This program has proved so popular, DU is offering another series in May. The Enrichment Program at DU (lifelong learning) continues its FREE online series through May. Classes start at 10 a.m. each weekday, run about one hour and are taught by world-class faculty and cover a wide range of topics. They are open to anyone who is interested, no RSVP needed.
You will need to use Zoom. Here’s a Quick Start Guide for setting up Zoom. To access any of these courses, simply go here and then click on “Go To Class”.
Here’s the schedule:
Female Songwriters of an Era: Part 2
Instructor: Paul Turelli
Mondays May 4, 11, 18
Time: 10-11 am MDT
Back by popular demand, educator and music guru Paul Turelli returns with another outstanding selection of female songwriters who have left an indelible mark on the music industry and the world. Music is joyful, music is soulful, music is healing and music expresses what we cannot put into words. Join Paul as he tells back stories, shares little known facts about great artists and songs and of course the music of some of the biggest names in female songwriting, while examining how the melodies and harmonies became etched into history…and our minds.
The Simple Life: In Pursuit of the Golden Mean
Instructor: Bob Melvin
Tuesdays May 5, 12, 19, 26
Time: 10-11 am MDT
Is there a way to simplify your life and still feel content? Yes, says popular Enrichment instructor Bob Melvin. First, consider how Plato, Ben Franklin and Teddy Roosevelt viewed the simple life. Then learn today’s mental shift you have to make to reach the simple life’s goal: the golden mean—having enough to be fulfilled without complicating life with excess beyond the mean. And finally, create a personal plan to achieve contentment and the self-discipline to complete your plan. Fulfillment is in reach—grab it here!
The Mirror in the Machine
Instructor: Buie Seawell
Wednesdays May 6, 13, 20, 27
Time: 10-11 am MDT
After breaking the Third Reich’s Enigma code, British genius Alan Turing came to pose this question: While communicating with an unseen reality, can we tell if it is human or machine? Join professor emeritus Buie Seawell as he examines the reverse: Can a machine tell if a being is human or not? Explore the essence of humanness in the age of artificial intelligence. Consider how we’re coming to see ourselves as mirrored in machines that can learn.
Required reading: Hamlet’s soliloquy. Optional reading: Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan; and Life 3.0, by MIT professor Max Tegmark.
Dusting Off the Classics: 1-Poem-a-Week Series
Instructor: Richard Sacks
Thursdays May 7, 14, 21, 28
Time: 10-11 am MDT
In this special online edition of our Dusting Off the Classics series, former Columbia professor Richard Sacks will lead us each week on a collaborative exploration of a single, short, soul-searching poem by some of the greatest poets in the history of the English language—from Shakespeare to Yeats and beyond—as they look back at and “dust off” the classics. Please note that these May sessions will focus on different poems than those read in his April series.
Bells, Bells, Bells! Inside the Grand Carillon
Instructor: Carol Jickling Lens
Fridays May 8, 15, 22, 29
Time: 10-11 am MDT
Hidden high inside the gold-topped tower of the Ritchie Center is a musical instrument that is as mysterious as it is magnificent: the grand carillon. It’s massive too: a 500-pound clapper and 65 bronze bells, the largest weighing six tons. When Carol Jickling Lens is at its keyboard to summons its magnetic resonance, it is with fists and feet—not fingers. Join Lens as she demystifies the carillon’s history, anatomy, music and much more via a fun, revealing—and yes—melodic virtual tour you will not soon forget.