Check out the wonderful people who are involved with the Academy: OUR SPRING 2009 COURSE FACILITATORS

(Listed alphabetically)

For over 25 years, Lin Anderson (Reimagining History's Turning Points) was one of the top commercial real estate developers in Denver.   She was the first woman in Denver to be honored as the Top Commercial Real Estate Broker of the year.  A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Denver with a Masters in Social Work, her interests include outdoor adventures, travel, bridge, English literature and history – particularly that influenced by Napoleon Bonaparte.  According to Lin, Napoleon was a gambler for kicks, a poet and dreamer whose domineering personality, insatiable need for conquest and vulgar adventures controlled Europe and the world for 20 years.  Lin’s considerable research and spirited style will make for an entertaining discussion of Napoleon’s missed opportunities.  What if he had won at Waterloo?  Parlez-vous francais?

Since 2000, John Bell (The Calvinist Work Ethic) has been the head Pastor at Wellshire Presbyterian Church where the Academy holds classes.  Prior to that he served churches in Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi.  His formal education includes a degree from Wake Forest University in economics, a Master of Divinity from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, and a Doctor of Ministry from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.  He has led numerous educational trips to the Middle East and other locations.

In addition to his administrative and pastoral duties, John loves to plan worship, preach and teach. In recent years, he has been very active in Jewish-Presbyterian dialogue. He has also been involved with Habitat for Humanity.  He enjoys all sports, art, reading and travel. Three years ago, he co-founded and continues to lead a local chapter for the Adult Congenital Heart Association, to which he gladly gives a good portion of his time.

George Blake and his daughter, Susan Blake-Smith (Reimagining History's Turning Points) are early members of The Academy who spent 25 years living in Mexico City, making them uniquely qualified to lead a discussion about the impact of the Spanish Conqusitadors.   George has degrees in business and in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota and a degree in international business from Thunderbird School of Global Management.  During his career, he held a number of executive management positions and was active as President of the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico.   A lifelong learner and an adventurous traveler, George has seen six of the modern Seven Wonders of the World and taken post-graduate courses at both Harvard and Cambridge.  He has been published in the Harvard Business Review and edited a book entitled Business Mexico.    Susan has a BFA in journalism from SMU and enjoyed a successful career in marketing and sales in the travel industry. She has served on several non-profit boards in Denver and chaired many fundraisers over the years.   She remembers scrambling up the Pyramid of the Sun on grade school field trips and looks forward to imagining how history (particularly US history) might have been different had Hernán Cortez not defeated the mighty Aztecs.

Gil Boggs (Ballet Live!) began his dance career with the Atlanta Ballet. He joined American Ballet Theater in New York in 1982 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1991. Boggs was a member of the company for 17 years. Boggs also performed with the Twyla Tharp Dance Company, Baryshnikov and Company, Nureyev and Friends, and made several guest appearances around the world. During his career with ABT, he was recognized as both an accomplished virtuoso and one of the company’s most popular performers. Throughout his career, Boggs has worked with such noted choreographers as Agnes de Mille, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Paul Taylor, Mark Morris, Jerome Robbins and Merce Cunningham and has an extensive performance repertoire of both classical and contemporary works. He has staged ballets for ABT, Twyla Tharp and Royal Birmingham Ballet in England.

Ted Borrillo (Making Poetry Part of Your Life) is a retired attorney. He was Chief Deputy District Attorney in Denver, taught criminal procedure and constitutional law at the DU Law School, and was a defense counsel in his private practice of law.  He has had an abiding interest in the criminal justice system resulting from his interest in the Bruno Hauptmann trial and his execution for the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby.  Hauptmann lived in the Bronx not far from Ted’s home. Ted has visited Flemington, New Jersey, the site of the trial, the cell where Hauptmann was kept, and has spoken with David Wilentz, the prosecutor of Hauptmann. He has taught at the Colorado Police Academy and at the National College of District Attorneys in Houston.

Bennie Bub (Brain Games: Improve Your Mind) is a South African neurosurgeon who is board certified in three different specialties on three continents.  His teaching career began when, as a medical student, he taught physics at a technical college in return for free car maintenance courses.  After receiving his MD at the University of Cape Town he became a general surgeon gaining his FRCS (Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons) in the UK.  Having been captivated by the complexities of the brain, he now began his neurosurgical studies in London at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases and Epilepsy.  Thereafter he became a Teaching and Research Fellow at Harvard College as well as a resident in the Harvard Neurosurgical Service at the Boston City and Massachusetts General Hospitals.  Concurrently, he studied violin performance in the Boston Conservatory of Music under Reuben Gregorian.  This Boston sojourn was followed by completion of his neurosurgical certification at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town.  Then began his years of busy neurosurgical private practice simultaneously teaching as Senior Lecturer in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Cape Town.  During this period he founded the first multidisciplinary clinic in South Africa for the management of intractable pain.  Immigration to the USA in 1976 was followed by training and board certification in Anesthesiology.  He then joined a practice in Denver from which he retired after more than 20 years.  In the early nineties he was founder and CEO of a successful database company, which provided credentialing of physicians for health insurance companies.  Since retirement he has indulged in his love of music, travel and voracious reading, all the while striving to stay au currant with the neurosciences.

Academy member, Bob Coleman, (Reimagining History's Turning Points) will be facilitating our discussion on the What Ifs of the Civil War.  What if the “lost order” hadn’t been lost?  What if the Emancipation Proclamation had not been signed?  Bob has a finance degree from USC and has done postgraduate work at Stanford, Purdue and Northwestern.  He spent 25 years with RR Donnelley & Sons, a major commercial printer and was a Sr. VP Sales in three different product groups.  During his career, he estimates he traveled over 3.5mm miles and visited 26 countries.  In addition to numerous charitable and civic activities, Bob is a founder of Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch.  Bob has served as President of University of Southern California’s Alumni Association, chaired their Homecoming and has fond memories of being on their national championship baseball team prior to playing professional baseball for three years.  Those who know Bob have no doubt he will “hit one out of the park” as an Academy discussion leader as well.

Wick Downing (From Bright Idea to a Novel: One Writer's Approach) is a lawyer-novelist.  Ten of his novels have been published, in three genres: suspense fiction, courtroom drama, and young reader.  Many have won awards, others have been runners-up for awards.  All have been well-received, but none made piles of money.  The first one (THE PLAYER, suspense fiction, Dutton & Co.) was published in 1973; the last one (THE TRIALS OF KATE HOPE, young reader, Houghton Mifflin Co.) in 2008.  Wick has been “in the business” long enough to know that novel writing: perhaps story-telling: is first and foremost a craft; and that like most crafts, it can be taught.

A career public school teacher, Sherma Erholm (The Persian Puzzle & Modern Iran) holds a bachelor's degree in speech and music, and a master's in communication theory and psychology.   She now enjoys going outside her fields of expertise to research and facilitate discussions in widely varying subjects,  e.g., futurism, China, evolution, the U.N., and others.  A desire to gain and share an understanding of Iran/Persia,   its once rich civilization, and the present love/hate feelings regarding  the U.S. has prompted the choice of this subject.

Abe Flexer (The High Cost of American Poverty) escaped from New England to Colorado in the late 1960s and never left for more than a few weeks at a time.  Trained as a microbiologist, he began his professional life studying sexual behavior in the fungi.  After retiring from a career of teaching and administration at the University of Colorado, Boulder, he and his wife Bobbie (retired from a teaching and research career, also at CU Boulder) began to travel and to take classes at the Academy.  These classes stimulated a latent interest in economics (which he sees a branch of biology), particularly issues of urban poverty in the US.

A teacher, scholar, and lover of English literature, Irene Gorak (Sleuthing Swedish Detective Fiction) taught English to British high school students and later, as an adjunct professor, courses on Gothic, women’s literature, and detective fiction at DU.  She has a PhD in nineteenth-century literature from UCLA.

Trumpeter Alan Hood (From Musical Concept to CD) hails from the small upstate New York town of Pumpkin Hook and has been performing music for over 30 years.  Mr. Hood toured the world with the Phil Collins Big Band, appearing at the Montreux and North Sea Jazz Festivals and New York City's prestigious Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.  He is among featured soloists on the band's live compact disc recording "A Hot Night in Paris," on the Atlantic jazz label. Appearing with the orchestras of Woody Herman, Glenn Miller and Harry James, and performing on stage with Ray Charles, Doc Severinsen, Natalie Cole, Manhattan Transfer, Arturo Sandoval, the Richie Cole Alto Madness Orchestra, Jon Faddis, Conte Candoli, Clark Terry and Wynton Marsalis, to name just a few, has rewarded Alan with an array of irreplaceable memories and a well spring of professional experience.

Dividing his career between performing and teaching full time at the University of Denver 's Lamont School of Music as Associate Professor of Trumpet, Al directs the Lamont Jazz Ensemble and performs extensively with the faculty brass quintet, Aries, and the faculty jazz combo, The Climb.

Devin Patrick Hughes (Conversations with a Conductor) was recently appointed Music Director of the Niwot Timberline Symphony Orchestra and is currently pursuing an Artist’s Diploma at the Lamont School of Music in Denver, where he is the Assistant Conductor of the Lamont Symphony Orchestra.  He also leads the Denver Chamber Players, with whom he recently performed a fully staged version of Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale with a libretto by Kurt Vonnegut.  In Ithaca, New York he founded the Ithaca Chamber Players, was Music Director of the Ithaca Sinfonietta, and conducted Kulmusik, a contemporary chamber ensemble performing works of many living composers including Christopher Theofanidis, Jennifer Higdon, and John Harbison. While pursuing his Masters degree in orchestral conducting at Ithaca College he also conducted in the annual Cornell University production of the Messiah, and premiered In the Garden of Eden, a ballet by Naomi Williams, along with two new works by Jesse Clark: his Cello Concerto and his controversial work entitled Free Weight Fantastique.

Devin was also Assistant Conductor of the Muncie Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Ball State University Summer Symphony, Conductor of the annual opera production and was Associate Conductor of the East Central Indiana Youth Orchestra. He has conducted orchestras such as the Rochester Philharmonic, the Winnipeg Symphony, the Des Moines Symphony, and the Green Bay Symphony.

Devin is originally from Springfield, Illinois and has studied with Gustav Meier, Robert Spano, Larry Rachleff, Kurt Masur, Bridget-Michaele Reischl, Jeffrey Grogan, Michael Morgan, and Lawrence Leighton Smith.
 
To learn more about Devin, visit his web site: www.devinpatrickhughes.com

Holly Inglis (The Labyrinth: A Talk & a Walk) is a recorded Quaker pastor with a masters in divinity from Earlham School of Religion.  She is a certified educator in the Presbyterian Church and a certified labyrinth facilitator.  She has been a professional Christian educator for over 20 years.  She enjoys fishing, reading mystery novels, and collecting catalogs.  She is currently enrolled in a doctoral program focusing on integrating brain research with the life of the church.

Jim Kneser, (Macroeconomics Made Easy) in his tenth year of leading economics classes as a volunteer, has led over 40 classes with over 2,000 class members.  Kneser has an undergraduate degree in economics from Ripon College and an MBA in finance from the Wharton School.  He is also a CPA and worked in private equity specializing in mergers, acquisitions, speculative markets, and corporate finance.

Bridge nut and art groupie Sally Kneser (Beginning Bridge, Continued, and Computer Tips) is always ready to learn something new and help teach others. “I love to learn, and it’s so much more fun with friends around.” Sally is a Life Master in bridge and enjoys explaining the basics to others. As the Academy’s Director, Sally tackles operational and tactical issues in running the nonprofit. While volunteering with the Junior League, Sally chaired several committees, including the Facilitators. When not enjoying herself at the bridge table, she attends two book clubs and stops to smell roses in her gardens.

Bill Korstad (World Poverty: The Bottom Billion) is a software entrepreneur from Denver who spent three years as a volunteer for the International Executive Service Corps (IESC) on USAID-funded economic development projects in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and North Africa.  As a member of the Rotary Club of Denver, he recently traveled to the Congo (DRC) on a humanitarian project.  These experiences inspired further study on the subject both independently and in classroom settings.  He has taught three Cities & Regions classes: Congo, Romania, and Morocco.

David Kuria knows life in slums – he has lived in them on his own since age 13. Now an architect, David is the first in Kenya to successfully build hygienic sanitation facilities in informal settlements. He engages poor communities in toilet design and construction. Through dues collection and innovative financing schemes with funding partners, facilities then operate as profitable ventures for urban poor and local businesspeople. Not only is David transforming public health for the urban poor, but his work also represents a shift towards collaboration for development between slum communities, city authorities, and the business sector.

Dan Lynch (Religious Liberty & the Constitution) wrote the book: Our fading religious liberties: Government using religion.   It was written because of the increasingly dangerous alliance between government and religion.  As a lawyer who has handled a number religion/state cases, Lynch became fascinated with the subject.  His thesis is that the Constitution has created a system in which all governments are powerless as to religion.  Unlike some separationists, Lynch argues that the best defense of religious liberty is not Jefferson's mantra about "separation of church and state," but the fact that the Constitution expressly denies all power as to religon to the government.

When Jan Marino (Finding Your Writer's Voice) was eight years old, she decided to read every one of her father’s set of Harvard Classics starting with the Brothers Grimm.  However she was concerned for Hansel and Gretel, the Seven Dwarfs and many others and so she decided to write her own endings—happy ones.  Since Snow White didn’t invite the dwarfs to her wedding, Marino did—and they danced the night away.  She could do that for any story.  Except one.  Her first book Eighty-Eight Steps to September was about the death of her brother Robbie.  She was eight and her brother was twelve.  Determined never to forget him, she wrote poems and short stories about him   But it wasn’t until she completed the book that she came to accept the loss of him.

While not all of her books are autobiographical, each one of them has a little bit of her past in them.  Her books, The Day that Elvis Came to Town, Like Some Kind of Hero, For the Love of Pete, Searching for Atticus, I, Elizabeth, Write Me a Happy Ending, and The Mona Lisa of Salem Street all contain aspects of Marino’s life.

“I love to write, to imagine, and to create characters” Marino says.    “Yes, there are days of frustration.  Days when I stare at the lifeless computer screen.  Days when my characters refuse to talk to me.  But give up?  Never.  I cajole.  I plead and beg until I hear their voices.  And when my computer screen finally comes alive, I am beyond happy.”

Jan taught creative writing for several years at Long Island University both at the Southampton, New York campus and the Brookville, New York campus.  She has presented workshops for the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, the Writer’s Voice, the Hofstra Writer’s Conference, the Barbara Bush Literacy Council, Nassau Community College, Rutgers University, etc.  She has been a scholar at the Writers Conferences of Bread Loaf, Bennington, and Long Island University.      Although Jan has written for newspapers her main body of published work is in the field of young adult and children’s literature.  She is skilled at using vivid pictures to make complex, subtle issues concrete for 8 to 12-year-old readers.

Len Marino (Cinema: The Early Years) was born in Boston, MA in a conveniently forgotten year.  He was an art major and worked for an advertising agency for 20 years, followed by work for a corporation in international marketing.  His interest in film started when he was about 5.  His mother owned a dress shop located right next to a theater.  He would come home, go to the shop, and the theater became his babysitter.  His uncle worked for Keystone camera and projector so Len showed old comic films.  Len has taught the Cinema class previously in New York and in Colorado.

Lois Martin (Experts & Entertainers) came to Denver by way of Philadelphia and Nebraska. She was a major in journalism at the University of Nebraska, before she moved to Pennsylvania while her husband was in medical school. She has been editor of internal publications for Campbell Soup Co. and Leeds and Northrup, both in the East. After the arrival of her four children, she founded the Aurora Sun Newspaper where she worked for 20 years as publisher. She was founding moderator of the Aurora Hospital Assn., President of the Aurora Hospital District, Business Person of the Year for the Aurora Chamber of Commerce, and elected to the Benson Hall of Fame for Community Leadership.

Larry Matten  (Putting Your House in Order, Chess for Beginners) started teaching science when he turned 21.  Most of his teaching experience was as a Professor at Southern Illinois University.  He has taught over 10,000 students in his large general biology and general botany courses.  He was major advisor for 5 Ph.D.’s and 15 Master’s students.  His area of interest has been on early land plants.  Dr. Matten has published extensively, received numerous grants, been the president of his national professional organization, is a past editor of the international journal Palaeontographica, and has had two species of fossils named in his honor.  He retired from academia after the death of his wife of 36 years and changed careers.  He received his law degree in 2000, passed the bar and went into private practice as an Elder Law Attorney in the firm of Solem, Mack & Steinhoff, P.C.  His practice has specialized on estate planning that includes: powers of attorney, guardianships, conservatorships, wills, trusts, and probate.  He also represented clients having Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security issues. Dr. Matten is a trained mediator/arbitrator and is currently doing arbitrations for the Better Business Bureau.  He has recently retired from the practice of law and has returned to his first love, teaching.

Robin McNeil (Catholic Mass—Vehicle for Composers) began his study of piano at DePauw University at the age of four, taking lessons with Irene Soltas. He has a Bachelor of Music in Perform­ance from Indiana University and a Master of Music in Performance from the University of Illinois. He began his teaching career at the University of Illinois and then went to the University of South Dakota where he was Chairman of the Piano Department.

He has performed over three hundred concerts throughout the United States. Mr. McNeil has written many musicology book reviews for Choice magazine of the American Library Asso­ciation and Publisher’s Weekly, in addition to being an experienced music critic for newspapers. He is also a published poet, and the Denver composer, David Mullikin, has used his poems for art song texts.

In the past, Mr. McNeil has been thoroughly involved in arts management as the Executive Director of the Fine Arts Center of Clinton (Illinois), State Treasurer of the Association of Illinois Arts Agencies, and member of the Long Range Planning Committee of the Central Illinois Cultural Affairs Consortium. Mr. McNeil has been the Executive Director of the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra and has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra Foundation

Outside the sphere of music, Robin has raced Alfa Romeo and Ferrari automobiles and flown WW II vintage aircraft. He is a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

Mr. McNeil now lives with his wife in Littleton where he teaches privately and continues to do research on the French composer, Théodore Gouvy. Mr. McNeil is President of the Piano Arts Association,  and an Honorary Member of the Institut Théodore Gouvy of Hombourg-Haut, France.

A man for all seasons, Keith Meagher (Aesthetics of Chinese Arts), one of the Academy’s founders, has special interests centering on the connection between culture and history and has facilitated courses in Complexity, Modern Philosophy, Clash of Cultures and Religious Fundamentalism. An avid reader and interested observer of the Arts, Keith loves delving deeply behind the surface and finding ways to encourage fellow students to do the same. He looks forward to hearing the thoughts of others as the beauty of the Chinese Arts are explored.

Jon Medved, (Reimagining History's Turning Points) whose father stormed the beach at Normandy, will take an incisive look at June 6, 1944 and what might have happened if D Day had failed. Few would argue that the events of that fateful day determined the ideological path Western Europe would follow for the next half-century. An expert on the details of D Day (as well as many other historical turning points), Jon has degrees from Georgetown University and Northwestern University and was president and CEO of Current, Inc., Walter Drake, Inc. and Chef’s Catalog in Colorado Springs.  He has served on numerous corporate and civic boards and is a popular visiting lecturer at universities as well as a panelist on the Brookings Institute Postal Forum.  Jon’s passion for history and penchant for good-natured debate make him an ideal facilitator for this discussion

Bob Mendes (Battle of Britain: How Hitler Lost WWII) has a BS in Petroleum Engineering and spent 35 years working for oil companies around the world.  Along the way, Bob acquired an interest in military history, and has done courses at The Academy on the Civil War.  While living and working in England, Bob came across several interesting stories, places and events relating to the Battle of Britain, and these experiences have been incorporated into the course he is giving on this epochal event in our history.

Walt Meyer (Islam from Muhammad to Osama) is a retired “technocrat”, having spent 22 years in the weather field of the US Air Force and almost 20 years as a program manager for a defense contractor. He has been married to his wife, Karyl for 44 years and have three grown children and four grandchildren.

Walt’s interest in Islam stems from the post 9/11 realization that those in the West have little understanding of the Muslim faith, contributing to many false characterizations of the Muslim people. Shortly after 9/11 he attended a workshop on Islam presented by Jim Gonia, Pastor at Atonement Lutheran Church in Denver. He had an excellent background on the subject, having served in Madagascar among the Muslim people. Walt has since done considerable reading on the subject and have presented a series of classes on Islam to his church on two occasions. He feels that this subject is of vital importance today.

Walt has a BS in Chemistry from Capital University, a PhD in Atmospheric Science from the University of Washington, and he is a graduate of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and the Minnesota Management Academy. He has served on many boards and task forces within the Lutheran Church and he is a member of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, sponsored by the Graduate Theological Union of the University of California at Berkeley.

Walt served as Adjunct Professor of Meteorology at Saint Louis University for one year, has taught numerous Bible study classes, and has found teaching to be one of his passions.

In 2000, Jim Mingle (The Struggle for Europe: 1945-1989) retired after a career as director of a non-profit professional association for higher education administrators..  He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in history; and a PhD in higher education administration.   Jim has taught previous courses for the academy in literature and poetry, including the popular “Literary Walks in Great Britain.”   He is an avid outdoorsman, a trip leader for the Sierra Club;and for the past several years has been working steadily toward his goal of walking the length of Great Britain.

Anne O’Connor (Ballet Live!) is the Director of the Education and Outreach Department at Colorado Ballet. Now in its 10th anniversary season, the Department has reached over 500,000 students, teachers, families, people with disabilities and lifelong learners in more than 23 Colorado counties. Anne’s background is in Secondary Education and Literature, and she currently sits on the Denver Public Schools Arts Resource Council, the Scientific and Cultural Collaborative, the Denver Quality Afterschool Coalition, the Colorado Dance Alliance, the Colorado Cultural Alliance, and the Planning and Curriculum Committees for Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy, due to open in Southwest Denver in Fall 2009.

Always eager and interested to learn more about European art, especially painting of the Renaissance period, Laura Pardee (Art of the Northern Renaissance) regularly visits museums and galleries in Europe and the United States.  She was a French language and literature major in college and took several art history courses as well.  She served as a docent at Winterthur Museum in Delaware before moving to Denver.

Mark A. Plummer (A 21st Century Science Book Club) has a keen interest in keeping up with new advancements in all areas of science.  He feels that reading books/articles and discussing them with a group is the best way to accomplish this goal.  Mark is a semi retired Ph.D. chemical engineer with a strong background in math, chemistry and physics.  Currently, he has a company specializing in computational chemistry and focusing on sulfur and biological problems.

Facilitator Greg Raih (Reimagining History's Turning Points) recently retired from an impressive 27-year career as a partner at public accounting firms Arthur Andersen and KPMG where he provided accounting and financial reporting services to some of the state’s largest companies in the cable, utility, energy, manufacturing and mining industries.  A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Greg is an avid sports enthusiast.  He has played many of the world’s best golf courses and expects to continue that pursuit.   Greg will lead our discussion of  What If Pizarro Had Not Found Potatoes in Peru?  In this exploration of the lowly tuber and its roots in history, we’ll ask such varied questions as: without the discovery of the potato, would Spain have become such a vast imperial empire, would Frederick the Great’s Prussia have survived the Seven Years War and how different would the social landscapes of the United States, Canada and Australia have been without an Irish potato famine?  Greg’s choice of topics reflects his sense of humor and wide-ranging academic curiosity… a discussion sure to provide food for thought.

Sharon Rouse, (Watercolor Studio --Novices & Old Hands) a retired art teacher, has taught adult watercolor and sketchbook classes and presented short watercolor workshops.  She uses her sketchbooks and  journals to record ideas for future paintings.  Her work has been accepted into various shows and is in private collections.  In addition to her art, she is a docent at the Denver Art Museum and a supervisor for art student teachers at Metropolitan State College

John Rupainis (Machiavelli on Statesmanship) is a retired clinical social worker with a lifelong interest in the humanities. He has taught adult classes on Montaigne, Lincoln and the Civil War, Aristotle’s Ethics, the history of philosophy, political philosophy, the life and thought of Machiavelli, and the Middle Ages.  John’s lifelong interest in history and philosophy keeps him coming back to lead classes in these subjects. “There is,” he explains, “always something new to learn by talking about history and philosophy with others.”

Lorraine Sherry's (Experts & Entertainers) previous careers included radar systems analysis for a government not-for-profit corporation in Bedford MA, and research and evaluation of educational technology grants for a private research company in Denver. Since she retired in 2005, she has pursued her "true loves" of choral performance, perennial gardening, world travel, and collecting antique maps. She has taught a course in "World Gardens as an Art Form" and written two City of Westminster grants to beautify the public areas of her townhome subdivision. Her personal website is located at http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~lsherry

Paulette Wasserstein (Contemporary American Short Stories) has always loved sharing “a good read.”  Her career in public education, teaching high school English, afforded her the endless opportunities to open student thinking by way of the printed word.  In the early 1990’s after many wonderful years of teaching reading and writing at Cherry Creek High School and adult education at the U of P departments of Communication and Masters of Education, Paulette was inspired to contribute to education on state and national levels.  With a PHD in Educational Leadership, she was contracted to work as an independent consultant with many school districts and administrators to create challenging curricula and to provide teacher training K-12 to raise literacy levels for students.

Steve Werner currently serves as Executive Director for Water for People, an international nonprofit organization based in Denver, Colorado, whose mission is to assist people in developing nations gain access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation. Water for People was started by the American Water Works Association in 1991 and it is the charity of choice for the North American water industry. As executive director, Werner leads an organization that conducts programs in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Werner also has worked for three of the largest and most successful nonprofit organizations in the United States: the American Cancer Society, CARE, and Habitat for Humanity International.

Werner has traveled to many developing nations around the world through his participation in the Peace Corps, the Kellogg National Fellowship Program, and the Salzburg Seminar. He has served as chairman of the board for the National Peace Corps Association and held volunteer leadership positions with several international organizations. Werner has firsthand experiences concerning the importance of safe drinking water. As young adults, he and his wife, Patti, were Peace Corps volunteers in South Korea. "We worked in a tuberculosis control program and saw a lot of people who were sick because of the water. We also had to pump water for all our personal use and consumption. Those experiences strengthened my view of the importance of access to clean, safe water."

Joey Wishnia (Shakespeare: Cues & Clues) has been an actor and director for over 60 years. He made his stage debut at the age of 5 singing anti-waste songs during the Second World War and he has continued to act all of his life, having performed on three continents over his lifetime.  He has performed in London, England and off- and off-off-Broadway in New York City as well as many Southern African countries including South Africa (his land of birth), Zimbabwe, Zambia, Lesotho, the Transkei, and Zululand.
Joey’s love of Shakespeare began in School and he has acted/directed 19 Shakespeare plays.  He obtained a Teacher’s diploma in Speech and Drama from Trinity College, London and has appeared in films, television, cabaret and in the golden years, did much radio.

Jacquelyn Wonder (How Memory Works) has been fascinated by memory all her life winning a prestigious position with an institute after remembering the names of 40 trustees on first meeting. She is collaborating with PBS on memory programs and teaches about her research for enhancing memory.

A Denver native, she received her BA, MA and MBA from CU and taught organizational communications there. She received her PhD from DU and coordinated the creativity in business portion of the Daniels Business Center. Other teaching and consulting assignments include: Navajo Community College, The Swedish Trade Council, Management Centre Europe, South Africa’s Creativity institute, NITA (National Institute Trial Advocacy) Lucent, Qwest, Coors, City Bank and Brooke Army Medical Center.  She co-authored Whole Brain Thinking (William Morrow) and wrote The Flexibility Factor and The Forever Mind.  The books focus on the use of memory to increase mental acuity.

She also enjoys life by biking, hiking, discussing, gardening, yoga researching and engaging the brain.

One of the Academy’s most accredited and popular facilitators, Rear Admiral Richard (Dick) E. Young (Reimagining History's Turning Points, How Japan Bombed at Pearl Harbor) will be back to help us navigate the “what ifs” of our Revolutionary War.   A recognized expert on Pearl Harbor and military history in general, Dick has BA from the University of Michigan and graduated with honors from the United States Navy’s Officer Candidate School, after which he was ordered to the destroyer, USS MADDOX (DD731) where he served two tours in several official capacities.  After leaving active duty, he obtained his JD from the University of Michigan and was Assistant Editor of the Michigan Law Review.  His years in Denver have been no less impressive.  He practiced law and remained active in the Naval Reserve as well as in numerous civic and political organizations.  His awards, citations and commendations are literally too many to mention but his greatest pride and pleasure are his wife Lorie, to whom he has been married over 50 years, and his four grown daughters.

Dave Yust (Five Contemporary Artists: An Artist's View) is an artist and a teacher.  He recently had a major exhibition at the Arvada Center with 75 paintings and monotypes plus 15 study drawings.  This is his 44th year of teaching in the art department at Colorado State University-Ft. Collins.  He was honored in 2000 by the Denver Art Museum’s Alliance for Contemporary Art for his work with contemporary art in the state of Colorado.  In 2004 the National Art Education Association bestowed the honor of Art Educator of the Year in Higher Education in the Pacific Region.  He has had a one-person exhibition at both the DAM and the Wichita Art Museum.  “I am still fascinated by the inexhaustible challenges of abstraction and remain convinced that the imagery coming from my head is more inspiring and just as much a part of the real world as imagery from direct observation.”