ILR Course Descriptions - Winter/Spring 2025
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“No Stinking Carrion”: Five Thousand Years of Religion in Scotland
Dates: Wednesdays, Feb. 12-March 5, 2025
Time: 3:00–5:00 p.m.
Location: Thomas 124
Fee: $15 (4-week class)
Presented by: Barbara MacHaffie: Professor Emerita, History and Religion, Marietta College
Description: With the coming of the Protestant Reformation, religious life in Scotland was transformed, including the practice of burial in church buildings. But the whole religious history of Scotland is the story of continual (if less dramatic) transformation. This course will explore Scotland’s evolution from prehistoric henges to Celtic Church, from extraordinary medieval cathedrals and monasteries to decline and Reformation, and finally from Presbyterian ascendency to conflict and division over the last four centuries.
Humans, Germs, and Laws: The Science of Controversial Issues
Dates: Thursdays, Feb. 13–March 6, 2025
Time: 3:00–5:00 p.m.
Location: Thomas 124
Fee: $15 (4-week class)
Presented by: Sara Swisher: Retired; BA Biology/General Physical Sciences; MA Science Education
Description: The De-Evolution of Science seems to be a recurrent theme throughout history from Galileo to modern history. People often reject science because of their beliefs, attitudes, and values. Often science information contradicts existing beliefs because of widespread misinformation. Political forces are powerful contributors to anti-science attitudes. By understanding the reasons for being anti-science, we can possibly understand how to target such sentiments and increase scientific acceptance. Denying evolution, climate change and the importance of vaccinations, to include Covid vaccines, endangers society and even becomes deadly. Democracies depend upon educated citizens who can make informed decisions for the benefits of individual health and wellbeing, as well as society.
The History of Railroads
Dates: Mondays, March 10–April 28, 2025
Time: 3:00–5:00 p.m.
Location: Thomas 124
Fee: $30, (8-week class)
Presented by Jim Moon: Jim has been a model railroader for over 50 years and has studied the history of railroading.
Description: Railroads have played a major role in the development of the country. This course starts with the development of steam power in the early 1800s. The course will focus on the geography of our rail network, the people involved with its inception and growth, the motive power required for railroads and the types of cars used for moving freight. Major focus will be on the people involved including innovative engineers, high financiers, robber barons, just plain crooks, skilled managers, ambitious politicians, labor organizers and leaders. We will deal with the consolidation and emergence of 21st century railroads and their role in our current life. All Aboard!
Hand Sewing
Dates: Tuesdays, March 11-April 1, 2025
Time: 1:00–3:00 p.m.
Location: Thomas 123 (Limit of 15)
Fee: $15, (4-week class) Fee for sewing kit $15
Presented by Caroline Frey Mounier-Vehier, Fabric Artist
Description: Caroline Frey Mounier-Vehier has been sewing and creating with her hands (eyes and brain) her whole life. Taught to sew by her mother, she is a “multi medium” artist with fabric being her main medium. Caroline has shared her passion by teaching small groups and demonstrating her art in a variety of countries. Join us in learning more hand-sewing techniques, whether you are a beginner or have taken Caroline’s previous class.
The New Sexual and Gender Revolution
Dates: Wednesdays, March 12–April 2, 2025
Time: 3:00–5:00 p.m.
Location: Thomas 124
Fee: $15, (4-week class)
Presented by Joy Cowdery, EdD., Professor Emeritus Diversity Education
Description: Intersexuality, Pan-sexuality, and Non-binary are terms that the established generations don’t necessarily understand or with which they would necessarily agree. The new Gender and Sexual Revolution is a generational difference in terms of defining one’s self. One in six Gen Z individuals identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community. This identification invokes gender questions in formal policies, dress codes, bathrooms, benefits and bureaucratic documents. This course will dive into attaining a greater understanding of how gender and sexuality are currently being defined and lived.
Why Not, Lafayette?
Dates: Thursdays, March 13-April 3, 2025
Time: 3:00–5:00 p.m.
Location: Thomas 124, Hybrid, in-person and Zoom; April 24 only will be in Thomas 209
Fee: $15, (4-week class)
Presented by Jann K. Adams, Local Historian, Author of Behind the Doors of Historic Marietta, and German Marietta and Washington County.
Description: August 16, 2024 saw the kick off a monumental bicentennial celebration of the final U.S. tour of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. The bicentennial tour lands in Marietta on May 23, 2025. To thoroughly enjoy this celebration, this course will introduce participants to the man himself, who had fought alongside many of our Revolutionary War officers that settled Marietta. To the Marquis de Lafayette, anything was possible. “Cur non?” or “Why not?” was more than the philosophy on his family crest; his life’s work as an abolitionist and feminist led him to fight in both the American and French Revolutions. Participants will learn the significance of his achievements, and why he’s still relevant in 2025.
It Happened Here: The American Revolution in Ohio
Dates: Thursdays, April 10–May 1, 2025
Time: 3:00–5:00 p.m.
Location: Thomas 124
Fee: $15 (4-week class)
Presented by Gary Williams, local historian and author.
Description: The 250th anniversary of the beginning of the American Revolution will be on April 19, and we were part of the history of the era. Author Gary S. Williams, who has written six books on early Ohio history, will discuss events in Ohio during this conflict. While federal troops were only briefly stationed within the state’s current borders, Ohio was a battlefield that was bitterly fought over by American soldiers and settlers and several Native American tribes who were supported by the British. While they had few major victories, the Americans were able to persevere and stake a claim to the western frontier
Living the Questions: A Contemporary Introduction to Ethics
Dates: Fridays, March 14-May 2, 2025
Time: 3:00–5:00 p.m.
Location: Thomas 124, Hybrid, in-person and Zoom; April 4 only will be in Thomas 113
Fee: $30 (8-week class) Book required but not provided: Ethics: A Contemporary Introduction (3rd edition)
Presented by Lawrence J. McKenzie, Adjunct Faculty Instructor at WVUP. Lawrence holds a master’s degree in Theology and Ethics
Description: This course invites participants to examine pressing ethical questions and develop a robust understanding of moral philosophy through Harry Gensler’s Ethics: A Contemporary Introduction (3rd edition). With a focus on the Golden Rule, we will explore this timeless secular (and sacred) principle that interacts with various ethical theories, including utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics. Through lively discussions, case studies, and critical reflection, we will uncover the relevance of ethical reasoning in today’s complex world. By “living the questions,” we will learn to approach moral dilemmas thoughtfully and apply ethical insights to both private, public, and global challenges and decisionmaking. Participants will leave with a well-rounded ethical foundation applicable to many aspects of life and future studies.
Microbes Within You and Without You (with apologies to George Harrison)
Dates: Tuesdays, April 8-April 29, 2025
Time: 3:00–5:00 p.m.
Location: Thomas 124
Fee: $15, (4-week class)
Presented by Steven Spilatro, PhD., Professor Emeritus of Biology at Marietta College. Areas of expertise: Microbiology, Cell Biology, Immunology
Description: Unseen microbes, bacteria and protists, permeate the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans and ground where they play key roles in geological and ecological processes. Like all animals, humans are “meta-organisms” living symbiotically with trillions of microbial denizens on the skin and throughout the digestive tract. And yet, even more abundant are viruses, minute biological machines that can invade cells of all types. In this course we will explore the basic biology of these different microbes, how they shape the world around us, and their roles in both human health and illness.
French Director Agnes Varda: A Cinematic Journey
Dates: Wednesdays, April 9-April 30, 2025
Time: 3:00–5:00 p.m.
Location: Thomas 124
Fee: $15, (4-week class)
Presented by Dave Cress, PhD., Retired Physicist and Engineering Professor.
Description: This course delves into the unique cinematic style and social consciousness of Varda, a major French feminist director, through four key films: Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Vagabond (1985), Jacquot de Nantes (1991), and The Gleaners and I (2000). Known for blending documentary and narrative techniques, Varda’s work explores themes of femininity, mortality, freedom, and memory, while celebrating marginalized voices. We’ll discuss her films’ visual and narrative innovations and think about her use of cinema as personal reflection.