Senior College

This course will discuss the life of Beethoven, including the European political context in which he found himself. It will also include analyses of select works, culminating in an in-depth examination of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

INSTRUCTOR: Timothy Hankewich is music director of Orchestra Iowa and previously served on the conducting staffs of the Kansas City, Oregon, and Indianapolis Symphonies. He earned a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music from the University of Alberta, Canada, and a Doctor of Music in orchestral conducting from Indiana University.

Best known for War and Peace, a massive contemplation of the fates of humanity in times of turmoil and dislocation, Leo Tolstoy was also a master of shorter works. The first class will focus on Tolstoy’s life and his ideas about art. The remaining classes will be devoted to three deeply philosophical and profoundly human novellas: The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Father Sergius, and The Kreutzer Sonata (all available in The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories, translated by Richard Pevear). Tolstoy’s What is Art?, Rosamund Bartlett’s biography Tolstoy: A Russian Life, and Michael Katz’s The Kreutzer Sonata Variations are also strongly recommended.

INSTRUCTOR: Anna Barker is an adjunct assistant professor of Russian and comparative literature at the UI. Her interests include Russian cultural history, 19th-century European and American literature, and modern and ancient superheroes. She has organized several literary celebrations, including public readings of War and Peace, Don Quixote, and Crime and Punishment.

This course is designed to enhance students’ appreciation for and enjoyment of college football. The history of the game will be covered, but more time will be spent on how the game is organized and played. Students will also get a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of a football team, as well as a tour of the new Stew and LeNore Hansen Football Performance Center, and will learn why college football is truly the “ultimate team sport.”

INSTRUCTOR: Don Patterson coached college football for 37 years. He is the only assistant coach who was at the University of Iowa for all of Hayden Fry’s 20 legendary years with the Hawkeyes. Patterson then went on to great success as head coach at Western Illinois University.

Previously offered in spring 2017, this course is a broad overview of autopsy pathology, forensic pathology, and medicolegal death investigation. We will discuss history, current practice, and, especially, the current value of the autopsy. Topics will include basic concepts of the autopsy as a medical/surgical procedure, the usefulness of autopsy information to families and others, and fundamentals of the work of medical examiners and coroners. If time allows, there will be a tour of the UI Hospitals and Clinics Decedent Care Center. Images of deceased individuals and diseases/injuries will be used for teaching purposes. All images will be anonymized and discussed in a respectful manner.

INSTRUCTOR: Marcus Nashelsky is a forensic pathologist and medical examiner with practice experience in several states. He has been a UI Department of Pathology faculty member since 2003. Most of his work has been as medical director of the UI Hospitals and Clinics Decedent Care Center and as Johnson County Medical Examiner.

Course 4 is now full.
If you would like to be added to a wait list for this class, email the session number, your name, and your phone number to Mallory Cornilsen at Mallory.Cornilsen@foriowa.org.

In this course, guests from various disciplines will discuss the current ethical dilemmas in their fields. What are the pressing issues? What are the impediments to change? Disciplines and topics will include medicine (transplantation), law (immigration), veterans’ rights, and business ethics (including sexual harassment). A consistent list of questions applicable to any of the areas, along with questions specific to each discipline, will be used, and students will be invited to participate with additional questions. One or two short readings will be recommended for each topic area.

INSTRUCTOR: Nancy Hauserman, professor emerita, has taught in the UI Henry B. Tippie College of Business for almost 40 years and has received many teaching awards, including the prestigious Hancher-Finkbine Medallion. She currently teaches ethics in Tippie’s international MBA programs and is frequently asked to give talks on ethics to professional organizations.

Since its inception in 1967, the UI’s International Writing Program has hosted more than 1,400 writers from more than 150 countries. The program aims to introduce talented poets, fiction writers, dramatists, and nonfiction writers to American culture; to facilitate their participation in American university life; and to provide them with time and a congenial setting for producing their own literary work. This course offers the opportunity to meet eight of the writers who are in residence at the UI this fall. Each week, two writers will read and discuss their works, talk about the current state of literature in their home countries, and answer your questions.

INSTRUCTORS: Visiting writers from the UI International Writing Program.

Iowa political history is replete with leaders and characters who shaped the state and the nation. Journey into the past to discover the lives of these colorful individuals and, in the process, learn about the political history of the Hawkeye State. We will begin with Sac and Fox warrior Black Hawk and end with reformist governors Harold Hughes and Robert Ray. We will also cover James Grimes, founder of the Iowa Republican Party; Samuel Kirkwood, Iowa’s Civil War governor; national suffragette Carrie Chapman Catt; former vice president Henry Wallace; political organizer and women’s rights activist Mary Louise Smith; and many others.

INSTRUCTOR: Jerry Harrington recently retired as marketing public relations manager for DuPont Pioneer. He earned a BSS from Cornell College in English and political science and an MA in history from the UI. He is currently working on a biography of former Iowa governor and U.S. senator Harold E. Hughes.

Will Democrats win back the U.S. House? What issues matter most to voters? This course will examine major issues surrounding the 2018 elections, including immigration, gun violence, the “Me Too” movement, and the Russia investigations. We’ll also look at the candidates and campaigns in each of Iowa’s four congressional districts, Iowa’s much lauded nonpartisan process for redistricting, and state legislative issues and races. Sessions will feature conversations with guest political scientists, video clips of political news, and lively in-class discussions.

INSTRUCTOR: Ben Kieffer is the award-winning host of Iowa Public Radio’s daily talk show River to River, which he also helps produce. Kieffer previously worked in Europe, where he reported on the fall of the Berlin Wall and covered the Velvet Revolution in Prague. Kieffer is a Cedar Falls native and UI graduate.

Normal aging puts older adults at risk for injuries and disorders that can compromise their quality of life. After an overview of age-related changes in body systems and a survey of physical therapy assessments and interventions, this course will focus on common conditions that can be managed by working with a physical therapist. These problems, and interventions to address them, include balance and falls, postural faults, inactivity and sedentary lifestyle, pain, and chronic medical conditions. These sessions will employ lecture, demonstration, and interactive instructional formats. Participants should dress in comfortable clothing to allow for sitting and standing movement.

INSTRUCTOR: Byron Bork, an adjunct associate in the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine’s Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, retired from teaching in 2016. John Barr is professor emeritus at St. Ambrose University. Rhonda Barr retired after 40 years at UI Hospitals and Clinics. All three are licensed as physical therapists in Iowa.

Course 9 is now full.
If you would like to be added to a wait list for this class, email the session number, your name, and your phone number to Mallory Cornilsen at Mallory.Cornilsen@foriowa.org.

In 1985, media theorist Neil Postman warned that we were “amusing ourselves to death” by confusing news and entertainment. Today the 24-hour news cycle, the intentional publishing of fake news, talk radio’s “echo chambers,” satire interpreted as news, and opportunities for anyone to be a publisher all place the burden of finding truth on the information consumer. This course will explore aspects of fake news—political, scientific/medical, and cultural—considered in the context of a free press and freedom of speech. Participants are asked to bring a smartphone, tablet, or laptop for in-class activities.

INSTRUCTOR: Jean Donham, a retired professor of library studies at the University of Northern Iowa, publishes and presents frequently on the topic of information literacy. She was previously director of Cole Library at Cornell College. Greg Cotton, director of Cole Library, teaches online courses in library and information science at San Jose State University.

Course 10 is now full.
If you would like to be added to a wait list for this class, email the session number, your name, and your phone number to Mallory Cornilsen at Mallory.Cornilsen@foriowa.org.

This course will examine changes in memory and other cognitive functions associated with aging. We will discuss what’s “normal” and what’s not, including mild cognitive impairment and the dementias. The course will include reviews of medical, pharmacological, and lifestyle factors for promoting a healthier aging brain and preventing or delaying cognitive decline in later life. Strategies for staying sharp, thinking clearly, remembering accurately, and making thoughtful decisions will also be highlighted.

INSTRUCTOR: Kitty Buckwalter, professor emerita of nursing at the UI, is a geropsychiatric nurse. Her interests are in caregiving and long-term care, including behavioral management strategies for dementia caregivers and the effectiveness of community programs to address psychiatric problems in the rural elderly. She has authored over 400 articles.

Course 11 is now full.
If you would like to be added to a wait list for this class, email the session number, your name, and your phone number to Mallory Cornilsen at Mallory.Cornilsen@foriowa.org.