President's College

Spring 2012 Preview

2012-01-17T10:51:00.003-05:00

Learn about our spring program and meet our professors and volunteers.
Date: Friday, January 20
Time: 4:30-6:00pm
Location: Mortensen Library-PC Classroom
Cost: No charge
Web Site: See our Programs page for details.

Spring 2010 Programs

2009-11-03T15:45:00.000-05:00

Save the Date - Spring 2010 Reception
You and your friends are invited to learn about the new Spring Program for the President's College.
Date: Friday, January 15, 2010.
Time: 4:30-6:00pm.
Location: Mortensen Library.
Cost: Free.
Registration is open for the Spring Semester and all programs are listed.

Showcase 2009 Photo Gallery

2009-09-23T08:19:00.000-04:00

Showcase 2009 had over 100 participants this year and you can see what the excitement was all about on our Photo Gallery page at the President's College web site.

Fall 2009 Program

2009-09-14T12:08:00.001-04:00

Twelfth Night or What You Will
Shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria, Viola believes her twin brother drowned. She dresses as a boy and goes to work for Duke Orsino. But her brother is alive – and a series of mistakes and accidents involving the beautiful Olivia and her cousin Sir Toby Belch, along with the steward Malvolio and the clown Feste, leads eventually to Viola’s being reunited with her brother and her engagement to the Duke. The Hartt School will perform Shakespeare’s magical and thought-provoking comedy Twelfth Night in October. In this President’s College course Humphrey Tonkin explores the intricacies of the play and, with director Robert Davis, prepares us for the performance. The four-sessions begin on Tuesday, September 15 (4:30-7:00 pm), with a showing of the film version directed by Trevor Nunn (with Helena Bonham Carter, Imogen Stubbs and Ben Kingsley). On the three following Tuesdays, the course will meet from 4:30 to 6:00 pm. The Hartt School’s production of the play will take place on October 15-18 (free admission for course members).
Dates: Tuesdays, September 15, 22, 29; October 6, 2009.
Time: (9/15) 4:30-7:00pm; (9/22, 9/29, 10/6) 4:30-6:00pm.
Location: Woods Family Classroom
Cost: $80 (Fellows $60)
Registration Form

Fridays at the Mortensen
The first “Fridays at the Mortensen” event of the new season, on September 25, will feature novelist (The Dawn of Days), essayist (Flotsam: A Life in Debris) and former Hartford Courant columnist Denis Horgan. Fridays at the Mortensen are a series of lectures held after hours in the Mortensen Library on Friday evenings. The evenings begin with a light dinner. Other programs for the fall: engineering professor Saleh Keshawarz, director of the University’s program to provide advanced education to Afghan university faculty, on Afghanistan (October 16), David Pines on the University of Hartford’s Engineers Without Borders projects in India and Kenya (November 13), and Richard Zeiser and Chuck Colarulli on the mysteries of college admissions (December 4).
Dates: Fridays, September 25; October 16; November 13; December 4, 2009.
Time: 5:45-8:00pm
Location: Mortensen Library
Cost: $45 (Fellows $40), including dinner. Or sign up for the whole series of four for $130 (Fellows $110).
Registration Form

A. S. Byatt to Lecture
The English Department and the University will host British novelist A. S. Byatt, famed author of Possession and Angels and Insects and numerous other works, on the evening of Wednesday, October 7. Her novel The Children’s Book will be released this fall.
Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2009.
Time: 7:30pm Reading (50 minutes) followed by Q&A (20-30 minutes) and book signing.
Location: Lincoln Theater
Cost: Free and open to the public.
Registration Form

Toni Morrison: The Big Three
Jane Barstow, one of the University’s best-loved and most-talented English professors, provides an introduction to Toni Morrison’s novels. As the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature, Morrison has enjoyed an extraordinary degree of both popular success and critical acclaim. This course will examine closely her three best-known novels: The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, and Beloved in terms of their thematic concerns and artistic style. Jane Barstow will consider how these novels have been received by both amateur and professional readers at home and abroad. And the course will engage in its own debates about Morrison’s long-term impact on American history and literature. Whether you have always wanted to read Morrison but never have, or whether you look forward to delving more deeply into the multiple layers of her wonderful fictions, please join Professor Barstow for new insights and lively discussion.
Dates: Wednesdays, October 21, 28; November 4, 2009.
Time: 1:30-3:00pm
Location: Conferences, Room B
Cost: $65 (Fellows $50).
Registration Form

Digging Through the Bible
Richard Freund, Director of the Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies and Greenberg Professor of Jewish History at the University, is known for teaching that combines accessibility and erudition. His new book, Digging Through the Bible, was nominated for a Book of the Year Award in Religion and highlights some of the most controversial parts of biblical archaeology. What do we know now that all of the Dead Sea Scrolls have been translated? Have the remains of Jesus and the Holy Family been found in a cave outside Jerusalem? Was there ever an Exodus of millions of Israelites from Egypt? What do we know about the major figures and places of the Bible? In the past quarter century Dr. Freund has been involved in many of the most important discoveries in biblical archaeology.
Dates: Wednesdays, September 30; October 7, 14, 2009.
Time: 5:00-7:20pm
Location: Magnet School Agora
Cost: $65 (Fellows $50).
Registration Form

Opera at the Met: Three Previews
Once again, Bob Gruskay will discuss three of the Met’s high-definition performance transmissions at Buckland Hills, with video previews and other guidance that will help bring the performances alive.
Dates: Thursdays, October 8 (Tosca); October 22 (Aida); November 5 (Turandot), 2009.
Time: 2:00-3:30pm.
Location: October 8-Conferences, Room A; October 22; November 5-Woods Family Classroom.
Cost: $20 per session (Fellows $15), $40 for all three (Fellows $30)
Registration Form

Poets of Faith and Doubt: Kathleen McGrory
Literature professor and historian Kathleen McGrory tackles the great question of the relationship between scientific knowledge and belief in God. Did Science kill Faith? A focused study of poetry in English poetry from ages of faith, neo-pagan and postmodern-pagan times can provide some unexpected answers and will undoubtedly raise further questions. While rumors of the death of Faith, as distinct from Religion, are greatly exaggerated, faith and doubt in poetry as in life are most certainly kissing cousins. This course will examine poems of faith and doubt from early British and American traditions through the Romantic and Victorian periods, when modern scientific studies in biology and geology began to change ways of looking at “the problem of God,” and will leave us in the 20th and 21st centuries. Copies of major poems for discussion will be distributed in class. Participants are urged to dust off their own poetry books for summer reading, and to bring to class a favorite poem of faith or doubt for discussion. A few contemporary examples illustrating either side (or both sides) of the question will be provided, with an invitation to participants to provide more.
Dates: Mondays, November 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, 2009.
Time: 4:30-6:00pm
Location: Woods Family Classroom
Cost: $90 (Fellows $75).
Registration Form

Folklore and the French Revolution
Historian and folklorist David Hopkin of Oxford University will be our guest at a special lunch and discussion on “The Soldier’s Tale: Folklore and the Experience of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars,.” topic of his Hertford College Lecture. The lecture follows later in the afternoon. David Hopkin’s teaching focuses on European and in particular French history from the Enlightenment to World War I. By training an historical anthropologist and by inclination a folklorist, he studies the social and cultural life of rural communities, military and maritime institutions, popular and oral culture. His first book, Soldier and Peasant in French Popular Culture, was joint winner of the Royal Historical Society’s Gladstone prize in 2002. He is now writing a book about oral culture in 19th-century France.
Dates: Monday, October 12, 2009
Time: 12:00 - 2:00pm
Location: Conferences - Room D
Registration Form

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood: Stevenson, McCaughey, Lankester
Catherine Stevenson’s four-session course on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood promises to be something of a sensation. We have all admired those depictions of gorgeous strong-jawed women with wild hair--rendered in jewel-like colors. Think of Holman Hunt’s luscious “Lady of Shalott” in the Athenaeum. But what were these young, rebellious artists really about? Do their works go beyond being “eye candy”? The course will focus on the writings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Morris but will include two guest lectures – by Patrick McCaughey, art historian formerly of the Yale Center for British Art, on Pre-Raphaelite painting, and Michael Lankester, formerly music director of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, on the music of the period, including the work of Granville Bantock and Frederick Delius. This one is likely to be a sell-out, so sign up soon! (Note: no meeting on October 20.)
Dates: Tuesdays, October 13, 27; November 3, 10.
Time: 4:30-6:00pm
Location: Wilde Auditorium
Cost: $105 (Fellows $90).
Registration Form

Philosophical Problems in the Law
In this course, philosopher Lynn Pasquerella, Provost and Chief Academic Officer at the University, will explore contemporary conundrums in the law. For instance, if society has a general obligation to protect individuals from harm by others, what happens when society fails to observe this obligation? To what extent do the victims have the right to intervene either to protect themselves or to punish the offenders?
And what role does culture play in excusing illegal behavior? Given our track record, should society abandon the ideal of rehabilitating criminals in favor of focusing on making hard time even harder? The course will give particular attention to legal dilemmas related to the role of race, class and gender.
Dates: Tuesdays, December 1, 8, 15, 2009.
Time: 4:30-6:00pm
Location: Woods Family Classroom
Cost: $65 (Fellows $50).
Registration Form

Program Brochure for Showcase 2009

2009-06-15T11:29:00.000-04:00

Download the Showcase 2009 Program.
Register only after July 1, 2009.

Program for 2009-2010 Taking Shape

2009-05-29T09:14:00.000-04:00

It’s too early to announce all our plans for the fall, since the program is still very much in preparation, but we can tell you that our plans include a four-session course by Humphrey Tonkin on Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night, beginning on Tuesday, September 15, with a showing of the film version directed by Trevor Nunn (with Helena Bonham Carter, Imogen Stubbs and Ben Kingsley) and ending with the Hartt School’s production of the play, directed by Robert Davis, on October 15-18. After the presentation of the film on September 15, the course will continue for three subsequent Tuesdays at 4:30 pm. The course will follow preparations for the production, with updates from director Bob Davis.

Archaeologist and historian Richard Freund will once again offer a course on Archaeology and the Bible, beginning on Wednesday, September 30 at 5:00 pm and continuing on the two following Wednesdays. Last year’s course was a sell-out.
We do not yet have dates for Catherine Stevenson’s four-session course on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, but it promises to be something of a sensation. The course will focus on the writings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Morris and will include two guest lectures – by none other than Patrick McCaughey on Pre-Raphaelite painting and Michael Lankester on the music of the period, including the work of Granville Bantock and Frederick Delius.

Kathleen McGrory will return, this time with a course on the poetry of faith and doubt. She is also talking about offering a course on Dan Brown in the spring – a figure who generates faith and doubt all by himself….

Our Fridays at the Mortensen Series will open on September 25, with subsequent sessions probably on October 16, November 13, and December 4.

We hope to announce the full program soon.

Historian David Hopkin - Hertford College Lecturer

2009-05-29T09:13:00.000-04:00

Monday, October 12, is the likely date for this year’s Hertford College Lecture – an annual event bringing a member of the faculty of our sister institution Hertford College, Oxford University, to Hartford. The teaching of this year’s lecturer, David Hopkin, focuses on European and in particular French history from the Enlightenment to the First World War. By training he is an historical anthropologist and by inclination he is a folklorist. His research concentrates on the social and cultural life of rural communities, military and maritime institutions, popular and oral culture. His first book, Soldier and Peasant in French Popular Culture was joint winner of the Royal Historical Society’s Gladstone prize in 2002. In addition to his afternoon lecture, Dr. Hopkin will attend a luncheon hosted by the President’s College. Save the date!

Theatre in London with Morrison and Tonkin

2009-05-29T09:12:00.000-04:00

We have received quite a number of expressions of interest in a possible London theatre trip in November, led by Malcolm Morrison and Humphrey Tonkin. At the moment we are negotiating with hotels and hope to be able to announce plans shortly, if we are successful in coming up with a manageable program and good accommodation. Likely dates: November 11-18. The trip will include visits to the theatre on most evenings, backstage visits, and visits to places of theatrical interest in the London area – under the guidance of two knowledgeable Brits, one of them a former President of the University and the other a former Dean of the Hartt School. You can’t do much better than that…. If you would like to be added to the list of people interested in participating (no obligation, of course), please let us know. To express interest, use the form with this newsletter, call 860-768-4269, or e-mail pcollege@hartford.edu.

Web Site URL

2009-05-05T10:17:00.000-04:00

All the latest information regarding programs for the President's College is maintained at this web site. To register for classes, use this convenient form.

Showcase 2009

2009-05-05T08:32:00.000-04:00

Enjoy a day at college with our finest professors
Date: September 13, 2009
Time: 9:30am - 4:30pm

For details, check our website:

New Course Offering

2009-05-05T08:27:00.000-04:00

A Passion for Opera - A five-session course by Willie Anthony Waters
An excursion through the history of opera, beginning in Italy and France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, proceeding across the mountain tops of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in Italy, France and Germany, and landing in the America of our own day – with particular emphasis on the history of interpretation. Illustrated by video and audio clips and by reference to productions that Maestro Waters has been associated with over the years.
Session 1: The origins of opera in Italy and France
Session 2: The flowering of Italian opera
Session 3: Opera in France
Session 4: Wagner and German opera
Session 5: Opera in America
General and Artistic Director of Connecticut Opera from 1999 to 2009, Willie Anthony Waters has been a guest conductor for numerous opera companies in the United States, including the Boston Lyric Opera and New York City Opera, and opera companies in Canada (Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal), Germany (Cologne), Australia, and South Africa (Cape Town, Pretoria, Durban). He has conducted a wide range of Italian, French, German and American operatic works, among them Porgy and Bess in South Africa and Germany. His orchestral engagements include performances with the Florida Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Hartford Symphony, Bavarian Radio Orch. (Munich), Essen Philharmonic (Germany), Norwegian Radio Orch., Brucknerhaus Orchester (Austria) and Indianapolis Symphony. He is a regular guest on the Metropolitan Opera Quiz during the renowned Metropolitan Opera live broadcasts.
Dates: Monday-Friday, June 1-5, 2009.
Location: TBA
Time: 10:00 am-12:00 noon.
Cost: $120 (Fellows $100)