Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Berkshire Community College
Fall 2024 Course Schedule
Some classes have limited registration and may fill quickly. Please register as soon as possible.
Need help deciding what to sign up for?
- Many course description pages, linked through the course schedules below, include a video introduction from the instructor. Click on the course names below for full descriptions and instructor bios.
- All video introductions are compiled into one video available on YouTube.
- If a course is full, you can join the waiting list by calling 413-236-2190.
Where are classes held?
- Our schedule includes courses held online and in-person
- In-person classes this semester will be held in South, Central, and North Berkshire County. All indoor spaces are ADA accessible. See listings below for locations.
Most courses held online are recorded so if you miss one, or your schedule doesn't work for a particular course, you can access the recordings and watch the class sessions on your own time. Note: in-person classes are not recorded.
(Note: you need to be an OLLI at BCC member to register for courses. Membership information can be found here.)
Three courses with this symbol focus on technology and the environment.
Three courses with this symbol focus on issues of mortality and legacy.
Also available this fall:
Online courses through Osher Online. This program is offered through the Osher National Resource Center (NRC) at Northwestern University. These classes are delivered by the Osher NRC via Zoom, with participants from all over the country. Registration is separate from our fall courses.
2024 Fall Semester Course Schedule
-- Click on the course names below for full descriptions and instructor bios. --
See a printable .pdf of the Fall 2024 course schedule.
Monday
Instructor: Pamela Quirinale | Have you ever wanted to learn to paint, for fun and relaxation? This course will introduce you to the basics, while educating and inspiring. |
Instructors: Jeff Mann
| Today's Headlines is a moderated discussion course that provides an opportunity to voice your opinions on national and international issues. |
Instructor: Phil Deely |
Instructors: Jeannie and Dan Woods | In this class, participants will learn how to analyze, embody and present the character in a contemporary play. The class culminates in a performance for OLLI members, family and friends. |
Instructor: Richard Eason | In this course, we will consider how extraction of hydrocarbons distorts politics and foreign policy everywhere they occur and how their use shapes our communities, our economies, the ordering of our daily lives, and the environments in which we live.
|
Instructor: Carole Owens | How the American women lived from the French and Indian War (1757) to the Revolutionary War (1787). |
Tuesday |
Instructor: Gordon Josephson |
The
course will document the fantastic story of the great achievements and advances
in medicine dating from the late 1700s and take us through more than two
centuries of “milestones”, familiarizing us with the drama and achievements of
the great physicians/scientists behind these spellbinding achievements.
|
Facilitator: Deborah Caine |
This course, curated by Deborah Caine, will have six
speakers over six weeks, including: Dr. Tom Gerety, Dr. Simon Barak Caine, Jonathan
Weiner, Dr. Jeremy Benstein, Professor Zoe Robinson, and Karen Christensen
|
Instructor: Ken Stark | We will explore the history of American composers, their biographies, and the amazing compositions that showcase their extraordinary creations. Some of them you know and will be familiar with their music, but many will certainly surprise and delight you. |
Instructor: Don Jordan | Participants will work with costumes, props, exercises and improvisations to discover and build their own original clown characters. Journey into the imaginative world of clowning! |
Instructor: Peter Podol |
This
course will present a number of great singers whose careers took place in
Europe and who never sang at the Metropolitan Opera. This course is meant both
for knowledgeable opera fans, who will discover many relatively unknown great
singers, and for less serious opera goers.
|
Wednesday |
Curator: Deborah Reinisch | In this class, we will look at how design, camera, sound, editing and performance create the meaning and the emotional impact of a good movie. We will look at classic films, old and new, to develop a deeper appreciation for how a movie works and why, in the end, our affection for it endures. |
Instructor: Phil McKnight |
We
will examine the development of the English common law from its earliest
origins in medieval times through Shakespeare's day and then analyze the
relationship of several of his plays using film clips of their trial scenes to
the Elizabethan concept of law and social order.
|
Instructor: Don Barkin | We will read some great poems about being old, the end of this life, and visions of the afterlife from poets including Frost, Thomas, Glück, Dickinson, Wordsworth, Whitman, and Blake.
|
Instructor: Richard Matturro | Recognized instantly both here and abroad as a universal masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter stands now with Moby-Dick as one of the two iconic pillars of American literature. In this class we will study and discuss in detail Hawthorne’s greatest novel, and also consider the author and his complicated relation with himself. |
Instructor: Jay Sherwin | A legacy letter (also called an “ethical will”) is a written document that allows participants to share life lessons, express their values and transmit their blessings to future generations. This course offers advice, encouragement and a model structure to help members of the class draft and complete their own legacy letter.
|
Instructor: Jock Brooks | In this course we contemplate and appreciate the art at the Clark Art Institute from different perspectives, some creative, some historical, some technical, and many personal. CLOSED - AT CAPACITY |
Facilitator: Joel Wolk | Specialty
paper making has been a keystone industry in the Berkshires since the
Crane family secured its first contract to make US national currency in
the 1870s, although the Crane family had been making paper in
Massachusetts and the Berkshires since the 1770s. Explore history in the classroom and on the trail! |
Thursday |
Instructor: Jim Kronik | In this course, participants will explore the different kinds of polymers, also known as plastics, and the history of the development of these varied objects, their uses, and some of the concerns raised by their ubiquity and longevity.
|
Instructor: Len Gray 9/19, 9/26, 10/10, 10/17 Location: Various in the Berkshires | Among the many beautiful natural settings in western Massachusetts, this hiking course will explore waterfalls in Berkshire County. CLOSED - AT CAPACITY |
Instructor: Lou-Ellen Barkan | We all have stories to share, including that one special story we've been meaning to write. In this workshop, participants will use the art and craft of storytelling to transform their personal story into one that connects with readers. |
Instructor: Noel Staples Freeman |
The course will provide a foundation for understanding and performing African rooted dance styles. It's an excellent way for participants to get acquainted with the basics. |
Instructor: Laycolaion Freeman | This course will teach active older adults of all abilities basic self-defense, situational awareness and personal safety tips in a safe and supportive environment. The techniques and exercises are adjusted accordingly to ensure safety and effectiveness. |
Instructor: Christine Casey |
This
course will present one opera per class session, focusing on the composer,
librettist, the origins and the first performances of the work, followed by a
scene-by-scene slideshow with audio clips of an outstanding production of the
opera.
|
Instructor: Deborah Golden Alecson | The course will cover the following topics with the guidance of some experts in their field: Terror Management Theory with Dr. Sheldon Solomon of Skidmore College; End-of-Life Decision -Making including a "chosen death" with Randee Laikind, Board Member of Final Exit Network; Genocide with Halina Rosenkranz, Case Manager/Group Leader-Holocaust Survivors Program, Westchester Jewish Community Services, and Global Warming and Grief: Death Anxiety and Death Denial with Deborah Alecson.
|
Instructor: Leyla Rouhi | An in-depth study of Miguel de Cervantes’s masterpiece. Setting the novel in historical context, the class will also analyze fascinating themes such as the portrayal of mental illness, the role of fiction in life, Cervantes’s literary innovations, humor, the relationship between men and women, humans and animals, humans and books. Please read the first 150 pages of Don Quixote, translated by Edith Grossman, before the first session on 9/19. |
Friday |
Instructors: Patrick White and Michael Canales |
Through
case studies and interactive discussions, this course offers an exploration of
the structure and functions of local government in the Berkshires, providing a
foundation for anyone aspiring to contribute, whether as a volunteer, a
candidate for public office, an employee, or an informed citizen making them
assets to any municipality.
|
Instructor: Bess Dillman and Pat Sheeley | Universally accessible trails (All Persons Trails) allow everyone to access the outdoors. People who use mobility devices, or have mobility concerns, or have no mobility concerns, together can enjoy the outdoors and reap the benefits of being in nature. We will explore six of them here in Berkshire County. |
Instructors: Larry Bennett and Amy Whitworth |
Columbia County offers beautiful hikes around ponds, along streams, and
to the ridges of the Taconics. Discover these varied trails, many as close as
hikes in Berkshire County, and the land trusts that protect them.
|
Instructors: Hank Gold | Join us to discuss science news appearing in the Tuesday “Science Times” section of The New York Times, plus magazines and journals. |
|
Please note that you must be an OLLI at BCC member and have created a login account to register for classes online. How to create a login account. You can register by phone from 9:00 a.m. through 4:00 p.m. Eastern at 413.236.2190.
OLLI: the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Berkshire Community College |
