Lifelong Learning features investing, healthy lifestyles and Spanish in spring

Janel Shoun  |  12/18/2008

2009 will start off with a classic touch for the Lipscomb Lifelong Learning program which will feature Nashville’s gem, The Parthenon, in its January Week seminar Jan. 5-9.

Other topics in the spring semester, from February to April, will include how to invest during the current financial crisis, healthy living in the twilight years and the science of sleep. For the first time, the program will offer a language course, offering information on Latin American countries and cultures as well as basic Spanish.

The April Travel Day will feature a last-chance opportunity to ride the rails to Watertown’s Mile Long Yard Sale and the May Week seminar will explore the Civil War in-depth.

Scroll down for a complete listing of the Lifelong Learning courses available in the spring session. Click here or call 615-966-5733 to register for the spring session.

A Tale of Two Parthenons: Athens and Nashville
Jan. 5-9, 2009
3-4 p.m., Ezell Center
Cost: $50
Instructor: Wesley Paine, director of the Nashville Parthenon and co-author, “Classical Nashville”
This course examines the construction of the ancient Parthenon, with an emphasis on the extraordinary engineering feats involved (“How did they DO that?”) and the reasons for its construction in the context of time and place. Participants will take a quick look at the far-reaching influence of the Parthenon on western civilization, including the influence that gave rise to Nashville’s view of itself as the Athens of the South and resulted in the construction of a scholarly replica here. The class will learn about both constructions of Nashville’s Parthenon, the statue of Athena and take a field trip for a behind-the-scenes tour of this important icon.

Who was Edgar Allan Poe?
Mondays, Feb. 9, 16, 23, March 2 & 9
2:30-4 p.m., Ezell Center
Cost: $50
Instructor: Dr. Dennis Loyd, retired professor of English
Required Reading: Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe.
Best known for The Raven, The Tell-Tale Heart and other works of the mysterious and the supernatural, Edgar Allan Poe has always generated questions. This study of the puzzling life and the puzzling works of Edgar Allan Poe focuses on his short stories and poems.

Lifestyle Management and Healthy Aging
Tuesdays, Feb. 10, 17, 24, March 3 & 10
3:00-4:30 p.m., Ezell Center
Cost: $50
Instructor: Dr. Robert Belihar, M.D., Brigadier General USAF (Ret.), Medical Director, Lifesigns of Nashville
Suggested Reading: The Seven Pillars of Health
The goal of healthy aging is to maximize longevity through quality of life improvement and performance enhancement. Among the topics addressed will be: living a balanced life, water, nutrition, exercise, sleep/rest, supplementation, detoxification and stress management. Throughout the course each attendee will develop his or her own unique lifestyle prescription, leading to maximum potential

The Financial Crisis and Your Investments: What It Means For You
Wednesdays, Feb. 11, 18, 25, March 4, 11 & 13
2:30-4 p.m., Ezell Center
Cost: $50
Instructor: Dr. Jeff Mankin, assistant professor of accounting.
Suggested Reading: The Four Pillars of Investing
The current financial crisis has caused global turmoil and has been termed the greatest crisis since the Great Depression. Is it really the greatest crisis since the Depression? How did the crisis start and what is the worldwide effect? What does the crisis mean to you and your investments? How do you develop and maintain an investment portfolio in these unusual times? What do past crises tell us about this current crisis? Join us to learn the story behind the headlines and how to design your personal financial strategy.

Manifest Destiny and the Mexican War
Thursdays, Feb. 12, 19, 26, March 5 & 12
2:45-4:15 p.m., Ezell Center
Instructor: Dr. Tim Johnson, professor of history
Suggested Reading: A Gallant Little Army: The Mexico City Campaign
John L. O’Sullivan, editor of the Democratic Review, called the decade of the 1840s an age of Manifest Destiny, referring to Americans belief in a God-given right to possess the entire continent. This course will focus on the events leading up to the Mexican-American War: the Oregon Question, the annexation of Texas and the Rio Grande border dispute, and the three primary theaters of the war: California, Gen. Zachary Taylor’s conquest of northern Mexico and finally Gen. Winfield Scott’s campaign in central Mexico.

Computer I
Fridays, February 13, 20, 27, March 6 & 13
2:30-4 p.m., Beaman Library
Cost: $50
Instructor: Al Austelle, associate professor of computer science and director of the Center of Instructional Technology
Join the computer generation! This is a comfortable, easy-going approach to computers for individuals interested in learning about, thinking of buying or having trouble using a computer. Topics will include e-mail, the Internet, Microsoft Word, digital cameras, scanners and more.

To Man Be the Glory: The Enlightenment and Its Consequences
Mondays, March 23, 30, April 6, 13 & 20
2:30-4 p.m., Ezell Center
Cost: $50
Instructor: Dr. David Lawrence, professor of history
Suggested Reading: The Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Paganism

 

The Brain’s Orchestra: Music to Sleep By
Tuesdays, March 24, 31, April 7, 14 & 21
2:45-4:15, p.m. Ezell Center
Cost: $50
Instructor: Dr. Dale Alden, assistant professor of psychology
We will discuss the neurology of sleep. How does your brain “do” sleep? It acts in much the same way as an orchestra preparing and playing a symphonic production. It has a conductor, players with different instruments and different movements that help us stay awake, go to sleep, dream, doze, etc. If any player in this grand orchestra gets a note wrong, the music becomes noise; we wake up at night, fail to fall asleep, walk and talk in our sleep or have nightmares that could put a Wagner arrangement to shame. We will discuss how to “tune up” our instruments to improve sleep and wakefulness.

Three Cousins from Mechanicsville
Wednesdays, March 25, April 1, 8, 15 & 22
2:30-4 p.m., Ezell Center
Cost: $50
Instructor: John Bridges, Civil War historian, writer, and musician
Suggested Readings: The Cousins from Mechanicsville
The story of these three cousins is in many ways the story of the Army of Tennessee during the Civil War. Benton Smith, the oldest, was tall, handsome and a natural leader. He rose to the rank of brigadier general by age 26, becoming the youngest general in the Confederate Army. DeWitt Jobe became a scout and spy delivering valuable information from behind enemy lines. Dee Smith was forced to forfeit his honor when asked to “desert” and give false information to the enemy. This course will follow the three cousins as their heroic and tragic lives intertwine against a backdrop of the war and its aftermath.

Seeing is Believing?: A Survey of Nashville’s Religious Architecture
Thursdays, March 26, April 2, 9, 16 & 23
2:45-4:15 p.m., Ezell Center
Cost: $50
Instructor: Richard Goode, professor of history
Suggested Reading: Houses of God: Region, Religion and Architecture in the U.S.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, religious architecture is worth volumes. People of faith create spaces not only for practicality but also to convey belief and communicate praise. When attuned to architectural intentions, we can gain insight both into the belief systems of others and ourselves. Preliminary plans for this class are to tour at least three very different religious houses of worship in Nashville, all with an eye toward discerning what the architecture may tell us about the tradition that built the structure. 

Computer II
Fridays, March 27, April 3, 10, 17 & 24
2:30-4 p.m., Beaman Library
Cost: $50
Instructor: Al Austelle, associate professor of computer science and director for the Center of Instructional Technology
For those who have completed Computer I or have some familiarity with computers, this course will add Internet research skills, word processing, spreadsheets, troubleshooting, computer problems, care and maintenance of a computer system and purchasing hardware and software. Also includes a study of peripheral equipment (scanners, digital cameras, etc.).

April Travel Day

A Day on the Tennessee Central: This one-week course will provide a survey of the Civil War in Tennessee, covering topics like the state’s decision to secede from the Union, the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson, the occupation of Nashville, and the battles of Shiloh, Chattanooga, Franklin, and Nashville. On Friday we will travel to Murfreesboro for a tour of the Stones River Battlefield and fortress Rosecrans.

Click here or call 615-966-5733 to register for the spring session.
A study of the philosophical and religious movement known as the Enlightenment. We will discuss the circumstances leading to the movement; how it became a pseudo-religion; negative reactions from both the Christian community and the literary culture; and how the ideals were communicated to political leaders in America and France and translated into active revolution. We will analyze the lasting effects of the Enlightenment throughout the last three centuries.