Worcester Institute for Senior Education (WISE)

A10. Rumi and Francis: a Sufi and a Saint for All Times

Start
09/19/2024
End
10/24/2024
Schedule
5 sessions
Location
Zoom only

Register

The Persian poet Rumi and the Italian Saint Francis both lived in the 13^th century, but never met. Their lives overlapped by about 19 years, during an era of the Crusades launched by Christians against Muslims. Had their paths crossed, the older Christian friar and the younger Sufi teacher might have discovered a surprising spiritual kinship shaped by mystical experiences that changed their lives. Though different in approach, they saw social issues through a sacred lens: the role of women, the relationship to nature, the conflict of religions, and the many forms of human suffering. In this course we’ll explore if and how their spiritual wisdom speaks to our times.

Kathleen Fisher has taught in WISE since 2019, offering courses in The Gnostic Gospels, Celtic Spirituality, and the poet Mary Oliver. She holds a Ph.D. in Medieval History and Religion from Boston University where she focused on Irish history and medieval monasticism. The current course on Rumi and Francis comes from recommendations from participants in previous classes and offers a comparative exploration of the spirituality and poetry of two major religious figures. Recently retired from a long teaching career in Theology at Assumption University, Kathleen now lives in Chapel Hill, NC.

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A11. Wills, Trusts and Asset Protection Planning

Start
09/19/2024
End
10/24/2024
Schedule
5 sessions
Location
In Person - Kennedy 119 at Assumption University
Spaces left
35

Register

Attorney Rivard will offer a clear and concise primer in the basic legal planning for lifetime decision-making to protect you and your family with regard to health and finances; financing health and residential needs; protecting family members; and planning for death. We will discuss protecting assets, planning for second marriages and special needs beneficiaries, as well as avoiding probate. The course will give you the knowledge to sort through the incorrect and conflicting advice you receive from many sources. You will emerge with an understanding of the planning approach that is best for you and the next steps you should take.

Brenda Rivard has over 25 years of experience. Her practice is in West Boylston and she specializes in life/estate planning for all ages; specific elder law issues; probate estate administration; Medicaid planning and applications; special needs planning; guardianships and conservatorships; and asset planning to maximize resources and preserve assets. Her practice is comprised of specialized areas of the law which requires continuous education to provide the best representation possible.

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A12. Hamlet, One Act at a Time

Start
09/19/2024
End
10/24/2024
Schedule
5 sessions
Location
In Person - Kennedy 119 at Assumption University
Spaces left
36

Register

Few works of literature can bear the kind of close scrutiny that Hamlet can. This course will offer a close, patient analytical reading of the play, one act at a time - an approach that will encourage us to attend to the often-overlooked nuances of character and language which can enrich our understanding of the work as a whole. Those who come to the class only generally familiar with the play will find the analysis and the in-class discussion stimulating Those whose views about the play are fully formed and seemingly intractable may be surprised.

James E. Foley is a Professor Emeritus from Worcester State University. Pre-pandemic, he frequently offered courses in WISE, dealing with poetry, short stories, modern drama, and Shakespeare.

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A15. The Art of Conducting

Start
09/20/2024
End
11/01/2024
Schedule
5 sessions
Location
In Person - Kennedy 119 at Assumption University
Spaces left
49

Register

This course will focus on The Art of Conducting. In addition to lecture and discussion, a significant part of each class will be spent with members of the course being actively involved by learning how to conduct. Each member will receive, on loan for the duration of the course, a conducting baton to use. In addition to topics being covered, such as posture, beat patterns, independence of hands, the importance of eye contact and facial expression, we will view and listen to professional conductors. Maestros to be covered will include Leonard Berstein, Seiji Ozawa, Gustavo Dudamel, Simon Rattle, Zubin Metah among others. You will also learn some music terminology as it applies to music notation. The conducting portion of the course can be done standing or sitting if need be. Not to be left out, you will most certainly learn why the following statement is a mere myth: "All conductors do is wave a stick."

Mitchell Lutch received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Instrumental Conducting and has spent many years as both a practitioner and scholar/researcher of the art of conducting. He has led numerous ensembles across the United States and internationally since 1985. Dr. Lutch brings a level of expertise, energy, and professionalism and continues to spend his career as both an artistic conductor and scholar of conducting. He has conducted ensembles throughout the United States and abroad including China, Canada, the former Soviet Union, the UK, and Mexico. Mitch brings a level of experience, energy, and professionalism that takes each audience on a musical journey that ends with them looking forward to the next magical musical tour.

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B10. Thomas Merton: Contemplative Monk or Catholic Activist

Start
10/31/2024
End
12/12/2024
Schedule
5 sessions
Location
Briarwood, 65 Briarwood Circle, Worcester, MA
Spaces left
6

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Participants will investigate Thomas Merton’s life. Topics will include his varied writings and his influences in American literary circles. His writing is influenced by his conversion to Roman Catholicism, his vocation to the priesthood, his entrance into a monastic community, and his untimely death during the Vietnam War. An emphasis will be on his anti-war poetry and personal journals.

On 12/5/2024, the class will be meeting at St. Joseph's Abbey at 167 North Spenser Road in Spencer, Massachusetts 01562.

Instructor: Tom Brennan graduated from The Catholic University of America with a degree in Physics. He taught physics and mathematics in secondary schools. After he attained graduate degrees in Education from Fordham University and Computer Science from Pace University, he taught at Mercy College, St. Thomas Aquinas College, and the City University of New York. He was a book editor for a computer science journal, has published fiction and poetry, compiled a research book on writing and has written a memoir. He previously taught a WISE course on Robert Moses. He studied Merton’s writings in college at the Catholic University during the early 60’s and received a degree in Theology from Manhattan College in1969.

Recommended:

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B1. The Lives and Times of Great Composers - Part 2

Start
11/04/2024
End
12/02/2024
Schedule
5 sessions
Location
Zoom only

Register

This course will focus on a variety of musicians, exploring their lives and the historical times in which they lived. These musicians will be separated by geography and perhaps many years, but the relationship they will share is their great contribution to the history of music composition, as well as their intriguing personal life stories. Over the two Fall sessions we will examine musicians from the 1600s to modern day. Students will be treated to playlists that they can use to create their own “mix tapes” of these incredible composers. We will be covering Mozart, Chopin, Gershwin, Gustav Holst, John Williams, Duke Ellington, and others in Session B.

B2. Maryse Condé’s Windward Heights

Start
11/04/2024
End
12/02/2024
Schedule
5 sessions
Location
In Person - Kennedy 119 at Assumption University
Spaces left
52

Register

With the publication of Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead and Percival Everett’s James, which revisit masterpieces by Charles Dickens and Mark Twain (David Copperfield and Huckleberry Finn), the concept of postmodern versions of beloved classics has generated a certain amount of critical attention, as if the phenomenon of literary revisions were a new and previously unheard-of enterprise. Yet Maryse Condé’s La Migration des Coeurs, in which the native of Guadeloupe transposes the plot and characters of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights from Yorkshire to the Caribbean, was published nearly thirty years ago. While the francophone version of the British classic augments the essential concerns of the original by including themes of race and gender, while also underscoring the complexities of multicultural society and modern perspectives on the psychology of abuse, Condé is on record as regarding her work a tribute to Brontë, recalling that Wuthering Heights inspired her with passionate admiration when she first read it at the age of fourteen. In this course, we will read Windward Heights, the English translation of Condé’s La Migration des Coeurs.

Required Text:

Maryse Condé, Windward Heights, trans. Richard Philcox, (Soho Press, 2003).

Background Reading—Recommended, not required:

Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights (any edition).

A.O. Scott, “‘James,’ ‘Demon Copperhead’ and the Triumph of Literary Fan Fiction,” NYT, April 22, 2024.

Lillian Corti earned a doctorate in Comparative Literature at the City University of New York in 1984 and has taught at various institutions, including Queens College, Tulsa University and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, where she was on the faculty of the English Department and a member of the Women’s Studies Department for many years.

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B3. The British Invasion – Sans the Beatles

Start
11/04/2024
End
12/02/2024
Schedule
5 sessions
Location
In Person - Kennedy 119 at Assumption University
Spaces left
26

Register

On February 9, 1964, the Beatles burst onto the American music scene with their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. What followed was not only the huge success of the Fab Four in the US, but an invasion of many, many other groups and individual artists who dominated the American pop music scene for more than a decade.

Incredibly, many are still active! Some of these performers include The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Dave Clarke Five, Herman’s Hermits, Rod Stewart, Al Stewart, The Kinks, The Zombies, Dusty Springfield, Donovan, The Moody Blues, Peter and Gordon, Petula Clark, and Tom Jones – just to name a few.

This course will highlight the music of these, and many other artists and their memorable music, presented in videos over the course of 5 weeks.

Joe Corn spent most of his professional career as a working electrical engineer. He has taught in the NYC school system, Springfield Technical Community College (SPCC) and Penn State University and worked as a technical instructor for Moore Products Co. Since joining WISE 13 years ago, he has taught courses in both technology and music. Joe is a past president of WISE. He and his wife Bobbi reside in Grafton.

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B4. The Art of Islam

Start
11/05/2024
End
12/10/2024
Schedule
5 sessions
Location
Zoom only

Register

The rich visual and material histories of the Islamic peoples encompass many cultures and regions as diverse as Spain, Africa, the Middle East. Central Asia and the Americas. This introductory course selectively explores Islamic art and architecture from the lifetime of The Prophet Muhammad (d. 632) until ca. 1800. This course will feature architectural sites, including major mosques, and the signficance of the manuscripts, especially the Qur’an (Koran). We will also discuss the disinclination towards the representation of figural art (aniconic art) that has fostered the development of superb calligraphy, arabesques and geometric art forms and, at times, has resulted in iconoclasm.

Optional Reading: Islamic Arts by Bloom, J. and Blair, S. Phaidon Press (buy used)

Dr. Barbara Beall is a Professor Emerita and former Chair of the Department of Art, Music and Theater at Assumption College. As a Visiting Professor at Clark University, she taught African as well as Islamic Art and Architecture. She completed her doctorate at Brown University in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture and her publications in Art History include articles, reviews and the book, Understanding the Art Museum.

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B5. Immigration Battles: Want to be more informed?

Start
11/05/2024
End
12/10/2024
Schedule
5 sessions
Location
In Person - Kennedy 119 at Assumption University
Spaces left
18

Register

Immigration is a complex and politically “hot” topic. As a nation of immigrants, we all have an immigrant family story. How do you compare your immigrant heritage to today’s recent arrivals? In this course, we’ll briefly discuss the history of US immigration policy, and then focus on the current state of the US immigration system. Topics of discussion include refugee categories, criteria for asylum seekers and criteria for deportation; DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (aka “Dreamers”); how the US immigration system compares with other countries; and the underlying rationale for different political positions. Join us if you are interested in learning more, so that you can take an informed position on immigration policy.

Jean Sifleet is a retired business attorney and CPA. During her business career, she worked in corporate management, consulting and private practice. In retirement, she served as an Access to Justice Fellow and worked with the Mass Law Reform Institute on immigration and law reform issues. She has taught numerous courses for WISE and welcomes participant discussion of the issues.

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B6. Unraveling Chromosomes

Start
11/05/2024
End
12/03/2024
Schedule
5 sessions
Location
In Person - Kennedy 119 at Assumption University
Spaces left
34

Register

The role of DNA in carrying our genetic information is universally appreciated, but less attention is paid to chromosomes that carry the genetic information. In each human cell, 2 meters of DNA is highly compacted and organized by RNA and proteins into 46 distinctive microscopic chromosomes. The dynamic organization of chromosomes controls which genes are expressed at which time(s) and in which cells. The precise organization of DNA into chromosomes is essential to inheritance and plays an important role in gender determination. In this course, we’ll discuss the structure and inheritance of chromosomes, as well as epigenetics, the processes that control gene expression throughout our lives.

Clare O’Connor is a cell biologist who received her Ph.D. from Purdue and led a research lab at the former Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology in Shrewsbury from 1984-1995. From 1995 to 2017, she was a professor in the Boston College Biology Department, where she taught both introductory and advanced courses in genetics and molecular cell biology. Since retiring in 2018, she has taught several WISE courses in these same subject areas.

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B8. American Art of the 1930’s

Start
11/06/2024
End
12/11/2024
Schedule
5 sessions
Location
Zoom only

Register

Against the backdrop of the Great Depression, we’ll explore the variety of art created over one the most productive periods in American history, the 1930s. Following the Stock Market crash in 1929, Alfred Stieglitz opened his largest gallery to date, An American Place, and continued to exhibit the works of Georgia O’Keeffe, John Marin, Charles Demuth, Marsden Hartley, Arthur Dove and Paul Strand, as well as his own photographs. Edward Hopper continued to paint his stark scenes of New York City. With the New Deal and the WPA, hundreds of artists across the country created murals, easel paintings, sculptures, and graphic arts that gave hope to Americans through the Depression. We’ll study the Regionalist work of Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton, along with the work of Precisionists Charles Sheeler and Joseph Stella. Abstract art will be seen in the work of artists such as Hans Hoffman, Mark Rothko, and Arthur Davis.

Martha Chiarchiaro has brought art history to life for more than 30 years. She received her master’s degree in the history of art from Williams College and has taught a variety of classes at the Worcester Art Museum, Worcester State University, WISE, and other cultural organizations. As noted on her Seeing History website, Martha looks forward to sharing her enjoyment of the history and highlights of art museums around the world.

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B9. A Beatles Musical History Tour - From Liverpool to Abbey Road, Part 2

Start
11/06/2024
End
12/11/2024
Schedule
5 sessions
Location
Zoom only

Register

We explore the history and music of The Beatles in a multi part series which incorporates lecture, audio, and video. In Part 2, the Beatles open their third U.S. tour before a world record crowd at NYC’s Shea Stadium in August 1965. That Fall they release Rubber Soul. 1966’s Revolver, released just before their final tour, showed even greater studio experimentation, sophisticated songwriting, and an expanded repertoire of musical styles: “Love You Too” (all Indian instruments), “Eleanor Rigby” (strings), and “Tomorrow Never Knows” (tape loops). These songs were never publicly performed. Part 2 concludes with “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”.

Participation is encouraged with discussions, polls, etc. There are suggested readings for enrichment and playlists accompanying each session.

Optional Reading: Long and Winding Roads: The Evolving Artistry of the Beatles, Revised Edition, Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic (Kindle or Paperback)

Gene Shwalb graduated from Oberlin Conservatory of music where he studied piano and cello. He received his M.Ed. from UMass Boston in online learning design and is currently their Principal Learning Designer. He edits the Music Museum of New England website: MMONE.org. Gene recently returned from a Beatles tour of Liverpool and London sponsored by the Fab 4 Masterclass. He is also proficient on synthesizer, bass, and guitar.

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B11. Asia and the British Mystery Writer

Start
11/07/2024
End
12/12/2024
Schedule
5 sessions
Location
In Person - Kennedy 119 at Assumption University
Spaces left
23

Register

The mystery novel often lets armchair detectives examine not just crimes, but also foreign cultures, crucial historic moments and even implicit cultural biases. Ruth Rendell makes the case for all those claims in her 2012 novel, Speaker of Mandarin. England’s Inspector Wexford begins the novel as a tourist in 1980’s China. He both sees and misperceives that country in ways that color his investigation of a crime back home. Rendell’s deceptively accessible mystery serves as an entry point to a far weightier text also set in Asia: Graham Greene’s The Quiet American. Written in 1955, Greene’s novel follows investigative journalist Thomas Fowler who reports on the end of French Colonialism and the beginning of American involvement in Vietnam. Ahead in time from both Greene and Rendell, Colin Coterill imagines an Asian amateur detective, the elderly Laotian coroner Siri Paiboum. Coterill’s novel, The Coroner’s Lunch, published in 2017 is set in 1978, three years after American forces left Vietnam. Siri, a rationalist who has visions, represents both ancient and modern Laos. Hampered by post-war political and economic conditions, Dr. Paiboum uses his skills to solve a complex murder. We will conduct a parallel investigation of all three novels.

Required Readings =>

Graham Greene, The Quiet American (any edition)

Ruth Rendell, Speaker of Mandarin (any edition)

Colin Coterill, The Coroner’s Lunch (any edition)

Helen Whall received her Ph.D. from Yale University, specializing in Shakespeare and the English Renaissance. Since retiring from The College of the Holy Cross, she has taught numerous courses for WISE ranging from Shakespeare and Modern Drama to Detective Fiction.

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B12. The Chevron Doctrine Runs Out of Gas: The Roberts Court’s Agenda to Curtail the "Administrative State."

Start
11/07/2024
End
12/12/2024
Schedule
5 sessions
Location
In Person - Kennedy 119 at Assumption University
Spaces left
38

Register

The New Deal gave rise to the birth of the modern federal regulatory regime. Prompted by economic and social dysfunctions from decades of unchecked expansion of corporate power, FDR’s legislative agenda created new agencies with responsibilities to regulate many parts of society. As federal regulatory power expanded, the oversight of agency action became a focus of Congress and the courts. In the 1970s, a conservative backlash developed, with calls for restrictions on what was perceived by business interests as excessive and burdensome regulation. In recent years, a markedly conservative Roberts Court has issued major decisions that have curtailed the power to implement federal laws. This course will examine the birth and expansion of the federal regulatory regime, how agencies operate through rulemaking, the framework of judicial review of agency action, the Chevron doctrine of deference to agencies’ interpretations of laws, the conservative assault on the “administrative state,” and recent landmark decisions of the Roberts Court, including the abandonment of the Chevron doctrine.

Optional Reading =>

The Chevron Doctrine: Its Rise and Fall and the Future of the Administrative State, Thomas W. Merrill (Harvard Univ Press 2022)

John S Ross, III holds law degrees from Yale University, The University of Virginia School of Law, and New York University School of Law, and served as Adjunct Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University School of Law. He has taught numerous courses in the WISE program on constitutional law, the Supreme Court and other topics. He also facilitates the WISE Supreme Court SIG.

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B13. The Past, Present and Enigmatic Future of AI

Start
11/08/2024
10:00 AM
End
12/13/2024
11:30 AM
Location
Zoom only

Register

In November 2022, ChatGPT upended the ways that we thought about education, work, politics, and, oh, so much more. The future arrived, and we weren't ready. Dr. Frankenstein's monster could write college papers, create illustrations and , evntually, videos, and soon converse with us wih an unsettling familirilty.

This course will take us back and push us forward. With a particular focus on the lives of seniors, we'll discover how to use these new AI products to help us in our own creative endeavors and see how current AI products are used in politics, education, business and medicine.

Throughout the course, we'll discuss our hopes and fears for ourselves and for the generations to come.

Karl Hakkarainen is a long-time WISE instructor who has taught courses on technology, history, journalism, music, and law. He is a great example of life long learning.

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B14. Celebrating Worcester Authors

Start
11/08/2024
End
12/13/2024
Schedule
5 sessions
Location
In Person - The Willows, 101 Barry Rd, Worcester, MA 01609
Spaces left
47

Register

We will read three very different books, all by Worcester authors, which reflect the diversity of the Worcester community. Part Yankee [not those Yankees], part immigrant, part Irish Catholic and part academic, Worcester is a unique city which often feels like a small town. Perhaps you live in your grandparents’ house. Or maybe you never left after coming to study at Clark or Holy Cross or WPI or Assumption University???

The WAM, The WooSox and the Ecotarium are just a few of Worcester’s hidden gems as are native sons like Abbie Hoffman and Stanley Kunitz. Carol Goodman Kaufman raised her family here. We’ll get to know these writers and explore more of literary Worcester in the process.

Required Readings

Steal This Book , Abbie Hoffman , ISBN978-0-306-84717-2

The Wild Braid, Stanley Kunitz , ISBN 978-0-393-32997-1

The First Murder, Carol Goodman Kaufman, ISBN 978-1956851755

Marcia Tannenbaum, B.A. and M.A. Simmons University, English Language and Literature 1967, 1969 Juris Doctor, University of Connecticut School of Law, 1980. Marcia moved to Worcester in the summer of 1992 and has practiced Family Law and Mediation here for 30 years. She is a longterm WISE Instructor; was an adjunct professor at Nichols College for 10 years and at the Univ. of Hartford before leaving Connecticut.

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B15. Humor 102

Start
11/08/2024
End
12/13/2024
Schedule
5 sessions
Location
In Person - Kennedy 119 at Assumption University
Spaces left
38

Register

In Humor 102, we will continue our deep dive into comedy by exploring political humor, funny movies, ads that sell and make us laugh, comedy-variety shows from television, and some of my own stuff. The goal is an appreciation of all types of humor.

Joe Fusco is a Worcester Humorist/Stand-Up Poet. He writes a monthly column for Worcester Magazine and is featured at various bookstores, coffee shops, libraries, clubs, and breweries in Worcester County. He hosts the Poetry Extravaganza at Redemption Rock Brewery and the Richard Fox Poetry Series at Root and Press Cafe and Books. He just finished ‘Humor 101’ at WISE to thunderous accolades!

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WISE Fall 2024

Courses

A10. Rumi and Francis: a Sufi and a Saint for All Times

A11. Wills, Trusts and Asset Protection Planning

A12. Hamlet, One Act at a Time

A15. The Art of Conducting

B10. Thomas Merton: Contemplative Monk or Catholic Activist

B1. The Lives and Times of Great Composers - Part 2

B2. Maryse Condé’s Windward Heights

B3. The British Invasion – Sans the Beatles

B4. The Art of Islam

B5. Immigration Battles: Want to be more informed?

B6. Unraveling Chromosomes

B8. American Art of the 1930’s

B9. A Beatles Musical History Tour - From Liverpool to Abbey Road, Part 2

B11. Asia and the British Mystery Writer

B12. The Chevron Doctrine Runs Out of Gas: The Roberts Court’s Agenda to Curtail the "Administrative State."

B13. The Past, Present and Enigmatic Future of AI

B14. Celebrating Worcester Authors

B15. Humor 102

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