Sample Topics

Curiosity, Nurtured by Our Faculty

Academic Year 2025 Topics Included:

“Do We Need a Constitution?,” featuring David Goldfield, Ph.D.

“Climate Change and Constitutional Rights,” featuring Tina, Shull, Ph.D.

The Culture of Dolphins and the Dolphins of Culture, featuring Alan Rauch, Ph.D.

Dorothy Gale: How Well Do You Know Her?, featuring Mark West, Ph.D.

“A Mystery Memoir: Uncovering the Secrets of Schatten, a Post WWII Camp Hodolein Memoir,” featuring Anabel Aliaga-Buchenau, Ph.D., Jules Geaney-Moore, and John Sullivan

“The Cutting Edge of Gerontology,” featuring Cynthia Hancock, Ph.D., FAGHE, FSGS, FSPO

“Neurocognitive Disorders: What Are They, and How to Live a Good Life with Them,” featuring Aimee Smith, PhD, LP-HSP

“Hungry Roots: How Food Communicates Appalachia’s Search for Reslience,” featuring Ashli Quesinbery Stokees, Ph.D.

“New Television as Art,” featuring Martin Shuster, Ph.D.

“The Experience of Lonelliness and Social Isolation Among Older Adults,” featuring Megan Smith, Ph.D.

“Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Geoarcheaology and the H.L. Hunley,” featuring Scott Hippensteel, Ph.D.

Academic Year 2024 Topics Included:

“From Uncle Remus to Gone with the Wind,” featuring Karen Cox, Ph.D.
“Superstorms! or ‘It Never Happens Here”: Unpacking the True Relationship Between Tornadic Thunderstorms and Terrain,” featuring Casey Davenport, Ph.D.
“Demagogues and Dictators,” featuring Jurgen Buchenau, Ph.D.
“National Service for All: Part 2,” featuring Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Frederick
“Toto: Beloved Animal Companion or Yapping Meddlesome Pooch?,” featuring Dina Schiff Massachi, M.A.
“The Culture of Dolphins and the Dolphins of Culture,” featuring Alan Rauch, Ph.D.
“The Cutting Edge of Gerontology: Past, Present, and Possible Future Directions,” featuring Cynthia Hancock, Ph.D.
“Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol: A Malthusian Tale,” featuring Alan Rauch, Ph.D.
“Ella: Mother, Minstrel, Martyr,” featuring David Goldfield, Ph.D.
“Gun Violence in Schools,” featuring Scott Gartlan, Ph.D.
“The Future of Social Security,” featuring Jacqueline M. Chattopadhyay
“Outsiders Inside: Jews and Muslims in Europe,” featuring Joyce Dalsheim, Ph.D. (with Gregory Starrett, Anthropology)