Fall 2024 OLLI Digital Catalog

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21 courses

Graphic of Delaware with New Castle County Highlighted

This class has been canceled.

Wilmington Off-Site: October 17, 2024

Thursday at 1:00 PM

Students create artwork using only paper pulp and string! The paper pulp is made from colorful paper scraps and broken back down into pulp to give new life to your imagination. Each participant makes at least one 5 in. by 7 in. work of art. Class is offered in partnership with The Art Studio, the arts education center of New Castle County’s Department of Community Services, located at 310 Kiamensi Road, Wilmington, DE 19804. Additional fee: Please note that this course requires an additional fee of $37. Participants receive a payment link from OLLI prior to the first class. There is also an additional $5 material fee due to the instructor at the first class.

Taught by: Katherine LeCocq, Nicole Sexton

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Graphic of Delaware with New Castle County Highlighted

This class has been added since catalog publication.

Wilmington (Arsht Hall): December 5, 2024

Thursday at 1:00 PM

Join local artist Katie LeCocq in making your own hand sewn journal or sketchbook. We repurpose a variety of paper to build your custom book bound in the Japanese Stab Binding style using items you likely have around your home. Offered in partnership with The Art Studio, the arts education center of New Castle County’s Department of Community Services. Additional fee: Please note that this course requires an additional fee of $37. Participants receive a payment link from OLLI prior to the first class. There is also an additional $8 material fee due to the instructor at the first class.

Taught by: Katherine LeCocq, Nicole Sexton

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Graphic of Delaware with New Castle County Highlighted

This class has been added since catalog publication.

Wilmington (Arsht Hall): November 21, 2024

Thursday at 1:00 PM

Learn how to add a touch of gold to your artwork. Participants work on a snowy fox scene and go home with the know-how to add any metal leaf to their artwork. Offered in partnership with The Art Studio, the arts education center of New Castle County’s Department of Community Services. Additional fee: Please note that this course requires an additional fee of $37. Participants receive a payment link from OLLI prior to the first class. There is also an additional $10 material fee due to the instructor at the first class.

Taught by: Katherine LeCocq, Nicole Sexton

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Graphic of Delaware with New Castle County Highlighted

This class has been added since catalog publication.

Wilmington Off-Site: September 19, 2024

Thursday at 1:00 PM

Join local artist Katie LeCocq in learning how everyday household objects and materials can step up your game in your watercolor painting! Participants will walk away with a toolkit of techniques to use when painting with this versatile water media. Class is offered in partnership with The Art Studio, the arts education center of New Castle County’s Department of Community Services, located at 310 Kiamensi Road, Wilmington, DE 19804. Additional fee: Please note that this course requires an additional fee of $37. Participants receive a payment link from OLLI prior to the first class. There is also an additional $8 material fee due to the instructor at the first class.

Taught by: Katherine LeCocq, Nicole Sexton

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Graphic of Delaware with Sussex County Highlighted

The dates of this class have changed since catalog publication.

Lewes (Trinity Faith Education Building): October 15, 2024 to November 19, 2024

Tuesday at 2:30 PM

Together we explore creating artwork in four different mediums: alcohol ink, paper collage, 3D collage, and egg shell designs. The last class is used to complete anything not finished in the other four classes, or to write about one of the other four classes: a review, a poem, a story or directions. A list of required materials is provided by the instructor via email.

Taught by: Patty Perreault Bennett

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Graphic of Delaware with Kent County Highlighted

The day, dates and duration of this class have changed since catalog publication.

Dover (Wyoming Church): September 3, 2024 to October 1, 2024

Tuesday at 2:30 PM

Tour stunning botanical gardens (virtually) from global to local. Grasp their ties to art, beauty, health, science and perhaps our very survival. Hear garden tales: how Monet’s florals inspired his masterpieces, why Yves St. Laurent owned Majorelle Garden in Marrakesh. From England to Thailand, Sydney to Singapore, Japan to the U.S., take a botanic beauty bath. We’ll explore plants that help vs. destroy our environment, as well as those that can relax and heal us. Trip options may include Mt. Cuba Center in New Castle County or Delaware Botanic Gardens in Sussex County.

Taught by: Patricia Thompson

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This class has been canceled for the semester.

Ocean View Community Center Community Center: September 18, 2024 to October 16, 2024

Wednesday at 12:45 PM

The war against Germany/Italy was a massive and destructive event that ranged from the Eastern coast of the United States to the gates of Moscow, from the Arctic Circle to the deserts of North Africa. This course highlights five crucial battles/campaigns that were critical in winning the war.

Taught by: Donald Egan

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This class has been canceled for the semester.

Online (On-demand: view on your own schedule)

Novels come in several genres, among them historical novels, subdivided into fiction and those based on fact adapted for fiction. And mysteries can be cozies, puzzles or detective fiction. Then there’s the epistolary novel, written as letters. And we can’t forget the epic novel or the memoir. In this course, we study genres and read novels that represent only the “best of the best” for each genre. See website for specifics at https://sites.google.com/udel.edu/booksgenres. View this class on your own schedule. Viewing link is emailed to participants prior to the semester start.

Taught by: Rebecca Worley

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Graphic of Delaware with Sussex County Highlighted

This class has been canceled for the semester.

Lewes (Trinity Faith Education Building): September 9, 2024 to November 18, 2024

Monday at 9:00 AM

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald had a mixed reception and disappointing sales on publication in 1925, yet by the 1940s it was praised as an undisputed classic of American literature. The main character is an embodiment of the American dream, and this course deals with Gatsby’s life as a dreamer. For the instructor, it is the great American novel. This course includes reading the chapters, discussing them, and finally seeing one of the many motion pictures of the novel.

Taught by: Peg Fisk

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This class has been canceled for the semester.

Online: September 5, 2024 to November 14, 2024

Thursday at 9:00 AM

Expand your horizons by exploring an uncommon viewpoint: read Care of the Soul. This nonreligious guide gives us paths to cultivating depth and sacredness in everyday life. Thomas Moore proposes a way of life that is not a self-improvement project, but a way of sensing sacredness in ordinary things. He encourages looking at reality in a more expansive way, and uses ancient stories to guide us. We discuss his musings to broaden our perspectives.

Taught by: Claire Brown

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Graphic of Delaware with New Castle County Highlighted

This class has been canceled for the semester.

Wilmington (Arsht Hall): September 3, 2024 to December 3, 2024

Tuesday at 10:45 AM

What are “moral judgments”? How do we make them? Do humans have “freedom of will” to engage in moral discourse? Or is “morality” merely an illusion dispelled by determinism? What are we here for? Are moral questions the province of only religion and ethics, or can science show us what is right? How should we live? This course brings an overview of moral philosophy and religious views, as well as examining scientific research, to address some of the prickliest and continuous moral questions.

Taught by: James Moser

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Graphic of Delaware with New Castle County Highlighted

This class has been canceled for the semester.

Wilmington (Arsht Hall): September 4, 2024 to December 4, 2024

Wednesday at 10:45 AM

What is the meaning of life? Many of us already have an answer; many of us do not, and we keep searching. This course takes us on this insurmountable quest with the hope of finding new possibilities to explore, perhaps to ring a few bells of truth. Our Great Courses DVD lecturer is Francis J. Ambrosio, professor of philosophy at Georgetown University. He probes this provocative question through the ages, pursued by both religion and the Western philosophical tradition.

Taught by: James Moser

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This class has been canceled for the semester.

Lewes (Trinity Faith Education Building): October 15, 2024 to November 19, 2024

Tuesday at 10:45 AM

In this class we discuss the technologies that enabled the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and the main players, including Geoffrey Hinton: from the father of neural networks to naysayer. What is generative AI and where is it going? Will distributed AI provide the necessary controls? Plus, we have a special guest speaker.

Taught by: Paul Collins

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This class has been canceled for the semester. 

Ocean View Community Center Community Center: September 16, 2024 to October 14, 2024

Monday at 9:00 AM

This is a discussion series exploring the senior population influx making up much of the growth spike occurring in Sussex County. Explore the mental health and emotional challenges and solutions that seniors may experience, especially seniors facing isolation. This course is taught by a community outreach and prevention education specialist with holistic elevation.

Taught by: Jerome Bayer

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Graphic of Delaware with Kent County Highlighted

This class has been canceled for the semester.

Dover (Wyoming Church): September 3, 2024 to October 1, 2024

Tuesday at 2:30 PM

Join local Bayhealth experts as they share information and best practices on a variety of topics from fall prevention, to stroke and diabetes education, to ideas for healthy eating.

Taught by: Michelle Butler

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The dates of this class have changed since catalog publication.

Online: October 21, 2024 to November 18, 2024

Monday at 9:00 AM

This course focuses on issues affecting health and the environment in Delaware including air and water quality, climate change and renewable energy. The course reviews current science on each topic and, where feasible, includes Delaware-specific data. Current state and federal regulations are discussed.

Taught by: Rae Tyson

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Graphic of Delaware with Sussex County Highlighted

This class has been canceled for the semester.

Lewes (Trinity Faith Education Building): October 16, 2024 to November 13, 2024

Wednesday at 10:45 AM

This course is conducted as a seminar/discussion group. It is a “how to” course when it comes to advocating for either yourself or a group. Topics covered: getting oriented; conversing; letter writing; contracts; using courts; dealing with media (newspaper, radio, TV, social); “whistleblowing.” Content applies to interactions dealing with people in family, professional, commercial and community arenas.

Taught by: Brendan Buschi

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This class has been added since catalog publication.

November 21, 2024

Thursday at 2:30 PM

Oil is the most strategic commodity in the world and has been so for over 100 years. The twists and turns in the control and the price of oil have mirrored the rise and fall of power more generally. This lecture uses a graph of the price of a barrel of oil from the 1850’s to last year to chart how power in the world oil market has shifted over time. The lecture concludes with a reflection on oil’s centrality during our current period of energy transition and climate change.

Taught by: F. Gregory Gause

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Graphic of Delaware with Sussex County Highlighted

This class has been added since catalog publication.

November 15, 2024

When Lewis and Clark returned from their famous transcontinental journey, they reported a vast land filled with beavers and other furs. This attracted a unique group of Mountain Men who in their pursuit of fur riches crisscrossed the west, opening new pathways for future pioneers. Lewes resident and pilot, Dorian De Maio, who previously presented his exploration of the Lewis and Clark Trail, once again uses his airplane to follow the travels of the Mountain Men. He tells of the wild and dangerous lives and times of the Mountain Men as portrayed in the movie, ‘The Revenant’. Come and see where history was made!

Taught by: Dorian DeMaio

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Graphic of Delaware with New Castle County Highlighted

The end time of this class has been updated since catalog publication.

Wilmington (Arsht Hall): September 6, 2024 to December 6, 2024

Friday at 12:45 PM

Join our book group to refresh French-speaking skills and expand your knowledge through lively discussion in French in a relaxed setting. Active participation encouraged. Our books will be: 9/6 La Petite Fille de M. Linh, P. Claudel; 10/4 La Chambre des Officiers, M. Dugain; 11/1 La Tresse, L. Colombani; 12/6 Le Bleu des abeilles, L. Alcoba. See online syllabus for details. Order: lireka.com; amazon.com; fnac.com. E-books, as of 4/24. Questions? Contact jdiner1@aol.com. Prerequisite: Ability to speak and read French (advanced).

Taught by: Judith Diner

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The first book to be read has changed since catalog publication.

Online: September 12, 2024 to November 14, 2024

Thursday at 3:45 PM

The online OLLI book club primarily reads current books of general interest, fiction or nonfiction, meeting monthly on Zoom on the second Thursday of the month. Members serve as volunteer discussion leaders, and conversations are always spirited and interesting. At our first meeting on September 12, we discuss The Paris Deception by Bryn Turnbull.

Taught by: Jane Lee, Nancy Archey

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