ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ’s new lifelong education program began fall sessions Sept. 6 with a capacity enrollment of 200.
The inaugural orientation sessions included greetings by Alison Morrison-Shetlar, dean of ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ College, the College of Arts and Sciences, and an introduction to the program by John G. Sullivan, Powell Professor of Philosophy emeritus. Sullivan stressed that Life@ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ should be viewed as a learning community with a great deal of interaction among participants, rather than a series of lecture classes led by professors.
Life@ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ is designed to offer learning opportunities to people aged 50 and older. When the program was announced in July, it quickly enrolled 100 students. A second session was added to the program, and that also filled to capacity, with a waiting list created.
The weekly Life@ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ weekly presentations are led by current and retired ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ faculty and staff members and other area educators.
The non-credit sessions are held on Tuesdays in Johnston Hall Alumni Center on ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ’s South Campus. There will be 12 sessions during Fall semester and 12 sessions in Spring semester, which begins in February 2012. Participants pay a yearlong membership fee of $100, which covers enrollment in all 24 sessions, along with membership in the Friends of the University Library group, which includes borrowing privileges at ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ’s Belk Library.
First semester Life@ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ courses will include several topics, including the following:
- health and wellness over age 50
- social media
- aging in the 21st century
- brain aging
- musical theatre
- the compassionate life
- post-Civil War history
- cathedrals of Europe