Join Us at Boom! this Sat. Register Now!

September 27, 2015

Posted by: Karen Long

Categories: Academy Events, Articles of Interest, Community Partner, General News

The Academy helped host Boom!, a day dedicated to the the upside of aging. We sponsored a few booths and took our experts to this roadshow.

Headliners:

Judith Viorst, Best Selling Author, lunchtime speaker, Noon
Ashton Applewhite, Aging Activist, 4 p.m.

Special Guest Stars:

Woody Emlen, Panelist for Lifelong Learning, Board Member, The Academy, a.m.
Patricia Cox, “Write to Save Your Life,” Course Leader, The Academy, p.m.

Aging is Optional, Finding Purpose, Brain Health, Creativity, Lifelong Learning, Encore Movement, Meditation, Conscious Aging, Financial Gerontology, Caring for Caregivers, Life Reimagined, Volunteering/National Service, Social Enterprise, Technology, Embracing Aging, Philanthropy, Cannibus, Entrepreneurship.

Here’s Who We Brought

Woody Emlen, Board Member, organizer of Cutting Edge Research from the Anschutz Campus

Patricia Cox, Course Leader, Write to Save Your Life

Profile: Thoroughly Modern Ellie

August 13, 2015

Posted by: Karen Long

Categories: Articles of Interest, General News, Member Profiles, Speakers/Members in the News

We are so proud to have had Ellie Greenberg serve as Social Science Chair on The Academy’s Curriculum Committee. Ellie has brought us Academy classics like “All Rise! Our Courts” and Steve Bernard’s courses over the past three years.

A life of learning and social change

Printed on: August 05, 2015 from The Villager.

Full article here:
Ellie Greenberg in The Villager

Centennial’s Ellie Greenberg helped organize Martin Luther King’s visit to Littleton in 1964. Photos by Peter Jones

At 82, Centennial’s Ellie Greenberg isn’t done yet

BY PETER JONES
STAFF WRITER

Elinor Greenberg – known as Ellie to her friends – was a strange neighbor when her family built a house in what was then greater Littleton in the late 1950s.

Having received her master’s degree in speech pathology in 1954, she was on the faculties of the University of Colorado and Loretto Heights College at a time when many women were attending the June Cleaver school of stay-at-home moms.

Greenberg and her late husband Manny were also Democrats during a period when the south suburbs were strongly dominated by Republicans.

What’s more, the Greenbergs were outspoken civil-rights activists, even as segregation and white flight to the suburbs were playing out in Arapahoe County.

Last but not least, the family was Jewish.

“One of my motivations for moving out here is I wanted my children to grow up knowing what it is like to be a minority,” Greenberg said. “I felt that was a much better preparation for life.”

As the mother of three continued her career and education for decades, eventually receiving her doctorate in 1981, Greenberg found time to take a leadership role in Littleton’s small, but passionate, civil-rights movement, eventually welcoming an unlikely visit from Martin Luther King Jr.

“My career was in higher education, but it was about creating access to opportunity,” Greenberg said.

Decades later, the activist-educator would travel to Germany’s Dachau concentration camp as part of a high-profile delegation that would be the basis for a local television documentary called Journey for Justice.

Over the years, Greenberg would author nine books, including 2008’s critically popular A Time of Our Own: In Celebration of Women Over Sixty….

Full article here
Ellie Greenberg in The Villager

One-Day University Aug. 12 is FREE

July 15, 2015

Posted by: Karen Long

Categories: Academy Events, Articles of Interest, Featured Courses, General News, Uncategorized

Invite your friends who mayn’t have experienced the learning and community The Academy for Lifelong offers for the FREE One-Day University on Wednesday, Aug. 12 from 10 am-1 pm.

Print an Academy ODU flier here

One-Day University, Course Round-Up, Registration & Breakfast!

Wed., Aug. 12, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

ONE-DAY UNIVERSITY–We like to call it the ODU. This is a fun way to see your friends and get a little taste of what Fall 2015 courses at The Academy look like. And, yup, it’s free. Come to one or more of the 45-minute presentations throughout the day.

10:15 Female Songwriters of a Generation: Joni Mitchell to Bonnie Raitt, Paul Turelli

11:15 Hidden Heroes of the Holocaust, Judy Schwartz

11:15 Bridge: Learn the 2 Most Important Agreements in the 2 Over 1 Bidding Convention, Sally Kneser

12:15 The American Dream: Rumors of its Death Are Greatly Exaggerated, Jim Kneser

COURSE ROUND-UP FOR FALL ‘15. Many of our fall course leaders will be onsite to share details of their classes. This is a great opportunity for more learning with our amazing course leaders, and to help you (and hopefully the scads of friends you invite) to narrow down which classes to take. We’ll have some breakfast vittles to keep your energy up.

REGISTRATION ASSISTANCE! Having trouble printing your registration form? We will have printed forms and friendly helpers if you need assistance completing them. Drop-off registration will also be available.

No Reservations Required! Pick Up a Friend, Come on Down!
8081 E. Orchard Rd. Greenwood Village

Academy hosts own Firework Superstars!

June 28, 2015

Posted by: Karen Long

Categories: Articles of Interest, General News, Member Profiles, Speakers/Members in the News, Uncategorized

Congratulations to newly appointed Colo. Supreme Court Justice Rich Gabriel and Academy Board member Dr. Toni Larson!

Justice Rich Gabriel served as one of the Academy’s speakers in the Academy’s “All Rise! Our Courts” class, most recently in Spring 2015. He usually gave the module regarding civil cases. The course, which has been going on for about five years, features attorneys and judges with first-hand courtroom experience and was designed by the Colorado Bar Association and the Colorado Judicial Institute’s Our Courts program to explain how State and Federal courts actually work—and how judicial procedures help keep the law fair and impartial. Topics have included: The selection and evaluation of federal and state judges, differences between practices followed in criminal and civil cases, bankruptcy basics, divorce and family law, our rapidly changing immigration law, and how Abraham Lincoln’s commitment to equality and liberty transformed our system. For more on Our Courts: http://ourcourtscolorado.org/

Follow the link to the formal announcement on the Colorado Courts webpage: Colo Supreme Court gets new Justice-court

One June 25, 2015, Lt. Governor Joe Garcia declared it “Dr. Toni Larson Day,” for her unrelenting volunteer efforts for the state of Colorado and the National League of Women’s Voters. At the Academy Larson has been sparring on and off with Jim Kneser in some of his Critical Economics courses over the years and hosted last summer’s “Academy Voter Update.” As of July 1, The Academy is thrilled to have her on its Board of Directors.

Dr. Toni Larson served as executive director of Independent Higher Education of Colorado, a nonprofit organization that conducts the government relations work for Colorado College, Regis University, and the University of Denver. Prior to this position she served in several capacities in the League of Women Voters. Currently, her main volunteer activities include the League of Women Voters of the United States (Vice President), Colorado Association of Nonprofit Organizations (co-chair, Public Policy Committee), and homeowners’ association board (President). She has been an affiliated faculty member at Regis University and an adjunct faculty member at the University of Denver. Dr. Larson received a B.A. from Colorado College where she majored in English and minored in Zoology. Her Master’s in Nonprofit Management is from Regis University, and she has a Ph.D. in Higher Education with an emphasis on policy studies from the University of Denver.

If it Ain’t Baroque, Don’t Fix It

April 12, 2015

Posted by: Karen Long

Categories: Articles of Interest, Featured Courses, Member Profiles

While Maps might be her main claim to fame at The Academy, Lorraine spends a lot of time championing Baroque music. Her class, Brilliantly Baroque on Thursdays from 1:00-3:00 PM, Oct. 8 – Nov. 12, 2015, takes on this important musical movement. Over the past 30 years, the Boulder/Denver metro area has become one of the most important centers for the current “Renaissance” of early music.

Six local, world-class musicians who have sung, played, or directed choral and instrumental music of the Renaissance and Baroque periods throughout the USA and Europe will play music and share their experiences with you, including:

-Where and how they found early music manuscripts
-250 years of vocal music: from rich polyphony to harmony
-Musical forms and styles from early Renaissance to late Baroque
-The birth of the orchestra and evolution of musical instruments
-The development of opera from musical drama
-The art and excitement of performing early music.

Here is a Website dedicated to the course:

http://www.lcsherry.org/Baroque_Music/index.html

Lorraine Sherry’s training and experience has been in science, technology, and educational research. However, herpassion in life has always been music – primarily singing – beginning with her first solo in third grade. Although she majored in physics while attending undergraduate and graduate schools, she minored in music at Vassar and took a one-year graduate course in the music of J.S. Bach at M.I.T. from Klaus Liepmann. She studied voice with Albert Van Ackere (formerly of Pro Musica, Brussels), Maria Coffey in Boston, and Rebecca Barker in Florida. At home with her family in New York City, musical training and performance was as valued as higher education. Listening to the Metropolitan Opera performances on the radio was as important as attending church on Sundays. Taking diction training at the Met enabled her to attend the Saturday opera matinees for free. Lorraine sang in school plays and concerts and was selected for Allstate Choir while in high school in Long Island. She was elected president of the Opera Workshop at Vassar. Lorraine has been a member of many choirs including the Gregorian Chant choir at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Poughkeepsie, Vassar Glee Club and Madrigal Group, Radcliffe Choral Society, Masterworks Chorale in Boston, First Presbyterian Church Choir in Winter Haven Florida (choir member & soloist), Boca Magna Cantores in Lakeland Florida (16 voice semi-professional chorus), Central Florida Bach Festival, Central Florida Messiah Chorale, St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral Choir in Denver, Boulder Bach Festival, and Boulder Messiah Chorale. She supported symphonies, choirs, early music societies, and chamber music groups wherever she lived, and she continues to sing with the Boulder Messiah Chorale every Christmas.

Lorraine hails from the east coast (New York, Massachusetts, Florida). She has a B.A. in physics from Vassar, three master’s degrees, and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership & Innovation from the University of Colorado. She was a Senior Research Associate at RMC Research Corporation in Larimer Square until she retired in 2005. She has been a member of The Academy since 2006 and has facilitated courses in cartography, music, and historic garden design. She is a Colorado Master Gardener, has sung with many semi-professional and informal choral societies, and is an avid international traveler. She is the Secretary/Webmaster and Director of the Rocky Mountain Map Society (www.RMmaps.org). Her personal collection of antique maps focuses on the geography of Eastern Europe, Lithuania, and Russia in the 15th to 19th centuries.

Academy Board Member Receives High Honor

April 12, 2015

Posted by: Karen Long

Categories: Articles of Interest, Member Profiles, Speakers/Members in the News

The Academy is proud to say that Board Treasurer Georgi Contiguglia is being honored with the following prestigious award. Congratulations Georgi!

The Dana Crawford and State Honor Award Celebration is Colorado’s premiere statewide historic preservation awards event honoring the individuals and organizations that have made a significant contribution toward preserving Colorado’s historic resources. The evening’s namesake, Dana Crawford, is a preservation pioneer who proved that saving historic buildings makes sense – both culturally and economically.

Starting in 1988, with the State Honor Awards, and adding the Dana Crawford Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation in 1990, Colorado Preservation, Inc. recognizes accomplishments in the area of preservation, rehabilitation, promotion, philanthropy and leadership.

Dana Crawford Award for Excellence in Preservation
2015 Honoree – Georgianna “Georgi” Contiguglia
Presented May 6, 2015 at the History Colorado Center

Colorado Preservation, Inc. will be honoring Georgianna Contiguglia this year with the prestigious Dana Crawford Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation. Georgi’s impressive achievements in historic preservation span 30 years including ten as President and CEO of the Colorado Historical Society, now called History Colorado, and as State Historic Preservation Officer.

Colorado Preservation Inc., invites you to purchase a table so that you and your friends can enjoy this intimate and inspiring gathering of preservation leaders. The Dana Crawford and State Honor Awards event is our premier fundraiser. Individual tickets will be available to the public on April 3rd. For information, call Cindy Nasky, CPI Events & Development Manager at 303.893.4260 (ext. 230) or email [email protected]. We hope to see you for this fun evening!

Academy Finance Expert Makes the ‘WSJ’

February 15, 2015

Posted by: Karen Long

Categories: Articles of Interest, Featured Courses, Speakers/Members in the News

Eileen Sharkey is teaching “Financial Literacy: 21st Century Survival Skills” on Wednesdays at 1 p.m., starting April 1.
She was just featured in the Wall Street Journal. Read full text below, or click on the link here, Sharkey in Wall Street Journal

Europe Might Be No Investing Vacation

European Markets Won’t Benefit From Stimulus Right Away, She Says

Shefali Anand

Feb. 8, 2015 11:01 p.m. ET

With a rebound in Europe’s economies looking unlikely this year, Denver financial adviser Eileen Sharkey has this to say about international investments: Proceed with caution.

The European Central Bank in late January announced plans to pump more than $1 trillion in new money into eurozone economies to help spur growth, similar to what the U.S. Federal Reserve did in the U.S. amid the financial crisis. But it could take years for the flood of money to help some economies and their stock markets, Ms. Sharkey says.

Eileen Sharkey. Photo: Edward DeCroce

Joel Javer. Photo: Edward DeCroce

“Things that are in trouble are generally cheap and attractive, but it may take a while for the dust to settle,” says Ms. Sharkey, co-founder of financial advisers Sharkey, Howes & Javer Inc.

The firm’s investment team is closely monitoring investments in the region, and if there are signs of declines, it would look to cut its international stock allocation by as much as half. Last year, the advisers bought an international fund that hedges against foreign-currency risk and thus loses less value as the U.S. dollar strengthens. “We believe the dollar will continue to get stronger” this year, says Joel Javer, co-founder of the firm.

In this column we feature model portfolios from prominent investment advisers. Ms. Sharkey co-founded the firm in 1990 with Lawrence Howes, as well as Mr. Javer. The firm currently manages around $750 million.

For clients who can handle moderate risk, the firm allocates 12% to developed foreign stocks, which include investments outside Europe such as Japan. If technical trends indicate that their international fund is poised to lose value, they would look to trim it, says Mr. Javer.

Here, the advisers share a model portfolio suitable for clients who can handle moderate risk.

The portfolio’s weighted average expense ratio is 0.56%, and the portfolio was up 12% annually for the five years endedDec. 31, according to Mr. Javer. That was before the firm’s investment-management fee, which is 1% or less of assets under management.

Ms. Anand is markets and finance editor for The Wall Street Journal in India. Email her at [email protected].

Get the ‘Bird’ on the Street from George Ho

February 2, 2015

Posted by: Karen Long

Categories: Articles of Interest, General News, Speakers/Members in the News

See more of George’s bird photos before his class, Making and Sharing End-of-Life Choices on Wednesdays at 1, See Class info here

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Since his retirement two years ago as a practicing physician, George Ho., Jr. is now “For the Birds.”

His spectacular bird photos are on display now through March 2015, at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal.

Blue Grosbeak by George Ho, Jr.

As a rheumatologist with training in hospice and palliative care medicine for 40 years, he celebrates his retirement by teaching his course at The Academy and taking photos.

“I combine my interests in wildlife, photography and hiking into these bird photos,” says Dr. Ho.

He prints them on different types of media: canvas, metal, acrylic and glass. “It adds a dimension in presenting and enjoying them.”

George volunteers at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge where he leads “the bike the refuge” nature program in the Spring and Fall and takes photos of special events at the RMANWR.

American Kestrel by George Ho, Jr.

The Visitor’s Center at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge is open Wednesday through Sunday from 9 am to 4 pm., 6550 Gateway Road, Commerce City, CO 80022. Visit their Website at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/rocky_mountain_arsenal/

IN MEMORIAM: Jane Yoder

December 5, 2014

Posted by: Karen Long

Categories: Articles of Interest, General News, Member Profiles, Uncategorized

by Kathlene Sutton

With Jane Yoder’s recent death, The Academy has lost one of its gentlest souls, one of its most avid learners, and one of its most enthusiastic champions of lifelong learning.

In 2003, after Jane retired from teaching, she plunged into The Academy’s programs with a passion. In her very first term, she enrolled in six Academy courses. Ranging from beginner’s Bridge to Mozart’s The Magic Flute, The Economics of Globalization, The Trial of Socrates, Architecture as Art and Maslow: On Effective Relationships, her classes echoed the unusual breadth and depth of her interests.

Enthralled with those first courses, Jane initiated what was to become The Academy’s first series, Cities of Destiny, based on the book of the same name by renowned historian Arnold Toynbee. Reflecting her twin fascinations with “armchair travel” and the world’s cultural epicenters, the enormously popular series focused on how historic cities have shaped our major civilizations.

For the last decade, Jane continued to participate in four, five or six classes almost every term, recruiting others to join her along the way, including her daughter Connie Renner, an award-winning artist. After Jane and Connie took Sally Kneser’s two-term course on the Impressionists, Connie was inspired to offer Studio Art Basics at The Academy. Jane often had that effect on people–her passions subtly but significantly influencing those around her and moving them to enrich others’ lives as she did.

In at least one way, she has enriched everyone who has attended The Academy: early on, Jane surprised The Academy by becoming its first major donor, when she unexpectedly mailed in a substantial gift. She went on to make her gifts an annual tradition.

Continuing that tradition and honoring her extraordinary devotion to lifelong learning, her family has asked that memorial donations be sent in her name to: The Academy, c/o Karen Long, Executive Director, 3667 S. Newport Way, Denver, CO 80237. Please email [email protected] or call (303) 770-0786 with questions.

Why Is Bernard Osher Important? What’s OLLI?

January 3, 2014

Posted by: Kathlene Sutton

Categories: Articles of Interest

Bernard and Barbro Osher run the Bernard Osher Foundation which has funded over 100 Lifelong Learning Institutes across America from Maine to Hawaii and Alaska. Each provides a distinctive array of non-credit courses and activities specifically developed for seasoned adults aged 50 or older who are interested in learning for the joy of learning. (The Academy welcomes all adults and age does not matter)

Although The Academy does not receive Osher funding, we applaud their efforts to encourage people to get together and learn from each other. Here are their guidelines for organizations that want to become an OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute):

The program must offer a diverse and intellectually-stimulating array of non-credit educational offerings, (courses, lectures, and other special events) in a wide variety of academic disciplines; (YES-We have that)
Program offerings must be specifically developed for seasoned adults; (YES-We have that)
The host institution must demonstrate its strong support of the program and materially contribute to its ongoing development and success. (Of particular concern to the Foundation is the provision of office and classroom space for program operation.); (NO-We don’t have a host institution… and we also do not have the burden of a parent organization)
The program must offer opportunities for volunteer leadership, have a sound organizational structure, and have in place a mechanism to evaluate participant satisfaction with educational offerings; (YES-We have that)
Program offerings must occur in real-time. (YES-We have that)

THREE CHEERS to Bernard and Barbro Osher for their outstanding support of Lifelong Learning. To date they have contributed over $700 million to the Osher Foundation