relief corps helped
provide a stabilizing force in the midst of national
chaos. Introduce new phrases into your Civil War
vocabulary: “grass widows,” “serial marriage,”
“civilized polygamy,” “fluid marriage,” and
“contested widows.”
Lecturer: Kyle E. Ciani, Associate Professor
of History, Illinois State University
Date: Wednesday, October 23
Life After the Civil War
What does freedom mean when you have tatters
for clothes, few possessions, no assets, and end
up working as a share-cropper for the master
whose slave you were? Black leaders tried to find
ways out of this economic trap, while southerners
argued they had not gone to war to protect slavery
but to ward off northern invasion. Hurt, bitterness,
and vengefulness lasted for decades.
Lecturer: Paul Bushnell, Professor
Emeritus of History,
Illinois Wesleyan University
Date: Wednesday, October 30
3. GERMAN EXPRESSIONIST PAINTERS:
A BREAK FROM CONVENTION
Early in the 20th century, a number of German
painters broke with convention by adopting startling
imagery, jarring form, and strong color to express
response to their cultural context. Today they are
known as the German Expressionists. Come hear
about four distinctly different members of this group:
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Wassily Kandinsky, Max
Beckmann, and Oskar Kokoschka.
Lecturer: Timothy Garvey, Professor
Emeritus, Illinois Wesleyan University
Dates: Tuesdays, November 5, 12, 19, 26
Time: 9:30 – 11:30 am
4. THE POLITICS OF HEALTHCARE AND
HEALTHCARE FINANCING
NOTE: This is a 3-session class – $30 (members),
$40 (non-members)
In this class, we will cover the history of the passage
of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) as well
as tactics opinion leaders use to steer the public
toward certain conversations (and away from others).
Because healthcare accounts for about one-sixth of
the nation’s economy, these issues are pocketbook
concerns as well as interesting lenses on American
politics.
Lecturer: Greg Shaw, Professor, Political
Science, Illinois Wesleyan University
Dates: Wednesdays, January 8, 15, 22, 2014
Time: 1:30 – 3:30 pm