by
Steve Clarey
Chair, Curriculum Committee
I hope you have enjoyed the winter program of on-campus and remote lectures. We are pleased to welcome more than sixty new members to Osher and thank all of you who have renewed your membership. Our Spring registration campaign will soon begin so please tell your family and friends about our marvelous program and encourage them to join our program either locally or remotely via Zoom.
A key feature of our Osher program continues to be the support of the distinguished UCSD world-class faculty. The spring quarter Master Classes will spotlight the research of two UCSD departments: Economics and Cognitive Science. Master Class I will examine inequality in America including access to well-paying jobs, nutrition, incarceration, and health care, with recommendations for changes in public policy. Master Class II welcomes the return to Osher of faculty from the Cognitive Science department sharing their latest research.
Our quarterly program features both multi-lecture series and individual lectures. For the spring program we will have multi-lecture series on Contemporary Art by art historian Cornelia Feye; research from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography; the return of Carnegie Mellon Professor Jared Day for a Zoom series on the emergence of the 13 British Colonies in North America; and lectures in our continuing series on Ethics in Science and Technology; and, also, Archeology.
Our lectures in Humanities, International Relations, Law and Society, and the Social Sciences feature a wide range of topics. Notable this quarter are: a lecture and performance by the Mariachi ensemble from Southwestern College; Retired Metropolitan Opera violinist Erica Miner discussing Berlioz and Wagner; Navy Vice Admiral Charles Martoglio assessing the World in 2030: Cooperation, Collaboration, Competition, or Conflict; a discussion on Reforming the Supreme Court, What’s Possible and What’s Pointless; and Gun Violence in the U.S. What Can be Done?
In Medicine, among others, we will have lectures on Living with Memory Loss: Maintaining Brain Health; Alzheimer’s and the most recent approaches to dementia prevention and treatment; Hypertension: The Silent Killer; and the recreational use of marijuana.
In Science, we will learn about the innovative testing of wastewater at UCSD to track Covid and other infectious diseases; an update from the Salk Institute on Decoding Plant Root Growth to Address Climate Change; and others.
Our literature, WWII history, Memoirs, and French conversation seminars will continue to stimulate their loyal participants, and we will feature a new workshop on Writing Fiction. We will again be entertained on-campus by our Osher Presenter colleagues, our dedicated Osher Theater World performers and directors, Live Music Fridays, and a quarterly Poetry Café. Feel free to share your views with your colleagues on current events in our weekly moderated discussions in Inside Politics and Hot Topics.
The above is just a sample of the marvelous spring program assembled by your volunteer Curriculum Committee. Full descriptions of the curriculum and online events can be found throughout the winter catalog.
If you have any recommendations for speakers, or would like to be an Osher Presenter, please send me an email: ssclarey62@gmail.com.