Skip to main content
Santa Clara University Homepage
Santa Clara University
The Jesuit University in Silicon Valley

Sneak Peek

  1. Home
  2. Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
  3. Course Offerings & Registration
  4. Sneak Peek

Fall 2024 Sneak Peek

  • Enrollment for the 2024-25 Academic Year Membership is Now Open
  • Course Registration will begin on Wednesday, September 4
  • Digital Fall 2024 Course Catalog coming soon - Stay Tuned!
  • Courses begin on Tuesday, September 24, and end Tuesday, December 17
  • OLLI Expo on Tuesday, September 10 from 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. in Benson Center, Williman Room
  • Click on the individual course links to view full course descriptions

Russell will provide review and analysis of the 2023 Supreme Court term (cases decided from late 2023 through summer 2024); cases accepted for review by the Court as of the date of the class session; and calls for Supreme Court reform -- for example, term limits, changes in Court size, ethical accountability -- and the likelihood of systemic change.

American Musical Theater in the 1970s and 1980s  was notable for superstar composers and epic productions. The '90s brought the rise of popular Disney musicals and the groundbreaking Rent, followed by musicals based on hit movies. Finally, we’ll look at the recent reinvention of the genre, such as Hamilton.

The experience of the Vietnamese refugees after the fall of Saigon provides an excellent vantage point from which to view the dynamics of American society's larger social, political, and economic relations and the processes by which a new immigrant group is incorporated into American society.

Frank Baum's 1898 classic novel The Wizard of Oz is an allegory about the 1896 Presidential election. What are the real-life counterparts to the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, the Lion, the Wizard, and even the flying monkeys and the Yellow Brick Road? As we head into the 2024 election, learn about the importance of one of the most consequential elections in American history.

How is truth represented and constructed in non-fiction filmmaking? Each week we will watch a documentary film and discuss issues like truth and subjectivity, truth and advocacy, and documentary as witness and explore how documentary films cover issues. Scheduled films are Nanook of the North, A Thin Blue Line, Bowling for Columbine, Exit Through the Gift Shop, and Stories We Tell.

Explore the origins and production of cheese, its unique textures and tastes, and how animal feed influences flavor. Delve into cheesemaking history, learn to evaluate cheese like a pro, and become a smarter shopper. Each session includes a guided tasting, with a list of recommended cheeses provided by the instructor.

Everyone at the 1787 Constitutional Convention expected George Washington to be the first president, so little time was spent discussing how the president would be chosen.  That they didn’t anticipate organized political parties and how these parties tried to operate under a Constitution that did not anticipate their existence is the real story of American presidential elections.

Dive into Shakespearean comedy with an in-depth exploration of Twelfth Night. This play grapples with complex themes and emotions, including grief, jealousy, unrequited love, and ambition, all intertwined with subversive humor. Shakespeare explores Renaissance ideas of love, art, sexuality, and identity using twin plots and disguises.

The San Francisco 49ers became the Bay Area's most popular team through a saga of iconic characters, innovative offenses, dramatic victories, and five Super Bowl wins. We'll explore legendary games, players, and coaches—both great and lesser-known—along with fascinating trivia.

The Electoral College is a baffling, semi-mysterious portion of the Constitution that defines our Presidential election system. Who did our Founding Fathers devise this unique process? We will create a variety of Electoral College scenarios of how the 2024 election might play out since the readjustments following the 2020 census.

Director Jeffrey Bracco will take us behind the scenes to learn about SCU’s production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, set in a 1970s Berlin nightclub. Learn how the director, designers, and actors bring this exciting and spirited concept to life on the Mayer stage. A ticket to the performance is included and can also be exchanged for another date.

As technology increasingly relies on quantum mechanics, it's time to explore this captivating field. This course reveals the universe's mysteries at its smallest scale, designed for everyone, whether scientifically trained or simply curious. No math or science background is needed to fully appreciate and enjoy uncovering the secrets of the sub-atomic universe. Join us!

The U.S., like other countries, has experienced periods where people inside and outside the political system took violent actions to make a point – economic, electoral, religious, racial, ethnic, or other. We explore events during five U.S. eras – early colonial, Revolution/Early Republic, Western Expansion, Civil War and Reconstruction, and the Gilded Age.

Examining Germany from WWII's end to the present reveals themes like ideological divisions, multiculturalism, globalization, and the complex reckoning with its Nazi past. Both East and West reflected post-war trends and historical fissures. Reunification exposed underlying tensions, making resolution and reintegration challenging, costly, and incomplete.

The Beatles changed popular music and culture forever.  We’ll trace the British Invasion from the relatively simple Merseybeat of Liverpool in the early 1960s through the hard rock, psychedelia, and progressive art rock that British artists innovated as the 1960s progressed. 

Over the last two decades, populists have risen to power in countries as diverse as the United States, Argentina, and the Philippines. We will compare the emergence of several populist leaders in their particular national contexts to understand the common threads tying these cases together in terms of the domestic and global contexts and the consequences.

If you’re looking for world-class art collections, look no further than Palo Alto. We’ll explore three local collections on Stanford University’s campus: the art of the Cantor Arts Center, the Anderson Collection, and public art on campus. The collections include art from around the globe and feature famous and lesser-known artists of all types.

We’ll explore Sophocles' five plays to identify patterns defining tragic heroes, showing how their heroic traits lead to their downfall. By the end, it will be clear that characters like Shakespeare’s Othello, Miller’s Willy Loman, and Breaking Bad’s Walter White were influenced by Sophocles.

Around the world, Silicon Valley has become synonymous with the high technology that has shaped global society, fortunes won and lost, venture capitalists, and the charismatic freethinkers who inspire legend. How did this stretch of California’s Santa Clara Valley evolve into how it is perceived today?

To understand this world, we will examine the who, the where, and the why: the players–artists, curators, directors, patrons, and collectors; the places–commercial galleries, non-profit spaces such as museums and private foundations, auction houses, biennials, and artist residencies; and the motivators–passion, greed, business interests, and the support of artists and art-making. 

Journey into the fascinating world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in this two-session workshop, which will combine insightful demonstrations with hands-on practice to demonstrate the capabilities of these AI tools. Learn to recognize deepfakes from authentic media and discuss the ethical implications of creating and disseminating deep fakes. Feel free to bring your laptop or tablet to experience AI tools yourself.

Meet in front of the main entrance to the Cantor Museum for a guided tour of the many Rodin sculptures and the public art on the grounds around the museum. You are responsible for your transportation. Parking guidelines are available at https://transportation.stanford.edu/how-purchase-visitor-parking.

AI technologies continue to change and evolve at a brisk rate. We will discuss the many attempts to manage these rapidly changing and momentous new technologies, including deep fakes, coding aids, and text creation, and consider the roles of technologists, ethicists, lawyers, lawmakers, and citizens in managing these impactful innovations and shaping their ethical use.

In December 1914, German and English soldiers on WWI's front lines set aside weapons for an impromptu truce and sang carols together. 110 years later, the SCU Chorale honors this by singing carols from that event, seasonal choral pieces, and readings from soldiers' letters. A ticket to the December 15 concert at 4 p.m. is included.

How to access the course recordings: the OLLI office will email the link to the recording 24-48 hours after the course session. The recording will be available for viewing for two weeks after it is published.