OLLI Courses and Events
On this page: Course Offerings | Special Events |Past Events
Courses:
Wines of Iowa II | Shakespeare: On Stage and Backstage
Lunch & Learn Series | Wednesday Night at the Lab |
Thinkin' With Lincoln
Special Events: None scheduled at this time
Give the gift of learning!
OLLI at Iowa Gift Certificates are now available. To purchase a gift certificate, please contact OLLI at Iowa.
Course Offerings
Wines of Iowa II
Dates: May 28 - June 25, 2008 Wednesdays 9:00am - 4:00pm Back by popular demand, Wines of Iowa II will take participants to wineries around the state. Each trip includes a lunch*, wine tasting, classes and tours (described on each date), and charter bus transport complete with film-viewing, air conditioning, and on-board lavatories. Whether you attended the first series or not, are a wine novice or a wine connoisseur, you are sure to have a great time! |
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May 28 - From the Beginning
Our journey begins where Iowa wineries began - Summerset Winery. Learn the history of Iowa Wineries from the owner of one of the oldest wineries in Iowa! Enjoy a catered lunch and some fine wines in Indianola, and tour the winery and vineyards.
For more information about Summerset Winery, visit their website.
June 4 - Wine With a Frosty Twist
Prairie Moon is one of the only wineries in Iowa to produce Ice Wines. Learn about the process, as well as about grape growing in Iowa, from this unique winery! You will have a chance to taste the ice wine and many other varieties in this Ames winery, and enjoy a meal on their scenic outdoor patio.
For more information about Prairie Moon Winery, visit their website.
June 11 - Family Legacies
At Fireside Winery, a family-owned-and-operated farm in Marengo, enjoy a light lunch, wine, and learn about wine and cheese pairing. Then visit John Ernest Winery in Tama to enjoy even more Iowa wine! Take a guided tour of the vineyard and winery that offers a ‘personalized experience’.
For more information about Fireside Winery, visit their website.
For more information about John Ernest Winery, visit their website.
June 18 - Creating Your Own Wine Masterpiece
Learn how to make wine at home with Bluestem Winery. Get hands-on experience while making a batch of wine. While your wine processes, enjoy a delectable lunch and wine tasting at the Victorian House in Parkersburg.
For more information about Bluestem Winery, visit their website.
June 25 - The Grape Wine Adventure
Ride through the vineyards on the Grapemobile at Tassel Ridge Winery! Enjoy a tour of the Leighton winery and discover the wine production process while exploring their state-of-the-art equipment. Taste the wine and dine on winery terrace.
For more information about Tassel Ridge Winery, visit their website.
Note: Tours of the wineries and vineyards will require standing or walking for longer periods of time, sometimes over uneven terrain.
View photos from last year's class series!
*Please let us know if you have any special dietary needs.
Download the registration form.
Shakespeare: On Stage and Backstage
Since June of 2000, Iowa City’s Riverside Theatre
Shakespeare Festival (RTSF) has brought captivating performances to an outdoor theatre inspired by Shakespeare's Globe, attracting
audiences from around the country. In partnership with
RTSF, OLLI at Iowa is
offering a special inside look at the Shakespeare experience through two 1-day Shakespeare Workshops!
Each workshop includes a class with Festival company members, a backstage tour, the Green Show (a 20-minute “Story Theatre” version of the evening play), and tickets to the performance.
Schedule:
4:00—5:30 Pre-performance Discussion
6:00—6:30 Back-stage Tour
6:30—7:00 Picnic Dinner (on site)
7:00—8:00 Green Show
8:00 Performance
The Winter’s Tale Workshop
Date: Thursday, June 26
Time: 4:00 - 10:00pm (break for dinner - picnic dinner available for purchase on site)
Cost: $60 (includes performance ticket)
Company members discuss the challenges of connecting the tragic and romantic worlds of the play, and spanning the sixteen years that separates them!
The Comedy of Errors Workshop
Date: Saturday, July 12
Time: 4:00 - 10:00pm (break for dinner - picnic dinner available for purchase on site)
Cost: $60 (includes performance ticket)
Learn how actors that only vaguely resemble each other can believably play identical twins. From costuming to movement to makeup, discover how actors and designers meet these challenges.
Download the registration form.
Lunch & Learn Series
Time: 12:00 - 1:00 pm
Location: 1117 Medical Education & Research Facility (MERF)
Cost: $10 per lecture for lunch
June 17
Inside Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale
During this introduction to Riverside Theatre’s Shakespeare Festival (RTSF), gain a brief overview of some of the issues that surround The Winter's Tale, a dramatic story of infidelity, magic and heartbreak. Following the talk, Mr. Hunter will lead a question and answer session about the play and Festival. This will be a great preview for OLLI’s workshop, Shakespeare: On Stage and Backstage.
Instructor: Mark Hunter (Director, Winter's Tale) is an associate professor of theater at Cornell College. He has a doctoral degree in theatre history and criticism from the University of Texas at Austin and an MFA in directing from the University of Iowa. With over 90 professional productions to his credit, he was the founder and, for nine years, the Artistic Director of Playmakers Theatre in Tampa, Florida. He is a longtime Artistic Associate at Riverside Theatre, where he has directed productions of Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, The Imaginary Invalid, and The Tempest.
July 1
Get Jazzed!
Get ready for Iowa City’s Jazz Fest—a nationally recognized event that has attracted some of the biggest names in jazz since 1991. Join UI Director of Jazz Studies, John Rapson, for a pre-festival primer on jazz performance and practice. During this session, he will introduce jazz basics through the recordings of artists who will appear at the jazz festival.
Instructor: John Rapson is a composer and recording artist for MoMu Records, Music and Arts, Sound Aspects and Nine Winds who has been at the UI since 1993. He has written over 100 jazz compositions and recorded 19 albums, nine of which are under his own leadership and feature his compositions. His recent work builds compositions from the free improvisations of jazz soloists, including the widely reviewed albums, Dances and Orations and Water and Blood.
July 15
The Water You Drink: Sip and Talk Session - CANCELLED DUE TO FLOOD
Water is part of life. We are mostly made of water. What relationship do you want to have with water? Let’s sip and talk.
This session will examine the drinking (tap) water of Iowa City and Coralville—from a quality and quantity standpoint—and make a comparison to bottled water. We will do taste tests so bring your favorite bottled water if you have one. Some items for discussion are:
· Is it safe to drink the water from our taps?
· What causes the flavor of the water?
· Will we always have enough water for our uses?
· What is the source of our water supply?
· How is the domestic water supply used other than for drinking and cooking?
· What is the daily per capita water consumption for Iowa City / Coralville?
Instructor: Douglas A. Wallace, Ph.D., P.E. After six years working as a civil engineer in the construction field, Doug returned to school for M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Engineering from the University of Iowa. Over the next 30 years he was employed by several consulting engineering firms for both domestic and international projects where he worked on many projects in the area of water resources, water quality and the design of both water and wastewater treatment facilities.
July 29
Lincoln’s Grandchildren
President Lincoln’s ties to Iowa continued beyond his death with the marriage of his eldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln, to Mary Harlan, the daughter of Senator James Harlan of Iowa. Lincoln also appointed Senator Harlan to be the Secretary of the Interior in 1865, the first Iowan to hold a cabinet position. Robert Lincoln’s three children (President Lincoln’s only grandchildren) spent much time in Mt. Pleasant in the 1870s-1890s with their maternal grandparents where they enjoyed small town life. Mr. Juhl will re-tell the interesting story of this family and some of their Mt. Pleasant memories. Want to know more about Lincoln? Join us for a trip to the Lincoln Museum in Springfield!
Instructor: Paul C. Juhl, a board member of the Harlan-Lincoln House in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, has had a life-long interest in Iowa history and has done extensive research on Abraham Lincoln’s descendants and their Iowa connection. He holds a B.A. from the University of Iowa in history and an M.A. Degree in College Student Personnel Services from the University of Northern Iowa and has worked in public and private education. Mr. Juhl’s articles have appeared in numerous magazines including the Palimpsest, Iowa Heritage Illustrated, and Stereo World. He is also the author of several publications including Co-authorship with Mary Bennett of Iowa Stereographs; Three Dimensional Visions of the Past; Clear Lake: The Earliest Images; and Grant Wood’s Clear Lake Summer.
Download the registration form.
Wednesday Night at the Lab
Time: Wednesdays 6:00 - 7:00 pm
Cost: $5 per session
Experience science and the unknown as you discover the latest UI innovations. Learn about investigations and inventions that are changing the way we look at life and how we lead our lives.
July 2 (*Please note, the date has changed from July 30)
Scientific Glassblowing: Not Your Average Beaker
Location: 161 Chemistry Building
Class Limit: 10 people
Meet Peter Hatch who helps design and fabricate all glass scientific equipment, as well as repair of existing equipment, in the Department of Chemistry. Visit his glass shop to see the equipment and a brief video. In addition to explaining the uniqueness of scientific glassblowing, there will be demonstrations to show the properties of glasses and examples of different glass apparatus.
Instructor: Peter Hatch has been the Chemistry Department’s resident
glassblower since 1977. He is a member of the American Scientific
Glassblowers Association and has frequently demonstrated the basic techniques of scientific glassblowing to new generations of undergraduate chemists in the Inorganic Laboratory course.
July 9
An Introduction to the Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory:
At the Intersection of Pocket Protectors and Boneheads
Location: 2181 Westlawn
Class Limit: 20 people
“Replacement parts” are no longer the sole domain of machinery. Science has made important progress in understanding how the human musculoskeletal system works to keep us functional and responds to trauma, disease and the wear-and-tear of daily life. The national award-winning UI Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratory is a key contributor to research on preventing injury and extending physical functioning. Visit this lab to see and learn about current projects, including total joint replacement (hip, knee, etc.), post-traumatic arthritis, limb trauma, and carpal tunnel syndrome. The tour will demonstrate how this research translates to improvements in our quality of life.
Instructor: Donald D. Anderson, Ph.D. is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering and a Research Engineer in the UI Orthopaedic
Biomechanics Laboratory. He established and directed a new Biomechanics Laboratory at the Allegheny-Singer Research Institute in Pittsburgh, PA and founded a Biomechanics Laboratory at the Minneapolis Sports Medicine Center.
July 16
Medical Instrument Department: Customized Creations
Location: B-002 Med Labs
Class Limit: 15 people
Tour the Medical Instrument Department and see where one-of-a-kind
equipment is developed for the College of Medicine and UI Hospitals. View past and present custom items created at the UI, including heart and brain stents and the lower body negative pressure chamber. The department receives new requests every day, so there’s no telling what will be there! One current project is a formalin mixing system to be used in the new autopsy suite that should be near completion in time for our visit. Learn how
specialized equipment is created from concept and design to final product.
Instructor: Jerry Swails joined the College of Engineering in 1963 as a Lab Assistant and helped mechanical engineering instructors demonstrate machine tools and welders to their students. He then worked in the machine shop as an Engineering, Research, and Development Machinist. In 1978, Jerry transferred to the Medical Instrument Department in the College of Medicine, which he now manages. The eight-person department has 232 years of combined experience.
July 23
FULL - Cytogenetics Lab: Discovering Your Ori“genes” - FULL
Location: W120 General Hospital
Class Limit: 12 people
Technologists with the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Cytogenetics Laboratory will introduce the topic of cytogenetics; what it is and the many purposes of this type of testing. Participants are invited to learn about
chromosomes and karyotyping as well as how a clinical laboratory operates. Look at chromosomes under the microscope and observe a demonstration of how they are identified using the computer imaging system in this lab session.
Instructors: Tim Dunham has worked as a Cytogenetic Laboratory Specialist at the UI Hospitals and Clinics for 2 years. He received his technologist certification through the National Credentialing Agency for Laboratory Personnel in 2007. Heather Major has worked as a Cytogenetic Laboratory Specialist at the UI Hospitals and Clinics for 16 years and received her technologist certification in 1992. Additionally, Heather serves as the prenatal and solid tissue culture Section Coordinator for the Cytogenetics Laboratory.
Download the registration form.
July 30 Glassblowing moved to July 2, see above.
Thinkin’ With Lincoln: An Intergenerational OLLI Day-Trip
Date: August 5, 2008
Time: 8:00am - 8:00pm
Cost: $100 or $175 for two
Minimum of 25 registrants required for the trip to take place.
This summer, OLLI hits the road for a trip to Springfield, Illinois to visit the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Combining scholarship and showmanship, the Library and Museum communicate the unforgettable life and times of Abraham Lincoln through captivating displays, such as the Union Theater—Lincoln’s Eyes presentation, Ghosts of the Library, Mrs. Lincoln’s Attic and Treasures Gallery. Travel with OLLI at Iowa and after a brief overview with museum staff, enjoy a self-guided tour of the museum and library, newly renovated in 2005! Plenty of Docents will be on hand to answer your questions and enhance your experience. OLLI will provide charter bus transportation (movies included!), admission and lunch at the museum Café for all participants. This will be a great opportunity to plan an event with a youngster or grandchild before school starts!
To learn more about Lincoln before the trip, be sure to check out our July 29 Lunch & Learn presentation on Lincoln’s Grandchildren. You can also
contact OLLI at Iowa for a reading list to refresh your Lincoln knowledge!
Download the registration form.
Special Events
None scheduled at this time. Please check back.