We are not holding classes currently, but here are the 2020 Spring Session 1 classes.
Mondays, March 9 – April 6
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
In this class you will explore the history of social dance in the United States and have fun moving in the “style” of each unique era. Popular dances are a keen reflection of the social and cultural identity of a nation and reveal the collective emotions of people in their most joyful state of being. We will recreate the movement from each major phase of social dance including the cakewalk, Charleston, Lindy Hop, 60’s crazes, disco and hip hop! Every class will begin with a gentle warm up and continue with movement designed especially for people of all abilities, no previous experience necessary.
Instructor: Melanie Richards, dancer, actress, choreographer and teacher completed her BA and MA degrees in dance at the University of California, Los Angeles. She toured nationally with several prominent dance companies and has taught in more than 30 colleges and performing arts high schools throughout the United States, Mexico, Italy and Qatar. She has an extensive choreographic career including works in contemporary dance, jazz, rhythm tap, musical theater, performance art and theater/dance. Recently she co-created PALETTE In Motion (Promoting Art for Life Enrichment Through Transgenerational Engagement) a pilot project that integrated seniors with students to explore movement arts. Melanie was a professor in the VCU Department of Dance and Choreography for 35 years and has recently retired to pursue new adventures.
Tuesdays, March 10 – April 7
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
This course will trace the story of Spanish exploration and settlement in the United States, beginning with early activity in Florida and eastern North America as well as in the western areas. We will consider the experiences of the conquistadors, the establishment of settlements and missions, including the Spanish in Virginia before Jamestown, Spanish involvement in our struggle for independence, and the wars with Mexico and Spain. Finally, we will look at immigration from Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America and its effect.
Instructor: Harold Greer, VCU professor emeritus who taught in VCU Department of History
Tuesdays, March 10 – April 7
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
This course aims to provide students with the skills and competencies to better understand and appreciate Italian opera while listening to it. Each week the instructor will present a different opera and a different composer. Students will have the opportunity to listen to some arias and to develop a greater appreciation for the linguistic, musical, and theatrical aspects of each of them. Classes will be organized as follows:
Lesson 1: Claudio Monteverdi and the Beginning of Opera
Lesson 2: Gioacchino Rossini and his “Barber of Seville”
Lesson 3: Giuseppe Verdi “Aida” in collaboration with Virginia Opera
Lesson 4: Giacomo Puccini “A Master in the History of Opera”
Lesson 5: Giuseppe Verdi: “The Italian Giant”
Instructor: Rita Paolino is a native Italian who has been working as an instructor of International Studies and Italian language at VCU since January 2014. She holds two masters degrees: one in international relations from Ohio University and one in music from the music conservatory of Campobasso, Italy.
Wednesdays, March 11 – April 8
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Our city’s fascination with memorializing the past dates to the late-1700s, picked up steam both in the 1840s and 1890s, and continues with our challenging rethinking of public monuments today. In the classroom and on field studies, this course will examine the evidence and explore ways forward.
Instructor: Edwin Slipek is an architectural historian and architecture critic who has been an adjunct instructor at VCUArts for 25 years. He is the senior contributing editor at Style Weekly, and a co-founder and co-editor of ArchitectureRichmond, an online encyclopedia of local architecture and landscape design.
Wednesdays, March 11 – April 8
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
This course will teach attendees how to get and record night dreams. It will provide an open forum to discuss the major theories of dream interpretation from Western Civilization and some from around the globe. We will discuss the theories of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Medard Boss as well as other clinical psychologists who have used dreams as the “royal road” for the treatment of psychological disorders and for personal growth. We will cover repetitive dreams, prophetic dreams, nightmares, and briefly, lucid dreams. We will talk about animals in dreams, dream symbols and dreams as a metaphor and message from yourself to yourself. In each class, attendees will have a chance to interpret one’s own and other attendees’ dreams in a safe environment.
Instructor: Richard Bargdill received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Existential Psychology program at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. He is currently an Associate Professor of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. Rich has held several leadership positions in “The Society for Humanistic Psychology”–Division 32 of the American Psychological Association including: Secretary and Membership Chair. Dr. Bargdill is the author of “An Artist’s Thought Book: intriguing thoughts about the artistic process.” He is also editor “Living the Good Life: A Psychological History” and co-editor of “Humanistic Contributions to Psychology 101-Growth, Choice and Responsibility”. He researches boredom, meaning and creativity. He is also an award winning artist and poet.
Thursdays, March 12 – April 9
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
*This class costs $100*
An in-depth study for those students who wish to delve deeper into the craft and structure of creative writing; we will write and critique short fiction as a means to study the craft and application of good storytelling techniques, as well as learn and practice professional quality editing skills.
Instructor: David L. Robbins is a NY Times bestseller author who has published fifteen novels, in several genres, including historical, literary, and military action, as well as five produced stageplays. He won awards for playwriting, column writing and screenwriting. He is the founder of the James River Writers and the Richmond-based Podium Foundation. He is also the founder of the Mighty Pen Project, a writing program for Virginia military veterans, and was named one of the two most Inspirational Writers in the state of Virginia for the last 50 years by the Virginia Commission for the Arts. Currently, Robbins teaches advanced creative writing at VCU.
Spring Session 2
Mondays, April 13 – May 11
9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Spring heralds the amazing migration of our feathered friends as they make their way from their winter homes to their summer destinations. We will visit different sites each week as we identify our resident species, those arriving to breed locally, and others making their way farther north.
Instructor: Paul Bedell, a lifelong birder and naturalist, is principal double bass with the Richmond Symphony.
Mondays, April 13 – May 11
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
England’s Glorious Revolution, 1688-89, produced a set of revolutionary ideas about the proper origins, purpose, and limitations of government that resonate with the experiences of the ruling classes in English colonial North America. Circumstances beyond their control compelled that generation to refine the ideas and to put them into practice. By so doing the Revolutionary Generation dramatically altered the course of world history.
Instructor: Alan V. Briceland was educated in the public schools of Towson, Maryland and Sparta, New Jersey. He received his BA in history from the College of William and Mary and his doctorate from Duke University. He joined the RPI faculty in 1966. He was a full time VCU historian for forty years and taught part time for ten more. His teaching and research focused on the 17th century Virginia frontier, the origins of the American Revolution and the U.S. Constitution, as well as the sweep of American military history.
Tuesdays, April 14 – May 12
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
This short course will examine changes in the aging mind of adults 50 and older. We’ll investigate key brain areas and functions that undergo changes affecting older adults. We’ll explore positive strategies to maintain and even boost our cognitive abilities and general well-being. We’ll examine how aging affects memory, our senses, social interactions, perception, intelligence, skills, wisdom and mood. The overriding theme of the course will be how to use our understanding of the changes in the aging mind to help us age well. Our discussions will be based on selective readings from the insightful and enjoyable book The Aging Mind: An Owner’s Manual by the noted gerontologist Patrick Rabbitt.
Instructor: Tim Donahue is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at VCU where he teaches courses in psychology and conducts laboratory research on medications used in the treatment of depression and schizophrenia. Tim has earned the following degrees from VCU: a PhD in Biopsychology, Master of Science: Psychology and, Master of Education. He also holds a Master of Arts: Humanities from the University of Richmond, and a Bachelor of Arts: Humanities & Behavioral Studies from St. Mary’s Seminary University (Maryland). He recently completed a Certificate in Aging Studies from the Gerontology Department (VCU) School of Allied Health. He has a particular interest in the growth and development of the mind throughout the life-span and the underlying neurological and physiological mechanisms that affect changes in cognition, mood and social interactions.
Tuesdays, April 14 – May 12
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
In the history of Western music, Beethoven is probably the most revered and famous composer of all time. There can be only a few people who have not heard Beethoven’s name, the famous four notes of his fifth Symphony, or the first strain of “The Ode to Joy.” Beethoven is widely recognized as one of the greatest of all symphonists, the composer who ripped apart the regimented formulas of classical symphonic style and wrote music that would have influenced generations of composers who came after him. We will look at his most significative and memorable symphonies: n.3, n.5, n. 6. n.7, and n.9.
Instructor: Rita Paolino is a native Italian who has been working as an instructor of International Studies and Italian language at VCU since January 2014. She holds two masters degrees: one in international relations from Ohio University and one in music from the music conservatory of Campobasso, Italy.
Wednesdays, April 15 – May 13
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
One of Virginia’s oldest and proudest communities is also its most challenged. This course will examine (mostly in the classroom) how the city prospered and grew, has hemorrhaged for decades, and now seeks a better tomorrow. Mr. Slipek will be joined by guest speakers.
Instructor: Edwin Slipek is an architectural historian and architecture critic who has been an adjunct instructor at VCUArts for 25 years. He is the senior contributing editor at Style Weekly, and a co-founder and co-editor of ArchitectureRichmond, an online encyclopedia of local architecture and landscape design.
Wednesdays, April 15 – May 13
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
A space where you can feel at ease
Where everyone who wants it has a chance to speak
Where it’s fine to simply listen
Welcome to a Conversation Café!
What Is a Conversation Café? “Conversation Cafés are lively, hosted, drop-in conversations among diverse people about our feelings, thoughts and actions in this complex, changing world. The simple structure of Conversation Cafés – and their spirit of respect, curiosity and warm welcome – help people shift from small talk to BIG talk. Though the format can be used anywhere – in churches, around the dinner table, in schools, in retirement communities, at workplaces – Conversation Cafés are usually held real public cafés because those venues promote the spontaneity and inclusivity that can surprise us into new insights and greater understanding. Conversation Cafés are unique because the hosts are not distant facilitators but rather active conversants. Cafés are unique because they foster inquiry rather than debate–minds and hearts are both involved. And they are unique because everyone is welcome and participants have great freedom to say what is on their minds” — National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation)
We will dialogue together, learn the process, participate in conversation cafés, get to facilitate a small group (if you desire) and have input on the topics for our dialogues.
Instructor: Delores Kimbrough is the owner and principal consultant for Kimbrough Consulting. Delores is an accomplished facilitator with over 30 years of experience working with corporate, nonprofit, and higher education organizations. She has worked with executive leaders, elected officials, and community leaders at all organizational levels.
Thursdays, April 16 – May 14
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Radical resilience describes the human capacity for rapid, transformative adaptation. Usually, this adaptation is in response to trauma and violence. More specifically, radical resilience is about being able to actively choose how we react in any given situation, and especially those circumstances that shake us to our core. But, the question is, how do we become radically resilient in the face of continued systemic violence and oppression? This course will explore how health and wellness are impacted by race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability and the social conditions of our time, and evaluate the social, psychological, and spiritual therapies, skills, modalities and practices that claim to decrease stress, increase self-awareness, and transform the human capacity to love and live freely and fully.
Instructor: Bethany M. (bee) Coston, Assistant Professor of Health and Queer Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, is a sociologically-trained activist scholar who has spent time in the midwest and on the east coast educating, protesting, and participating in research on the making of sexual identities, violence, health and wellness and community-based organizing. In addition to teaching at VCU, they are currently a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Connections scholar and grantee.
Thursdays, April 16 – May 14
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
*This class costs $100*
An in-depth study for those students who wish to delve deeper into the craft and structure of creative writing; we will write and critique short fiction as a means to study the craft and application of good storytelling techniques, as well as learn and practice professional quality editing skills.
Instructor: David L. Robbins is a NY Times bestseller author who has published fifteen novels, in several genres, including historical, literary, and military action, as well as five produced stageplays. He won awards for playwriting, column writing and screenwriting. He is the founder of the James River Writers and the Richmond-based Podium Foundation. He is also the founder of the Mighty Pen Project, a writing program for Virginia military veterans, and was named one of the two most Inspirational Writers in the state of Virginia for the last 50 years by the Virginia Commission for the Arts. Currently, Robbins teaches advanced creative writing at VCU.