The courses listed below start in September
~~~~~
Comparing the work of Bruce Goff and Frank Lloyd Wright, the most famous American School Architects | $50 - Dave Boeck
September 2-23, 2025 | Tuesdays | 9:30-11:00am
This class will look at the architecture of Bruce Goff and Frank Lloyd Wright, the most famous American Architects of the Twentieth Century. We will compare and contrast the types of projects they developed to see how they interpreted Modernism and Organic Design. We will also bring other 20th-century architects into the discussion, including Mies Van Der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and Walter Gropius. Goff was the Dean of the College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma in the 1950’s and his philosophy has been identified as the American School approach to design. This approach called for freedom in the personal design process of each architect, instead of following the Beaux Arts School, which was more classically focused, or the Modern Movement, which focused on architecture being a machine.
Organic Chemistry in Action: How Medicine is Made | $50 - Deacon Herndon
September 2-October 14, 2025 | Tuesdays | 2:00-3:30pm
A brief introduction to the field of medicinal chemistry. Specifically, what are the medicines we take, where do they come from, and are they made? Topics include introductory organic chemistry, drug design and discovery techniques, and the fundamentals of modern pharmaceutical science.
Arctic Security | $50 - Rob Andrew
September 3-24, 2025 | Wednesdays | 9:30-11:30am
Receding polar ice is making the Arctic region more accessible, and the drive to secure economic stakes in natural resources and shipping lanes is resulting in an increase in military, coast guard, and other activities to protect sovereignty. While tensions in the north may be relatively low now, the region is not invulnerable to geopolitical tensions in other parts of the world. For example, with Finland and Sweden now in NATO, directly triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russia is the only non-NATO Arctic State. Among other topics, we will discuss the re-militarization of Russia’s Arctic region, the U.S. military’s renewed focus on operations there, and discover what organizations and laws cover this incredibly fragile ecosystem.
OLLI Discussion Group | Free - Chris Elliott and Tina Henderson
September 3-December 10, 2025 | Wednesdays | 10:00-11:30am
The Discussion Group will meet weekly on Wednesday mornings for OLLI members who would like to share their ideas, feelings, and concerns about what’s going on in our world. The purpose is fellowship and learning together through sharing concerns and ideas while responding to others’ initiation of other ideas. This is not your typical OLLI course led by a faculty member. YOU become the leaders and decide what to talk about.
**The first Wednesday of every month is via Zoom, and the remaining classes each month are in person at the Thurman J. White Forum Building.
Antisemitism in Music – from the Enlightenment to the Holocaust | $50 - Lorne Richstone
September 3-October 15, 2025 | Wednesdays | 5:00-7:00pm
Antisemitism is an increasingly serious problem in the world today, with an exponentially dangerous upsurge in violent attacks on Jewish people and institutions, as well as hate speech. This course will examine the origins of antisemitism from selected writings of 19th-century German authors and musicians, its connection to the rise of the Nazis, and ultimately to the death camps of the Holocaust. The course will utilize a combination of lectures, readings, and class discussion, and will rely on audio recordings and documentary films to support the topics under discussion.
*Class will not meet on Wednesday, 10/1*
Shakespeare Out Loud | $50 - Judith Midyett Pender
September 4-25, 2025 | Thursdays | 10:00am-12:00pm
Are you curious about Shakespeare? Does it sometimes seem like he wrote in a foreign language? Would you like to know more about him, his methods, and his subjects? This course is designed to foster confidence by reading Shakespeare aloud. We will demystify scansion and learn how the playwright composed his works to be spoken aloud. Learn tips for reading Shakespeare for clarity and enjoyment. No previous experience is necessary.
The Modern Short Story: Battle of the Narrators | $50 - Chris Carter
September 5-26, 2025 | Fridays | 2:00-3:30pm
This course will be a study of four pieces from the last hundred years, including a cluster from the 1990s and 2000s (Cisneros and Ishiguro) and another cluster from the 1920s and 1930s (Hemingway and Wharton). In our accounting of these literary documents, we will consider both their historical background and their formal and rhetorical elements. And, in the case of these particular pairings, we will deal with those differences of gender that seem to clamor for more attention with every passing decade. Our study will proceed for five sessions as follows:
September 5: Sandra Cisneros
September 12: Ernest Hemingway
September 19: Edith Wharton
September 26: Kazuo Ishiguro
October 3: Kazuo Ishiguro
Dissolution of the Monasteries: Henry VIII Gets a New Wife and Great Riches | $5 - Ken Johnson
September 16, 2025 | Tuesday | 9:30-11:00am
Henry VIII was unhappy with his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, because she did not produce a male heir for the throne of England. The Pope would not grant Henry a divorce or annulment, so he had himself declared Supreme Head of the Church of England in 1531 and then divorced Catherine and married Anne Boleyn in 1533 (Anne also did not produce a male heir, and she was beheaded in 1536). Henry was excommunicated by the Pope in 1533, so he set about disbanding the Catholic monasteries, priories, convents, and friaries in England, Wales, and Ireland between 1536 and 1541. Henry’s chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, devised plans to dissolve the monasteries and other Catholic entities by seizing their income and assets, and by dismissing the clergy, monks, nuns, and other members of the Catholic Church. The monasteries and other buildings were stripped of valuable metals and timbers, the land was rented or sold off, and many beautiful buildings were left to be ruined. This new wealth provided Henry with funds to support his extravagant lifestyle and his military campaigns.
Russians in Revolution and Exile, 1917- 1996 | $50 - Melissa Stockdale
September 17-October 22, 2025 | Wednesdays | 10:00-11:45am
This course on the Russian revolutionary experience has two parts. First, it will briefly examine the major events of the Russian Revolution over its longer time frame—1917-1936—looking at key events and turning points such as World War I, the ascendancy of the Bolsheviks and their seizure of power in October 1917, the relatively pluralistic 1920s, and the so-called Stalin revolution that commenced in 1929. We will examine both revolutionary dreams and tragic failures. The second part of the course will trace the fate of various citizens and demographic groups—including elites, intellectuals, peasants, and clergy-- driven out of Russia by the revolution. Where did they end up, and how did they try to build new lives in an exile that they imagined would be only temporary? What new identities did they forge? One unique meeting will take place at OU’s Bizzell Library, where we will view the new special exhibit on surviving members of the Imperial Romanoff family in exile. We will learn their stories, how OU came to house many of their papers and personal items, and also meet with exhibit specialist James Barnes, who will talk about how he creates and builds the library’s exhibits.
President Donald J. Trump 2.0. Just Right? Too Much? Not Enough? | $50 - Cal Hobson
September 22-October 13, 2025 | Mondays | 1:00-3:30pm
Has Congress decided to assert itself in its main responsibility of writing this country’s annual budget? If not, why not? Finally, what, if anything, has the Supreme Court had to say about the balance of power between the three legs of our constitutional and statutory system of governance? We will invite scholars, partisans, pollsters, the 4th estate, and camp followers to share their views, information, exaggerations, inaccuracies, and accusations both for and against the 47th president of these occasionally united but more often than not divided states.
The Life and Work of Vincent van Gogh | $50 - Dan Kirchhefer
September 23-October 14, 2025 | Tuesdays | 1:00-3:00pm
The course will cover Vincent van Gogh’s life, from birth, youth, and finding his way to art through drawing. We will look at his first drawn works and his early dark paintings. The course will examine the influences on van Gogh’s art, which include Jean-François Millet, van Gogh’s time in Paris, Japanese art, Impressionism, and Neo-Impressionism. Also to be covered will be his time in Arles, his time with Gauguin, and van Gogh’s mature style as we know him. A look at his works will include his paintings, his reed pen ink drawings, and his letters. Van Gogh also produced major works during his time in Saint-Remy, Saint-Paul de Mausole, and Auvers-sur-Oise. The role of Johanna Bonger van Gogh, the woman who made Vincent van Gogh famous, is key to his fame today.
Gravestone Graphics and Cemetery Customs | $50 - Luann Sewell Waters
September 25-October 30, 2025 | Thursdays | 1:30-3:30pm
You can learn a lot from cemeteries: history, biography, genealogy, historic architecture, science, and art. If you’re thinking it’s strange to go to cemeteries to study any of the above, consider sites you may have already visited: Arlington, the Pyramids, Gettysburg, and Greyfriars Kirkyard. By studying a gravestone, you usually learn not only of a person’s name, date of birth, and death, but also social memberships, occupation, and their thoughts on an afterlife. Some of this information is given through symbols. The language of symbols is international and all around us, but symbols’ meanings can change over time and cause confusion. Graveyard customs also change over time. This course will cover all this and more using documentaries, PowerPoints, and other materials.
