Presidential politics, investments during crisis top slate of Lifelong Learning courses

Analysis of President Barack Obama’s first six months in office, financial advice for seniors worried about their investment portfolios, and a class by world renowned portrait artist Michael Shane Neal are among the offerings of Lipscomb University’s Lifelong Learning fall session, designed for people of retirement age.

 

Five classes will begin the week of Sept. 7, including The American Presidency: Leadership and Communication in the Second 100 Days, taught by a veteran White House and Congressional communications officer, and The Financial Crisis and Your Investments: What it Means for You, a continuation of a popular class last spring.

 

The American Presidency
Beginning Sept. 8, Linda Peek Schacht, the first female press secretary of a national Presidential campaign and most recently a senior fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, will contribute her veteran political experience to a discussion of President Obama’s first months in office, including the economic bailout and health care reform efforts. Schacht, now professor of communication and history, politics and philosophy at Lipscomb, will explore Obama’s presidency through the historic lens of how other presidents have faced similar economic challenges and calls for reform.

 

Beginning 9, Jeff Mankin,assistant professor of accounting at Lipscomb, will provide a second dose of finance education for seniors flummoxed by the chaotic economic environment. Mankin will discuss how seniors facing financial challenges in retirement can maintain an investment portfolio during the current economic crisis.

 

Beginning Oct. 20, Michael Shane Neal, the 2001 International Portrait Competition winner, will discuss his art and tell stories about the famous people he has painted, including U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, Sen. Bill Frist and family, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, among others.

 

 

Lifelong Learning classes are held at 3 p.m. in the Ezell Center, and take place one day a week for five weeks. A second slate of five classes, including the class by artist Neal, begins on Oct. 19. A complete list of classes and a schedule follows below.

 

Unless noted, the cost for each class is $50, but an individual can take two courses in the same session for $75 or a couple living in the same household can each take the same class for $75.

 

To register for Lipscomb Lifelong Learning, print out a registration form at http://lifelonglearning.lipscomb.edu/, call 615.966.5733 or toll-free at 800.333.4358, ext. 5733, or email coordinator Patty Dugger at patty.dugger@lipscomb.edu.

 

 

This course will evoke participants’ memories of the recent American past by surveying the political, social and cultural developments and by looking at the leading personalities in this period.

 

This class will explore the Obama Presidency within its first six months, which included economic bailouts, health care reform and foreign relations challenges. Participants will study Obama’s presidency through the historic lens of how other presidents have faced similar economic challenges and national calls for reform.

 

This course answer financial questions such as: Is this really the greatest crisis since the Great 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?

 

For long-time residents to Tennessee, this course will explain what “The Three States of Tennessee” are all about, and for the newcomer, it will explain why the people of the Volunteer state love it so.

 

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.  

 

 

Many Americans consider William Faulkner the premier novelist of the 20^th century. He brings to life the fictional county of Yoknapatawpha with remarkable stories from the days of the Indians to Faulkner’s own time. This class will survey some of his better known short stories.

 

Neal, a world renowned portrait artist, will delight and entertain you as he gives a Powerpoint presentation of his paintings, all the while telling fascinating stories about his famous subjects: U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, Sen. Bill Frist, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, among others.

 

Working backwards from Nashville’s vital “Germantown” to areas of German Europe home to many of our immigrant ancestors, this class will explore the Germany of their time and prepare participants to speak a bit of German.

In this class, the Vanderbilt family history, construction history and spending will be examined. Their accomplishments include building the largest house in America, controlling the Blenheim Castle and buying a husband and title for a daughter for $2.5 million.

 

This course is for those who have completed Computer I or have some familiarity of computers, such as accessing resources in the Windows environment, obtaining information from a specific Internet site and typing a document using a word processor.

 

 

By special request,Starley Carr, former special agent of the FBI, and Dick Garner, former ATF special agent, are returning to Lifelong Learning for Part II of Just the Facts Ma’am. Retired agents with a combined total of almost 60 years of law enforcement will provide behind-the-scenes accounts of the life and lore of a special agent.