Osher at RIT offers fall classes for the 50-plus learner

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Thinkers ages 50 and beyond can join a class and learn something new this fall at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Osher offers a free fall course preview session at 10 a.m. on Aug. 9, and registration begins at 10 a.m. Aug. 14. The 10-week fall term begins on Sept. 17 at the Athenaeum Building, 50 Fairwood Drive, Henrietta.

Curious minds who live in the Greater Rochester area will be able to explore more than 60 courses and programs, varying from history and literature to science and music. The preview will introduce attendees to the center and provide highlights from a few of the fall courses. New offerings include “Everyday Engineering,” “The Early History of New York State,” and “Enjoying Music of the Renaissance Period” and “Cryptocurrency: An Introduction to Bitcoin, the Blockchain and Beyond.” The full fall catalogue is now online.

Following the preview session, attendees can tour the facility, meet with course leaders, current members and staff, and receive help with registration. Light refreshments will be served.

Osher membership includes the distinguished Pfaudler Lecture Series lineup on consecutive Thursdays from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. The series includes:

• “Medicine and Cartography: An Understandable Combination?” on Sept. 20 with Dr. Seymour Schwartz, a professor emeritus of surgery at University of Rochester Medical Center, author and collector of early American maps;
• “Lake Ontario Levels and Plan 2014: Environmental Redemption or Disaster?” on Sept. 27 with Christine Keiner, associate professor in RIT’s Department of Science, Technology and Society;
• “What’s Up and What’s Down with Fracking” on Oct. 4 with Daniel E. Robertson, dean of the STEM and Health Department at Monroe Community College;
• “Ergonomics: Using Anthropometry to Optimize Human Learning” on Oct. 11 with Doug Kulp, of Kulp Physical Therapy;
• “So Many Homelands: Memories of a Daughter of the Armenian Diaspora” on Oct. 18 with Berdjouhi Esmerian, an author and native of Alexandria, Egypt, now residing in Rochester;
• “The Creation of Two New National Parks in NYS: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Home, Val Kill, in Hyde Park and the Women’s Rights Park in Seneca Falls” on Oct. 25 with Nancy Dubner, an Osher member who played a pivotal role in preserving these sites;
• “R-Facts: Keeping People in Treatment and Out of Prison” on Nov. 1 with Rochester City Court Judge Jack Elliott;
• “Preserving Henrietta’s Green Space in the Face of Strong Development, Including Around Osher in the East River Corridor” on Nov. 8 with Stephen Schultz ’89 (computer science), Henrietta Town Supervisor and founder of Pictometry;
• “Women in Engineering at RIT: Who We Are and What We Do” on Nov. 15 with Kathy Ehrlich-Scheffer, director of WE@RIT.

In addition to classes, Osher membership includes lectures, social events, travel, tours, field trips and an RIT Student Identification card for access to campus events, RIT’s libraries and NTID’s audiology services.