Lifelong Learning Continues !!

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our lives in countless ways.   At every level of our lives we’ve had to make adjustments, and as a society we’re still struggling with What to Do.

These adjustments have inevitably impinged on academic programs, perhaps the most relevant to Sunnyside residents being JMU’s Lifelong Learning Institute (LLI), for many of us have taken or taught classes, have presented or attended lectures, and have  looked forward eagerly to new offerings in upcoming semesters.  The fall LLI semester is now ready, offering 25 online courses, including topics such as literature, language, history, health, writing, photography, meditative art, gardening, and local weather.  All classes will be hosted via Zoom and are now open for online registration.  Click here for the course catalog and online registration.  Course catalogs will not be printed or mailed.  Assistance is available by phone at (540) 568-2923. 

Each class will typically be 90 minutes (rather than the face-to-face classroom period of 120 minutes), and the calendar will be flexible.  Courses will generally range from two to eight class meeting periods, though one (Conversational Spanish) will be offered across twelve weeks.  In addition, all membership fees have been waived for the 2020-21 academic year, so students will only need to pay course fees, which this year will be on a sliding scale based on the number of class meetings.

Classes include the perennially popular Zentangle, as well as new offerings such as Spirit of Fire: The Life, Vision, and Legacy of Teilhard de Chardin, taught by Dave Pruett , JMU Emeritus Professor of Mathematics.  Other courses to be taught include George III, English Politics, and the American Revolution; the Poetry of Emily Dickinson and the Poetry of Robert Frost (two separate courses); Basic Photography (taught by LLI Advisory Board President Joe Laughland); Narrating Holocaust; Russia in the 18^th and 19^th Century; Harlem Renaissance Authors; Fall Tour of the Most Photogenic Places in our Community; and Celts, Romans, and Irish Monks.

For years LLI has also sponsored a series of live lectures.  Last year these lectures were rebranded Noontime Knowledge and now, with the realities of distance learning upon us, have cleverly been redubbed Zoomtime Knowledge.  There is now a full series of these offerings being offered for the fall semester as well.  These include Finding Sanctuary amid the Pandemic (August 13^th), How to Spot Fake News (September 15^th), and Sharing the Silence: The Son of a Holocaust Survivor Tells His Story (October 6^th).  At the moment at least eight lectures are planned for the fall, and more might be added.  Stay tuned!