Preparing for Spring

Spring Study Groups Begin March 4

✓ Access MyOLLINU.com for your study group information.

• Members taking virtual study groups will enter their Zoom virtual classroom through the Zoom link on the MyOLLINU study group page.
• Many in-person study groups use MyOLLINU to post readings, discussion questions, and other information.
• Instructions can be found in the MyOLLINU guide here.

✓ In-person study groups:

• Chicago study groups meet in Wieboldt Hall, 339 E. Chicago Avenue, Chicago.
• Access the building after 9am, only from the Chicago Avenue entrance (the Superior entrance is locked at all times).
• OLLI office is room 412.
• Study groups meet on the 4th and 5th floors.
• Room assignments are posted on the digital signage next to the first floor elevators and the 4th and 5th floor lobbies.
• Chicago parking information. (Pick up a parking pass at the OLLI Office. These passes will be valid through the end of March, then a new passes will be required.)
• Evanston study groups meet at 500 Davis Street, Suite 700, Evanston.
• Study group room numbers are posted on the digital signage in the entryway and lounge.
• Evanston parking information.

✓ Respectful Debate

• Disagreement is common in an academic environment that encourages discussion and debate of ideas. With this being an election year, we remind you that political discussions are only appropriate in study groups that are focused on this topic and that disagreement must be voiced in a respectful manner.

✓ Getting the most out of your OLLI experience:

• Watch for a Welcome email from your coordinator/s.
• The more active your participation, the greater the reward. Below are tips for getting the most out of your experience.
• Being an Engaged Member
• Being an Engaged Reader
• Volunteer to lead a discussion. In our discussion-based, peer-led model, each member actively participates in the learning process. Use these helpful tips when volunteering to be a discussion leader (alone or with a partner). 
• Tips for Leading a Discussion

✓ Where to Get Assistance

• Email OLLI@northwestern.edu

Expert Lecture-Style Classes Offered to Current OLLI Members through Osher Online

As an add-on benefit to your OLLI Northwestern membership, we offer lecture-style classes through our partnership with the Osher National Resource Center at an additional cost as listed. Live lectures will take place via ZOOM.

Registration required. Register and pay through your OLLI Online Registration Student Account. Limited space is available. Registration closes at 9:00am Monday, March 18, 2024.

Questions? email: osheronline@northwestern.edu

The Capable Consumer: Finding Your Purchasing Superpower

Thursdays, 3:00pm–4:40pm CT

April 4 through May 9, 2024

Navigating the online marketplace can be challenging. Unfortunately, e-commerce tips the advantage away from the consumer towards very sophisticated marketers. Whether dealing with a small business on Main Street or a giant firm on Madison Avenue, it is difficult to know who to trust or how to discern a true bargain from a real rip-off. How do you sort fact from fiction and take control of your purchasing power? How do you protect yourself from being duped out of money or worse, having your identity or account information stolen by hackers? In this course, we will cover critical aspects of being both a transactional and a relational shopper. We will discuss factors that can affect information perceptions and good buying decisions. And we will offer resources to enhance your ability to make safe, sharp, and savvy purchasing decisions with sellers you can trust. You will hear from expert speakers, learn about valuable resources, and engage in helpful discussion. Being a Capable Consumer will change how you respond to social media messages and how you approach online shopping experiences for products and services big and small. Gain confidence and clarity through six enlightening discussions.

Course Cost: $70

Register and Pay Here

Your Instructor:

Susan Loyd, M.A.

Loyd is Chief Executive Officer of Better Business Bureau Serving Minnesota & North Dakota. She is regarded as an expert in ethical business practices, customer service strategies, and consumer protection. She is passionate about educating buyers to be astute in their purchasing decisions and in protecting themselves from fraud and deception. She is a frequent contributor to the media and panel discussions on factors that make certain consumers more at-risk. In her series The Capable Consumer, she teaches empowering techniques and practical tips to safeguard one’s identity and financial assets and to bolster acumen in knowing who to trust.

The Intersection of Maps & History

Fridays, 1:00pm–2:30pm CT

April 12 through May 17, 2024

The Intersection of Maps & History is a six-week course in cartographic history and visual analysis featuring the extensive (and largely digitized) cartographic collections of the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education at the University of Southern Maine. Co-taught by the Osher Map Library's Executive Director, Faculty Scholar, and Reference and Teaching Librarian, this visually rich course will introduce participants to the history of cartography as a discipline and engage in deep visual analysis of maps and related ephemera. We invite participants to take a deep dive into topics at the intersection of maps and history, such as: the History of Cartography project; Schoolgirl maps of the early-19th century; the History of Mapping in Color; City, Town, and County maps and genealogical research; Mapping and World War I; 20th Century Pictorial Maps, and more. Each session will feature an engaging illustrated topical lecture, and a lively Q & A session with the instructors. If you want to know more about how historic maps can serve as an illuminating window into historical eras, events, and topics, this is the class for you.

Course Cost: $70

Register and Pay Here

Your Instructors:

Dr. Matthew Edney is an Osher Professor in the History of Cartography, Osher Map Library Faculty Scholar and Professor of Geography at the University of Southern Maine, and director, History of Cartography Project, University of Wisconsin - Madison.

Dr. Libby Bischof is Executive Director of the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education and Professor of History and University Historian at the University of Southern Maine.

Louis Miller is the Cartographic Reference and Teaching Librarian at the University of Southern Maine’s Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education.

The Sixties in America: From Rebellion to Rights to Commodity

Mondays, 10:00am–11:30am CT

April 1 through May 6

Our class on America in 60s will ask some simple but also complex questions like: why did people rebel when they did, who rebelled and who didn’t, what came out of the rebellion, and did it cause the rise of conservative politics in the US? We will look at: Civil Rights, Vietnam, the rise of Feminism (round 2), the Green Movement (in which Northwestern University played a key part), and the exit of the traditional unionized working class from the Republican Party. We will begin with “When did the 60s start and when did they end?”

Course Cost: $70

Register and Pay Here

Your Instructor:

Jeff Rice, Ph.D.

Jeff Rice is an Emeritus Senior Lecturer in Political Science. He has been at Northwestern since 1968 as an entering freshman and has been associated with the University ever since. He pursued graduate work at the University of Edinburgh in African Studies after completing a dissertation entitled "Wealth Power and Corruption: A Study of Asante Political Culture". He returned to Northwestern in 2001 teaching in the History and Political Science Departments and became a Weinberg College Academic Adviser. He is presently teaching in Political Science. His courses have included West African History, History of the 60's in the U.S., Marx & Weber, Politics of Africa, Military Strategy, the Politics of Famine, Student Protest and Free Speech, and Africa in Fact, Fiction and Film and most currently a class on free speech and student politics as well as a class on the politics of capitalism in contemporary America.

Themes in Philosophy

Wednesdays, 12:00pm–1:30pm CT

April 3 through May 8

Explanation and discussion of more fascinating themes in philosophy—another philosophy buffet! Topics include spirituality, religion and human rights, philosophy of sports and fitness, the process of belief formation, civil discourse, and philosophy of humor. What is spirituality and can it be trusted? Is religion good or bad for human rights? Why do so many people love sports? How do people come to believe things? How can we have respectful conversations with people who disagree with us about things that matter? And finally, what is humor and how does it work?

Course Cost: $70

Register and Pay Here

Your Instructor:

David E. Smith, Ph.D.

Dr. Smith grew up in the world of fundamentalist religion. As an adult he gradually moved away from that worldview and became a religious progressive/skeptic. After earning an M.A. in philosophy of religion, he received a second M.A. and a Ph.D. in religious studies from Temple University. Formerly a philosophy and religious studies faculty member at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA, he now teaches for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Washington and offers independent seminars and personal consultations in comparative religion and philosophy. He has published widely in these areas. His mission is to empower people to think well for themselves about things that matter.

Peace Leadership: Exploring Peacebuilding from the Ground Up

Tuesdays, 12:00pm–1:30pm CT

April 2 through May 7, 2024

Within the broad field of peacebuilding scholarship, the scales are decidedly tipped to study the phenomena around conflict resolution, transitional justice, and third-party interventions ~ most of them at the hands of diplomats and politicians. While these areas represent legitimate efforts to negotiate treaties and monitor compliance between state actors, history has shown the Sisyphean nature of these approaches in terms of implementation and securing sustainable peace. This course will examine the elements of a construct known as “positive peace,” which can and does exist even in areas where conflict continues (such as the Middle East) through the lens of peace activists working on the ground. This six-week course will include a mix of background reading, video, faculty presentations, and small-group interaction.

Course Cost: $70

Register and Pay Here

Your Instructor:

Aleen Bayard, Ph.D.

Dr. Bayard has been a long-time adjunct faculty member at Northwestern University, teaching courses in leadership and change management. Dr. Bayard served as the primary faculty member in Northwestern’s partnership with Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership to develop the curriculum for the Certificate in Jewish Leadership and taught in the program for several years. Dr. Bayard holds degrees from Stanford University, Columbia University and Northwestern University and earned her doctorate from the Center in Values Driven Leadership at Benedictine University where she studied peacebuilding. Dr. Bayard is the Vice Chair of the Leadership for Peace group of the International Leadership Association and has published two book chapters on peacebuilding. Dr. Bayard works with organizations through her consulting practice developing programs on leadership, culture, employee engagement, and team performance.

Free Community Event

Learn About the Upcoming North American Eclipse of the Sun

with Astronomer Andrew Fraknoi

Date:Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Time: 6:00pm

Location: Online via Zoom

A rare and dramatic eclipse of the Sun is coming to North America on April 8, 2024. 32 million people living in a narrow path from Western Mexico, through Texas, parts of the Midwest, upstate New York, and a slice of New England will see a magnificent total eclipse, where the Moon completely covers the Sun. Everyone else (an estimated 500 million people) will see a nice partial eclipse. Andrew Fraknoi’s presentation will describe how eclipses come to be (and why they are total only on Earth), what scientists learn during eclipses, exactly when and where the eclipse of 2024 will be best visible, and how to safely observe an eclipse of the Sun. 

More information here.

Register here.

Questions? email: osheronline@northwestern.edu

In-Person Spring Speaker Event

Recognizing Misinformation and Overcoming Conflicts: How to Reduce Polarization in Political Discussion

Date:Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Time: 12:00pm–1:00pm

Location: In-person, Evanston

and Live-stream, Chicago

In 2022, nearly half of all Americans viewed news articles or photos that they later discovered to be false. 64% of those who obtain news via social media report such encounters. And surprisingly, older adults were four times more likely to share misinformation that younger Americans! With another election cycle looming, misinformation will be rampant. Speaker Dr. Cynthia Wang will discuss strategies to engage with someone you politically disagree with and explore ways of making society less polarized.

Hosted by the OLLI Academic Enrichment Committee.

Register for In-person in Evanston here

Register for Live-stream in Chicago here

*This event is free and open to all 2024 OLLI spring members. Registration is required through the OLLI online registration system (Augusoft).

In-Person Spring Speaker Event

Two Years In: Is Support for Ukraine Waning?

Date: Monday, April 1, 2024

Time: 12:00pm–1:00pm

Location: In-person, Evanston

and Live-stream, Chicago

Professor Peter Slevin will discuss the state of the Ukraine war after two years and how, despite pledges by political leaders, support both in the US and in Europe may be declining. Is this decline in support real? How do the shifting political landscapes in Slovakia, Hungary, and the US impact support? How does the war in the Middle East affect support? And what about the 2024 US General Election? Are stories about the decline in support being pushed by Putin as a propaganda campaign or are they accurate? Last but not least, how does this end?

Hosted by the OLLI Academic Enrichment Committee.

Register for In-person in Evanston here

Register for Live-stream in Chicago here

*This event is free and open to all 2024 OLLI spring members. Registration is required through the OLLI online registration system (Augusoft).

Exclusively for Current OLLI Members

Recordings of Recent Lectures and Events

Click the lecture title/s below to view recordings. You must log into your MyOLLINU.com account for access to the link. Recordings are located within General Information...Recordings tab.

The Anti-Democratic Turn — February 2, 2024

Speakers: Professors Thomas Ginsburg and Aziz Huq

Library

Northwestern Library holds over 8 million items making it the 11th largest private university library. 

Need help finding resources for your study group, or have other library-related questions? Email Tracy Coyne: tracy-coyne@northwestern.edu

OLLI Research Guide

Additional information: Click Here.

Staff work remotely through the winter term. Physical offices are closed however our team will still be working each day to support our amazing members. You can reach OLLI staff at olli@northwestern.edu