Fall 2011 Class Schedule

September 23 - October 28
(6 Fridays)

Don’t forget your parking permit if taking a
course held on the Orono Campus!

***Important Notice***
Although there is minimal personal risk in participating
in a Senior College activity, all program participants
will be required to sign a Release and Assumption of
Risk Form to acknowledge you, and not Senior College
or the UMaine System, are responsible for your own
safety.

Morning Classes

10:00AM - Noon (unless otherwise noted)

Afternoon Classes

1:30 – 3:30 PM (unless otherwise noted)

Course: CATASTROPHES – NATURAL AND UNNATURAL

Description: Changing conditions of the Earth have always influenced the lives of humans, but human activities are now of a scale sufficient to change natural Earth processes. The course will explore the nature of risk and risk assessment as we gain an understanding of different classes of natural events: tectonic, weather (floods, drought, hurricanes, fire); climate (sea level, food and water supply); energy consumption; and population. We will end with a perspective on natural catastrophes and the long-term survival of the human species.

Minimum 10. Morning. Orono campus.

Instructor: George Jacobson is Maine State Climatologist and Professor Emeritus of Biology, Ecology and Climate Change at the University of Maine, where he taught from 1990-2008. He was director of the Institute for Quaternary and Climate Studies (now the Climate Change Institute) at UMaine from 1993-2008 and is the author of numerous publications. Stephen Norton is Professor Emeritus of Earth Sciences with the Climate Change Institute at UMaine, where he has taught since 1968 and served as chair of Geological Sciences. He has done research in Norway and written many scholarly articles.

Course: CONTROVERSIES IN SCIENCE

Description: We will begin with a discussion of the scientific method, how science works, and basic genetics. Topics may include biomedical ethics and biosafety, genetic engineering, stem cell research, global warming, and evolution. The course will combine lecture material and discussion. Active class participation is strongly encouraged, with additional topics depending on the interests of class members.

Maximum 30, minimum 12. Morning. Bangor campus.

Instructor: Richard Smith is a retired eye surgeon with extensive science research experience at Columbia University, Walter Reed Medical Center, The National Institutes of Health, and Albany Medical College in upstate New York. For the past eighteen years he has worked as a research scientist at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, where he has developed mouse models of glaucoma and retinal degeneration.

Course: MAH JONGG

Description: Participants in Karen’s Mah Jongg for Beginners class in spring 2011 raved about what fun they had, so she has agreed to offer Mah Jongg II. This ancient game of tiles, luck and skill is competitive, sociable, and requires strategy. It’s relaxing – and it’s thrilling. There’s nothing more exciting than the moment when you can finally call, “Mah Jongg!” Both repeaters and new participants are welcome. This class will have five sessions, with no class on October 14.

Maximum 12, minimum 5. Morning. Bangor campus.

Instructor: Karen McCall taught the deaf and hard of hearing for the Bangor School Department for 38 years, and she has taught ballroom dance to adults in Bangor and Hermon for thirteen years. She has taught ballroom dance to physical education majors at Husson University and last winter taught Latin dances on a cruise ship in South America.

Course: MY NEIGHBOR’S FAITH

Description: This class will offer an introduction to faith traditions from around our community, such as Judaism, Catholicism, New England Congregationalism, Wabanaki spiritual traditions, and Buddhism. Presenters in addition to Rabbi Lerner will include Father Seamus Griesbach, St. Joseph Parish, Brewer; the Rev. James L. Haddix, All Souls Church, Bangor; John Bear Mitchell, Wabanaki Center, University of Maine; Mike Sealander, Buddhist; the Rev. Becky Gunn, Unitarian Universalist Society of Bangor.

Maximum 35, minimum 10. Morning. Bangor campus.

Instructors: Darah Lerner is the rabbi at Congregation Beth El in Bangor. She taught 350 Years of Jews in America at the University of Maine in Orono and has taught Introduction to Judaism, Jewish Theology and Modern Jewish Thought at the Bangor Theological Seminary. For Penobscot Valley Senior College she presented a video-lecture-panel discussion about the Book of Genesis.

Course: SPINNING A YARN: THE STORY OF FIBER IN MAINE

Description: Weaving together art, agriculture and history in an investigation of fiber production and processing in Maine, the course will offer an opportunity to meet fiber artists, explore the long and impressive history of textiles in Maine, examine ancient and modern fiber processing tools, and try our hands at turning raw fiber into beautiful finished products through spinning, weaving, dyeing, felting and other techniques. We might even visit a nearby fiber farm.

Maximum 12, minimum 5. Morning. Page Farm and Home Museum on the Orono campus of the University of Maine.

Instructors: Mary Bird has been a science and environmental educator for more than 30 years, working with youth and adults in public schools, universities, museums and community settings. Her article, “The Pin Is Mightier than the Sword,” explores the role of ladies’ needlework magazines in conveying social and political messages during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She has given this well-received class for PVSC in 2009 and 2010.

Course: TWO NOVELS BY E.M. FORSTER

Description: Since 1905, when his first novel was published, until his death, E.M. Forster's work has been read and enjoyed. From time to time there has been a re-awakening of interest in him, sometimes occasioned by a film version of one of his novels, or by a new critical reading of his writings. This year a study of music in his fiction was published and last year the highly acclaimed A Great Unrecorded History by Wendy Moffat, which describes his homosexual life and friendships, was released. We will read two of his novels, Room with a View and Howard’s End, and see the movies based on them. Discussions will include his relationship to the Bloomsbury Group.

Maximum 20, minimum 5. Morning. Orono campus.

Instructor: Nancy MacKnight’s literature classes have been popular with PVSC members since we began in 2002, and, given every fall, they have been a mainstay of our curriculum. Retired as associate professor of English at the University of Maine, Nancy has served on the boards of the Maine Humanities Council, the University Press, and Friends of Dr. Edith M. Patch.

Field Trips : TREASURES IN AND AROUND BANGOR

Description: Six field trips will introduce us to the organizations that make living in the Bangor area interesting, educational – and often, fun. Even if you think you know these groups, there’s always something new to be discovered. This course is similar to but not a duplicate of the one offered in 2009, with some different organizations represented. All visits except for the one to the Bangor Public Library will begin at 10 a.m. Fridays.

September 23: Challenger Learning Center of Maine,
30 Venture Way, Bangor, parking in front of building.

September 30: Fields Pond Audubon Center,
216 Fields Pond Road, Holden, parking on premises.

October 7: Penobscot Theatre,
Opera House, Main Street, Bangor, parking on street or in garage.

October 14: Hudson Museum,

Collins Center for the Arts, Orono.

October 20: Bangor Public Library, 6 p.m. Thursday.
Parking in lot across street, free after 5 p.m.

October 28: Maine Discovery Museum, Main Street, Bangor.
Parking on street or in garage.

Maximum 30, minimum 10. Morning (almost all). Various locations.

Instructor: Maria Kreilkamp has worked for the Penobscot Theatre and the Bangor Public Library. She is a member of PVSC’s Curriculum Committee and chair of the Marketing Committee.

Course: FOUNDING MOTHERS: WOMEN’S WORDS AND WORKS

Description: We will look at the role women played in the founding of America, starting with women of privilege such as Ann Bradstreet and Abigail Adams. We’ll trace women’s thoughts on education, voting, property rights, divorce and abolition of slavery in the works of writers such as Emily Dickinson, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Kate Chopin. At the same time, we’ll look at the works of women of color, such as Phillis Wheatley, Sojourner Truth and Zora Neale Hurston, and we’ll discuss how race influenced the roles of women. We’ll also look at the lives of working women and their fights for the eight-hour day, the end of child labor, and a fair wage.

Minimum 6. Afternoon. Bangor campus.

Instructor: Kay Retzlaff has taught women’s studies and 19th century women writers for many years. She is the author of two books: Women of Mythology and Ireland: Its Myths and Legends. She edited Bich Nga Burrill’s Vietnam Memories: A Cookbook, and is writing a book on the Irish of Belfast, Maine. She taught a class for PVSC on Irish goddesses in the fall of 2010.

Course: HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE

Description: Science has achieved sufficient data to describe how the universe developed from the moment of the big bang. We will watch selected video lectures from a course presented by The Teaching Company titled “Big History,” which explains the stages of development, including the appearance of homo sapiens. Videos will be supplemented with class discussions of current news reports that help us speculate about the future of civilization and the universe.

Maximum 25, minimum 8. Afternoon. Bangor campus.

Instructor: Stan Freeman has been taking courses since the beginning of PVSC in 2002, and has offered two previous courses. He is a member of the PVSC board of directors, and has provided a version of the History of the Universe at Dirigo Pines in Orono. He was a professor of education at the University of Maine, retiring in 1991.

Course: LIVING WELL

Description: This class is a six-week program offered through Eastern Area Agency on Aging for people living with a long-term health problem such as asthma, arthritis, cancer, COPD, diabetes, depression, fibromyalgia, heart disease, obesity. Each session is two and a half hours. Participants will learn better ways of managing their health by setting goals, working with others, relaxing and coping with stress, and finding solutions to problems.

Maximum 18, minimum 10. Afternoon – from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Bangor campus.

Instructor: Lisa Dunning is Health Programs Coordinator for EAAA in Bangor. Previously she did health-related work in Lewiston, Bridgton, Bath and Portland.

Course: MUSIC FROM MOZART TO BEETHOVEN

Description: In the fall of 2010, Robert Gallon taught Music from the Ancients to Bach. This course picks up from there in exploring the western musical heritage. We will be listening to the works of composers from the classical and early romantic periods, including Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven.

Maximum 25, minimum 8. Afternoon. Bangor campus.

Instructor: Bob Gallon is a clinical and forensic psychologist who also happens to play tuba in the Bangor Symphony Orchestra. He has taught psychology at Vassar College and at Thomas Jefferson Medical School. More recently, he taught at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor. In the spring of 2011 he taught Drugs, Sex and Money for PVSC. He also has given music and psychology classes for Acadia Senior College.

Course: READING CHAUCER

Description: The class will read a selection of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in an edition that has both a translation of the tales and the Middle English original. We will discuss Middle English, the literature of Chaucer’s time, and his sources, but most class time will be spent in analyzing the tales themselves.

Maximum 15, minimum 10. Afternoon. Orono campus.

Instructor: Paul Bauschatz is an expert on the history of English, which he taught for 30 years at the University of Maine, and he is also an opera fan. He has taught three classes for PVSC – Beowulf (spring 2007), About English (fall 2008) and Dramatic Performance, Music, Opera (fall 2010). He is the author of The Well and the Tree: World and Time in Early Germanic Culture.

Course: VEGETABLE GARDENING: BASICS AND TROUBLESHOOTING

Description:This class will cover the basics of soils, what you would add to improve the soil, times to plant, equipment needed, mulching, organic vs. conventional management, admissible organic pesticides, troubleshooting, and herbs and their uses. Visiting lecturers may be invited as available.

Maximum 15, minimum 6. Afternoon. Bangor campus.

Instructor: Agronomist and Master Composter Charles Boothby has had thirteen years of experience with the Maine Soil and Water Conservation Commission and ten years of experience with the National Association of Conservation Districts in Washington, D.C. Raised on a dairy, crop and orchard farm in Livermore, Maine, he has inspected organic farms for MOFGA certification for seven years. He taught a class on vegetable gardening for PVSC in spring 2011 and has been busy this past spring and summer helping create a community garden in Bangor.

Description: Is it time to record your special memories or interesting experiences? Do you have information and opinions to share in an op-ed piece? Would poetry or short fiction convey your insights and emotions? If so, welcome to Write Now. In this informal writing workshop, participants share drafts of their works in progress; conversations about development, revision, and editing; and celebrations of effective word choices, polished phrases, and unique perspectives. Returning and new participants are welcome.

Maximum 12, minimum 5. Afternoon. Orono campus.

Instructor: Barbara Wicks has taught writing and literature at the University of Chicago Lab Schools, the University of Maine, Husson College (now University), and local secondary schools. She has been generous in sharing her talent with PVSC, teaching Write Now every year from 2003 to the present, Best American Short Stories of 2008 and 2009, and Contemporary Maine Fiction in spring 2011. She serves on the PVSC Board of Directors.