This fall, it's all about UCALL.
The Union College Academy for Lifelong Learning is celebrating two decades of providing lectures, excursions and other events on everything from art to Zionism for local residents of a certain age.
Everything you’ve ever wanted to know, for instance, about Leonardo da Vinci, historic battles, Eastern religions, the Roaring '20s, numbers in everyday life or the effects of jealousy in operatic masterpieces is there for the taking. Classes, held in Reamer Campus Center, are nominally priced with the cost of a year-long membership. They are taught on a volunteer basis by leaders in the academic, business, civic and arts worlds, including many retired and current Union College professors.
“UCALL gives people the opportunity to learn about interests they were too busy to explore while they were pursuing their careers or raising families,” said Director Valerie D’Amario.
The program began in 1988 with 15 members. Now, with nearly 400 members, UCALL has become a staple resource at Union for those who are never too old to celebrate the life of the mind.
“UCALL is the most wonderful experience for people who are retired and are looking to keep learning,” said Joan Bick, a retired legislative assistant who serves on UCALL’s special events committee. “As Mahatma Ghandi said, ‘Live as though today were your last, but learn as if you were going to live forever.’”
UCALL program
Bick cited many memorable courses, including ones focused on poetry, religion and the Silk Road. Perhaps her favorite, though, was a jazz course taught by Music Professor Tim Olsen, which both she and her husband, former Union mathematics professor Ted Bick, enjoyed. Ted Bick serves on UCALL’s steering committee.
“When I was in school, I didn’t have time to take these kinds of extracurricular courses,” Joan Bick said. “When I retired seven years ago, I knew I wanted to stretch my mind.”
Bern Rotman, a former journalist and retired PR executive, has taken numerous UCALL courses with his wife, Elaine, a retired corporate librarian. Rotman especially remembers lectures presented by General Electric scientists who “created the innovations that have made GE’s Research & Development so important.
“It was fun and instructive to learn from this group, which probably couldn’t have happened anywhere else but at Union,” he said. “I still tell stories about such things as how artificial diamonds were created or the invention of LEDs.”
Union professors active in UCALL over the years include Ralph Alpher, Stephen Berk, Clifford Brown, Joseph Finklestein ’47, Carl George, Louisa Matthew, William Murphy (who passed away last week at the age of 92), William Stone and Don Thurston.
College staff members are also involved. The fall 2008 program, for instance, began with a day tour of one of Union’s most beloved spots, Jackson’s Garden. Union College Archivist Ellen Fladger shared nuggets of information about Isaac Jackson, Union Class of 1826 and a professor of mathematics and natural philosophy, and Campus Horticulturalist and Landscape Specialist Constance Schmitz led the class along the same paths once walked by the likes of John James Audubon.
The full UCALL lecture series kicks off Tuesday, Oct. 7, with classes on the 2008 presidential election, Judaism in the modern world and the popular exploration of jealousy in the opera. In tandem with the opera class is an optional trip to the Metropolitan Opera, Saturday, Nov. 8, to see “Madama Butterfly.”
The fall offerings will culminate with a 20th anniversary luncheon featuring William Danko, co-author of best-selling “The Millionaire Next Door,” Thursday, Nov. 13 at College Park Hall. For more information on this and other events, contact UCALL Director D’Amario at damariov@union.edu, or go to www.union.edu/ucall.
“I can’t think of a program more useful for daily living,” said Judge Vincent Cerrito ’32, an original UCALL member and a Union student in the days when yearly tuition was $300 and “they didn’t mow the grass; they had sheep doing it.”
Cerrito, 98, a retired New York State Supreme Court Judge, taught courses in “Law and Society,” "The Many Faces of Law” and “Law in Action.”
“Lifelong learning is good for your intellect and your brain,” he said. “It keeps you able to think. You don’t become rusty. I can’t prove it, but I have a hunch it prolongs life.”