Intellectually curious adults have another place besides bookstores and libraries to hang out: the University of Denver.
Every fall and winter, DU’s University College serves up generous helpings of knowledge in history, contemporary issues, science, literature and the arts.
It’s all part of the Enrichment Program, which features noncredit courses, lectures, seminars and weekend intensives ranging from one-night seminars and events to 10 full weeks.
But perhaps the best part: no exams, grades or admission requirements.
And those who’ve taken classes say it is indeed enriching.
Susan Cable, an enrichment student and professor emeritus of music at Metropolitan State College of Denver, has taken 12 courses — including six this fall — over the last three years.
“Every class I took I loved,” Cable says.
Her favorite? Fighting Women: In Their Own Words, which examines four memoirs of women from 16th to the 20th centuries, taught by Ingrid Tague, chair of DU’s history department.
“DU gets such wonderful people to teach the classes,” Cable says.
This fall the program hit its fourth anniversary, and it’s clearly catching on. In its first year in 2003, 281 students enrolled. In the spring of 2007, that number jumped to nearly 700 adults.
“We’re well on our way to breaking another record this fall. We’re 91 ahead of where we were this time last fall,” says Deb Olson, the program’s assistant director.
This season 46 courses are being offered. Some of those include:
– Traveling by Book: Novels from Abroad
– Journal Writing
– Cosmology: Where am I in Time and Space?
– Hard Choices in Public Policy (taught by former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm)
Olson says that for the last three terms, students in Lamm’s 7 a.m. course have been found outside University Hall at 6:30 a.m. waiting for the building to open.
“Now those are some dedicated and eager students,” Olson says.
Learn more by calling 303-871-2291 or visiting the Enrichment Program site.