Emeritus Society


About the Emeritus Society

Emeritus Society, a lifelong learning program affiliated with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, provides stimulating noncredit opportunities for adult learners.  The program creates a learning community that affirms the unique attributes that adult students bring to the classroom– delight in the joy of learning, intellectual savvy, and substantial life experience. Emeritus Society participants are encouraged and supported in pursuing their intellectual interests with like-minded peers.  Our courses are designed to satisfy a hunger for intellectual nourishment without the pressure of tests and grades.

This spring the program is excited to offer courses and lectures in Greensboro taught by outstanding instructors noted for their scholarship and engaging classroom style.  We hope you will find one or more of interest and join us.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Registration is now open.

Please be sure that the email address you provide is current. That email will be used to send you a course confirmation with more details and invite you to enter Zoom meetings (if applicable). In the weeks before classes start, you will be sent an introduction to Zoom materials. In addition, staff will be available a half-hour before the first class for orientation help. 

Emeritus Society courses are open to people of all ages and educational backgrounds. The program is a self-supporting arm of the University. Class fees, not tax dollars, are used to meet costs for the program. The cost of each course depends on the number of sessions.  Courses consist of 3–8 sessions at $20 per session

You are registered only when payment is received. Register early to avoid inconvenience. Late registrants could miss important announcements such as last-minute changes in location. Instructors may not have enough materials for those registering late. Registration is on a first come, first served basis. If the class you want is filled, we keep a waiting list. Partial registrations to attend portions of the classes cannot be accepted. Detailed information on class location and parking will be supplied upon confirmation.

 


Please note: The charge will appear on your statement as being from Emeritus Society or SERVE, Inc.


REFUNDS

To receive a refund, a written request must be received prior to the first class meeting. A $5 processing fee will be deducted from the refund. Cancellation requests received after the first class meeting but before the second meeting will receive a full refund minus a $15 cancellation fee.  ALL written requests should be emailed to emeritus@serve.org or mailed to:

Emeritus Society
5900 Summit Avenue, #201
Browns Summit, NC  27214

TROUBLE REGISTERING?

If you experience any issues registering please call (336) 740-0211 or email us at emeritus@serve.org.


    Registration is now open.

    Spring 2024 CLASSES & DESCRIPTIONS

    You can download a copy of the brochure here.

    Spring 2024 Emeritus Society Brochure

    Emeritus Society Kick Off

    Stranger to Neighbor: Understanding Forced Displacement and Becoming a Welcoming Community

    Course Details

    At the end of 2022, 108.4 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and events seriously disturbing public order. While these numbers are large – the most in human history – displacement is not an abstract political or humanitarian issue; displacement happens to individuals, to families, to communities. The journey of those who are forcibly displaced begins before they lose their homes and continues on after reaching the shores of a new country.To someone not steeped in this work, it can all be very confusing, and this lecture will clarify the current landscape around refugee resettlement and other related immigration pathways such as humanitarian parole and asylum as well as placing refugee resettlement in the context of a complex United States immigration system. It will also provide a chance to better understand our country’s role in mitigating the global displacement crisis as well as the many ways new neighbors arrive in Greensboro and what we can all do to create a welcoming and inviting community where all can thrive.

    Tuesday, February 6, 1:00 – 2:30 pm
    Holy Trinity Episcopal Church
    No Charge, but for planning purposes registration is requested

    Rob Cassell (MDiv, Southwestern Seminary) is the Director of UNCG’s Center for New North Carolinians, a service center housed within the Office of Research and Engagement. He joins the CNNC with two decades of experience in nonprofit spaces, focusing mostly on community development and refugee resettlement. After volunteering and serving on the board for a community development organization in Eswatini, Rob found a passion to build bridges and facilitate a welcoming community in the Piedmont Triad. Most recently, Rob worked for seven years with World Relief Triad, a refugee resettlement agency serving in Winston-Salem and High Point. He began working with community engagement, volunteer coordination, and advocacy and assumed the director role in 2019. He enjoys creating healthy organizational structure and culture that is people focused and centers the communities whom we serve.


    History of Evolutionary Thought

    Course Details

    Evolution is the idea that the natural world has not always existed in its present form but has come into being through the operation of natural processes. This course examines the origins and history of evolutionary thought from the 18th century to the present day. Darwin’s theory of evolution by means of natural selection, published as On the Origin of Species in 1859, revolutionized our thinking about the living world. However, Darwin had many precursors (including his grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, and the French biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck) and he built on the work of others who did not necessarily share his evolutionary views. For example, many naturalists who pioneered the excavation of fossils in the early 19th century believed in divine creation and thought the animals whose remains they unearthed had been killed in the biblical flood. Darwin held similar views until observations during his 5-year voyage around the world on the H.M.S. Beagle led him to reject creationism and begin developing his theory of evolution by natural selection. We’ll examine the logic of Darwin’s theory and the evidence he provided to support it, as well as responses that built on, modified, and (in some cases) distorted his theory in the years following its publication. Two sessions focus on the controversies surrounding human evolution (#6) and the 20th-century creationist opposition to evolution (#7). The course concludes with an account of the implications for evolutionary theory of new understandings of inheritance and genetics, the so-called “modern synthesis” of the mid 20th century (#8).

    1. The pre-revolutionary worldview
    2. Precursors to the Darwinian revolution
    3. Darwin: Origins of the Origin of Species
    4. Darwin's evolutionary argument
    5. Responses to Darwinism
    6. Human evolution and the fossil record
    7. Anti-evolutionism and creationism in the 20th century
    8. The modern evolutionary synthesis and beyond

    Thursdays, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm
    February 8 – April 4 (no class March 7)
    UNCG School of Education Building
    $160

    Tim Johnston (Ph.D, University of Connecticut) is Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Emeritus Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at UNCG, where he was a faculty member for 41 years. He has taught classes in the history of evolution, the history of psychology, animal behavior, and general psychology. His current research and scholarship concern the history of the behavioral sciences.


    Palestine, A Long-term Survey

    Course Details

    Ancient Greeks used the term “Palestine” [Palaistine] as a geographic label for the territory along the eastern Mediterranean coast between Syria and Egypt, and it has remained ever since as a geographic rather than a political term. To characterize Palestine in political terms it has been necessary until recently to reference one or another outside controlling power, and over time the history of Palestine and its peoples has been largely dictated by the problems, plans, and policies of successive outside powers. This series of lectures seeks to provide background for understanding contemporary conflicts by surveying the long history of Palestine up to its tumultuous present, focusing particularly on the impact that various outside powers (and ideas) have had on the peoples of Palestine from ancient to modern times.

    1. Pre-Rome Palestine to 63 BCE
    2. Roman Palestine, 63 BCE-CE
    3. Arab, Latin, and Egyptian Palestine, 637-1517
    4. Turkish Palestine, 1517-1917
    5. British Palestine, 1917-1947
    6. Israeli Palestine and Palestine, 1948-

    Fridays, 10:00 – 11:30 am
    February 9 – March 22 (No class March 8)
    Holy Trinity Episcopal Church
    $120

    Stephen Ruzicka (Ph.D., University of Chicago) is Professor of History at UNC Greensboro.  He is the recipient of the Alumni Teahcing Excellence Award.  As an ancient historian he writes about the 4th century B.C., but he likes to talk about everything.


    ONLINE COURSE

    Everyday Awe and Why We Need It

    Course Details

    "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, a place to play in and a place to pray in." -John Muir

    Awe is one of those words that everybody knows but can’t quite define—some blend of respect, amazement, gratitude, even fear. It’s how we respond to a sight beautiful and powerful and mysterious—Yosemite, the Grand Canyon-- so wondrous that we are struck dumb. We’ve all experienced it, and it might be called a common emotion, but awe has become a current preoccupation , in part because of a new book by Dacher Keltner simply called Awe. The book makes an important argument: that humans need awe for our own survival, especially in this time where technology threatens our capacity for wonder and for connection.

    Is this essential human quality disappearing in our current moment? Can we experience awe only on a distant mountain peak? The pieces we’ll read in this class—from science to memoir to fiction and poetry—will give us some ideas about why we need awe now and how to make room for it. We’ll find that we can learn to encounter what Keltner calls “everyday awe” in our own backyards.

    We’ll hope to spend time near the end of our class sharing stories and visuals that show how awe-inspiring everyday life can be.

    Readings will include Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder, Derek Keltner

    American Refuge: True Stories of the Refugee Experience,

    Diya Abdo (NC Humanities Book Club Selection 2024)

    Selected poetry, short fiction, drama

    1. Introduction to Awe: Definitions. The Mountaintop Experience
    2. The Science of Awe: Keltner, Chapters 1-3
    3. Stories and Awe: American Refuge sel. Chapters; Eudora Welty, “A Worn Path” from E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web
    4. Awe and the Audience: how awe inspires and changes selected play; poetry; Keltner, Ch. 4
    5. Awe in Nature: the Sublime from Robin Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass; from Last Child in the Woods; selected poetry
    6. Everyday Awe; Lessons from the backyard to Harris-Teeter experiments in awe: photos, paintings, found poetry from Bill Bryson, A Walk in the Woods; Keltner, Chapters 10,11

    Mondays, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm
    February 12 – March 18
    ZOOM
    $120

    Hephzibah Roskelly (Ph.D., University of Louisville) is a Professor Emerita of Rhetoric and Composition.  She is the recipient of the Alumni Teaching Excellence Award and the UNC Board of Governor's Teaching Excellence Award.


    Literature of Living Memories

    Course Details

    There’s an ancient Egyptian proverb that says, “To speak the names of the dead is to make them live again.” That is what French author Anne Berest has done in her award-winning work of autofiction, The Postcard. A poignant and timely mix of memoir and fiction, Berest invites readers along on her quest to know her Jewish ancestors and bring the lessons from another era into the present day. Though many books have been written about the gradual denial of French Jewish personhood during WWII by Vichy France, Berest tells her family’s story in a way that holds both devastation and inspiration in the same hands. Anne says, “Literature is living memory,” and the power of storytelling as redemption and revelation leaves readers feeling like part of her family.

    The author’s journey begins when she receives a mysterious postcard in the mail; the only message written on it are the names of her great-grandparents and their children, all killed in Auschwitz. Though she initially ignores the call to dive into the past, largely due to her mother’s unwillingness to discuss their Jewish heritage, she resumes her detective work when her daughter experiences an antisemetic encounter at school. What unfolds is a deeply layered family story that shakes the foundation of everything Anne thought she knew and understood about herself, her family, and her country. A profound exploration of mother-daughter relationships, the women of the Rabinovitch family unrelentingly search for the truth. What they discover is their multifaceted ancestors, full of hopes, dreams, and personal survival beyond their devastating ends as holocaust victims.

    Throughout this 4-week course, we will explore the power of storytelling to draw important lessons from the past into this current era. This timely novel asks us to look with open honesty at the dark underbelly of our own family and cultural history in ways that bring hope and opportunities for healing. Anne’s account allows us to remember and honor the victims of Jewish genocide, viewing Jewish history as human history. As the last remnants of holocaust survivors are dying, they pass the torch to artists, historians, and storytellers. Authors like Anne Berest serve as champions of the enduring lessons we gleaned from times of war and brutality in hopes that we won’t allow the same tragedies to repeat themselves. We will also dive into our own family trees and the stories that have been passed down to us, carrying the living seeds of who we are and from where we’ve come.

    1. Book 1, Promised Lands - storytelling as preservation -Historical context of Vichy France -Autofiction as a literary genre
    2. Book 2, Memories of a Jewish Child Without a Synagogue -Familial heritage - Personal and communal displacement - Discussion of mother/daughter relationship dynamics
    3. Book 3, First Names - Famous Jewish literature - Holocaust literature - Discussion of current events
    4. Book 4, Myriam -Discuss conclusion -Paradox of legacy -Personal time capsules

    Wednesdays, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm
    February 14 – March 6
    Holy Trinity Episcopal Church
    $80

    Claire Birchenough (MA, Missouri Baptist University) is a former high school ELA and Advanced Placement teacher, a creative writer, and literary enthusiast. She currently runs her own writing consulting business assisting clients with diverse projects including curriculum development, book editing, and website and marketing content. A St. Louis native, she moved to North Carolina with her husband in 2018 after falling in love with the rich heritage and natural beauty of the state. Most weekends you'll find her gardening, camping somewhere along the Blue Ridge or reading a good book in her hammock.


    The Real Six

    Course Details

    This class will explore the sixteenth-century Tudor history behind the popular musical SIX. Beginning with the rise of Henry VIII and his unique marriage with Catherine of Aragon in 1509, the class will then explore Henry’s succession issues: Henry’s need for a male heir led to his breaking with the Roman Church, annulling his marriage with Catherine, and marrying five more times. The class will end by examining the ways in which the public and historians have reassessed the various wives and why they still intrigue people five hundred years later. This reassessment will begin by looking at the ways in which his three children promoted their different mothers’ images in their various reigns and end with a reflection on how our modern context shapes our perception of the wives’ treatment while alive. The class will explore themes of power, religion, and gender and incorporate a variety of primary evidence including portraits, pamphlets, and letters.

    This course is held in tandem with the spring 24 season at the Tanger Center and provides a deeper understanding of the context for Six the Musical before an optional viewing of the musical. Six The Musical tickets sold separately on the first day of class. One ticket per person.

    1. The Spanish Match(es): Catherine of Aragon, Arthur, and Henry
    2. The King’s Great Matter: The Henrician Reformation and 5 more marriages
    3. Reassessing “The 6 Wives”: the historical legacy from 1547 to the present
    4. Optional: Six the Musical at Tanger Center Saturday March 9th, 2 pm $61/ticket

    Wednesdays, 1:30 – 3:00 pm
    February 21 – March 6
    Holy Trinity Episcopal Church
    $60

    Amanda Wrenn Allen (Ph.D., Louisiana State University): Dr. Allen is an Assistant Professor of History at High Point University who specializes in Early Modern Britain and Medieval and Reformation Europe. In 2018 she published The Eucharistic Debate in Tudor England: Thomas Cranmer, Stephen Gardiner, and the English Reformation focusing on emerging Protestant theology in England after Henry VIII’s death. Her research and teaching interests include the intersection of religion, gender, and propaganda and the ways in which leaders created political and theological changes and then disseminated such ideas to the general public through images, songs, and other mass media forms. She currently serves as an Executive Councilor for the Southern Conference on British Studies, is an Honors Faculty Fellow in HPU’s Honors College, and leads a four-week HPU London study abroad class each May titled “The Infamous Tudor Dynasty.”


    ONLINE COURSE

    Three Famous Thought Experiments

    Course Details

    "Thought experiments” are fictional scenarios designed to test what people believe when it comes to tricky moral, scientific, and even metaphysical questions. Philosophers rely on thought experiments to help people move beyond taken-for-granted “truths” into a "productive space of uncertainty", as philosopher Bertrand Russell put it - a space where thinking truly begins. Each course session we will engage with a different thought experiment, selected because of its status as a classic in academic philosophy, as well as its connection to a major – and thought-provoking – question.

    1. Locke's Voluntary Prisoner: If the universe is predetermined, what is human freedom?
    2. Donaldson's Land of Equim: Is it right to prioritize friends and family over strangers?
    3. Paul's Becoming a Vampire: What is the value of a personally transformative experience?

    Mondays, 4:00  – 5:30 pm
    March 11 – 25
    ZOOM
    $60

    Frances Bottenberg (Ph.D., Stony Brook University) has taught Philosophy courses at UNC Greensboro and Elon University for over a decade. She has teaching and research interests in applied ethics, existentialism, phenomenology, philosophy of aging, and philosophy of education. Bottenberg was born and raised in Montreal, Canada and enjoys traveling, learning new languages, and hobby-farming in the Blue Ridge foothills, where she lives with her husband, dog and many cats.


    Understanding Genetics: From Mendel to CRISPR

    Course Details

    The science of genetics was born in the 19th century, with the work of the German-Czech friar, Gregor Mendel. Since Mendel’s identification of heritable factors (now called genes), scientists have made remarkable strides in understanding DNA and in manipulating or modifying the genomes of different organisms, including humans. New genetic technologies like CRISPR (a tool for creating specific changes in the DNA of an organism) have created astonishing possibilities for genetic engineering of plants, animals, and humans. The science of genetics is an increasingly large part of new developments in medicine; examples include the mRNA vaccines for COVID and other diseases, gene therapy for curing inherited diseases, and the new personalized treatments for some types of cancer, among many other applications. Being an informed patient is increasingly going to require understanding something about DNA and genetics. However, those powerful genetics-based advances also come with new and potentially troubling ethical challenges. When is it acceptable to make changes in the DNA of a human? Being able to cure genetic diseases (already happening) is widely seen as great progress, but possibly engineering babies with "desirable" characteristics is much more controversial. In this class, we’ll introduce the science of genetics and the group will also devote time to discussing the ethical challenges created by new genetic technologies. It’s not necessary to know anything about genetics or genetic engineering to take part in the class.

    1. Introduction to genes and DNA
    2. The human genome: What have we learned about our own species? Should all of us have our genomes sequenced?
    3. Gene therapy: Which genetic diseases are curable now? How well does it work and is the very high cost (as much as $3 million per person) justified?
    4. CRISPR and gene editing: Technical advances have opened up new possibilities for preventing or curing disease but also raise complex ethical concerns. Is it acceptable to engineer designer babies with changes in their genomes that they will pass along to their descendants?
    5. Personalized genetic medicine: Treatments for cancer and other conditions engineered for each individual patient; predicting disease risks from genome information. What about privacy concerns?
    6. Ancient DNA: Retrieving bits of DNA from extinct animals and from early pre-humans to learn more about evolution of humans and animals

    Tuesdays, 1:00 – 2:30 pm
    March 12 – April 16
    Holy Trinity Episcopal Church
    $5

    Janne Cannon (Ph.D., UNC-Chapel Hill) is a Professor Emerita of Microbiology and Immunology in the School of Medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill.  Her research and teaching at UNC-CH focused on genetics and on infectious diseases.  After retiring from UNC-CH, she taught a course for several years on “Plagues” for undergraduates in the Honors Program at UNCG; she also teaches courses on science and health for the Shepherd’s Center and the UNCG Emeritus Society. Rob Cannon (Ph.D., University of Delaware) is a Professor Emeritus of Biology at UNCG. His research and teaching were focused on microbiology, immunology, and virology.  He also taught for the Honors Program and was the graduate director for the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) Program.  This fall will mark 51 years of teaching at UNCG for him. He’s a private pilot, and dreams of being the Chief Test Passenger for Boom Supersonic when they come to Greensboro.


    Motown Records: The Motor City Miracle

    Course Details

    1959: a Detroit record store owner named Berry Gordy was struggling to make ends meet, so he decided to try a career writing and recording songs. The rest, as they say, is history. Motown Records was born. By the middle of the 60s, Motown would grow to be one of the biggest success stories in rock music – all while walking a racial tightrope during one of the most turbulent times in American history. Motown represented the positive side of the American musical experience, and its artists - Smokey Robinson, the Temptations, the Supremes, the Jackson 5, the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and many more - became household names. Come learn how Motown changed rock music in the 1960s and became the Sound of Young America.

    1. Berry’s Beginning
    2. Setting the Standard
    3. Hitsville Heyday
    4.  Late 60s Decline
    5. 70s Resurgence
    6. Beyond Berry: Where Are They Now?

    Tuesdays, 10:00 – 11:30 am
    March 12 – April 16
    Holy Trinity Episcopal Church
    $120

    Brian Carter (DMA, University of Michigan) is a Lecturer at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro School of Music and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music at Elon University.  Prior to recently returning to his home of Greensboro, he was a professional opera and classical concert singer, and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Music at Washington State University where he specialized in Vocal Studies and Literature, and History of Rock Music.


    The History of Grief: Six Shakespearean Tragedies

    Course Details

    Are we doomed? On the one hand, of course we are; none of us is getting off this terrestrial stage alive. But, on the other hand, there are many kinds of doom: among them star-crossed fate, special providence, human malice, divine whim, heavenly justice, and a passion for eternity. These varieties of doom roughly match the six Shakespearean tragedies that we will explore closely in this course: the overruling starry powers in Romeo and Juliet, the divinely-shaped ends of Hamlet, Iago’s man-made disaster in Othello, the wanton or absent gods of King Lear, apocalyptic judgment in Macbeth, and the immortal longings of Antony and Cleopatra. These distinctions are not exact, with these plays’ differing dooms frequently bleeding into each other, often literally; yet all of their tragic characters discover how to be unhappy in their own unique ways. But not only unhappy; for through these half-dozen representative tragedies we will trace a fuller history of grief running cathartically across all of Shakespeare’s tragic dramas, and indeed, surprisingly, across his comedies and histories, coming to rich and strange fruition in the last movement of his career: the hybrid form called Tragicomedy, where after great suffering all heaven breaks loose.

    1. Defy the Stars: The Stellar Ruin of Romeo and Juliet
    2. That Shapes Our Ends: Providential Tragedy in Hamlet
    3. I Hate the Moor: Death by Design in Othello
    4. As Flies to Wanton Boys: Divine Malevolence and Absence in King Lear
    5. Something Wicked: Satanic Evil and Heavenly Judgment in Macbeth
    6. Drama Queen: The Femme Fatale and Cosmic Comedy in Antony and Cleopatra

    Wednesdays, 10:00 – 11:30 am
    March 13 – April 17
    Holy Trinity Episcopal Church
    $120

    Christopher Hodgkins (Ph.D., University of Chicago) is Professor of English and Atlantic World Studies. The winner of UNCG’s Senior Teaching Excellence Award (2004) and Senior Research Excellence Award (2011), he is author or editor of seven books on Renaissance literature and the British imperial imagination, and most recently of Literary Study of the Bible: An Introduction (2020). Recipient of four grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, he currently co-edits The Complete Works of George Herbert (both digital and print), and directs the international George Herbert Society and UNCG’s Atlantic World Research Network. He sits on the Executive Committee of the Folger Institute at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., and on the Consortium board of the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia. He loves teaching Shakespeare because he gets to play all the parts.


    War Stories: Tales of the Soviet Union's Greatest Generation

    Course Details

    This course examines the history of World War II in the Soviet Union from the angle of personal stories and incidents told by those who lived through the horror of that war in a variety of sources: memoirs; interviews; newspapers; and archival documents. It raises crucial questions regarding how we as historians do history, analyze specific sources, and draw conclusions based on the materials we have: what is history and how do we interpret it? How does local—even micro—history fit into the broader picture? How do we interrogate and employ historical sources to paint the most accurate picture of the past possible?

    1. Introduction: What is history? The story of Nina K.
    2. The missing train of grain and other archival stories
    3. Memoirs and Interviews: Mariia Zhak
    4. Memoirs and Interviews: S. I. Emel’ianenko
    5. Constructing a Narrative: Local Newspaper Coverage of the Immediate Postwar Period
    6. History of the Personal: Concluding Thoughts

    Thursdays, 2:00 – 3:30 pm
    March 21 – April 25
    Holy Trinity Episcopal Church
    $120

    Jeff Jones (Ph.D., UNC-Chapel Hill) is a native North Carolinian (born in the mountains in Jefferson; grew up in Liberty, NC). He is currently (since 2000) a Professor in Russian/Soviet and world history at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His first book, Everyday Life and the ‘Reconstruction’ of Soviet Russia During and After the Great Patriotic War, 1943-1948, was published by Slavica Publishers in 2008 and he also has several published articles. His second book, Smoke, Mirrors, and Memories: Legacies of the Soviet-Afghan War, 1979-1989, is currently under review by the University of Toronto Press and will hopefully be out in 2024.


    The "Belle Époque" of Moulin Rouge!: Paris at the Dawn of the 20th Century

    Course Details

    The musical Moulin Rouge! is set against the backdrop of Paris at the turn of the 20th century, a particularly fascinating time in Paris's history that has become known as the "Belle Époque", or the "beautiful age".  This quarter of a century leading up to World War I was a golden age of prosperity for the French, and Paris in particular, as it brought sweeping changes to technology, standards of living, society, and Paris's image on the world stage.  This course will delve into the historical, cultural, and artistic developments of Paris in the late 19th century that helped create the romantic image the city still holds in our collective imagination today.

    This course is held in tandem with the spring 24 season at the Tanger Center and provides a deeper understanding of the context for Moulin Rouge! before an optional viewing of the musical. Moulin Rouge! musical tickets sold separately on the first day of class. One ticket per person..

    1. Setting the stage: Historical context for Paris at the turn of the 20th century
    2. Creating an aesthetic: Major artistic movements and figures of the time
    3. Action!: Daily life, pop culture, and society in Belle Époque France
    4. Optional: Moulin Rouge! at Tanger Center Saturday April 27th, 2 pm $74/ticket

    Mondays, 4:00 – 5:30 pm
    April 1 – 15
    UNCG Moore Humanities and Research Administration Building
    $60

    Monica Scovell (MA, UNC-Greensboro) is the current Director of Experiential Learning at Elon University, focusing on high-impact learning opportunities for students away from campus.  She has previously served as the Assistant Director of Study Abroad at UNC Greensboro specializing in Western Europe, as well as a Teaching Fellow of French Language at UNC Chapel Hill.  She has 12 years of classroom experience, including time teaching French language and literature in the United States and teaching English abroad.  She has spent a lifetime studying French language and culture, has lived there multiple times, and is passionate about sharing this love with others.


    ONLINE COURSE

    The Shaping of the New South

    Course Details

    This course examines the aftermath of the American Civil War and how, after the guns went silent in 1865, internal and external forces redefined what “the South” meant. Perhaps the most important portion of this reconfiguration involved the status of 4 million formerly enslaved men and women. What rights did they possess? To what extent were they able to free themselves—or be freed—from the shackles of slavery? What was the impact of the ongoing insurrection of former Confederates and their political enablers ? How did the formerly enslaved deal with the epidemic of terror and violence? And what were the social, economic, and political implications of the aftermath of slavery?

    1. Emancipation
    2. Reconstruction
    3. Industrialism
    4. The Racial Crisis
    5. White Supremacy Triumphant

    Thursdays, 2:00  – 3:30 pm
    April 11 – May 9
    ZOOM
    $100

    William A. Link (Ph.D, University of Virginia) is the Richard J. Milbauer Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Florida (where he taught 2004-2022) and Emeritus Professor at UNCG (where he taught 1981-2004).  He has written extensively about the history of the American South in nine sole-authored books about the 19th and 20th century South. In 2018-29, he served as president of the Southern Historical Association. His books include The Paradox of Southern Progressivism, 1880-1930 (1992); Righteous Warrior:  Jesse Helms and the Rise of Modern Conservatism (2008); Southern Crucible: The Making of an American Region (2015); Frank Porter Graham: Southern Liberal, Citizen of the World (2021); and The Last Fire-Eater: Roger A. Pryor and the Search for a Southern Identity (2022).


    Special Events

    The Profs Do the Movies

    Course Details

    Alfred Hitchcock: The Master of Suspense

    Alfred Hitchcock was one of the most influential figures in the history of movies.  He became known as the “Master of Suspense” because his distinctive directing style makes the viewer an uneasy voyeur in a way that maximizes anxiety and fear.    

    Hitchcock was born August 3, 1899, in London, the son of a grocer.  By 1922 he was working as an art director and screen writer and doing a little directing as well.  He scored his first hit as full-time director with The Lodger (1926), a silent film about a landlady who suspects her tenant is Jack the Ripper.  Classics like The 39 Steps (1935) and The Lady Vanishes (1938) gave him an International reputation while establishing him as England’s foremost director.  

    In 1939 Producer David O. Selznick persuaded Hitchcock to move to Hollywood.  The result was a string of critically acclaimed films, popular with the public and very profitable, including Rebecca (1940), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), and Spellbound (1945).  Some of Hitchcock’s greatest, most beloved movies date from the 1950s, including Strangers on a Train (1951), Vertigo (1958), and North by Northwest (1959), culminating in Psycho (1960).   

    Join us on wintry afternoons to enjoy and discuss three of Hitchcock’s finest suspense thrillers, selected from across his career: The 39 Steps (1935), Strangers on a Train (1951), and Vertigo (1958).  All three films are characteristically Hitchcockian adaptations of novels. 

    The 39 Steps

    Packed with twists and turns, The 39 Steps is an early example of Hitchcock’s mistaken identity motif.  You will enjoy watching Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll, handcuffed together, as they are pursued across the Scottish Highlands.

    Sunday, January 21, 1:30 – 5:00 pm

    UNCG School of Music

    Cost: $20

    Strangers on a Train

    Strangers on a Train is a psychological thriller in which two strangers meet on a train.  One of them is a psychopath who suggests that they “exchange” murders.  Starring Robert Walker as Bruno (the greatest acting performance in any Hitchcock movie) and Farley Granger.

    Sunday, February 18 1:30 – 5:00 pm

    UNCG School of Music

    Cost: $20

    Vertigo

    Vertigo is a psychological thriller in which a former San Francisco police detective (James Stewart) wrestles with his personal demons while becoming obsessed with the woman (Kim Novak in her famous gray suit) he has been hired to trail. In a 2012 poll Vertigo was voted the greatest film of all time. 

    Sunday, March 17, 1:30 – 5:00 pm

    UNCG School of Music

    Cost: $20

    Keith Cushman (Ph.D., Princeton University), Professor Emeritus of English, has written or edited seven books about D.H. Lawrence.  The recipient of two Fulbrights, he has lectured on modern English and American literature in Italy, Finland, the Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, India, Japan, and Korea.  He is the recipient of the Alumni Research Excellence Award.

    Ron Cassell (Ph.D., UNC Chapel Hill) Associate Professor Emeritus of History and fellow of the Royal Historical Society has long had an interest in 20th century British political history.  He is a recipient of the Alumni Teaching Excellence Award.

     

    Emeritus at Tanger

    Six The Musical

    Course Details

    From Tudor Queens to Pop Icons, the SIX wives of Henry VIII take the microphone to remix five hundred years of historical heartbreak into a Euphoric Celebration of 21st century girl power! This new original musical is the global sensation that everyone is losing their head over! SIX has won 23 awards in the 2021/2022 Broadway season, including the Tony Award® for Best Original Score (Music and Lyrics) and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical. The New York Times says SIX “TOTALLY RULES!” (Critic's Pick) and The Washington Post hails SIX as “Exactly the kind of energizing, inspirational illumination this town aches for! "The SIX: LIVE ON OPENING NIGHT Broadway album debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard cast album charts and surpassed 6 Million streams in its first month.

    Tickets are for Loge, Center, Rows A & B seating. Priority is given to participants enrolled in The Real Six. One ticket per person. Tickets will be sold on the first day of class.

    Saturday, March 9th, 2:00pm
    Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts
    Cost: $61


    Moulin Rouge!

    Course Details


    Pop the champagne, Moulin Rouge! The Musical is the winner of 10 Tony Awards® — including Best Musical! Enter a world of splendor and romance, of eye-popping excess, of glitz, grandeur, and glory! A world where Bohemians and aristocrats rub elbows and revel in electrifying enchantment. Welcome to Moulin Rouge! The Musical! Baz Luhrmann’s revolutionary film comes to life onstage, remixed in a new musical mash-up extravaganza. Directed by Tony Award® winner Alex Timbers, Moulin Rouge! The Musical! is a theatrical celebration of Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and — above all — Love. With a book by Tony Award® winner John Logan; music supervision, orchestrations, and arrangements by Tony Award® winner Justin Levine; and choreography by Tony Award® winner Sonya Tayeh, Moulin Rouge! is more than a musical — it is a state of mind.


    Tickets are for Grand Tier, Center, Rows J/K seating.  Priority is given to participants enrolled in The "Belle Époque" of Moulin Rouge!: Paris at the Dawn of the 20th Century. One ticket per person. Tickets will be sold on the first day of class.

    Saturday, April 27th, 2:00pm
    Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts
    Cost: $74


    Adverse Weather and Class Cancellations

    When the university closes due to adverse weather (such as ice and/or snow, or other conditions) Emeritus Society classes are cancelled as well. Details can be found on the UNCG homepage (www.uncg.edu) or by dialing one of the following numbers:

    Adverse Weather Line (336-334-4400)

    Campus Switchboard (336-334-5000)

    Details are also available on the Triad’s four television stations: WFMY-TV (News 2), WGHP-TV (Fox 8), WXII-TV (News Channel 12) and WXLV (ABC 45). Some area radio stations also have information.

    When the university decides to remain open but Emeritus Society classes are canceled, you will be notified of the cancellation by Serve, Inc.