Community Classroom Series: Spring and Summer 2010

The William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education, described since its early days as the “citizen’s classroom,” offers the public a variety of short courses—the Community Classroom Series.

Each course costs $50 and meets weekly for two-hour sessions at the Friday Center, UNC-Chapel Hill's premier facility for continuing education. The Friday Center offers free parking, easy access, and comfortable classrooms. Class sizes are limited, so register early. To request a printed brochure, e-mail fridaycenter@unc.edu.

Courses

Organic Gardening for the Southern Garden
Professional Public Speaking: Developing Effective Speaking Skills — This course is full.
Retirement Planning Today™
Authentic Happiness — This course is full.
The Basics+ of Digital Photography — This course is full.
Hollywood Icons and American Culture
Woodstock, Hippies, and Other Enduring Legacies—The Music of the 60s
Henry Clay: Jackson’s Nemesis, Lincoln’s Hero
Write Your Life — This course is full.
Applied Improv: Creativity and Communication
How to Achieve Optimum Health and Wellness
Write Your Life: The Sequel
Applied Improv II: Creativity and Communication
Intermediate Digital Photography

Organic Gardening for the Southern Garden

Wednesdays, 7–9 pm, March 17, 24, 31 and April 7. Course #2636

This course will provide an overview of organic gardening techniques specifically tailored to our local soils and climate. We will discuss what organic and sustainable gardening is and consider the benefits of gardening this way. You will learn techniques to successfully grow vegetables, flowers, grasses, and other ornamentals in harmony with natural systems. Our focus will be on the characteristics and challenges unique to Southern gardens throughout the calendar year.

Ashley Mattison is co-owner of Fifth Season Gardening Company and an avid organic gardener. She has delivered numerous lectures on organic and sustainable gardening and is a former English teacher.

Professional Public Speaking: Developing Effective Speaking Skills

This course is full. If you would like to be placed on the waiting list, please call us (800-845-8640 or 919-962-2643) or fill out the printable registration form and mail or fax it to us.

Wednesdays, 7–9 pm, March 17, 24, 31, and April 7. Course #2637; Enrollment is limited to 15.

This course will address the development of fundamental skills of public speaking, including techniques for handling nervousness, delivery skills, speechwriting, establishing credibility, and organization. All participants will have the opportunity to present at least one speech. Class time will focus on the practice of speech, and everyone will receive constructive feedback and specific suggestions for improvement.

Kathy Maboll received her master’s degree in communication studies from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2001. She directed the Oral Communications Program at UNC for five years, where she focused on assisting students in the development of speech skills. Ms. Maboll is committed to helping students understand and overcome fear of public speaking while they learn effective speechwriting and delivery methods.

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Retirement Planning Today™

This popular course will be offered twice this spring and once in summer:

Wednesdays, 7–9 pm, March 17, 24, 31. Course #2638
Tuesdays, 7–9 pm, April 6, 13, 20. Course #2639
Wednesdays, 7–9 pm, June 2, 9, 16. Course #2648

This course combines essential life planning concepts with more traditional retirement planning strategies. The days of the “normal” retirement are over. Today’s retirees and those retiring in the next generation will face uncertainties and challenges never seen before. We will consider questions such as: How will inflation negatively affect your portfolio and financial goals? Will your pension or Social Security be there for the rest of your life? How will new tax laws impact your retirement income? Do you have a plan to cover the staggering cost of long-term care? Is your estate plan updated to take advantage of current estate tax laws? Are your assets allocated in a manner in which they will last through your life expectancy and support your lifestyle goals? Bring your questions to this exciting and eye-opening class.

James R. Miller is a Certified Financial Planner™ and President of Woodward Financial Advisors, an independent wealth management firm in Chapel Hill. He has taught this course at UNC since 2008 as well as similar financial planning and investment courses at local colleges and universities. His specialties include retirement income planning, investment management techniques, and estate planning.

Authentic Happiness

This course is full. If you would like to be placed on the waiting list, please call us (800-845-8640 or 919-962-2643) or fill out the printable registration form and mail or fax it to us.

Tuesdays, 7–9 pm, April 6, 13, 20, 27. Course #2640

Based on the most popular course ever taught at Harvard, this course investigates the question, “How can we help ourselves and others—individuals, communities, and society—become happier?” The course includes a review of recent experimental results in positive psychology that provide some answers to this question. It also examines how we can promote human flourishing. The main issue for most of us is: Just how good are we willing to have it? This course is presented in a workshop format, with frequent class participation and collaboration.

The course is taught by J.B. (Ben) O’Neal, formerly Distinguished Professor of communications and signal processing at NC State University and currently professor emeritus. O’Neal is a member of the Academy of Outstanding Teachers and recipient of the R.J. Reynolds Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research, and Extension.

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The Basics+ of Digital Photography

This course is full. If you would like to be placed on the waiting list, please call us (800-845-8640 or 919-962-2643) or fill out the printable registration form and mail or fax it to us.

Tuesdays, 7–9 pm, April 6, 13, 20, 27. Course #2641; Enrollment is limited to 22.

This course is ideal for anyone who owns a digital camera (“point and shoot” or DSLR), or is interested in buying or upgrading one. Useful as a refresher course for a basic user, or as an introduction for the novice, this course will have you quickly taking better photos. You will learn to transfer images to a computer, e-mail them, achieve correct exposures, avoid redeye, understand color space and white balance, and perform basic maintenance on your cameras and lenses. You’ll also learn how and when to use “scenic” and “program” modes and the basics of aperture priority, shutter priority, manual modes, depth of field, and ISO. A materials fee of $12 is payable to the instructor for a CD with valuable photography software that will enhance your image taking after the class. Comprised of lectures and Q&A sessions, this is mainly a hands-on class, so bring your camera and its manual and flash, extra fresh batteries, and several memory cards to every class.

Professional photographer Ted Salamone has captured images in six continents. Ted enjoys utilizing and teaching the technical and artistic aspects of digital photography. He photographs architecture, weddings, sports, portraits, and editorial and commercial assignments. Ted also conducts field workshops and is the photography editor for Raleigh Downtowner magazine and its Web site.

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Hollywood Icons and American Culture

Tuesdays, 7–9 pm, April 6, 13, 20, 27. Course #2642

This course will examine the films and lives of four famous film stars: Greta Garbo, Rita Hayworth, Humphrey Bogart, and Dustin Hoffman. Through film clips and discussion, we will consider how these four actors have influenced and reflected our culture.

Kimball King is professor emeritus of English and adjunct professor of dramatic art at UNC-Chapel Hill. King began and co-lectured one of the first film criticism courses in the United States in 1965. His books and articles have focused on American, British, and Irish dramatic art.

Woodstock, Hippies, and Other Enduring Legacies—The Music of the 60s

Wednesdays, 7–9 pm, April 7, 14, 21, 28. Course #2643

Coinciding with the cultural events of the 1960s was an unprecedented popular music revolution. This course will cover the major music groups and look at how music influenced the times and how the times influenced the music. Festivals, fashion, politics, war, the Civil Rights Movement, social change, and the counterculture collided in a way that hasn’t been seen since.

Growing up with the music of the 1960s and 1970s fueled Jim Roberts’ career. His passion for music has led to many pursuits, including high school band director, Nashville studio musician and producer, orchestral musician, Chuck Davis African American Dance Ensemble percussionist, studies in Africa, and teaching drum classes. Presently, Jim is an adjunct percussion faculty member at Elon University.

Henry Clay: Jackson’s Nemesis, Lincoln’s Hero

Mondays, 7–9 pm, April 12, 19, 26, May 3. Course #2644

A giant in nineteenth-century America, the Speaker of the House and three-time presidential candidate Henry Clay was, according to Andrew Jackson, a “profligate demagogue.” On the other hand, a modern biographer admits to finding some of the notable politician’s words quite moving, and for Abraham Lincoln, Clay was nothing less than his “beau ideal of a statesman.” Most Americans have a vague awareness of Henry Clay as “the Great Compromiser” whose efforts helped postpone the Civil War, and as a man who held people enslaved, yet thought the institution of slavery wrong. This course seeks to import a larger awareness of the man, his complexities, his time, his meaning in the US historical experience, his interaction with Andrew Jackson, and how he inspired Abraham Lincoln.

Robert Porter taught history courses at UNC-Chapel Hill from 2001 to 2008. He continues to teach African and Afro-American Studies at Carolina, as he has for the past two decades. He has won numerous teaching awards and is a veteran instructor with the Community Classroom Series.

Write Your Life

This course is full. If you would like to be placed on the waiting list, please call us (800-845-8640 or 919-962-2643) or fill out the printable registration form and mail or fax it to us.

Mondays, 7–9 pm, April 12, 19, 26, May 3. Course #2645; Enrollment is limited to 20.

A famous writer once said, “Listen to your life; all moments are key moments.” In this fun and supportive—yet challenging—class, learn how to draw on the “material” of your life to write and revise whatever you wish to work on, including stories, memoirs, novels, poems, or plays. Working individually, in small groups, and one-on-one with the instructor, take your initial writing and develop and polish it so it is ready for publication. This class is sure to inspire your creativity.

Instructor Richard Krawiec has published numerous books, one of which was nominated for a National Book Award. His young adult biography on Yao Ming was cited as one of the “40 Best” books of 2004 by the Pennsylvania Librarians Association. He has received Creative Writing Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the NC Arts Council. In 2009 he received the Friday Center Excellence in Teaching Award and his poetry book, Breakdown, was a finalist for the Indie Book Awards.

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Applied Improv: Creativity and Communication

Tuesdays, 7–9 pm, April 27, May 4, 11, 18. Course #2646; Enrollment is limited to 22.

Applied Improv uses the principles and techniques of improvisational theater to improve creativity and communication skills in non-theatrical settings. In a safe and playful environment, participants explore and develop their existing talents, overcoming barriers to dynamic communication and full engagement in the creative process. This is not a lecture series, but a laboratory in which you will experiment with new skills and principles and be encouraged to expand your comfort zones. Business and other “real life” applications of course material are discussed.

An improvisational-theater professional for over twenty years, Greg Hohn has taught applied improv at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School since 2000 and in Duke’s Theater Studies Department since 2008. He has also delivered applied improv programs for academic institutions, corporations, and organizations throughout the United States and internationally. He has taught improv to MFA candidates in UNC-Chapel Hill’s drama department and teaches artistic entrepreneurship at UNC-Chapel Hill. Greg has been a member of Transactors Improv since 1989 and has served as its director since 1996.

How to Achieve Optimum Health and Wellness

Tuesdays, 7–9 pm, April 13, 20, 27, May 4. Course #2647

This class will help you develop a personalized health plan that encourages adopting the behaviors necessary to achieve greater health and wellness. The class is designed to help you gain insight into your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellness. We will examine how attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors influence one’s state of health and wellbeing. The class will include modules on meditation, proper breathing, resiliency, guided imagery, a personalized wheel-of-health self-evaluation, and how to get the most from visits to your doctor.

Patricia Connolly is a graduate of the Duke Integrative Medicine Center Health Coaching Program and Fordham University with a master’s degree in social work. She has also taken the Duke Integrative Medicine Stress Reduction Program. She is a Reiki practitioner and currently teaches yoga at the UNC Wellness Center at Meadowmont, the Carolina Preserve at Amberly, and for the Town of Cary.

Write Your Life: The Sequel

Wednesdays, 7–9 pm, June 2, 9, 16, 23. Course #2649; Enrollment limited to 20.

This course is for people who have taken a previous session of Write Your Life, or who have taken at least one writing class, and wish to develop their memoir, novel, or stories for publication. Focus will be on technique and development of whatever it is you are working on. You do not need to have a finished manuscript, but you need to have an idea of what it is you want to write about, and at least ten pages of a draft. This class will be interactive and supportive, stimulating and fun.

Applied Improv II: Creativity and Communication

Tuesdays, 7–9 pm, June 8, 15, 22, 29. Course #2650; Enrollment limited to 22.

In Applied Improv II, you will seek to develop and refine authentically expressive communication styles through improvisational activities, games, and speeches. You will also explore group and individual creativity through improvising. As in the introductory-level course, this is an experiential course with a focus on business and other “real life” applications. It is not intended expressly as an acting or theater course.

Intermediate Digital Photography

Tuesdays, 7–9 pm, June 8, 15, 22, 29. Course #2651; Enrollment is limited to 22.

This course is perfect for anyone who has taken an introductory digital photography course or who already has a basic understanding of aperture, shutter, and ISO settings. This course will move you into advanced amateur status. You will learn when to use aperture priority, shutter priority, or manual modes; in-camera metering; how to set custom functions and interpret histograms; how to “drag” the shutter, clean sensors, and perform custom white balances. We will consider the legal rights of photographers, how to use exposure bracketing, external flash techniques, and the basics of camera raw imagery and composition. A materials fee of $12 is payable to the instructor for a CD with valuable advanced photography software that will enhance image taking after the class. Comprised of lectures and Q&A sessions, this is mainly a hands-on class, so bring your DSLR or advanced “point and shoot,” its manual and flash, extra fresh batteries, and several memory cards to every class.

Professional photographer Ted Salamone has captured images in six continents. Ted enjoys utilizing and teaching the technical and artistic aspects of digital photography. He photographs architecture, weddings, sports, portraits, and editorial and commercial assignments. Ted also conducts field workshops and is photography editor for Raleigh Downtowner magazine and its Web site.

Registration

Each course is $50. The fee covers the cost of instruction and course materials. It does not include refreshments. Payment must accompany registration. Make checks payable to the Friday Center for Continuing Education.

There are four ways to register:

Mail: Print out the registration form and mail it to

Community Classroom Series
Campus Box 1020, The Friday Center
UNC-Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill NC 27599-1020.

Fax: Print out the registration form and fax it to 919-962-5549.

Phone: Call 800-845-8640 or 919-962-2643.

If you have special needs to accommodate a motor or sensory impairment, please indicate your needs on the registration form.

UNC-Chapel Hill uses an alternative to the Social Security number called the Personal ID (PID) to aid in keeping records for students and participants. If you do not have a PID, you will be required to enter your birthdate and gender so that we can assign you a PID. We appreciate your cooperation.

The University of North Carolina maintains a policy of equal educational opportunity.

Cancellation and Refunds

Full refunds will be given to registrants who cancel in writing one week prior to the first class meeting. No refunds will be made after that date. Substitutions are welcome.

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Location

Courses are held at the Friday Center, which offers ample free parking. The Friday Center is located approximately three miles east of the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, just off Highway 54 East (Raleigh Road). The Center is a short distance from Interstate 40 (from Raleigh, I-40 exit 273A; from Greensboro, I-40 exit 273). See Directions to the Friday Center.

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