Carnegie Mellon University
August 25, 2023

Spotlight on Courses and Open Courses List!

Take another look at these courses! Members may register online or call the office. 

Open Course List

For a full list of open courses, click on the link below!

Open Course List

Fall 2023 Spoghtlight on Courses!

Click on the course titles below for descriptions and schedules.

Wed 2:45 PM - 4:15 PM; 5 sessions; starting 11/1/2023, ending 12/6/2023; Class Skip Dates : (No class on 11/22/2023)

in cyert hall, Osher room A

This course will start by looking at Social Security and end five sessions later by discussing how to select a care facility. Along the way we will discuss Medicare; VA benefits; the advantages, disadvantages, and benefits of health, drug, and travel insurance plans; health care reform; legal documents; long-term care insurance, homecare services; adult day care; low-income programs; retirement communities; and selecting a facility for confinement care.

Thu 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM; 5 sessions; starting 9/7/2023, ending 10/12/2023; Class Skip Dates : (No class on 9/21/2023)

In Cyert Hall, Osher Room A

Diligent savers enter the second half of retirement with little insight into the complex tax and distribution planning dangers that can wipe away the sacrifice made during their working years. This course is designed to educate participants about how to keep more of their retirement savings by effective use of planning opportunities available under current tax laws. This course is updated annually to reflect new legislative developments and tax planning opportunities.

Tue 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM; 4 sessions; starting 10/31/2023, ending 11/28/2023; Class Skip Dates : (No class on 11/7/2023)

On Zoom

Attic + Third Floor + Basement + Garage + Shed = ?   What’s the answer to this unusual equation? It’s actually quite simple: Storage places for junk and clutter. People save things because they think they may need them later. But if they really needed them, they would be using them now and not sitting in storage. In this course, we will discuss the places that we use for storage and the items that we put in them. You will learn how to identify which items you are not using and will most likely never be of any value to you. You will also learn how to clean out a space without feeling guilt or angst. This is an interactive course and a continuation of other courses you may have already taken about decluttering and getting organized.

Thu 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM; 5 sessions; starting 9/7/2023, ending 10/5/2023

In cyert Hall, Olmsted Activity Room

Are you faced with the responsibility to manage your personal finances with no prior experience? This course will help you develop your ability to understand your personal finances and your confidence to make better financial decisions. Another key benefit is the potential to decrease your stress in fulfilling these critical and challenging responsibilities. The wide range of topics includes income (interest, dividends, IRAs, Social Security); expenses (budgeting); investments (stocks, bonds, money markets, mutual funds, stock market, asset allocation); estate planning (gifts, financial and health powers of attorney, wills, trusts); income taxes (income and deductions); and insurance (health, long-term care, life).

Wed 9:15 AM - 10:45 AM; 6 sessions; starting 11/1/2023, ending 12/13/2023; Class Skip Dates : (No class on 11/22/2023)

in cyert hall, Osher room a

By use of practical information, useful anecdotes, and samples of documents commonly used in real estate transactions, this course will explain many of the legal principles which surround most real estate transactions. The documents analyzed will include deeds from individuals and estates, real estate sales agreements, real estate settlement sheets, residential leases, commercial leases, and residential mortgages. The focus will be on basic principles and provisions and steps you should take or expect your lawyer to take to protect your rights and reduce your risks.

Tue 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM; 3 sessions; starting 9/5/2023, ending 9/19/2023

in cyert hall, Osher room a

People with fewer words for the emotions (alexithymia) feel or sense in others are at a disadvantage in understanding themselves and relating to others. Our culture socializes people differently in regard to emotions and this can lead to conflicts. Many people want to meet their partners’ emotional needs but do not fully understand the other, not because they themselves are less emotional, or lack empathy, or are genetically or hormonally different, but because they lack the verbal tools to relate more fully. After a discussion of the nature of emotions and their expression, we will practice using emotion wheels and other tools to expand our emotional vocabulary. We will explore emotion words in other languages, some not translatable, neologisms for complex emotions, and emojis’ meanings. Warning: Some discussion will include exploration of the uses of the F-word and words for excrement because they illustrate the issues so well.

Thu 2:45 PM - 4:15 PM; 5 sessions; starting 11/2/2023, ending 12/7/2023; Class Skip Dates : (No class on 11/23/2023)

in Cyert hall, osher room a

Who is Ayn Rand? “Who is John Galt?” was the question Ayn Rand challenged us to think about in Atlas Shrugged. We will ask this question about Ayn Rand herself. Was she the creator of a cult of selfishness? Is she the unabashed prophet of capitalism? Was she an immoral scoundrel? Why has she been so influential? Does her thought have any value for us? We will exam some of her most important works and her critics, so that each of us can decide for ourselves, who is Ayn Rand and is her way of thinking importance?

Wed 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM; 6 sessions; starting 9/6/2023, ending 10/11/2023

on zoom

Stephen Markley’s epochal 880-page novel, The Deluge, is a serious attempt to anticipate life in America during the next 20 years of rapid climate change.  The book follows six complex and interlocking characters — a climate scientist, a public relations advisor to the fossil fuel industry, a political consultant, a climate activist, an eco-terrorist, and an ordinary working-class guy — as they do their best to navigate through violent weather and political conflict.  It’s a difficult read, but I think well worth it.  Please join me to read and talk about this remarkable environmental and political thriller.  This will be a discussion only class.