Shared Learning Association of Chapel Hill

Shared Learning presents 11 courses for our Summer Semester that operates between April and June (with Views on the News continuing all summer). Registration is free for ALL–not just current members, but also former members and visitors simply wanting to try out our courses and setting.  The catalog, including the schedule, course descriptions, and registration instructions, can be downloaded here.  You may also register directly by completing the On-line Summer Registration Form.

Five times a year, the Shared Learning Association of Chapel Hill is pleased to present guest lectures, free and open to the public–now at our new location at 105 Market St., in Southern Village, in the meeting room facilities of the Christ United Methodist Church.

This month, on Thursday, January 24th, at 11:15 a.m. our presenter is Dr. Gerhard Weinberg, William Rand Kenan, Jr. Emeritus Professor of History at UNC who will speak on “Ending Germany’s Democracy; Establishing Hitler’s Dictatorship.”  We are fortunate to have as our lecturer on this topic a person who not only spent his first ten years living in Germany during the Nazi takeover but has spent a long lifetime as a distinguished scholar studying, teaching and lecturing on the subject of Nazi Germany and World War II.  At a time when many believe that American democracy is in danger, it will be instructive to hear Dr. Weinberg discuss an instance where democracy did disappear into totalitarian dictatorship.

Dr. Weinberg’s lecture will begin at 11:15 a.m. in Rooms 3 & 5 in the 105 Market St. building just across Sumac Rd. from the Christ United Methodist Church.  For those who are accustomed to our public Lindgren Lectures being held on Fridays, please note that at our new location, we will be holding these lectures on the 4th THURSDAYS of the month–this month, on Thursday, January 24th.  Parking is available in numerous places: the lot directly behind the 101-105 Market St. buildings, the Church’s lot on the other side of the Church proper, street parking nearby, and the $2/day Park-and-Ride lot just down Sumac Rd.  Directions and a map are HERE.

On Friday, Sept. 28th, at 11 a.m., Jack F. Matlock, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia gave a powerfully convincing talk to a packed audience at Shared Learning’s first Gray Lindgren Public Lecture of this academic year.  The title of Dr. Matlock’s address was Our Russia Policy: What is it? What Should it Be? but most of the talk focused on the end of the Cold War, the end of Communism in the Soviet Union, and the breakup of that country.  Matlock is the author of Reagan & Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended.

For further information, download the flyer <-HERE.

Our Lindgren Lectures are free and open to the public.  We hope you joined us!

Shared Learning Members and Visitors:

The Fall 2019 Shared Learning catalog is now available to all current and former members and to visitors to our site.  Remember, your academic year membership of $60 entitles you to enrollment in 25 courses during this Fall as well as all courses offered during Winter-Spring 2019. To get started, jump to our Course Description page or get an overview of courses on the Course Schedule page. To register for courses, download and print the Registration Form or the Entire Catalog.  The Fall Calendar and Inclement Weather policy is available here.

On Friday, February 23rd, at 11 a.m., Shared Learning was proud to host Professor William Ferris, Senior Associate Director of the Center for the Study of the American South at UNC Chapel Hill, who gave our February Gray Lindgren Public Lecture at our Association’s meeting location, Expand Church, 114 Weaver Dairy Rd., Chapel Hill.

Professor Ferris’ lecture was based on his book, The Storied South: Voices of Writers and Artists, a fascinating set of interviews with 26 of the most luminous artists and thinkers in American culture — from Eudora Welty, Pete Seeger, and Alice Walker to William Eggleston, Bobby Rush, and C. Vann Woodward.

Dr. Ferris described to us how he chose subjects and conducted one-on-one interviews, over the past forty years, with such outstanding cultural representatives of the American South; how storytelling is viscerally tied to southern identity; and how the work of southern and southern-inspired creators has shaped the way Americans think and talk about the South.

Like all of our Lindgren Public Lectures, Dr. Ferris’ talk was free and open to the Chapel Hill area community. We invite you to taste the intellectually invigorating and socially inviting climate that has characterized our organization since its founding by retired UNC faculty members nearly 40 years ago.