As we look ahead to Osher’s Summer Quarter we hope that you and your families are all safe and well.  In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we reconfigured our entire spring quarter program to an off-campus remote learning experience via Zoom.  We thank you for your active participation in both our online lectures and our small-group seminars, and for your flexibility in adjusting to this new learning experience.  The Chancellor has announced that the UC San Diego campus will remain closed for the summer quarter and our Osher program will continue to be delivered remotely. As is our normal practice, the summer quarter will be a shorter program of eight weeks, Monday through Thursday, from July 6 to August 27.  You can look forward to exciting, provocative and intellectually stimulating presentations every class day and continued engagement by our Osher community. 

Our summer quarter features two Master Classes.  Master Class I will be the return of noted San Diego classical pianist Gustavo Romero delivering his concluding lectures on the life and music of Beethoven. Gustavo’s focus and piano performances will be on the Beethoven sonatas and will be delivered remotely from his home in Texas. Our second Master Class welcomes back an Osher favorite, architectural historian Diane Kane, for a concluding 2020 series on Japan: Japanese architecture, its history, influence on Western architecture, and its response to Western modernism.  Registration for these Master Classes will NOT be required for the summer quarter and will be offered online and open to all Osher members. 

Several distinguished faculty members and local physicians will present a multi-lecture series on the History of Medicine.  UC San Diego Emeritus Professor of History David Ringrose will deliver a three-lecture program on the History of the Spanish Empire. 

Other highlights of the quarter include an update from James Larrimore, PhD, on Iran and it’s challenge to nuclear non-proliferation, a discussion by UCSD Economist Eli Berman on Syria and the Middle East, and Justin Brooks’s update on the Innocence Project and Exonerating the Innocent. Osher member Emeritus Professor of Economics Ted Groves will give his views on the recovery from the coronavirus economic shutdown and the massive increase in public debt.  A longtime Osher supporter, Professor Sandy Lakoff will deliver the first of his three scheduled lectures on the 2020 election, in July, preceding the Democratic Party National Nominating Convention, and two others during the fall quarter.  

Inside Politics will be “dark” for the summer but Kirk Cunningham will continue to moderate his ever-lively Hot Topics discussions.  An Osher Town Hall is scheduled every other Monday, and our small-classroom seminars will again stimulate their loyal participants from literature to history.  Theater World and Live Music will present two live performances each remotely via Zoom, but all other Osher-sponsored activities and events are cancelled including Wednesday at the Movies.  See the summer catalog for a complete description of each summer class and a biography of the speakers… and stay flexible and healthy.

The highlights above are just a sample of the enriching program your hard-working Curriculum Committee of volunteer Osher members has assembled during these difficult times. If you would like to volunteer to become a member of the Curriculum Committee, or have speaker recommendations, please send me an email: ssclarey62@gmail.com.   

Steve Clarey, Chair, Curriculum Committee