The Inside Scoop - for Members Only
 
  
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Welcome to our second edition of 
The Inside Scoop , our electronic 
newsletter  f or members only.  Please 
enjoy this issue,  and  share your 
f eedback by emailing 

Committee Spotlight: Academic Programs Committee


  Co-Chairs Dick Juhnke and Lois Chadborne hard at work on the schedule for Fall 2017

Greetings, fellow students! The Academic Programs Committee (APC) has a treat in store for you. We have been working hard on our upcoming course offerings and we're happy to say that Encore Learning will be presenting 35 courses in Fall 2017. Of the 35,  two-thirds are new offerings . We also have several new instructors joining us.
 
As the format and information presented in Global Hot Spots has been so very popular, we are adding a class on American Diplomacy this fall. It will also be taught by professionals from the Department of State. We start with the basic responsibilities of our diplomatic service and work our way through Regional Conflicts & Conflict Resolution.
 
For you political and history junkies, we are giving you 14 courses across these two categories. This fall, on the politics side, we will offer six courses including Islam in the Contemporary World from Allen Keiswetter. On the history side we will have eight courses including Russian Revolution from Connie Phlipot. Our Literature, Social Science and Science & Technology categories boast five courses in each group; we have three courses each planned in Arts, Theater & Music and Health & Wellness categories. Many thanks to our fellow APC volunteers for putting this great semester of courses together.
 
This year we've had a big change in APC leadership. After many years as a committee member and co-chair, Lee Nash decided to step down. We will miss Lee's breadth and depth of knowledge, and his out-of-the-box thinking. We're thankful he's only a phone call away. Please join the APC in giving Lee a tremendous round applause and a huge thank you for his many years of service.
 
Our other co-chair, Bernie Alter, has decided his other obligations don't leave him enough time to be co-chair - however, he is remaining on the committee. He will still coordinate our ever-popular Global Hot Spots course and our new American Diplomacy course, which we expect will be just as popular.
 
The APC really needs your help. Our committee will need two to four new members starting this fall. If you are interested in which courses we present and love to talk to new people, come join the APC. Just call or email the office to let us know you are interested, or grab one of us at a meeting or after a class and let's discuss your participation.
 
-- Lois Chadbourne & Dick Juhnke,  APC Co-chairs

Staff Corner

Summer may seem like a slow time for Encore Learning staff. Office hours are reduced drastically and  academic courses are in hiatus while clubs and special events chug merrily along. Nevertheless, behind  the scenes much work is in progress. Let me give you a little insight.

On everyone's mind, of course, is our upcoming fall semester. For staff, beyond the excitement of  learning about new courses and instructors are the decidedly less glamorous tasks of course scheduling  and catalog production support. "Can Instructor A adjust his dates just a smidgen so that Course B slides  into the weeks following, allowing members to take both courses if they wish? Hmm, Instructor A is due  back from Portugal tomorrow - let's figure out how to schedule   Courses X, Y and Z without overlapping times while we wait on his  answer." 

Once those pieces of the puzzle are in place, Molly and I work closely with our affiliates at  Mason's Arlington campus and Arlington County's Office of Senior Adult Programming to schedule  classroom space. This demanding task requires equal parts of logic, empathy, and persuasion to obtain  space that meets the needs of both our instructors and our members.

Next, we check and double-check  every bit of data on upcoming courses before we pass it along to the Publications Committee for the  catalog. The same data enters our system under Beth's watch. At the same time, Beth is  managing new  Special Events and  updating  our website while Molly  keeps the  financial information flowing to our Treasurer. By summer's end, we will be neck-deep in updates of the  Instructor and Class Aide Guides while prepping for the fall course preview. Oh, then there is The Inside  Scoop  to write, edit, format and send out to you all.  

If we are lucky, each of us will get a week or two off before September rolls around. Ah, summertime!

--Marjorie Varner, Executive Director

Get to Know Your Board of Directors

In each edition,  we'll f eature different members on our Board of Directors. We asked one of  our two Vice Presidents to introduce himself and explain why he volunteers with Encore Learning.


Vice President David Rhoad and his friend Gertie

A very good friend and former professional colleague introduced me to Encore Learning in 2009 (when it was still called ALRI) and I quickly found its courses and instructors both interesting and highly informative. The fact that it was a volunteer organization made it particularly attractive and I gradually became more involved, serving as a class aide from one semester to the next and eventually as a member of some of its committees. As a member of the Nominating Committee in 2013 I volunteered for the Board when one of the positions -- that of Vice President  --  came open and we did not have any nominations to put forward for that position. 

Encore Learning represents a quite unique vision of what can be provided in learning opportunities at an affordable cost for those of us who are retired but wish to remain active and intellectually engaged. There is a vibrancy to the organization that I believe comes out of the diverse enthusiasms of its membership, as well as its physical location within the capitol area. Personally, I find the range of course subjects offered each semester, from local to international, a challenge as I have to pare down the number that I can attend.

My wife and I have had a home in northern Virginia for the past 40 years, but we also spent some years abroad in the Foreign Service assigned to posts in Africa and the Middle East. So not coincidentally, I have particularly enjoyed Encore Learning courses on the Civil War, with so much of its history to be learned right here in our neighborhood, and the "Global Hot Spots" series that have provided context and important detail to the international events which affect us all.

The history of the 20th century is of particular interest to me, in part because it has so fundamentally shaped the world we live in today, and also because, like many members of Encore Learning, I have lived in or through some of the shaping events of the past 70-odd years. I grew up in a British colony (Kenya) just as post WWII nationalism in the Third World radically changed international relationships. A war in Vietnam was one of the consequences, and I experienced it quite directly as a soldier. My career in the U.S. Agency for International Development included involvement in the American response to horrific famines and to our role in supporting peace in the Middle East after that famous handshake on the White House lawn in 1993. Retirement has offered an opportunity for retrospection as well as some introspection. Perhaps it is the prerogative of our later years to seek to expand our knowledge of the world around us, past and present, without having to take mid-terms and final exams. And that is something for which I am truly grateful to Encore Learning. 

-- David Rhoad, Vice President

Announcements
  • Save the Date: Saturday, September 9, 2017 - Fall Course Preview 9am to noon at National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), 4301 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA 22203
  • Registration for Fall Semester opens at 10 a.m. sharp on 9/11/17.
  • Volunteers are always needed. If you'd like to get more involved, please email info@encorelearning.net.
More News and Photos

Check out the following stories on our website:



Community Advisory Council Profile: Una Murphy


Welcome New Members!

From July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017 (our fiscal year), 181 new members joined Encore Learning. Please be sure to give these folks a warm welcome. 

Ginger Ackerman, Betty Adelman, Thomas Ahern, Cyndi Allgaier, Kimberly Ashworth, Ellen Averbach, Tammy Bagnato, Karen Bailey, Jean Baker, Judy Bass, Linda Battaglini, Cathy Baumbusch, Dottie Beck, John Benton, Ralph Berets, Iris Berets, Katherine Bingler, William Blair, Archie Bolster, Alice Bowers, George Bowers, Heidi Bowers, Vernelle Boykin, Willie Boykin, Sally Brett, David Briggs, Connie Brindle, Coreen Brown, Merri Brown, Don Budowsky, Sonny Busa, Charlyn Buss, Michele F Chase, Suzan Chastain, Merritt Chesley, James Chiriaco, Gwyn Chodos, Richard Christenson, Mary  Collins, Nancy Constantin, Kathleen Cox, Julie Crocker, Alan Crosby, Patricia Davison, Nancy Dolce, Michele Downey, Patricia Dubois, Terri Dunahay, Dale Dwyer, Gaetana Ebbole, Ellen Egan, Nelson Egbert, Susan Fishbein, Shira Flax, Caryn Fraser, Carol Fuller, Sheila Gale, Ramon Garcia, Charlotte Garrison , Mary Gauthier, Barbara Gigure, Don Gilmour, Cynthia Gilmour, Dan Goodman, Kathy Gorup, Aubrey Grant, Christine Gregory, Liz Guzzi, Joan Habermann, Jack Hadley, Charlie Hallahan, Claire Hallahan, Robert Harris, Mary Harris, James Heegeman, Mary Hendricks, Rick Hendricks, Herbert Hertel, Irene Hertel, Joel Hicks, Vance Hitch, Allan Hoffman, Cecelia Holland, Holly Hunsberger, David Hunsberger, Helena Hutton, Mollie Jewell, Gary Jewell, Lilia Jimenez, Jing Jin, Penelope Jones, Beejee Juhnke, Christine Kalke, Tim Kelley, Kari Kelley, Charles Kelly, Thomas Kilfoyle, Deborah Klein, Bruce Klein, Royce Kneece, Robert Knetl, Lorraine Kresse, Chad Lash, Marcy Levine, Deanna Lewis, Robert Lisbeth, Laurie Lubsen, Walter  Lubsen Jr, Raj Madan, Lee Magnuson, Janet Mazur, J. McAllister III, Michael McCarry, Sue McIver, Cressida McKean, Joanna McLellan, Suzanne McPartland, Melodee Melin, Terry Michel, Nancy Morgan, Nan Morrison, Lynne Morsen, Kathryn Murphy, Hannelore Ninomiya, Steven Nixon, Roger Nottingham, Patricia Oberling, Nancie Oleynik, Katharine Panfil, Travis Parker, Dee Peterson, Judith  Phillips, Andy Pike, Robert Reis Jr, Natalie Ridgell, Carol Romano, Peter Ross, Jonathan Ruskin, Dennis Saulman, Marie Schryver, Thomas Schum, Daniel Schweikert, Kristine Scull, Nancy Searles, Thomas Segal, Joseph Sendry, Linda Shapiro, Kathy Sheehan, Elizabeth Shelton, Hugh Smith, Andrew Smith, Wendy Smith, Horace Sneed, Ivy South, Madge Spector, Anne St Jacques, Robert Stanchik, Marjorie Stern, Janet Stodter, Connor Strauss, Jenny Sullivan, Nuzhat  Sultan, Jaclyn Taner, Ellen Thomas, William  Thompson, Nancy Todd, David Tornquist, Marcy Ubois, Thomas Underwood, Mary Valder, Wilson Varga, John Wainio, Bill Walsh, Stephanie Warring, Charles Weden, Jerry Welsh, Laura West, Margie White, Janice Wood, Stephen Yarbrough, George Ziobro

Now that  The Inside Scoop is up and running, we'll post these more frequently so that the list isn't so daunting to read. Please email the office with any corrections or omissions.

Don't Want to Wait for the Next Edition of The Inside Scoop?

 

Donations are Always Welcome

Encore Learning is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Any donation is a charitable contribution deductible from income tax to the full extent permitted by law. Members, friends and organizations wishing to support Encore Learning may direct contributions to our  General Fund  or to our  Arlington Youth Scholarship .

We hope you enjoyed this edition of  The Inside Scoop . If you would like to submit an article or share some photos of members participating in Encore Learning activities, please email Beth Dowd: info@encorelearning.net .