Think of it! Learning without the pressure of exams, papers and grades! Learning in a relaxed environment without competition! Learning for the pure pleasure of it!
The following courses are available to Osher members. Register early to secure your seat.
Have questions? Please phone the Extended Studies Office at (208) 426-1709
Click on the links at the left, or below, or scroll down to read a brief description of each course.
Learn about interesting geologic features of Southern Idaho as we approach Craters of the Moon National Monument, where we will stop and study outstanding examples of Basaltic volcanism. Moving on, we will follow the course of the upper Snake River to Jackson, Wyoming and on to Teton National Park to see the results of recent faulting and alpine glaciations. Then onward into Yellowstone National Park, where there will be numerous stops for walkabouts and discussions.
Attention will be focused on results of high heat flow and the many hydrothermal features of the park. While in the park, we will spend one night at the famous Old Faithful Inn. We will head back to Boise through the Island Park Caldera and down the length of the Snake River Plain.
Presenter: Monte Wilson, Geologist and Roy Mink, Hydrologist
Dates: May 26-29
Location: Yellowstone/Tetons/Craters of the Moon
Capacity: Full
Cost: (including instruction, transportation, lodging, park entry fees and two breakfasts):
Per person cost based on double occupancy: $410
Per person cost based on single room occupancy: $635Back to top
Learn to optimally use the operations, modes, and settings of your digital camera while training your eye to capture artistic and memorable photos.
Presenter: Dr. Mary Stieglitz, an artist and educator, recently served as Photographer in Residence for the National Park Service, MacNamara Foundation, and the Espy Foundation. She holds a Doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, and a two-year post-doctorate from UW-Madison. She has achieved professorial rank at numerous universities including Iowa State University of Science and Technology where she served as Distinguished Scholar in Arts and Humanities.
Dates: Tuesdays and Thursdays, June 2, 4, 9, 11
Time: 10 a.m. – Noon
Location: Boise State Foundation Office, 2225 University Drive
Parking: Parking is available in the parking garage on Brady Street. $1 an hour fee.
Capacity: Full
Cost: $55
This sport is addictive and beautiful. Learn technique, discover how to read the river and understand the habits of the fish and the insects they feed upon and much, much more. There will be a fishing expedition at the end of the series to provide practice and experience. You will fish with experts.
Presenter: John Wolter
Dates: Wednesdays, June 3, 10, 17, 24
Time: 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Location: MK Nature Center
Parking: Park in the lot in front of the Nature Center and adjacent to the Idaho Fish and Game department at 600 S. Walnut
Capacity: 20
Cost: $65
Join us to read and discuss Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors and Twelfth Night—plays that will be performed as part of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival’s summer season. The plays will be compared and discussed as literature and also for their performance possibilities. Participants should read both plays. It is suggested that participants see the ISF performance of The Comedy of Errors during the session.
Presenter: Charles Davis
Dates: Mondays, June 15, 17, 22, 24
Time: 10 a.m.–Noon, June 15, 17, 24; 10 a.m.–2 p.m., June 22 (in addition to class, students will be watching a film)
Location: Monday, June 15, Farnsworth Room, BSU Student Union; Wednesday, June 17, Shakespeare Festival Theater; Monday, June 22, Grand Ballroom A, BSU Student Union; Wednesday, June 24, Shakespeare Festival Theater
Parking: Best on-campus parking will be in the parking garage on University Dr. and Lincoln Ave. Entrance is on Belmont St. $1 an hour fee.
Capacity: 50
Cost: $55
Email frustrate you? Want to learn to put photos on your computer? Unsure how to approach the internet? A new world awaits you. Learn these and other basic computer skills in this class, designed for those just starting out with computers.
Presenter: Glenna Rhodes
Dates: Tuesdays, June 16, 23, 30, July 7
Time: 10 a.m.–Noon
Location: BSU Albertsons Library, Computer Classroom TBA
Parking: Best parking is in the Administration Building fee lot on University Dr., $1 per hour fee.
Capacity: 25
Cost: $45
Students will be working entirely with slab construction methods, including soft slab, drape molding, and stiff-slab construction. Various texturing methods will be used and students will work with a variety of glazes. The class will culminate in a Raku Firing Event. Raku is the Japanese low firing process characterized by brilliant metallic finishes and white and black crackling.
Presenter: Jerry Hendershot
Dates: Mondays, June 29, July 6, 13, 20
Time: 1 p.m.–3 p.m.
Location: TBA
Parking: TBA
Capacity: 8
Cost: $62 (includes materials fee)
Develop flexibility, strength and general well being as you learn and practice both yoga and Pilates techniques in this fully equipped studio.
Presenter: Becky Weires
Dates: Mondays, July 6, 13, 20, 27
Time: 11 a.m.–Noon
Location: Yoga for Life Center, 1085 North Cole Rd., Suite 103
Parking: Parking is available in the lot adjacent to the building.
Capacity: 14
Cost: $40
This is an introductory level course designed to provide you with skills and techniques that are the basis for a strong understanding of your immediate surroundings. You will come to understand how to analyze a three-dimensional object, draw that object onto a two-dimensional surface (paper), and have it appear three dimensional using value and shape. The elements of shape, line, value, form color and space will be explored.
Presenter: Dan Lake
Dates: Thursdays, July 9, 16, 23, 30
Time: 10 a.m.–Noon
Location: Centennial High School Art Suite, Room 241
Parking: Park in the school’s lot.
Capacity: 25
Cost: $45
Learn clinical symptoms, molecular players and treatment options of Neurodegenerative Diseases with special focus on Parkinson's Disease and Alzheimer’s. Some lab time is included.
Presenter: Troy Rohn
Dates: Tuesdays, July 14, 21, 28
Time: 10 a.m.–Noon
Location: BSU Science Nursing Building, Room 218
Parking: Best parking would be in the parking facility on Brady Street or in the Administration Building pay lot on University Drive. $1 per hour fee.
Capacity: 35
Cost: $35
Whether your interest is nutrition, food security, sustainable living or horticulture, you’ll never again take food for granted after this course. From soil to table, local producers, marketers and educators will describe the triumphs and challenges of our local food economy, and we’ll visit two local growers to see how it’s done.
Presenters: Beth Geagan, Sustainable Community Connections of Idaho; Janie Burns, Meadowlark Farms; James Reed, Idaho’s Bounty; Becky Morgan, BUGS (Boise Urban Garden School); Josie Erskine and Diane Jones, Peaceful Belly CSA.
Dates: Wednesdays, July 22, 29; August 5 and 12 will be on site.
Time: 10 a.m.–Noon
Location: Idaho Department of Agriculture, 2270 Old Penitentiary Road
Room 22-A and B on July 22nd; Conference rooms 1 and 2 on July 29th
Parking: Parking is available adjacent to the building.
Capacity: 35
Cost: $45
Learn the basics of genealogy and family history gathering using internet research techniques as you pursue the names on your family tree.
Presenter: Gene Williams
Dates: Tuesdays, August 4, 6, 11, 18
Time: 10 a.m.–Noon
Location: BSU Albertsons Library, Computer Classroom TBA
Parking: Best parking would be in the Administration Building pay lot on University Dr. $1 per hour fee.
Capacity: 25
Cost: $45
Learn yoga the Iyengar way with a clear presentation and step-by-step instructions designed to enhance your sense of balance, alignment, strength, flexibility and overall sense of well-being. Fully equipped studio with all yoga props provided. Students should come with relatively empty stomachs, and with hands and feet washed free of lotions and oils.
Presenter: Vickie Aldridge
Dates: Tuesdays, August 4, 6, 11, 13, 18, 20, 25, 27
Time: 3:30 p.m.–4:45 p.m.
Location: The Yoga Center, 3113 Rose Hill St.
Parking: Parking is available adjacent to the building
Capacity: 16
Cost: $85
Watercolor is fluid, transparent, and richly colorful. You will train your mind and your hand as you study and practice the basics of this beautiful art form and/or be able to move forward with skills you have already developed as you participate in this watercolor course.
Presenter: Carl Goodwin
Dates: Wednesdays, August 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, 20
Time: 10 a.m.–Noon
Location: Centennial High School Art Suite, Room 241
Parking: Parking is available in the school’s lot.
Capacity: 25
Cost: $65
The Arab-Israeli conflict is one of the newest/oldest “intractable” problems in the world today. The area has always seethed with conflict; the city of Jerusalem has been one of the most fought over cities in history. Since the return of the Jews to the area began in earnest at the end of the nineteenth century, the conflict over control of that part of the world and over control of Jerusalem has taken on a religious dimension as well. This course will explore the roots and nature of this conflict that threatens to engulf considerably more than just the nations in the region.
Presenter: Dr. Howard Berger, Professor of History, College of Idaho
Dates: Wednesdays, September 2, 9, 16, 23
Time: 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Location: TownePlace Suites (Marriott), 1455 South Capital Blvd. Turn West from Capitol Boulevard at the light on Capitol and University Drive onto Ann Morrison Drive. Turn left at the next corner onto Lois. The hotel is directly ahead.
Cost: $45
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With the short story, modernist fiction writers embarked on bold experiments in form and focus and shook off the structure and conventions of the Victorian novel. They engaged the reader in an unprecedented manner as they linked their writing to the revolutionary social and historical changes of the beginning of the twentieth century. Join us as we study evocative stories that reflect the complex experience of modern life including changes in gender and social roles, the loss of a more innocent world, paralysis in the face of the massive death tolls of war, and the curious nature of desire.
The library would be a good source for the books that will be included, but below is a reading list with ISBN numbers that will enable you to purchase those you wish to own.
Presenter: Dr. Cheryl Hindrichs, Assistant Professor of English and Specialist in Modernist Literature, Boise State University, co-facilitator for Literature for Lunch (Boise Public Library)
Dates: Fridays, September 4, 11, 18, 25, October 2
Time: 2-4 p.m.
Location: The Cabin, 801 South Capitol Blvd.
Capacity: 26
Cost: $55
Parking: Parking is available in front of the building and also adjacent to the front lawn by the building.
What an opportunity! Writer Clay Morgan, who is also director of Boise State’s Story Initiative Project, will provide the introductory and final lectures/discussions for this class concerning the art of adapting literary sources to visual storytelling (movies) for Osher Institute members.
In between these sessions, we will join the Story Initiative Project’s Great Adaptations Film and Story Conference for special screenings. These will include a premiere of director and screenwriter Michael Hoffman’s new film, The Last Station. At the screening, Hoffman and Jay Parini, who wrote the novel from which the film was adapted, will conduct a discussion with the audience.
The next day, screenwriter Judith Rascoe will present one of her films (perhaps A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man) and participate in a panel discussion about film adaptations.
Presenters: Clay Morgan, author and special lecturer at Boise State University, with presentations by directors Michael Hoffman and Judith Rascoe and novelist Jay Parini.
Dates/Time/Location: To be determined. Because the date for the Hoffman film release is not yet available, we are unable to post the class schedule. Please sign up now to indicate your interest. As soon as we are able, we will inform those on the list of the dates and times. If the dates do not match your schedule, your money will be refunded.
Cost: $65
Do you feel health care is a right? Do you think it should be a right? How should it be distributed and funded? Analyze the health care system with experts who will explain the various parts and pieces of our current health care system, how our current system evolved, its merits and demerits. What forces have shaped it, what practices are sustainable and what changes need to be made? As the class looks to the future, the presenters will discuss what we need our system to look like ten years down the road, what it is likely to look like, and issues related to supply, demand and distribution.
Presenters: Dr. James Girvan, Dean of the College of Health Science, Boise State University, and member of the Governor’s task force on Health Care Initiatives, and invited guests from the community.
Dates: Tuesdays, September 8, 15, 22, 29
Time: 10 a.m. – Noon
Location: The Flicks Theater, 646 Fulton St.
Cost: $45
Parking: Parking is available adjacent to and in front of the building.
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The U.S. Constitution—it has survived for generations, has been amended and debated. Is it now teetering on the brink of collapse or is it as venerable and strong as its founders intended? What documents, influences and opinions shaped the thinking of its creators? What threats has it endured and where does the nation stand today with regard to the Constitution? How do presidential war powers and the conduct of American foreign policy affect the Constitution? Author, professor and constitutional scholar Dr. David Adler will address these questions and more. This is a session you will not want to miss.
Presenter: Dr. David Adler, Professor of Political Science, Idaho State University, author and nationally known Constitutional scholar
Dates and Times: Thursday, September 17 (Constitution Day!), 6:30-8:30 p.m.; Friday, September 18, 10:15 a.m.-Noon
Locations: Boise State Student Union (September 17); Boise Public Library (September 18)
Cost: $35
Parking: Parking is available on Sept. 17th in the parking facility on University Dr. and Lincoln Avenue. Entrance on Belmont St. $1 an hour fee.
Capacity: 80
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Japanese Americans have been in Idaho since before statehood and their history is deeply entwined with that of the state and nation. The most significant part of that shared history occurred during World War II when the Minidoka Relocation Center was established to house more than ten thousand persons of Japanese descent moved by the federal government.
This course will cover the broad range of the history of this group in Idaho, with emphasis on the WWII experience. An optional Saturday field trip with Dr. Sims may be added to this class for class members who wish to participate.
Presenter: Dr. Robert Sims, Emeritus Professor of History, Boise State University
Dates: Mondays, September 14, 21, 28
Time: 10 a.m.-Noon
Location: The Cabin, 801 South Capitol Boulevard
Cost: $35
Capacity: 35
Parking: Parking is available in front of the building and also adjacent to the front lawn by the building.
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Engage your imagination and sharpen your photographer’s eye on a day-long “field workshop.” Anticipate finding new ways of regarding the environment, deepening your artistic vision, and articulating your chosen subjects with available light. Focus will be on composition, lighting, clarity and depth of field control, and pictorial potential. You will learn to tell a visual story as you explore the Idaho Botanical Garden and surrounding historic structures with your camera.
Presenter: Dr. Mary Stieglitz, photographer and educator
Date: Thursday, September 24
Time: 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Location: Idaho Botanical Garden, 2355 Old Penitentiary Rd.
Cost: $55
Capacity: 16
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Fascinated by fungi? Love mushrooms but can’t tell one from a toadstool? This course is for you. It will provide an introduction to fungi with a particular emphasis on mushrooms common to Idaho. The lecture will focus on the role of mushrooms in their varied habitats, where they occur, and the wide diversity of mushroom types. Additionally, the topics of mushroom edibility and poisoning will be discussed. The field trip will be to the Payette National Forest for a day of collecting and identifying.
Presenter: Dr. Marcia Wicklow-Howard, Biologist and Emeritus Professor of Biology, Boise State University
Dates and Times: Wednesday, September 30, 10 a.m.-Noon; Thursday, October 1, all day
Location: Boise State Foundation Conference Room, 2225 University Drive
Capacity: 20
Cost: $65
Parking: Parking is available in the parking garage on Brady Street. $1 an hour fee.
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Astronomers and astronauts are pushing space exploration to new realms as they observe, listen and study data from distances greater than we could imagine just a few years ago. Join us for an outstanding opportunity to learn from those who have explored space, who study the far reaches of the universe and who are looking for signals from our galactic backyard. What do the powerful new telescopes, the listening technologies, space explorations and research show and tell us? Come and discover for yourself!
Presenters: Dr. Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer for SETI Institute; Barbara Morgan, Educator/Astronaut, Boise State University; Dr. Dale Fields, Astronomer, Pierce College, Woodland Hills, California.
Dates: Tuesday, October 6 and Friday, October 9
Time: 10 a.m.-Noon
Location: Boise State Student Union, corner of University Dr. and Lincoln Ave.
Capacity: 120
Cost: $45
Parking: Parking is available in the parking garage on Brady Street. $1 an hour fee.
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Your good health does not come with a guarantee that it will last. Someday you may need to know how to navigate through our complicated health care system to get the most from your health care dollar. How do you find the right health care provider for your needs, avoid unnecessary tests and steer clear of duplication? (While this two-session class builds on information provided in the previous class, “Present and Future Danger,” that class is not a prerequisite for this one.)
Presenter: Dr. Sarah Toevs, Associate Dean of the College of Health Science, Boise State University
Dates: Wednesdays, October 7, 14
Time: 10 a.m.-Noon
Location: The Flicks Theater, 646 Fulton St.
Cost: $25
Parking: Parking is available adjacent to and in front of the theater. NOTE: Parking lot behind the building is not operated by The Flicks. You may park there but must pay the required fee.
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Come and explore how the spread of modernity has affected the Muslim world. Different ideological positions of Muslim scholars and states will be identified and their positions, which range from total rejection of modernity to its selective adoption and to total adoption, will be discussed. The social and political consequences of differing ideological positions and their contemporary relevance will be considered.
Presenter: Dr. Fikret Karcic, visiting Muslim Fulbright Scholar, Boise State University
Dates: Thursdays, October 8, 15, 22
Time: 10-11:30 a.m.
Location: TownePlace Suites (Marriott), 1455 South Capital Blvd.
Turn West from Capitol Boulevard at the light on Capitol and University Drive onto Ann Morrison Drive. Turn left at the next corner onto Lois. The hotel is directly ahead.
Cost: $35
Capacity: 90
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This class is for adults who intuitively appreciate visual art and want to understand what makes “good art” good. Learn about the artist’s aesthetic principles and design choices through gallery discussions and demonstrations. Then experiment with similar techniques in guided studio art making. Tuesdays will be spent in the Museum galleries for discussions and demonstrations and Thursdays will be dedicated to ‘hands on’ studio art experiences. All levels welcome. No artistic skill necessary.
Presenter: Terra Feast, Assistant Director of Education, Boise Art Museum
Dates: Tuesdays and Thursdays, October 13, 15, 20, 22, 27, 29
Time: 2-4 p.m.
Location: Boise Art Museum, 670 Julia Davis Dr.
Parking: Parking is available street side and in a small lot towards the back of the building, near the museum’s sculpture garden.
Cost: $70
Capacity: 20
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Genetically speaking, what is it that makes you who you are? This class will address the concepts of individuality in DNA, how one’s own DNA affects talents, survival longevity, and health and treatment options. What can DNA tell individuals about their personal heritage and particular propensities and how one’s genes fit into the broader human genome?
Presenter: Dr. Greg Hampikian, Professor of Biology and Criminal Justice and Founder and Director of the Innocence Project, Boise State University
Dates: Mondays, November 2, 9
Time: 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Location: The Cabin, 801 South Capitol Boulevard
Parking: Parking is available in front of the building and also adjacent to the front lawn by the building.
Cost: $25
Capacity: 45
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Many of you were fascinated by the overview Elton provided on major religions of the world and asked if he would come back for an encore class. This time, he will provide a deeper look into the sacred texts and teachings of Hinduism and Buddhism. Students will be introduced to and study the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Mahabharata, the Yoga Vasistha, Mahatma Gandhi and more as they look at Hinduism. The study of Buddhist sacred texts and teachings will include the Pali texts, the Heart Sutra and Zen texts.
Presenter: Professor Elton Hall, philosopher and retired university professor
Dates: Tuesdays and Thursdays, November 3, 5, 10, 12, 17, 19
Time: 10 a.m.-Noon
Location: TownePlace Suites (Marriott), 1455 South Capital Blvd.
Turn West from Capitol Boulevard at the light on Capitol and University Drive onto Ann Morrison Drive. Turn left at the next corner onto Lois. The hotel is directly ahead.
Cost: $65
Capacity: 90
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The current economic situation raises multiple questions about both recession and recovery and finds us looking for significant parallels with past crises such as the Great Depression. In this course we will discuss how this economic situation evolved to its current state, the impact of the housing bubble, the role of the Federal Reserve and Treasury and the early Stimulus Package. Finally, we will look to the future, gauge what it will take for the economy to recover and what the new relationship between government and business may be as the country emerges from recession.
Presenter: Dr. Don Holley, Chair, Department of Economics, Boise State and former economic analyst and forecaster for Ore-Ida Foods
Dates: November 16, 23
Time: 2:45-4:45 p.m.
Location: TownePlace Suites (Marriott), 1455 South Capital Blvd.
Turn West from Capitol Boulevard at the light on Capitol and University Drive onto Ann Morrison Drive. Turn left at the next corner onto Lois. The hotel is directly ahead.
Cost: $25
Capacity: 90
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Human migration from Africa, through Asia over Beringia, and into the Americas has been confirmed by archeological and genetic evidence. Migration routes were determined by geology and constrained by glacial cycles. The western landscapes and resources were poorly understood when the Louisiana Purchase was signed, but the Gold Rush of 1849 and four great geological surveys beginning in 1867 documented the western migration scheme. Discover more as you learn of the role of geology in the human migration to the American West.
Presenter: Dr. Terry Maley, geologist and author
Dates: Wednesdays, November 4, 11, 18, December 2
Time: 1-3 p.m.
Location: Idaho State Department of Agriculture Conference Rooms, 2270 Old Penitentiary Rd.
Cost: $45
Capacity: 35