Club OLLI Lectures

The following lectures and activities are available to members of Club OLLI.

For only $35 per year for an individual, or $65 per year for a couple, you can enjoy any of our special lectures, along with many other member benefits. Additional lectures and events will be announced on an ongoing basis.

Use the Membership and Registration Form to join today and be put on our advance notice mailing list. For information on scholarships to cover the membership fee, please call 916-781-6290.

Fall 2008 Lectures

• Economic/Financial Issues & Retirement
• History & Humanities
• Religion, Philosophy & Ethics
• Science, Health & Technology
• Tom Fisher's Continuing Series

Economic/Financial Issues and Retirement

How Changes in World and Political Events could affect your Investments: And What to do About it!

This class covers changes in oil, the world economy, and real estate and how new powerful sectors are emerging that should be considered for your portfolio. New investments and themes are covered that could allow you to participate in these changes and prosper. Websites and newsletters are discussed that will allow you to monitor and gauge your investments.
Russ Abbott

Roseville Gateway Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 44448 10/16 -10/16
Thur., 4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Room 611

Nevada County Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 88885 12/4 -12/4
Thur., 3:30 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Room S-100

Should you manage your own money, or seek the advice of a professional?

This class will help the student analyze the various factors to decide if they have the necessary skills and/or desire to manage their own investment portfolio or seek a professional. Important basic skills needed and critical websites are discussed to help a student decide if they want to become a do-it-yourselfer, and the other side, skills and expectation levels are covered to properly assess a financial professional.
Russ Abbott

Roseville Gateway Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 44449 10/23 -10/23
Thur., 4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Room 611

Nevada County Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 88886 12/11 -12/11
Thur., 3:30 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Room S-100+

Foreclosures

This class provides an overview of what can be characterized as the most dramatic decline in real estate values since the Great Depression, focusing on the foreclosure process here in California from the perspective of lenders, borrowers, and investors. Participants will learn about legal pitfalls associated with buying foreclosure properties, along with potential lender/borrower solutions including workouts, loan modifications, deeds-in-lieu, and foreclosure options.
Steve Linthicum has over 35 years in handling the transactional side of foreclosures, and created and currently teaches a 3-unit course at Sierra College titled "Real Estate Foreclosures: Debtors' Rights, Creditors' Remedies.”

Roseville Gateway Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 44450 10/24
Fri., 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Room 607

History and Humanities

The Documentaries of Ken and Ric Burns

For those of you who enjoyed The Civil War Series shown in the Spring of 2008 we will again be visiting the brilliant film maker Ken Burns as well as his equally talented brother, Ric, by showing a series of documentaries about such diverse figures and subjects from Mark Twain to Frank Lloyd Wright to Huey Long to Thomas Jefferson to Ansel Adams, and The Donner Party among others. They effectively use paintings, drawings, still and motion pictures, interviews, etc, to recreate people, places and periods in US history with dramatic narration by such people as author David McCullough and others.
Curtis Covington

Roseville Gateway Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 44442 9/16 -10/21
Tues., 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Room 601

Expanding Our Perception

Demonstrate through experiential exercises how "The eye is a part of the mind." Learn to temporarily suspend our usual instrumental looking and our existing assumptions to be able to expand our abilities to see and experience. Using optical illusions and sensory exercises, learn and practice phenomenological techniques of observing and analyzing our everyday experience (primarily vision) to overcome some of our preceptual limitations and make our vision more flexible.
David Adams has a Ph.D. in Art History Education and has taught at Sierra College since 1996.

Nevada County Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 88882 9/22
Mon., 3:30 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Room M-101

1968 and 2008, A Comparison

It has been argued by many in the know that there are a great many similarities regarding world events, particularly in the US Presidential Election, between this year, 2008, and 1968 and both had/have the elements and possibilities or not of great change. We will view documentary films as well as various readings in our open discussion about the similarities between the two, 40 years apart!
Curtis Covington

Roseville Gateway Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 44445 10/1
Wed., 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Room 601

Lincoln Library at Twelve Bridges
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 22221 10/8
Wed., 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Willow Room

Traveler’s Journal: Africa: Kenya and Tanzania

Journey through Kenya and Tanzania via photos, stories and aboriginal handiwork displays. Go on safari in Masai Mara; watch the wildebeests migrate; and visit The Giraffe Manor, an exclusive destination outside Nairobi. Tour Olduvai Gorge “The Cradle of Mankind”, site of the pioneering archaeological work of Louis and Mary Leakey in the 1950s. Then meet the local Maasai tribe members, known for their semi-nomadic cattle herding lifestyle and beautiful beadwork.
Indria Gillespie is the Director of the Sierra College Small Business Development Center, but her passion is travel. She collects aboriginal art and her goal is to visit all seven continents.

Roseville Gateway Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 44447 10/3
Fri., 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Room 607

Interpreting Works of Art

Puzzled by a painting you saw in an art gallery or museum? Have you been ignoring the visual arts because understanding works of art seems too difficult? Interpretation of art is an open-ended ongoing project with no final authority. Come learn and practice systematic procedures for observing, decoding, and understanding works of visual art. After brief introductions to basic terminology, styles, elements, and philosophies of art, we will practice together the 4-stage method of "aesthetic scanning," an approach to examining and interpreting any work of visual art.
David Adams

Nevada County Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 88883 10/6 -10/13
Mon., 3:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Room M-101

Director's Discussion: The Caretaker

Join director Michael Hunter, designers and staff, for an introduction to The Caretaker. Tour back stage during the flurry of performance preparations. Enjoy refreshments before the play. After the play, actors and crew will share their experiences. Don't miss it!
Michael Hunter has an MFA from UC Davis and is a full-time professor of Drama and English at Sierra College.

Rocklin Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 99992 10/23
Thur., 5:30 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Dietrich Theatre

Traveler’s Journal: Classical Greece

Join Club OLLI members and trip leader Emil Augustine as they share photos and stories of their October trip to Greece and its islands. Highlights include Athens, the Acropolis, Mykonos, Santorini, and Corinth. A special day trip was arranged to visit the archaeological site and museum on the island of Delos, birthplace of Apollo and Artemis.
Emil Augustine

Roseville Gateway Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 44452 11/14
Fri., 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Room 607

Orchestra Director’s Lecture Series

Maximize the pleasure of attending the Nevada County Campus Chamber Orchestra’s fall concert by attending this pre-performance director’s lecture. Music to be discussed and later performed in concert begins with Mozart’s 38th “Prague” Symphony. Beethoven’s Romance in F-Major for Violin and Orchestra will feature a special solo violin performance by a Sierra College student. Excerpts from Offenbach’s Bluebeard operetta as well as the Skater’s Waltzes will also be featured.
Steve Miller

Nevada County Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 88884 11/14
Fri., 3:30 p.m. M -4:30 p.m.
Room L-101

Roseville Gateway Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 44453 11/17
Mon., 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Room 601

Religion, Philosophy, and Ethics

"Ya' Live and Learn:" Making Meaning of Experience

“A defining condition of being human is that we have to understand the meaning of our experience.” - Jack Mezirow, major developer of transformative learning. All of us "live" - whether we're working, retired, or volunteering - but do we always learn? "There I go again!" we wail after another flub. In workshop format we will explore new insights into how adults learn, become aware of our present learning needs, brainstorm together for knowledge, practice identifying our own assumptions. And even consider - how do we know what is true?
Gail Meyer Selcuk has a BA in English and an MA in Education.  She taught for over 30 years in public schools around the world, most recently, in China last year and this summer at the University of Primorska in Slovenia.

Roseville Gateway Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 44451 10/29 -11/19
Wed., 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.
Room 601

Science, Health, and Technology

Tai Chi Fan

This class is designed for students who are interested in learning the Tai Chi/Kung Fu Fan Form created for the Beijing Olympics. Previous Tai Chi experience recommended.
Renee Neal

Roseville Gateway Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 44441 9/16 -12/11 (no class 11/25)
Tues., 12 p.m. - 1 p.m.
Room 525

Mahjongg Club

Exercise your strategy and develop your skill when you practice with fellow Club OLLI members. Members will have a place to meet and practice on a regular basis. Bring your mah-jongg set if you have one.

Roseville Gateway Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 44443  9/17 -12/10 (no meeting 10/1 or 11/26)
Wed., 2 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Room 601

Earth, Wind, and Fire

This course will look at the natural disasters that occur each year on the Earth. We will look at such things as Earthquakes, Volcano eruptions, Tsunamis, Hurricanes, and Tornadoes, and Floods. We will explore how and why they occur.
Jerome Pressler has a BA and MA in Geography with minors in Geology and Anthropology.  He has been teaching these subjects at community colleges since 1973.

Nevada County Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 88881 9/18 -10/23
Thur., 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Room S-100

Radiation from the Manhattan Project to Electrical Power

We will discuss basic radiation principles: sources, measurement, biological effects, radiation risk, and scientific studies related to these areas. The Manhattan Project (producing the first atomic weapons in 1945) will be described in sufficient detail so the students will understand the practical problems involved and their solutions. We will also discuss electric power production in general and the use of the nuclear option.
Hank Kocol has a BS and MS in Chemistry and had a career as a health physicist. He has presented lectures to diverse healthcare and public audiences and is a member of the Renaissance Society at Sacramento State University.

Roseville Gateway Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 44446 10/2 -10/9
Thur., 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Room 214

Explore Sierra's Nature Area

Sierra's nature area is becoming an island wilderness. Come see and discuss the value of this educational and ecological resource to our community, district, and state. Let's study the plants and animals. Wear comfortable walking clothes and shoes.
Jim & Harriet Wilson serve the Sierra College biological sciences department as instructional assistant, and full-time faculty member, respectively.

Rocklin Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 9999 10/13
Mon., 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.     

Important Medical and Ethical Issues in Healthcare

In a unique approach, we will use "team teaching" to examine some of the most pressing and contentious issues related to healthcare with special concern for their ongoing implications in the shaping of social policy. We will seek to understand the prevailing conflicts around topics like informed consent, advanced directives, truth-telling, physician assisted death, genetic engineering, cloning, stem cell research, transplants, and resource allocation. The goal of this class is to create a dialogue involving social/moral issues and medicine and to encourage active discussion within the classroom.
Reverend Emil Augustine has a BA, MA and M. Div.  He has worked in the development of hospices for the care of the terminally ill and served on the Bioethics committee at J.F. Kennedy Medical Center.
Dr. George Scarmon is a family practice physician and graduate of Tulane Medical School, and has been certified by the American Board of Family Practice since 1975. He founded the Bioethics Committee at Roseville Hospital, participated in the development of two community-based hospices, taught ethics to healthcare professionals 1991-2002, was medical director of a skilled nursing facility in Lincoln from 1987-2007.

Lincoln Library at Twelve Bridges
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 22222 10/21 -11/18
Tues., 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Willow Room

Tom Fisher’s Continuing Series

Return to the Moon & On to Mars - Or Not!

Join us in one of our most astounding OLLI programs yet presented. An unbelievable visual adventure as we return to the Moon (perhaps for a permanent settlement) and then springboard to humanity’s most incredible adventure yet – our first visit to Mars. The graphics are absolutely fantastic – as if you really are there. The program’s intent is to familiarize you with humankind’s eons long fascination with the Moon and Mars, focusing on our past century of scientific exploration albeit by telescope, orbiting surveillance spacecraft, landers, impactors, human surface missions (Lunar) and tiny automated surface rovers. Emphasis will be on the last 50 years of success and numerous failures surrounding our exploration of these remote, stark, bleak, uninhabitable, lifeless (?), desolate objects in our sky. Then let’s begin the incredible journey of returning to the moon and what would be involved and the proposed timeline. From there we will undertake the most daring, dangerous, challenging space mission yet – onwards to Mars. Pro and con of these ventures will be presented along with hypothesized cost associated with each; and then the class will participate developing their own opinion and correlate it with the Presidential race. Superb 35 mm color slides and DVD’s with fantastic simulations and lavish effects will be shown on a huge screen to bring these epic adventures to life.

Swiss Cheese or Earth Knock-Off

Just what is the Moon, where did it come from, what is it made of, how does it influence Earth, how far away is it, when did it form? And what and how have humans been doing to explore this desolate and lifeless object bombarded and pockmarked over billions of years. We will identify the many spacecraft (unmanned and manned) that have, and are providing us with ever increasing information on our “romantic” nearby orb.

Return To The Moon – A Multi-National Endeavor

First we will examine what the U.S. and other countries are doing in their immediate and planned ventures to explore the Moon – either from orbit or on the surface. Returning humans to the moon will be portrayed from early reconnaissance missions to short multi-day camps, to outposts, and finally a permanent colony. Up to the minute coverage of NASA & European/Asian existing and ongoing spacecraft plans/development to deliver humans to or explore the moon will be portrayed. Scenarios will be presented on the approaches and timelines for this very ambitious set of missions.

Boon or Bust (???)

In this session, we will discuss returning to the Moon – both from a human presence and/or robotic standpoint. Returning and possible development of a permanent colony on the Moon is a massive undertaking. Many question the wisdom and expense of such an endeavor. Are there really advantages for a manned return and continued presence on the Moon? Besides the obvious advances in science knowledge, prestige, national pride and human-kinds sense of adventure/exploration, are there other really significant benefits? And what are the obvious cons? Tom will list both the pros and cons. Very preliminary $estimates will be listed. The class will then actively discuss the issue and list their opinion(s) and, thus, reach an enlightened group pro-con decision.

The Mysterious Red Planet

As in the case of the Moon, we will similarly discuss the nature, makeup, beginning, evolution and relationship to Earth. The various U.S. & Russian spacecraft launched to date for Mars study will be portrayed and the astonishing number of failures identified. Recent discover of water, water/ice, frost and past evidence of lakes and “rivers” will be highlighted leading to the question of whether there was ever life on Mars – single cell to primitive or (?).

Onward to Mars – A World Consortium Venture?

A human mission to Mars requires world cooperation and investment. To date, missions have been remote, e.g. orbital surveillance, fixed in place landers, and surface rovers (earth controlled). A human mission with surface touchdown and activities would be human-kinds most ambitious adventure – ever. It could take 6 months to get there for just a few days surface visit; or a year or more to get there for a required surface stay of some 2 years due to Earth-Mars varying orbital distances and another year to return. We will look at the planned missions, spacecraft, surface landers, habitats, robots, etc. to glean an idea of such a dangerous, life threatening, incredible mission to this harsh, windy, and wildly geologically marked planet.

To Go or Not To Go Is the Question

Like the discussion on the Moon, the pro and con of a Mars mission(s) – manned, robotic or both will be presented including highly suspect estimated costs. Again we will have a class discussion and a resultant group decision on a manned, or not, mission to Mars. The last half of this final session will be directed to the over-arching question of the reality of such missions, benefits to human-kind, and bang for the buck. We will briefly discuss the presidential candidate’s positions on this subject to ascertain their views. Lastly, we will have an open forum discussing cost/effort of these missions versus U.S. & world poverty, healthcare, environment, etc.

Tom Fisher is a retired executive with a dual career in aerospace and archeology. Along with working with and designing for NASA astronauts, he has conducted archeological field research in China, Italy, and throughout Central America.

Rocklin Campus
Club OLLI Activity – Membership Required
# 99999 9/19 -10/24
Fri., 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Room D-12