It can be difficult to drink from a raging waterfall, and that can be how it feels to quench one’s thirst for knowledge with an inundating flow of information available in this digital age. Traditional college classes can turn that flow from a torrent to a trickle, but it can also be too expensive or too formal for some.
The University Center of Southern Oklahoma on Thursday started their Lifelong Learning classes for those who want to learn without getting carried away in the currents and eddies of higher education.
Unlike traditional college classes, where attendance is vital and assignments are mandatory, the Lifelong Learning classes are much less formal. Three courses are being offered this fall, each starting at $15 per session and meet weekly for up to four weeks.
The first course to launch this fall is “The Civil War: The Sectional Crisis that Planted the Seeds of America’s Greatest Conflict.” The course is divided into four sessions that run each Thursday through Oct. 3. Led by UCSO graduate T.J. McCrite, the course will look at the decades leading up to the war that left an indelible mark on the nation for generations.
Starting on Sept. 19 is “Fundamentals of Oil & Gas Ownership,” led by petroleum engineer Tom Dunlap. The three-week class will give students information from more than five decades of Dunlap’s experience with his family’s oil and gas business. Unlike the other courses offered this fall that will be lectures and discussions, Dunlap’s course will be question-and-answer sessions.
The final course available this fall, “Genetics and Genomics,” will begin Sept. 25. Dr. Randy Allen will spend four weeks discussing ongoing advances in the field to students with only a basic understanding of biology. As the former co-director of the Center for Biotechnology and Genomics a Texas Tech University and current director of the OSU Institute for Agricultural Bioscience at Ardmore, Allen has experience explaining scientific concepts to non-scientists.
All classes will meet at the University Center Math & Health Sciences building. For more information or to enroll in a Lifelong Learning class, contact the UCSO at (580) 319-0300 or visit their website, ucso.osrhe.edu.