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  • HOME
  • Courses
    • Instructor Bios
    • Calendar
  • Membership
  • Field Trips
  • DONATE
  • About Us
    • Officers-Board-Committees
  • FAQs
  • Contact & Location

Fall 2023
​at SUGA 

September 19-November 10
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​Please take note whether instruction will be conducted via Zoom or In-Person.

​ZOOM CLASSES
 - LINKS will be sent 5:00 pm ET evening before class.  ​Please check your spam folder if not received. 

IN-PERSON - ​Physical Address:
Rehoboth Baptist Church, 2997 Lawrenceville Hwy., Tucker, GA 30087


Each Class Meets Once Per Week for one hour unless otherwise indicated.  

BECOME A MEMBER Today!
Online Calendar

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Once you have become a member, please register for desired courses below:

Online Course Registration

Interested in learning more about our instructors? 

​Click on the image below to find our Instructor Bios!

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​ZOOM Options 

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Tuesdays - ZOOM

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9:30 AM - ZOOM
 
POTPOURRI 
Ann Levine and George Wieder, Coordinators. Members, SUGA Curriculum Team

Sept. 19 – Peggy Thompson, PhD. Professor Emerita, Agnes Scott College, where she served as the Ellen Douglass Leyburn Professor of English. She has published widely on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century British literature and on the relationships between philosophy and literature, and religion and literature. She was a member of the faculty at Agnes Scott from 1985 until her retirement in 2016.  
Topic: “Gifts of Literature” – this session will be an examination of a short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe. Please read or listen in advance of the class: https://www.ibiblio.org/ebooks/Poe/Usher.pdf
or listen to the audio version on You Tube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSKAaV-Vv8Y&t=944s

Sept. 26 –
Marshall Duke, PhD. Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Emory University.
Topic: “Legacies”
Marshall Duke received his B.A. from Rutgers University and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Indiana University. Following two years of service as a psychologist in the United States Army, he joined the Emory faculty in 1970 where he served as the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Psychology of Personality Theory. He has studied a variety of family issues as a member of Emory’s psychology faculty, and was a core faculty member with The Emory Center for Myth and Ritual in American Life (MARIAL). He is the author of over 100 research articles and nine books. He retired in 2022 but remains an active researcher and writer in his field.

Oct. 3 –
Mickey Dubrow and Jessica Handler, Atlanta authors. Mickey will discuss his new novel, Always Agnes and Jessica will discuss her recent novel, The Magnetic Girl.  Mickey is SUGA member Debbi Richter’s cousin! He is also the author of the novel American Judas. For more than 30 years, he wrote award-winning television promos, marketing presentations, and scripts for various clients including Cartoon Network,
TNT Latin America, HGTV, and CNN. Jessica Handler is married to Mickey and is the award-winning author of the novel The Magnetic Girl, which was the winner of the 2020 Southern Book Prize. Her memoir, Invisible Sisters, was named one of the “Twenty Five Books All Georgians Should Read” by the Georgia Center for the Book in 2010.

Oct. 10 –
Megan Lloyd Joiner, Chaplain/Minister.
Topic: “Compassion-Based Training.” Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT) is a system of contemplative exercises designed to strengthen and sustain compassion. This session will be a brief introduction and overview of CBCT.
Megan is the Chaplain and Head of Religion Department at the Woodward Academy and an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister. With a BA in Religious Studies from
Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and an MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in New York, she has been a parish minister and was previously a Chaplain at Winship
Cancer Institute (Emory) and at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
October 17 –
A. James Anderson, Attorney, Robins Kaplan LLC
A graduate of Rutgers (who studied under Ruth Bader Ginsburg), Mr. Anderson joined
Robins Kapan LLP in Minneapolis. After becoming partner, in 1978 he moved to Atlanta to open the firm’s first regional office. In a career that has spanned more than 50 years, and involved scores of significant cases handled for an array of clients both large and small, the case that he considers the most significant and deeply rewarding is the one he will tell us about.

Oct 24 -
Bill Torpy, features writer on all topics about Atlanta for the Atlanta Journal- Constitution (AJC). Bill joined the AJC in 1990. He writes the metro column and has covered politics, government and countless stories about police, courts, the justice system and humanity in general. The Chicago native graduated from Southern Illinois University, and was a reporter in Chicago before moving to Atlanta.

Oct 31 -
Jason Tucker, “Meals on Wheels Atlanta (MOWA).” Supporting senior independence, MOWA works to ensure that no Atlanta senior is hungry, cold or forgotten. Jason is the Chief Innovation and Business Development Director at MOWA.

Nov 7 -
Chris Binkert, “Stories that Bring the Presidents to Life” is about revealing the presidents’ humanity by highlighting events and actions that will entertain and educate. A native of Ohio, Chris began his interest in the US Presidents about 40 years ago. He started by trying to collect one biography of each President. Plus, he had 8 presidential homes to visit in Ohio! Over the years, his collection expanded to include
extensive memorabilia gathered from his visits to presidential museums, libraries and monuments all over the country. Chris created a calendar called One Day at A Time with the Presidents, has been a docent at the William Howard Taft Museum in Cincinnati, and has given numerous presentations to school classes as well as to local service groups. After a 45-year career in sales, Chris relocated to Big Canoe, Georgia in 2014.
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11:00 AM - ZOOM
 
ARTS ADMINISTRATION: WHO DECIDES WHAT TO MAKE ARTS EVENTS HAPPEN
June Lester, Coordinator. Incoming SUGA President, Member, SUGA

We all enjoy attending concerts, plays, museums, and ballets, but have you ever wondered how arts events come about? How does all the planning, programming, scheduling, arranging, funding, etc. get done? This course will answer your questions through presentations by representatives of major arts institutions in the Greater Atlanta area. It will cover the planning and implementation of events in the arts world including art exhibits, plays, and concerts. Each week speakers from arts institutions in Greater Atlanta will shed light on the “behind the scenes” work that occurs to make arts events happen.
  • Sept. 19 Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Sarah Grant, Director of Education
  • Sept. 26 Atlanta Master Chorale, Jim Verrecchia, Executive Director
  • October 3 Center for Puppetry Arts, Aretta Baumgartner, Education Director
  • October 10 Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus, Don Milton III, Artistic Director
  • October 17 Alliance Theatre, Christopher Moses, Artistic Director
  • October 24 Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre, John Welker, Director
  • October 31 Atlanta Opera, Kendall Roney, Education Manager
  • November 7 Booth Museum of Western Art, Lisa Wheeler, Director of Curatorial Services

​Thursdays - ZOOM

9:30 AM - ZOOM
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THE ROLE OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN SOCIETY: PRESERVING ATLANTA
David Y. Mitchell, Executive Director, Atlanta Preservation Center

David Mitchell will arrange 8 weekly speakers. Invited speakers include:
1.) Gene Kansas, Commercial Real Estate - Gene Kansas
2.) Greg Jacobs - Contracting - Home — Landmark Preservation (landmarkpreservationllc.com)
3.) Dr. Barbara McCaskill - Barbara McCaskill | Department of English (uga.edu)
4.) Jessie White - Jessie White - Coastal Conservation League
5.) Ricci De Forest - Madam C.J. Walker Museum & WERD Radio – Atlanta, Georgia - Atlas Obscura
6.) Staci Catron - Staci L. Catron Awarded the Garden Club of America 2023 National Medal for Historic Preservation | Atlanta History Center
7.) Christina Zamon, Head, Special Collections/Archives, Georgia St. University -  Society of American Archivists
8.) Janis Ware - Our Story - The Atlanta Voice

11:00 AM - ZOOM
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IRAN, IRAQ, AND AFGHANISTAN
Sal Depasquale, MCJ (Criminal Justice), MBA

1979: The year the U.S. entered war with the Ottoman Empire Jimmy Carter was President. The Camp David Accords provided hope for peace. But a revolution was underway in Iran; Saddam Hussein became President of Iraq; and Jimmy Carter authorized covert CIA action on Afghanistan that ultimately gave birth to Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. Today hostilities engulf Libya, Sudan, Mali, Chad, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan, and Egypt. This class will examine the pivotal year of 1979 with a focus on the roots of contemporary conflict in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.
Recommended reading:
  • Draper, R. (2020) To Start a War: How the Bush Administration Took America into Iraq. Kindle Edition
  • Drogin, B. (2007) Curveball: Spies, Lies, and the ConMan Who Caused War. New York: Random House
  • Kuehn, F. and Strickland, A. (2012) An Enemy We Created: The Myth of the Taliban/Al Qaeda Merger in Afghanistan, 1970-2010. New York: Oxford University Press
  • McCants, William (2015-09-22). The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State (Kindle Locations 94-97). St. Martin's Press. Kindle Edition.


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​In-Person Options


Wednesdays - In-Person

9:30 am - In-Person
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HOW SAUSAGES ARE MADE:  THE REAL LEGISLATIVE PROCESS
Joy Glucksman, Coordinator, Attorney (retired), Member, SUGA
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It is said that one never wants to see how laws or sausages are made. Here is your chance to see the actual process and learn from past and present legislators, legislative assistants, and others who have “ground the meat, added the spices and stuffed it into casings” that we call laws. 

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HOW MINDS CHANGE
Shai Robkin, Behavioral Economics Educator, Social Entrepreneur, and Business Consultant
 
Can our minds change about any particular issue or political candidate?  Can you convince someone else to change their mind? How do societies change their collective minds? This course explores emerging research into these questions and examines the underlying forces, many unknown to our conscious minds, that drive changes in individual and collective societal behaviors, focusing on the work of behavioral economists, social psychologists and neuroscientists.  We’ll also take a look at what behavioral scientists have to say about some of the most important and often divisive issues of the day and their possible implications for public policy.

11:00 AM - In-Person
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WHAT’S IN YOUR HEAD?
Tom Hawkins and Art Slavin, Hosts. Members of SUGA
 
Back for its 14th season, the game combines the love of trivia, cultural literacy, and the memories of what we learned in school into a team sport. You will work within a randomly selected group of five or six, putting your heads together to come up with more correct answers than the other teams. What you didn’t know, you will learn. Having fun is more important than being smart, but winners do get applause.

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND AS TOLD BY NOAH HARARI
Glenn Abney, Moderator. Professor Emeritus, Political Science, Georgia State University. Member, SUGA
 
Born in Israel in 1976, Harari received his Ph.D. from the University of Oxford in 2002 and is currently a lecturer at the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  Harari has become a world-renown historian and philosopher. In his three books, Harari examines the past of humanity (Sapiens), the present (Lessons for the 21st Century), and the future (Home Deus). His work has been translated into over 50 languages. Harari uses concepts from biology, history, and economics to tell the story of us, Homo Sapiens. The account starts 2.5 million years ago, when Sapiens make their historical entrance, and ends in the future, when the creation of an artificially created superhuman race may mark the end of the Sapiens specie. Along the way, we learn how the ability of Sapiens to create imagined realities led to dominance over other animals. We watch as the Agricultural Revolution, the Scientific Revolution, imperialism, capitalism, and the Industrial Revolution change our species in lasting, and not always positive, ways while negatively impacting other animals and the environment. About, 70,000 years ago, our specie (Sapiens) was one of at least 6 human species in existence. Today, Sapiens is the only human specie remaining. What happened to our cousins? This is just one of the many questions addressed by Harari.  Harari can arouse your interest in a few words. For example: 
  • “The truly unique feature of our language is not its ability to transmit information about men and lions. Rather, its ability to transmit information about things that do not exist at all.”  
  • “The greatest scientific discovery was the discovery of ignorance.” 
  • “Evolution has made Homo Sapiens, like other social mammals, a xenophobic creature. Sapiens instinctively divide humanity into two parts, ‘we’ and ‘they’.”

​Fridays - In-Person

​9:30 am - In-Person
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WOMEN ARTISTS REVISITED
Lisa Guyton, artist and arts educator

Women have been historically understudied in art histories and underrepresented in art museums and galleries. We will look at a small but important selection of significant women artists in order to highlight their achievements, often in relationship to circumstances that made that achievement particularly difficult. Some of the artists include names that may be familiar such as Frida Kahlo and other that are less well known such as Edmonia Lewis. We will also discuss women artists in relationship to current issues of gender, identity and race.
Suggested reading list. Many are available from the public library.
  • Women's Art Work : More than 30 Female Artists Who Changed the World, by Sophia Bennett
  • The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art
  • The Expanding Discourse: Feminism and Art History, edited by Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard
Two by Linda Nochlin:
  • Women Artists: The Linda Nochlin Reader
  • Making It Modern: Essays on the Art of the Now

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BIOGRAPHIES OF PEOPLE AND MORE
Kay Collins, Coordinator.  Member, SUGA

​This year this topic is expanded to include an account of the life of or history of something other than the usual human, such as a location. Each week, two thirty-minute biographies (or one hour-long biography) of famous, infamous, or just plain interesting people or other things are presented by our members. Some topics are:  Newman & Redford, Woody Allen, Ray Bradbury,  Lillian Moller Gilbreth, John Steinbeck, members’ linked ancestry, Timbuktu, and a member’s small home town.

Class schedule:
Sept. 22 - Dr. Arnold Berry, "Crawford Long, MD"
                  Judy Plecko, "Jane Addams"

Sept. 29  - Mary Umlauf, "Antoni Gaudi and Casa Batllo"
Oct. 6 - Barbara Reisner and Rosemary Woolfitt,  "Letters Surprise You: A European family through two world wars and more."
Oct. 13 - David McCowen, "Ray Bradbury"
                Phyllis Bearden, "Pauli Murray"
Oct. 20 - Kay Collins, "Timbuktu"
                 Sharen Dorcon, "Her hometown"
Oct. 27 - Madeline Griffin, "Lillian Moller Gilbreth"
Nov. 3 - Anne MacDougal, "Redford & Newman"
Nov. 10 - Art Slavin,  "Woody Allen"
11:00 AM - In-Person
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THE SUPREME COURT:  HISTORY, TRADITIONS AND LANDMARK CASES
Jeff Milsteen, Attorney

​The Supreme Court, steeped in tradition and shrouded in secrecy, is responsible for some of the most significant (and controversial!) societal changes in American history.  In this class, we’ll explore the history of the high court and its impact on American values and norms.  We’ll also look at how the Court operates and examine some of the Court’s landmark decisions in areas of law ranging from civil rights and individual liberties to the constitutional rights we take for granted today.  Join us — no legal background required!

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THE ART OF KNOWING YOURSELF/PEACE EDUCATION PROGRAM
Steve Rush, Volunteer Facilitator with Peace Education Program, Prem Rawat Foundation

​The “Art of Knowing Yourself/Peace Education Program” consists of several “courses” over 8 weeks that explore the meaning of personal peace, each helping participants discover their own inner resources to live more fulfilling lives. The sessions focus on 10 different themes: Peace, Appreciation, Inner Strength, Self-Awareness, Clarity, Understanding, Dignity, Choice, Hope, and Contentment. Go to TPRF.org for more information on this program.




​Book Club

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The SUGA Book Club will meeting twice per quarter.  Below are the remainder of our 2023 selected titles.

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For more information, or if you would like to lead a discussion, please contact Kay Collins:
kayjcollins@bellsouth.net
​FALL TERM
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SEPTEMBER 20
​THE ROSE CODE

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NOVEMBER 1
THE NIGHT WATCHMAN

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