Lifelong-Fall 2013.pdf - Trinity College

FALL 2013
The Academy of
Lifelong Learning
at Trinity College
An opportunity for adults to pursue new interests,
expand intellectual horizons, and enrich their lives

The Academy of Lifelong
Learning at Trinity College
Open to adults of the community at large, the Academy
of Lifelong Learning presents a series of minicourses on diverse
and intellectually stimulating topics. Enrolled students have
access to many Trinity College resources, including the Raether
Center, for research. They also receive discounts at Cinestudio,
Austin Arts Center, and Trinity College sporting events.
Courses cover a wide range of interesting subjects taught
by distinguished former and current Trinity faculty members.
The hallmark of a Trinity education has long been the close
interaction between professors and students, and the Academy
of Lifelong Learning continues that tradition. Courses are
taught in an engaging, collaborative manner, and there are
opportunities to meet with fellow students and professors.
Classes are conveniently scheduled for the late afternoon and
early evening in classrooms easily reached from the center of
the Trinity campus. Well-illuminated, secure parking is available
on campus, within walking distance of classrooms.
In addition, some classes are scheduled for the morning
hours in attractive locations in the Greater Hartford vicinity.
CO-DIRECTORS
Frank Kirkpatrick, Ellsworth Morton Tracy Lecturer and
Professor of Religion
Patricia J. Bunker, Head Reference Librarian, Retired
PROGRAM COORDINATOR
Nancy Rossi
COURSE FEES
Courses meeting FOR:
• four class sessions $ 85
• five class sessions $105
• six class sessions $125
• eight-session Memoir Tutorial $300
• Saturday Academy $125
Trinity faculty and staff are eligible for a 10 percent discount.
ENROLLMENT INFORMATION
Academy of Lifelong Learning
Trinity College
300 Summit Street
Hartford, CT 06106
(860) 297-2125
lifelonglearning@trincoll.edu
Gift certificates for the
Academy of Lifelong
Learning are available
and make a special gift
for friends and family.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2013
THE 1960s
Coffee 8:30 a.m.
Classes 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Two morning sessions, lunch,
and two afternoon sessions on the
Trinity College campus
“Civil Rights Revolution and
Conservative Counterrevolution”
Kevin McMahon
9:00-10:15 a.m.
“Vietnam: Children’s Crusade”
Michael Heaney
10:30-11:45 a.m.
”Say It Loud: Music, Protest,
and Politics”
Scott Gac
1:15-2:30 p.m.
“No Turning Back?: The Women’s
Movement After Fifty Years”
Barbara Sicherman
2:45-4:00 p.m.
Special pricing for the daylong
Saturday Academy and lunch.........$125
1

The Academy of Lifelong Learning
Off-Campus Courses
Women and Politics
This course explores the role of women
in American politics from the early 20th
century through the present day. We
will examine the collective efforts made
by American women to gain political
rights, to secure favorable public policies,
and to achieve an equal role for women
in the political realm and society more broadly. We will try to
understand how and why women’s political views, voting behavior,
and rates of participation have changed over the 20th century and
why they remain distinctive from men’s. In addition, we will explore
ideological differences among women themselves. We end the course
by studying women as politicians. We will assess the obstacles women
face in getting elected or appointed to political positions, whether
or not they act differently than their male counterparts, and the
significance of their input in terms of public policy.
Stefanie Chambers
Four Mondays:1:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m.
October 28; November 4, November 18, December 9
(no class November 11-Veterans Day
The McLean, 7 5 G r e a t P o n d R o a d , S i m s b u r y, C T 0 6 0 7 0
Prophets or Messiahs: The
Rise of Cults and Cultic
Practices in the United States
In the past decades, there have been more
than 2,000 new cults in the United States.
Some are led by prophets who conjure
up visions of the imminent cataclysmic
destruction of this world, which will usher the advent of a new
dispensation. What are cults, and who are these leaders? Are they
prophets or madmen? Why are their messages effective among so
many, and who follows these leaders? Topics to be discussed include
issues related to “programming” and “deprogramming,” spiritual
healing, trance possession, and glossolalia (speaking in tongues).
Leslie Desmangles
Five Mondays:10:30 a.m.-noon
October 7, 21, 28; November 4,11 (no class October 14-Columbus Day)
Classes will be held The Heights at Avery Heights
705 New Britain Avenue, Hartford, CT 06106
2

The Emergence
of Monotheism
Though we may take for
granted the fundamental
premise of monotheism
—the existence of but
one god—it was not
always so and, indeed, is
not accepted in many
parts of the world today.
Monotheism, which is the
foundation first of Judaism
and then Christianity and Islam, is the gift of ancient Israel. This
course will trace the emergence of monotheistic belief through
the examination of ancient events and biblical texts. It is a journey
of marvel combining the intricacies of intellectual history, human
imagination, and poetic expression within the matrix of historical
occurrence. The text for our study will be the Hebrew Bible.
John A. Gettier
Five Wednesdays: 7:00-8:30 p.m.
October 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
The McAuley, 275 Steele Road, West Hartford, CT 06117
Søren
Kierkegaard:
The Scandal of
Religious Belief
and an Attack on
Christendom
Søren Kierkegaard was a
19th century Danish thinker
and writer. He is credited
with one of the first developments of Christian existentialism. Best
known for his books Fear and Trembling and The Sickness Unto Death,
he penetrated deeply into the psychological depths of anxiety, faith,
and the scandal of religious belief. This four-part series will explore
his life, his writings on faith and religion, and his attack on the
established church of Denmark.
Frank Kirkpatrick
Four Thursdays: 10:30 a.m-noon
September 12, 19, 26; October 9
Classes will be held at Lucy Robbins Welles Library,
95 Cedar Street, Newington, CT 06111
3

The Academy of Lifelong Learning
Evening Campus Classes
Five Characters in Search
of a Culprit
When last we followed the trail of murder,
we were in Scandinavia. In this sequence of
mysteries, we will encounter five fascinating
characters, each with a distinct personality
and approach to criminal investigation
and each reflective of an ambient culture
steeped in generations of experience. The sequence: Aimee Leduc
in Paris; Hermes Diaktoros on an unnamed Greek Island; Inspector
Van Veeteren, in Holland perhaps; Salvo Montalbano, certainly in
Sicily; and, finally, Commander Adam Dalgleish on Combe Island
off the Cornish Coast. As in the past, we will read with the intent
of outwitting the sleuth, finding the clues, and providing a plausible
account of the events in anticipation of the novel’s conclusion.
Andrew De Rocco
Five Wednesdays: 7:00-8:30 p.m.
September 18, 25; October 2, 9, 16
Required Texts (I’ve noted what I believe to be the ISBN codes for paperback editions,
whenever available):
Cara Black, Murder in the Bastille, SoHo Press, 2003, ISBN-13: 978-1-56947-364-1
Anne Zouroudi, The Taint of Midas, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2009, ISBN: 978-0-7475-9616-5
Häken Nesser, Mind’s Eye, Vintage, 2008, ISBN: 978-0-307-38722-6
Andrea Camilleri, Rounding the Mark, Penguin, 2007, ISBN: 978-0-330-44725-6
P. D. James, The Lighthouse, Vintage, 2005, ISBN: 978-0-307-27573-6
Malory’s
Le Morte Darthur
Some of the most famous
stories of the Middle Ages
centered on Arthurian
legend. But it wasn’t until
the 15th century that,
in England, one writer
brought all the strands of
this tradition together as he
produced the first complete
Arthuriad in the English
tradition. In this course, we
will study selected readings
from Sir Thomas Malory’s
Le Morte Darthur that range
across the span of Arthur’s
4

eign and Malory’s achievement, from Arthur’s ascent to the kingship
to the final fate of Camelot. In the process, we will discuss the ways
in which and reasons why Malory gives his own imprint to his
legendary characters and plots.
Sheila Fisher
Six Wednesdays: 5:30-7:00 p.m.
September 18, 25; October 2, 9, 16, 23
Required Texts:
Thomas Malory. Le Morte Darthur (Oxford), ISBN 978-0-19-953734-1
Please note: You will receive a list of reading assignments for the whole
course at the first class. For our first meeting, please read the “Introduction”
and “How Uther Pendragon begot the Noble Conqueror King Arthur”
(pages 3-32).
Memoir Writing:
Tell Your Own
Story
It’s the human condition:
the desire to get down on
paper the most memorable
events of your life. That’s
why almost every celebrity
you can think of—from
Andre Agassi to Tina Fey
to Barack Obama—has at
some point tried his or her hand at a memoir. That’s also why so
many of our most beloved novels—To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher
in the Rye—are very largely memoirs in disguise. We might want
to tell our whole life story or just cherished moments (treasured
memories of when our grown kids were little; a short, sweet
interlude with a special
pet; the most magical summer ever), but we all have recollections
we want to pass on. Give in to that urge! Sit down at your
computer, and start writing about yourself! Whether your motivation
is to have a neatly packaged memoir to pass down to your children
or grandchildren or a keepsake to enjoy for yourself—or to knock
Neil Young and Pete Townshend and Rod Stewart off the best-seller
list!—this course will help you do it. You’ll learn how to write
easily and naturally, in your own voice, about your favorite subject:
you.
Hank Herman
Eight Wednesdays: 5:30-7:30 p.m.
October 9, 16, 23, 30; November 6, 13, 20; December 4
This course will be limited to eight students. Due to the tutorial nature,
extended length (eight weeks), and slightly longer classes (two hours),
the fee for the course will be $300.
5

Martha Risser
Six Thursdays: 5:30-7:00 p.m.
September 12,19, 26; October 3,10,17
The Art of Dining In
Classical Antiquity
Drawing on evidence from art,
archaeology, and literature, we
will explore the cuisines and
dining customs of Greco-Roman
antiquity. Discussion topics will
include private dinner parties,
ritual feasting, medicinal diets,
cultural stereotypes related to
food and drink, and how their
diets and table manners identified
individuals as either civilized or
savage.
The Making of Modern India (1)
The course will provide a sweeping look at Indian history
from ancient times to the present, to show how the complex,
often perplexing, Indian religious, social, and political traditions
interacted with British imperialism to shape India’s unique path
to independence and modernity. Lectures will discuss topics such
as India’s great tradition, Britain’s legacy to the subcontinent, the
pacifist struggle for independence, Hindu-Muslim relations and
the founding of Pakistan, and, most importantly, how India, of all
the other British colonies, came to be the only one to embrace
democracy from the day it gained independence.
A later course, “The Making of Modern India (2),” will provide
a closer look at post-independence India.
Ranbir Vohra
Five Wednesdays: 5:30-7:00 p.m.
September 11, 18, 25; October 2, 9
6

Homer’s Iliad:
The Tragedy of
Achilles
In Homer resides the
soul of the Greek people.
In fact, in his two epics
are the seeds of Western
culture and thought.
The Iliad, for example,
provided, among other
things, the framework
for tragedy as a dramatic
genre as it ultimately
blossomed in the fifth century B.C. theater in Athens. The first word
of the Iliad is “rage,” (or “wrath” or “anger”). The last word of the
first line is “of Achilles.” This “wrath of Achilles” colors almost every
action in the epic. The impact of this wrath is felt not only by most
of the important characters in the epic, but most especially and
ultimately by Achilles himself. The scope of the epic is cosmic; gods,
goddesses, and humans regularly commune and converse with one
another. The ultimate playing field, however, is very personal, finite,
and intimate.
John C. Williams
Six Mondays: 5:30-7:00 p.m.
September 9, 16, 23, 30; October 7,
21 (no class October 14-Columbus Day)
Required Text:
The Iliad, translated by Robert Fagles (Penguin Books, 1998),
ISBN: 014 02.7536 3 (paperback)
First Session Assignment:
Read Bernard Knox’s introduction (pp.3-64) and Books 1-4 of The Iliad
(pp. 7-163).
7

FACULTY
Stefanie Chambers is an associate professor of political science. Her
teaching and research interests include: urban politics, racial and ethnic
politics, and women and politics. She has written extensively on issues relating
to urban education and urban public policy. Among other projects, she is
currently writing an article on the gender gap in the 2012 presidential election.
Chambers received her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University and started
working at Trinity in 2000.
Andrew De Rocco, a former dean of the faculty at Trinity and president
of Denison University, has had a long and enduring interest in the mystery
genre, in part resulting from a childhood discovery in his family’s library of a
10-volume collection, The World’s Best One Hundred Detective Stories (Funk
& Wagnalls, 1929). He received his doctorate from the University of Michigan,
where he began his academic career before his appointment as Institute
Professor of Molecular Physics at the University of Maryland. In addition to
Maryland, he has held visiting appointments at the University of Colorado,
at Tufts, and at Vanderbilt.
Leslie Desmangles graduated from Eastern University in 1964 with a B.A.
in music, from Palmer Seminary in Philadelphia with an M.Div. in theology,
and from Temple University in 1975 with a Ph.D. in anthropology of religion,
specializing in Caribbean and African studies. He has taught at Ohio Wesleyan
University from 1969-1976, at DePaul University from 1976-1978, and at
Trinity since 1978.
Sheila Fisher, professor of English and former academic dean, received
her B.A. summa cum laude with highest honors in English from Smith College,
where she majored in English and Latin, and her M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D.
from Yale University. She joined the English Department at Trinity in 1984
and served as chair of the department from 2005 to 2008. As a medievalist
who specializes in Chaucer, late 14th-century English literature, and medieval
women writers, she has published a book on Chaucer and articles on the
Gawain poet and medieval romance, and co-edited a volume of feminist
contextual essays on medieval and renaissance writings. Her latest book, The
Selected Canterbury Tales: A New Verse Translation, was published by W. W.
Norton in spring 2011.
Scott Gac teaches a variety of courses in American cultural history at Trinity
College and is also chair of the American Studies Program. He has written on
the antislavery movement, music and society, and the intellectual understandings
of cultural power. His first book, Singing for Freedom: The Hutchinson Family
Singers and the Nineteenth Century Culture of Antebellum Reform (Yale Press,
2007), details the life and work of the Hutchinson Family Singers, the antislavery
singing troupe and first commercially successful musicians of social protest in
American history. Find out more about his recent talks and book news at his
personal Web site, scottgac.com.
John A. Gettier, professor of religion, emeritus, at Trinity College, retired in
2001 after teaching for 35 years. With degrees from Wesleyan University, Yale
University, and Union Theological Seminary in New York, he has taught a range
of courses on biblical literature, specializing in apocalypticism, mythology,
Hebrew narrative, and Hebrew language.
Michael K. Heaney graduated from Middlebury College, Harvard Law
School, and Rutgers University (Ph.D. in history, 2008, Uncounted Costs: the
Civil War’s Impact on an Infantry Company’s Men and Their Families). He
practiced law for 25 years before turning to teaching. He is a veteran of the
Vietnam War, where he served as an infantry platoon leader. He continues
working for the veteran community in various ways, including presenting
papers and talks on war and peace issues and on veterans’ post-war adjustment
issues. Heaney was interviewed on camera by Ken Burns for his Vietnam War
documentary, planned for release in 2016, and he is currently writing a combat
memoir.
Hank Herman is an award-winning columnist and blogger who writes for
the Westport News. He is also the author of Super Hoops (Bantam Doubleday
Dell), a series of sports novels for children. His latest book, Accept My Kid,
8

Please! A Dad’s Descent into College Application Hell (Da Capo Press, 2004)
is a humorous memoir about the college admissions process. He also teaches
writing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Kelly Writers House and at Norwalk
Community College. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where
he majored in English.
Frank G. Kirkpatrick is Ellsworth Morton Tracy Lecturer and Professor of
Religion at Trinity College. Now on phased retirement, he has taught at Trinity
for more than 40 years with specialties in theology and social ethics. With
Patricia J. Bunker, he is co-director of the Academy of Lifelong Learning.
Kevin McMahon is the John R. Reitemeyer Professor of Political Science. His
research examines the presidency and the political origins and consequences
of Supreme Court decisions, covering a range of areas, including civil rights
and liberties, constitutional law, school desegregation, political parties, and
elections. His most recent book, Nixon’s Court: His Challenge to Judicial
Liberalism and Its Political Consequences (University of Chicago Press, 2011),
was selected as a 2012 Choice Outstanding Academic Title. His book,
Reconsidering Roosevelt on Race: How the Presidency Paved the Road to
Brown (University of Chicago Press, 2004), won the American Political Science
Association’s Richard E. Neustadt Award for the best book published on the
American presidency in 2004. He is also the co-author/co-editor of three
books on the presidency and presidential elections and author of several book
chapters and journal articles.
Martha Risser is the Classics Department chair. She teaches courses on
ancient art, archaeology, Greek, Latin, and classical civilization. She received
her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and her scholarly interests focus
on classical art and archaeology, especially Greek pottery. She has participated
in archaeological projects in Greece, Israel, Turkey, Italy, and the United States,
and she currently conducts research at the Corinthian—a controlled sanctuary
at the Isthmus. She is the author of Corinth Volume VII Part V Corinthian
Conventionalizing Pottery (American School of Classical Studies Publications,
Princeton, 2001). Risser also participates in the Akko Archaeology, Heritage
and History Project, which includes a field school. Whenever possible, she
takes Trinity students with her on her archaeological expeditions.
Barbara Sicherman writes about women, privileged and not, real (Jane
Addams, Ida B. Wells, Edith and Alice Hamilton, Charlotte Perkins Gilman)
and imagined (Jo March, Marjorie Morningstar). Her recent book, Well-Read
Lives, tells moving stories of how young women born in Victorian times lost--
and found--themselves in books and worked out a life purpose around them.
By discovering the meaning of reading to women in the past, today’s readers
can gain insight into their own lives. A professor emerita at Trinity College, the
author lives in West Hartford, Connecticut, with her Maine Coon cat, Sascha.
Ranbir Vohra, Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science, Emeritus,
at Trinity College, began his career as a program officer in All India Radio
in 1946; his work in AIR for the next 18 years gave him an insider’s view of
political developments in the subcontinent from the gaining of independence in
1947 to the end of the Nehru era. In 1964, he left AIR for Harvard University
and on completing his Ph.D. degree in East Asian studies, he taught at Harvard
(at the invitation of the Harvard History Department) before coming to Trinity,
from where he retired in 1997. In addition to The Making of India (third
edition, 2013), Vohra is the author of several books, including China’s Path to
Modernization (third edition, 2000) and China: The Search for Social Justice
and Democracy (Penguin/Viking Books: India, England, Australia, Canada,
New Zealand, and USA, 1990/1991).
John C. Williams is Hobart Professor of Classics, Emeritus, at Trinity College,
where he taught Latin, Greek, and classical civilization for 24 years. He has
received awards for outstanding service and teaching from Trinity College, the
Classical Association of Connecticut, and the Classical Association of New
England. He has also taught at Dartmouth College in special summer programs
for teachers of the classics. Many teachers and professors of classics throughout
New England and the United States are former students of his. He received his
Ph.D. from Yale University.

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FALL 2013
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