St. Thomas’ Selim Center Announces Fall Programs for Those 50 and Older

The University of St. Thomas Selim Center for Learning in Later Years has announced its fall schedule of educational programs and short courses that are tailored for those 50 and older.

Selim Center participants at earlier program.

Selim Center participants at earlier program.

The programs range from lunch discussions to six-session short courses. The programs are designed to be affordable, with fees ranging from $15 to $80.

The center first began offering programs in fall 1973. Here’s an overview of this fall’s offerings:

Six-session courses begin in September or October. They meet once a week for six weeks and are taught by faculty and community experts. They are offered at St. Thomas campuses in St. Paul and Minneapolis.

  • “History of the First World War” with Dr. Zsolt Nagy.
  • “Apocalyptic: The End of the World in Jewish and Hebrew Sacred Texts” with Dr. David Penchansky.
  • “The Civil War: Year Four (1864)” with Dr. Joseph Fitzharris.
  • “Architecture of the Twin Cities” with Dr. Kristin Anderson.
  • “Sacred Springs and Shiny Things” with Dr. Michelle Nordtorp-Madson.
  • “Telling the American Story in Small Moments” with Dr. Annette Atkins.
  • “Exploring the Music of Three Great Jazz Composers: Duke Ellington, Thelonius Monk, Dave Brubeck” with Joan Griffith.
  • “Pathways to God” with Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman, Father Michael O’Connell and Imam Makram El-Amin.

 Three-session courses start in October on the St. Paul campus.

  • “Financial and Legal Strategies for Later Years” with John Del Vecchio, Thomas Dzik and Paul Archambeau.
  • “Reading Seamus Heaney” with Dr. Thomas Dillon Redshaw.

One-session courses will be held in October and December.

  • “A Season for Remembering: Cemeteries and Us” with James Rogers.
  • Bus trip to New Ulm with historian Dr. Joseph Fitzharris.
  • “Music of the Holidays” with Susan Anderson-Benson.

 Lunch’n Explore:

  • Longtime Star Tribune journalist Frank Wright will lead a Sept. 11 discussion on “China’s Foreign Policy: Dangerous or Not?”
  • Longtime WCCO journalist Don Shelby will lead a Nov. 7 discussion on “Jumping Into the Mouth of the Wolf.”

Go-to-College program: The Selim Center coordinates a program that allows those 50 and older to attend regular undergraduate academic courses on a space-available basis. The fee is $80 per course.

For more information, call the center at (651) 962-5188 or visit the center's website.