Short Noncredit Courses
For $50 you can enroll in one of University College's short non-credit courses. Register for noncredit courses by phone or in-person, with a check or credit card. Call (314) 935-6720, or come to University College, January Hall Room 100.
Fall 2009:
Famous St. Louis Journalists: Samuel Clemens to Clay Felker - The Gateway to the West has inspired famous journalists who advanced reporting and literary nonfiction. This four-part course looks at a long list of St. Louis journalists, from the abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy to Martha Gelhorn who left Hemingway for her first rate war reporting to Clay Felker who invented the city magazine and made literary nonfiction a must-read.
November 7: Abolitionists, Riverboat Captains and Media Moguls
Elijah Lovejoy, Samuel Clemens, Joseph Pulitzer, and John Cockerill.
November 14: Becoming the Fourth Largest U.S. City
Theodore Dreiser and William Marion Reedy.
November 21: The Women of World War II
Martha Gelhorn and Emily Hahn.
December 5: City Magazines and Breaking the Racial Barriers
Clay Felker, William Woo, Gerald Boyd, Bob Costas, and Russ Mitchell.
Ellen F. Harris has published two books on St. Louis court cases and written for Newsweek, The New York Times, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Saturdays, November 7, 14, 21; December 5; 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Noncredit Fee: $50
To register call (314) 935-6720
The St. Louis Musical Heritage - This course will explore musical history from a St. Louis perspective. We will examine symphonic, opera, jazz and gospel music, and discuss the evolution of musical styles from Europe, Africa, and the Americas, all with guest speakers from our own distinguished institutions – the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra (the nation's second-oldest orchestra), Jazz St. Louis, and Opera Theater St. Louis. Students will get a backstage look at the operations of each organization, meet musicians and managers from various arts organizations, and have an opportunity to attend performances.
Marc Thayer, Vice President for Education and Community Partnerships, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra;
Phil Dunlap, Director of Education, Jazz St. Louis;
Allison Felter, Director of Education, Opera Theater St. Louis;
Gail Hintz, Program Coordinator, Opera Theater St. Louis;
Robert Ray, Professor of Music at UM-St. Louis, Composer and Director of the Saint Louis Symphony In Unison Chorus.
Mondays, November 2, 9, 16, 23, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Noncredit Fee: $50
To register call (314) 935-6720
Spring 2010:
The Link Between Creativity and Madness - Michael Drayton wrote: “…his raptures were, All air, and fire, which made his verses clear, For that fine madness he still did retain, Which rightly should possess a poet’s brain.” This course will address the question: What is the link between creativity and madness? We will examine selected literary works through the discerning eye of ordinary reader, philosopher, and psychoanalyst, and assume these roles in order to investigate the relationship to literature’s age-old companion, mental illness. We will analyze literature of Kay R. Jamison, Lord Byron, Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, and Virginia Woolf, but also become acquainted with their moods of madness as they used writing as a lifeline.
Alison Palmer holds an MFA in Poetry from Washington University, a B.A. in Creative Writing from Oberlin College, and has poems published or forthcoming in several literary journals.
Tuesdays, January 19, 26; February 2, 9, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Noncredit Fee: $50. To register call (314) 935-6720.
Federal Government Contracting, Negotiation, and Bidding - The U.S. federal government is the largest buyer of products and services anywhere. This course provides an in-depth introduction to federal contracting. It includes an overview of the federal government market, discussion of state and local contracting procedures, and analyses of how the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), the agency-level supplements to the FAR, and case law relate to each other and to specific case examples. The course is appropriate for small business owners or prospective entrepreneurs, as well as individuals seeking jobs in the fast-growing field of government procurement and contract management.
Joe Frank, procurement counselor at the Eastern Region Missouri Procurement Technical Assistance Center, served as Staff Associate for the Greater St. Louis Regional Empowerment Zone, and as Community Information Specialist for the City of St. Louis Community Information Network within St. Louis Development Corporation and later within the City of St. Louis Information Technology Services Agency.
Tuesdays, February 2, 9, 16, 23, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Noncredit Fee: $50. To register call (314) 935-6720.
Creative Approaches to Entrepreneurship: Turning Your Crazy Idea Into A Successful Business - This course will give you the practical tools and creative mindset to help you launch a small business, reinvigorate your current business or raise the innovation index within your larger company or organization. Bring a particular business idea to class or just soak up the information for a future project. You will learn the basic, and sometimes unconventional steps to start, run and grow a business. Course topics include: business plan basics; low cost resources; Internet promotion; niche marketing; patents, trademarks and copyrights; legal issues; obstacles; and most important, balancing creativity and business practicality.
Robert Fishbone, artist turned entrepreneur, is a photographer, videographer, mural painter, product designer, musician, motivational speaker, and storyteller whose signature product, the Scream inflatable, is still going strong with over 500,000 pieces sold in over 20 countries.
Thursdays, February 25; March 4, 11, 25, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Noncredit Fee: $50. To register call (314) 935-6720.
“A sonnet is a moment’s monument” - This line, from a Dante Gabriel Rossetti sonnet, suggests the remarkable range of this 14-line poetic form. For over 700 years, it has been the vessel for some of the most famous and moving poems in the English language. This course samples the sonnet’s magic and its many themes--anger, faith, love, marriage, politics, war, even supermarkets, to mention a few. We will read sonnets by Shakespeare, Donne, Wordsworth, Shelley, Hopkins, Owen, Millay, Cummings, Frost, Heaney, and many more. Focusing more on the experience of reading sonnets rather than their scholarly contexts, we will explore how each sonnet achieves its magic, through rhythm and rhyme, alliteration, image and theme. The course will leave you hearing sonnets and all poetry in a way you never did before.
Ben Sandler, former Washington University administrator, is a lover of sonnets and teaches at the
Lifelong Learning Institute.
Wednesdays, February 3, 10, 17, 24, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Noncredit Fee: $50. To register call (314) 935-6720
André Previn, Mozart, and the Artistry of Orli and Gil Shaham at the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra - This short course examines works of Mozart juxtaposed with music of Russian composers to be heard in a series of concerts by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra at Powell Hall from March 19 through April 11. The first concert, with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 and Rachmaninoff’s Third Symphony, features André Previn as soloist, conductor, and composer. Next, pianist Orli Shaham performs Mozart’s Concert No. 20 on a program that includes the Eighth Symphony of Shostakovich. In the final two concerts, SLSO music director David Robertson conducts Mozart’s “Linz” Symphony and is joined by violinist Gil Shaham in concertos by Mozart, Prokofiev and Stravinsky.
Sue Taylor, lecturer in music, Washington University
Tuesdays: March 16, 23; April 6, 13, 2:00-4:00 p.m.
Noncredit Fee: $50. To register call (314) 935-6720.
The Media and the Middle East
- This course will explore how print and electronic media cover the complex events in the volatile Middle East region with emphasis on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the proposed two-state solution. We will examine media coverage of recent wars and conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and look closely at the way networks and reporters portray post-election Iran and its development of nuclear weapons.
Robert Cohn, editor-in-chief emeritus of the St. Louis Jewish Light.
Wednesdays, March 3, 10, 24, 31, 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Noncredit Fee: $50. To register call (314) 935-6720.
Writing for Children
- This four-week workshop focuses on strategies to help writers create marketable manuscripts for children. Our goal will be for each student to create a complete submission packet: one cover letter based on market research, one strong manuscript based on a guided study of the children's magazine market, and an SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope). The instructor will share insider tips from editors at Highlights magazine and will bring her expertise as the current Regional Adviser for the Missouri Region of The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.
Lynnea Brumbaugh, Adjunct Faculty in Business and Women and Gender Studies
Mondays, January 25; February 1, 8, 15, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Noncredit Fee: $50. To register call (314) 935-6720.
Writing Your Family History - You want to write your family history but the project feels overwhelming. Where to begin? Who to include? What about family secrets? This course will help you decide on your format, scope, characters, themes, and structure. You also will learn techniques for conducting background research and interviews. Mostly, you will learn how to write a compelling story that others want to read. By the end of the class you’ll have a blueprint for the most effective way to tell your family history, as well as creative strategies for the storytelling.
Cheryl Jarvis, journalist, essayist, and author, has published works in The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Reader’s Digest, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, More, and other publications. Her most recent book, The Necklace, co-authored with the Women of Jewelia, was a New York Times bestseller.
Mondays, March 1, 15, 22, 29, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Noncredit Fee: $50. To register call (314) 935-6720.
REFUNDS
A full refund is granted if a course is canceled, or if notice of withdrawal is received prior to the beginning date of a course. Refunds are not granted on short courses after the first class meeting. To receive a refund, please submit a signed request in person or by mail. Washington University tuition remission benefits are not applicable to noncredit courses.
To register for non-credit courses call (314) 935-6720, or download this printable form.
