Fall 2026 Courses

Instructor:  David McCuan PhD
When:  Tuesdays, 10/6/26-11/10/26, 10-11:50am 
Location:  Stevenson 1300 (in person only) I $90
 

Elections have consequences and this November's Midterm Elections operate in an especially unusual time in our nation's history. As we celebrate the 250th year of an imperfect union, free and fair elections are a powerful tool of democracy. This course examines a different topic each week with “2026 Midterms” as our backdrop. This will be a joint OLLI and undergrad collaboration, where OLLI students will get the chance to join an undergraduate class and engage in meaningful conversations with students on how their political ideologies have been shaped overtime. This is an in-person-only interactive course. Please join us as we cover these topics in the Mother of All Midterms!

Instructor:  Alan Bell MA 
When:  Wednesdays 9/16/26-10/21/26, 2:00-4:00pm 
Location:  Zoom & SSU Campus (Stevenson 1400) I $90 

Myths help a culture define itself. Myths are stories we tell in order to make sense of our communal experience. Myths symbolize a society's ideology and dramatize its moral consciousness. America's most enduring mythology has been the Western: in print (beginning with lurid newspaper stories and dime novels), theatrically (wild west shows and staged melodrama), and of course, on film, the most popular cinematic genre of the 20th century. From Columbus onward, the frontier has been America's guiding trope: always pushing west, searching for the next big thing, constantly reimagining and remaking ourselves. Even an urban, wealthy sophisticate from Boston invoked that metaphor as he accepted his party's nomination for president, christening his political movement, "the new frontier." This course will examine westerns as mythology. The lone gunslinger cleaning up the town, representing the constant struggle between good and evil, influencing our foreign policy by dividing the world into "good guys" and "bad guys." The tension between the freedom of the land and the constraints of encroaching civilization. The image of the "noble" vs. the "heathen" Indian, reflecting the American dilemma of race consciousness. And the myth is malleable, adjusting to changing times. There is the Epic Western, the Romance Western, the Dystopian Western, The Elegiac Western, and the Revisionist Western. Through lectures and extensive film clips from dozens of movies, the course will probe what it means to be American as refracted through the lens of the Western.

Instructor:  Alexis Boutin PhD 
When:  Thursdays 9/17/26 - 10/22/26, 1:30-3:30pm 
Location:  Zoom & SSU campus (Stevenson 1301) I $90 

This course focuses on human health and disease in the past, from the origins of agriculture to the mid-20th century. Evidence for health and disease processes in the past comes from human remains, artifacts, written texts, and art. As such, this course integrates approaches from bio-archaeology - the study of human remains from archaeological sites - with those from medical anthropology, epidemiology, and history. We will learn about the spread of syphilis between Europe, Africa, and the Americas, cholera in Victorian-era London, bubonic plague in early 20th century San Francisco, among others. The goal is to understand how human health and disease are shaped by cultural traditions, social organization, and biological traits, both in the past and the present.

Instructor:  Talena Sanders MFA
When:  Fridays 9/18/26 - 10/23/26, 1:30-3:30pm 
Location:  Zoom & SSU campus (Stevenson 1301) I $90 

How has cinema imagined women’s lives—across cultures, generations, and changing social norms? This six-week course explores powerful depictions of girlhood, motherhood, working women, women in love, and women confronting mortality and legacy. We will also examine expanding representations of gender, including films centered on transgender and gender fluid women, and consider how global and international cinema broadens our understanding of women’s experiences worldwide. Through guided discussion and close analysis of selected films, participants will explore how filmmakers shape stories about identity, labor, desire, family, resilience, and transformation. Together we will ask: How do films reflect cultural expectations? Where do they challenge them? And how have women’s stories on screen evolved over time?

Instructor: David McCuan, PhD 

When: Thursday, October 29, 1-3pm 

Location: Zoom and SSU Campus (Stevenson 1301) I $25 

What are midterm elections, and why do they matter? The midterms will determine which party will control the House and Senate and therefore how much legislative power President Trump will be able to flex for the rest of his term. They will also decide governor’s races and control of legislatures in many states. There is growing concern about the effectiveness of our democracy and what comes next for the nation. We will examine the indicators of mass electoral behavior, how the balance of power in Washington, D.C. is a function of what happens here in California, and how the power of ballot measures is a powerful determinant of election outcomes. This course provides the context needed to understand one of the most consequential midterm cycles in recent history.

Instructor: Richie Unterberger 

When: Friday, October 30, 1:30-3:30pm 

Location: Zoom and SSU Campus (Stevenson 1301) I $25 

In the Civil Rights Movement, music was vital to fueling the activism and lifting the spirits of African-Americans fighting for racial justice and social change. In this class, rock and soul music author and historian Richie Unterberger highlights the role music played in reflecting and inspiring the movement. Filmed and recorded performances by the likes of Curtis Mayfield, Nina Simone, Abbey Lincoln, and Marvin Gaye will be featured in this journey through Civil Rights soul (and some jazz and gospel) of the 1960s and 1970s.