by Steve Clarey, Chair of the Curriculum Committee

Welcome to Osher’s Summer Quarter. After two-plus years of COVID isolation and online-only classes, we returned to the campus in April and are enjoying engaging our distinguished speakers in-person in our Osher classrooms. Zoom attendance continues to be an attractive option as we are live-streaming all of our Osher lectures.

As is our normal practice, the summer quarter will be a shorter program of eight weeks, Monday through Thursday, from July 11 to September 1. An on-campus and live-streamed Open House will be held on Saturday, July 9. Our summer quarter features two Master Classes. Master Class I will be Osher member Professor Philip Chan presenting four lectures on Understanding Modern Art. Architectural historian Diane Kane, PhD, returns to Osher for an exciting six-lecture program on San Diego’s Architectural Modernism 1980-2020. Included in the program will be panel discussions with noted San Diego architects.

Noted historian Professor Richard Bell from the University of Maryland will offer fresh perspectives on Struggle for Freedom in early American history including a scholarly discussion of the 1619 Project, Critical Race Theory, and the Role of Slavery in the American Revolution. We will receive an update on their latest research by another group of scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

As a departure from our daily academic lectures, education technology professor Jacki Montierth returns to conduct four workshops on the iPhone and Apple Watch. Member Joan Kushinoff will reprise her Manhattan JCC workshop on online digital banking and payment: What Happened to Cash and Check.

Other highlights of the summer quarter include Professor Glenn Smith’s look at the notable decisions of the Supreme Court during its 2021-2022 term. SDSU Professor Hisham Foad will examine the Middle East ten years after the Arab Spring. Are Things Better? Osher member Bill Simmons, JD, will offer his popular twolecture series on end-of-life planning.

Town Hall member-led discussions are scheduled on alternate Monday mornings, and our small-classroom seminars will again stimulate their loyal participants in literature and history. Theater World will present two live performances and we will have two live music performances of the Bach violin Sonatas and Partitas by the Baroque violinist Victoria Martino. Each of these on-campus programs will be live-streamed via Zoom.

The highlights above are just a sample of the enriching program your hard-working Curriculum Committee of volunteer Osher members has assembled. See the summer catalog for a complete description of each summer class and a biography of the speakers… and come join us on-campus.