GREENFIELD – The upcoming season of Greenfield Community College’s Senior Symposia will not only mark six opportunities for learning about topics ranging from cinema to foreign relations, but will also mark a return to in-person sessions for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Pat Leuchtman, a member of the volunteer committee that organizes the Senior Symposia, said of returning to in-person events. “We’re thrilled.”
Although Leuchtman said the Senior Symposia events have traditionally been held at GCC’s Downtown Center and moved briefly to the Stinchfield Auditorium at the main campus, the two venues being used for the upcoming season are the John Zon Community Center at 35 Pleasant St. (for four of the six programs) and the Garden Cinemas at 361 Main St. (for the March 9 and April 5 programs).
With the exception of the March 9 presentation, which will be held from 1:30 to 4 p.m., the events run from 2 to 4 p.m. Registration, which costs $10, is offered online only at bit.ly/3GNf64l. All attendees must wear a mask during the presentations.
The schedule of programs is as follows:
■Tuesday, Feb. 22 – “The China Challenge: Can We Avoid an Arms Race and World War III?” Michael Klare, professor emeritus of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College and a senior visiting fellow at the Arms Control Association in Washington D.C., will discuss how the rise of China — both in terms of its economic and technological strength, but also its military power — poses an unprecedented challenge to the United States, and lead a discussion on how the U.S. should respond considering the U.S. needs cooperation from China to address issues like climate change, pandemic recurrences and nuclear proliferation.
■Wednesday, March 9 – “A Classic Movie and Conversation: Strangers on a Train.” Based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith and a screenplay by Raymond Chandler, “Strangers on a Train” (1951) embraces and extends producer-director Alfred Hitchcock’s continuing theme of the transference of guilt. The discussion will be led by Carolyn Anderson, professor emerita at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who was a founding member of its Interdepartmental Program in Film Studies and represented UMass on the Five College Film Council. Anderson is also a member of the Senior Symposia volunteer committee.
■Tuesday, March 22 – “The Links Between Classical Music & Jazz” with Willie Hill. This lecture/demonstration will give the audience an opportunity to explore how the genres of jazz and classical music can be compared.
■Tuesday, April 5 – “Student Learning Outcomes Around the World.” GCC Interim President Richard Hopper will share his experience as a senior policy analyst for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France overseeing data analysis on student learning outcomes of high school students across the world.
■Wednesday, April 13 – “Images of the Quabbin: Then & Now.” Using images culled from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation archives, Dale Monette will contrast photographs documenting the construction of the Quabbin Reservoir in the mid-1930s with photographs of the same locations in present-day settings. Monette specializes in nature photography, wildlife and landscapes.
■Tuesday, May 3 – “Global Meets Local: Pandemics Past & Present in the Connecticut River Valley.” Alan Swedlund, professor emeritus and former chair of anthropology at UMass Amherst who has researched the history of health and disease in the U.S., will discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has both heightened our awareness and undermined our confidence in dealing with infectious disease.
“They’re all special and they do really fascinating things,” Leuchtman said of the six speakers, noting that the volunteer committee meets regularly to discuss who might be willing to speak for the Senior Symposia. “People on the committee, a lot of them are people who have been working at different colleges and they know a lot of fascinating people.”
The organizing committee consists of 11 volunteers – Leuchtman, Anderson, Dale Peterson, Lorna Peterson, Belden Mirims, Helen von Schmidt, Wesley Blixt, Al Fiano, John Reef, Stan Rosenberg and Jarice Hanson – along with GCC Associate Dean for Community Engagement Judy Raper.