Theater Course with Kate Farrington – Tuesday, August 4, 11, 18 – 2 pm to 3:30 pm
“Exploring Power: Three American Leading Ladies”: The role of the American actress in the 20th century evolved as dramatically as their role in American society: from the “damsels in distress” of melodrama to the indomitable figures of American Realism. This course examines three plays that offer women of great strength—sometimes overt, sometimes hidden—and the impact they have on the world around them.
Plays to be discussed: (1) The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman (1939); (2) Born Yesterday by Garson Kanin (1946); (3) Doubt by John Patrick Shanley (2004).
Climate Change with Prof. Paul Olsen – Fridays in September – 2 pm to 3:30 pm
This course was offered in March but was postponed due to the pandemic.
Lecture I: “The Synergism between Climate & Life”: What is climate and what controls it in the big picture; why are we not like Venus or Mars?
Lecture II: “4.5 Billion Years of Climate”: History of climate and life on Earth; major trends in climate and their origins; the age of dinosaurs; sea-level change; mass extinctions as natural experiments.
Lecture III: “Climate Change in the Anthropocene”: Humans as an agent of climate change; 60,000 years of human intervention; the 6th extinction; how we know what we do.
Lecture IV: “Prognosis: Prediction, Risk Assessment, & Mitigation”: What the future holds; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; climate and rising sea level; risks, mitigation and resiliency
If you wish to sign up for either or both courses, please contact Fran Kelly.