Osher Online with Northwestern University
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
Membership in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute is required to register for Osher classes. If you are unsure about your membership status, call us at 801-581-6461. If you are new to Osher, follow the Membership link at the right to learn more about membership.
Run by the National Resource Center (NRC) at Northwestern University, this special program allows members from various Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes to participate in shared online courses, thanks to the generosity of the Bernard Osher Foundation. These courses are not meant to replace our locally offered in-person or online courses but rather to supplement our own local offerings. The very high-quality courses feature popular instructors from some of the 125 Osher Institutes across the country. Osher Online allows Osher members from different states and institutions to learn with and connect to each other while maintaining membership at their own local Institutes. We hope you will enjoy being a part of the fun!
Questions? Call Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at 801-581-6461 or use our online form.
Class Sections For Osher Online with Northwestern University (OSHER 760)
Spring 2025 Section 5, Starting on: 01/14/2025
First Class - A History of the Post Office in the United States: What comes to mind when you think of the post office? Is it the unique beauty of a stamp, the thrill of an awaited delivery, or an iconic blue collection box? Do you equate the post office with obsolescence, or do you think of recent coverage of controversial austerity measures? As the country's second-largest employer, the US Post Office has a fascinating history that showcases the best and worst of American society. In this course, we will explore what precipitated the creation of the Post Office, its role in fostering and hindering democratic communication, and numerous examples of innovation over the centuries up to the present-day USPS. We will conclude by considering what the future of the post office might look like, with a renewed appreciation for the democratic ideals for which it stands. Instructor: Caroline Nappo, PhD. Class dates: January 14 - February 18. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Dec 30. An orientation will be held before class begins for all enrolled attendees. Please note: Due to the special arrangement of this partnership, Osher Online courses are paid by a special fee (rather than regular tuition) which is non-refundable/transferable.
| Date(s) | Day | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/14/25 | T | 5:00 pm -6:30 pm | Online |
Instructor: Staff
Registration for Winter 2025 starts at 9:00 a.m. on 12-02-2024.Spring 2025 Section 16, Starting on: 01/14/2025
Transparent Eyeballs - The Transcendentalists and Their Worlds, 1803-Present: Transcendentalism is an umbrella term that refers to a complex and profoundly influential philosophical, spiritual, and literary movement that emerged in the 1820s and 1830s. The intellectual, social, and political ideas generated by Transcendentalist thinkers, writers, and activists transformed Americans' understandings of nature, God, and the rights and responsibilities of the individual to themselves and to society in ways that continue to reverberate across US politics and culture in our own times. This course will examine the ideas, writings, political activism, and legacies of contributors to the Transcendentalist movement including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, and beyond. Our investigations will aim to help each of us actualize Emerson's definition of freedom as "an open-ended process of self-realization by which individuals [can] remake themselves and their own lives". Instructor: Anthony Antonucci, PhD. Class dates: January 14 - February 18. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Dec 30. An orientation will be held before class begins for all enrolled attendees. Please note: Due to the special arrangement of this partnership, Osher Online courses are paid by a special fee (rather than regular tuition) which is non-refundable/transferable.
| Date(s) | Day | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/14/25 | T | 11:00 am -12:30 pm | Online |
Instructor: Staff
Registration for Winter 2025 starts at 9:00 a.m. on 12-02-2024.Spring 2025 Section 3, Starting on: 01/21/2025
Buddhist Philosophy, Meditation, and Ritual - In India and Beyond: This course introduces the key philosophical concepts (meditation practices, and rituals) that have defined Buddhist traditions in India and beyond. We will analyze central Buddhist teachings and their relationship to these three important domains, which interweave theory and practice. First, we will explore the historical figure of the Buddha. We will then examine the three phases of Indian Buddhist traditions: (1) Theravada, which emphasizes ascetic ideals and monasticism; (2) Mahayana, which prioritizes compassion, wisdom, and the ideal of the bodhisattva; and (3) Vajrayana, the tantric tradition that claims the human body as central to enlightenment and explores the relationship between each living being and the cosmos. We will explore the contrasts among the meditative and ritual practices across these three traditions and analyze how these practices reflect varying philosophies. We will discuss Buddhist iconography, ritual objects, and art. Instructor: Eileen Goddard. Class dates: January 21 - February 25. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Dec 30. An orientation will be held before class begins for all enrolled attendees. Please note: Due to the special arrangement of this partnership, Osher Online courses are paid by a special fee (rather than regular tuition) which is non-refundable/transferable.
| Date(s) | Day | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/21/25 | T | 1:00 pm -2:30 pm | Online |
Instructor: Staff
Registration for Winter 2025 starts at 9:00 a.m. on 12-02-2024.Spring 2025 Section 10, Starting on: 01/22/2025
Reclaiming Native Ground - Native America Since 1900: This course will explore Native American history in the late 19th and 20th centuries, a time punctuated by the violence of American expansion and consolidation, the boarding school systems that sought to erase Native cultures, and the effects of imperialism, which conspired to keep Native people in a subordinate status compared to their white neighbors. Yet, at this time, Native Nations began to rebuild and reclaim the United States as Native ground, drawing on ancient traditions to revitalize communities and fight for their rights in the American court system, the political system, and the court of public opinion. Together, we will explore how, in this history, Native peoples have proven themselves to be resilient and powerful. Instructor: Matt Jennings, PhD. Class dates: January 22 - February 26. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Dec 30. An orientation will be held before class begins for all enrolled attendees. Please note: Due to the special arrangement of this partnership, Osher Online courses are paid by a special fee (rather than regular tuition) which is non-refundable/transferable.
| Date(s) | Day | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/22/25 | W | 3:00 pm -4:30 pm | Online |
Instructor: Staff
Registration for Winter 2025 starts at 9:00 a.m. on 12-02-2024.Spring 2025 Section 12, Starting on: 01/23/2025
Storytelling and Self: In this course, we will explore the internal stories we tell ourselves and the external stories we tell others. Our internal stories define us, and our attitudes and emotions toward ourselves. Our external stories are outward-focused and lean toward a conversational resume, to some extent. We will consider our life as a series of chapters, or phases, and spend time investigating what our current story/stories are. We will also explore how we envision our future story. Our course will be interactive and discussion-based, and by the end of our six weeks together, participants will have a future story to share. Instructor: Jen Baker, PhD. Class dates: January 23 - February 27. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Dec 30. An orientation will be held before class begins for all enrolled attendees. Please note: Due to the special arrangement of this partnership, Osher Online courses are paid by a special fee (rather than regular tuition) which is non-refundable/transferable.
| Date(s) | Day | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/23/25 | Th | 5:00 pm -6:30 pm | Online |
Instructor: Staff
Registration for Winter 2025 starts at 9:00 a.m. on 12-02-2024.Spring 2025 Section 13, Starting on: 01/23/2025
The Next Generation's Legacy of the Holocaust: How does one honor the legacy of parents who survived the Holocaust while at the same time recognizing the ripples of the inherited trauma they experienced? Growing up in the shadow of the Holocaust, the adult children of survivors are striving to find ways to keep their parents' stories alive. Using their unique intergenerational lens, authors of the recent award-winning anthology, The Ones Who Remember - Second Generation Voices of the Holocaust, will reveal the variety of ways in which their parents' history of survival seeped into their souls and affected their lives as children and adults. The goal of this course is to explore the challenges that resulted from this trauma and the gifts that came forth - gifts of resilience, tolerance, fortitude, and compassion. Each week our instructors will explore and share reflections around themes of their lived experience. Instructor: Ruth Wade; Joy Wolfe Ensor, PhD; Rita Benn, PhD. Class dates: January 23 - February 27. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Dec 30. An orientation will be held before class begins for all enrolled attendees. Please note: Due to the special arrangement of this partnership, Osher Online courses are paid by a special fee (rather than regular tuition) which is non-refundable/transferable.
| Date(s) | Day | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/23/25 | Th | 3:00 pm -4:30 pm | Online |
Instructor: Staff
Registration for Winter 2025 starts at 9:00 a.m. on 12-02-2024.Spring 2025 Section 18, Starting on: 01/23/2025
Wisdom: Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge in the real world in a constructive way -- to enrich our individual lives and to make the world a better place. Wisdom is often found at the intersection of theory and experience. How does modern expertise benefit all of us, and how can we convince the general population to value it? How does life experience create wisdom? In this course, we will explore the biological, philosophical, social scientific, and experiential aspects of wisdom and analyze what ancient and contemporary sources have to say about it. Instructor: David Smith, PhD. Class dates: January 23 - February 27. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Dec 30. An orientation will be held before class begins for all enrolled attendees. Please note: Due to the special arrangement of this partnership, Osher Online courses are paid by a special fee (rather than regular tuition) which is non-refundable/transferable.
| Date(s) | Day | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/23/25 | Th | 11:00 am -12:30 pm | Online |
Instructor: Staff
Registration for Winter 2025 starts at 9:00 a.m. on 12-02-2024.Spring 2025 Section 9, Starting on: 01/24/2025
My Native Land in Memory - Stories of a Cuban Childhood: Using Dr. Espin's memoir of childhood and adolescence, which was the recipient of the San Diego Book Award in 2021, we will discuss the Cuban political landscape in the mid-20th century. This memoir recreates a world that no longer exists: pre-revolutionary Cuba in the 1940s and 50s. Cuba's fraught history and political instability are interwoven with a personal story to create a web of history, family, and cultural analysis. This is a young woman's individual struggle for identity and independence against the background of the country's national struggle. Family photographs and site photographs will illustrate the details of the story. We will also explore the process and meaning of memory and memoir for authors and readers. Reading some excerpts will illuminate the narrative. It is not necessary to have read the memoir in advance. Instructor: Oliva Espin, PhD. Class dates: January 24 - February 28. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Dec 30. An orientation will be held before class begins for all enrolled attendees. Please note: Due to the special arrangement of this partnership, Osher Online courses are paid by a special fee (rather than regular tuition) which is non-refundable/transferable.
| Date(s) | Day | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/24/25 | F | 11:00 am -12:30 pm | Online |
Instructor: Staff
Registration for Winter 2025 starts at 9:00 a.m. on 12-02-2024.Spring 2025 Section 4, Starting on: 01/27/2025
Color and Symbolism in Art History: Artists use color to create an array of symbolism, emotions, and sociopolitical meanings within the context of the time period in which they created their works of art. Additionally, within these works, artists utilized their knowledge of color to portray mood, light, depth, and point of view. Progressing through the colors of the rainbow each week, we will discuss a variety of paintings throughout art history to understand the artists' intention and the stories behind the paintings within their respective color spheres. We will also discuss the histories of color, their meanings in various societies and cultural contexts, and the materials and processes used to make colors. Instructor: Eleanor Schrader. Class dates: January 27 - March 3. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Dec 30. An orientation will be held before class begins for all enrolled attendees. Please note: Due to the special arrangement of this partnership, Osher Online courses are paid by a special fee (rather than regular tuition) which is non-refundable/transferable.
| Date(s) | Day | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/27/25 | M | 3:00 pm -4:30 pm | Online |
Instructor: Staff
Registration for Winter 2025 starts at 9:00 a.m. on 12-02-2024.Spring 2025 Section 6, Starting on: 01/27/2025
Huck Finn's America: Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is often misunderstood as a boy's adventure book or merely a dialogue on race. Instead, this classic novel addresses youth violence and bad boys, schools and parents, and civil rights and minstrel shows. The novel, banned in New England, needs to be read and discussed anew for a better understanding of America, then and now. Join this course for a new and fresh analysis of this highly criticized and misunderstood novel. Instructor: Jeff Walker, PhD. Class dates: January 27 - March 3. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Dec 30. An orientation will be held before class begins for all enrolled attendees. Please note: Due to the special arrangement of this partnership, Osher Online courses are paid by a special fee (rather than regular tuition) which is non-refundable/transferable.
| Date(s) | Day | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/27/25 | M | 11:00 am -12:30 pm | Online |
Instructor: Staff
Registration for Winter 2025 starts at 9:00 a.m. on 12-02-2024.Spring 2025 Section 7, Starting on: 01/27/2025
Immigrants in America - Stories of Jazz, Blues, Rock, and Popular Culture: In this course, we will document the fertile interaction between minorities that transformed not only 20th century music but the entire entertainment industry. We will examine how minorities significantly impacted American popular culture and explore their contributions to various musical genres, record labels, booking agencies, venues, innovations, and production. With strong support from audiovisuals, anecdotes, and the instructor's decades of experience as a concert promoter working with some of the biggest names in the industry, we will learn about Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Benny Goodman, Stan Getz, Norman Granz, Bob Dylan, Milt Gabler, Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed, Al Kooper, Adam Sandler, Avishai Cohen, Kiss, and many more. Instructor: Emanuel Abramovits, MBA. Class dates: January 27 - March 3. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Dec 30. An orientation will be held before class begins for all enrolled attendees. Please note: Due to the special arrangement of this partnership, Osher Online courses are paid by a special fee (rather than regular tuition) which is non-refundable/transferable.
| Date(s) | Day | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/27/25 | M | 3:00 pm -4:30 pm | Online |
Instructor: Staff
Registration for Winter 2025 starts at 9:00 a.m. on 12-02-2024.Spring 2025 Section 2, Starting on: 01/28/2025
A Tourists Tour of the Wider Universe: For more than two years, the James Webb Space Telescope, orbiting a million miles from Earth in the deep freeze of space, has sent back remarkable information and dramatic images of the faint heat rays that come from objects in the universe. The Hubble Telescope continues to observe some of the same stars and galaxies with visible light. Never before have we had images of the cosmos so rich in color and detail. In this profusely illustrated course, we will be taken on a guided tour of the wider universe as astronomers understand it today. Fraknoi will cover this information in everyday language and without any math. We will look at star birth and star death, the organization and structure of the Milky Way, cosmic mergers and collisions, and the great web of galaxies that gives us clues about the beginning and development of our cosmos. Instructor: Andrew Fraknoi, MS. Class dates: January 28 - March 4. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Dec 30. An orientation will be held before class begins for all enrolled attendees. Please note: Due to the special arrangement of this partnership, Osher Online courses are paid by a special fee (rather than regular tuition) which is non-refundable/transferable.
| Date(s) | Day | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/28/25 | T | 3:00 pm -4:30 pm | Online |
Instructor: Staff
Registration for Winter 2025 starts at 9:00 a.m. on 12-02-2024.Spring 2025 Section 8, Starting on: 01/28/2025
Modern War - What Is It Good For?: Vietnam, viewed by many as a turning point between old and new approaches to war, raised many questions about the role of superpowers, asymmetrical resources, and counterinsurgencies on the world stage. In this course, we will look at the wars in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Gaza. All of these wars are asymmetrical, but what else do they have in common, and how are they informed by Vietnam? We will discuss how superpowers are central players in these conflicts by way of their supplies and support. In this course, we will examine human ways of evaluating the politics and strategies, particularly what happens when three vectors cannot agree: the public, politicians, and the military. Instructor: Jeff Rice, MSc. Class dates: January 28 - March 4. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Dec 30. An orientation will be held before class begins for all enrolled attendees. Please note: Due to the special arrangement of this partnership, Osher Online courses are paid by a special fee (rather than regular tuition) which is non-refundable/transferable.
| Date(s) | Day | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/28/25 | T | 9:00 am -10:30 am | Online |
Instructor: Staff
Registration for Winter 2025 starts at 9:00 a.m. on 12-02-2024.Spring 2025 Section 14, Starting on: 01/29/2025
The Secret Lives of Familiar Birds: We share the earth with birds who live among us, yet they remain mysterious. In this course, we will examine the fascinating characteristics, habits, and lives of North American birds including how they keep warm; how they fly; when, why, and how they sing; and more. Our classes will be broken down into these categories: bird ancestry and anatomy; diet and nesting; flight and migration; threats; behavior and songs. We will cover birds of prey, songbirds, waterfowl, and the common loon. Join this interesting exploration of how birds live, move, breathe, and think. Instructor: Elizabeth Burnette, MS. Class dates: January 29 - March 5. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Dec 30. An orientation will be held before class begins for all enrolled attendees. Please note: Due to the special arrangement of this partnership, Osher Online courses are paid by a special fee (rather than regular tuition) which is non-refundable/transferable.
| Date(s) | Day | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/29/25 | W | 9:00 am -10:30 am | Online |
Instructor: Staff
Registration for Winter 2025 starts at 9:00 a.m. on 12-02-2024.Spring 2025 Section 15, Starting on: 01/29/2025
The World of Musical Satire: Satire is one of the oldest forms of humor. Adding music seems to make it even more powerful. In early Germanic and Celtic societies, people who were mocked in songs would break out in boils and even commit suicide. In this course, we will explore the art of musical satire in a variety of genres, cultures, and eras, especially America since 1950. This multimedia course covers Yankee Doodle, Gilbert and Sullivan, the Gershwins, the Marx Brothers, Monty Python, Saturday Night Live, South Park, and Key and Peele. We will also cover a bountiful bevy of B's: Leonard Bernstein, the Beatles, Bo Burnham, and Bugs Bunny. Because satire is often dependent on social and historical events, this course is as much cultural history as music appreciation. And while words are preeminent in musical satire, we will also discuss the music and its interactions with lyrics. But please - no students who are prone to boils. Instructor: David Misch. Class dates: January 29 - March 5. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Dec 30. An orientation will be held before class begins for all enrolled attendees. Please note: Due to the special arrangement of this partnership, Osher Online courses are paid by a special fee (rather than regular tuition) which is non-refundable/transferable.
| Date(s) | Day | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/29/25 | W | 5:00 pm -6:30 pm | Online |
Instructor: Staff
Registration for Winter 2025 starts at 9:00 a.m. on 12-02-2024.Spring 2025 Section 11, Starting on: 01/30/2025
Science Everyone Needs to Know: Evolution. Vaccines. Global Warming. Regardless of one's choice of news media, it is nearly impossible to navigate today's information-heavy world without coming across stories on evolution, vaccines, and global warming. Each of these topics is the subject of various conspiracy theories and misinformation campaigns. How do we make sense of what we hear on the news when so much information comes from unvetted and non-neutral sources, such as the Internet and the media? This course is a non-technical introduction to these three critical matters in modern science. We will examine what scientists know, how they know what they know, how certain they are, and why there is such a disconnect between scientific understanding and the public's perception of the science. Instructor: Kjir Hendrickson, PhD. Class dates: January 30 - March 6. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Dec 30. An orientation will be held before class begins for all enrolled attendees. Please note: Due to the special arrangement of this partnership, Osher Online courses are paid by a special fee (rather than regular tuition) which is non-refundable/transferable.
| Date(s) | Day | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/30/25 | Th | 1:00 pm -2:30 pm | Online |
Instructor: Staff
Registration for Winter 2025 starts at 9:00 a.m. on 12-02-2024.Spring 2025 Section 17, Starting on: 01/31/2025
Whole-Person Health and Well-being - Innovative Care from the Osher Collaborative for Integrative Health: This course provides a unique opportunity to learn from the experts in the Osher Collaborative for Integrative Health, an international group of eleven academic health centers funded by The Bernard Osher Foundation to study, teach, and practice integrative healthcare. The eleven Osher Centers are located at highly respected medical schools and medical centers and emphasize integrative healthcare approaches to promote health and well-being. Each Osher Center focuses on whole-person health and wellness using healing strategies such as acupuncture and East Asian Medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, yoga, massage, meditation, physical activity, and nutrition. In this course, Osher Collaborative practitioners, researchers, and educators will discuss the science behind integrative healthcare remedies and explain its impact. Instructor: Health Professionals from the Osher Centers for Integrative Health. Class dates: January 31 - March 7. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Dec 30. An orientation will be held before class begins for all enrolled attendees. Please note: Due to the special arrangement of this partnership, Osher Online courses are paid by a special fee (rather than regular tuition) which is non-refundable/transferable.
| Date(s) | Day | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/31/25 | F | 1:00 pm -2:30 pm | Online |
Instructor: Staff
Registration for Winter 2025 starts at 9:00 a.m. on 12-02-2024.Is money a barrier to you taking classes? Call our office and ask about scholarships or learn the details here. Want to donate to the scholarship fund? You can make this gift online.
Questions? Call Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at 801-581-6461 or use our online form.
