Building on the success of its online courses for alumni and friends last summer, Cornell’s Adult University (CAU) is offering winter online programming for adults and young people. CAU Winter Session: A Season to Study runs Dec. 28 through Feb. 5, 2021.

“As part of our ongoing effort to stay connected with alumni and other avid adult learners, CAU continues to charter new online territory and stretch the traditional boundaries of our educational programming,” said Lora Gruber-Hine, director of CAU, which is part of Cornell’s School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions (SCE).

CAU’s winter programs for adults, taught by Cornell faculty, include synchronous courses ranging from astronomy to wine, and asynchronous webinars with topics ranging from digital media to ancient military strategies. For youth ages 10-15, CAU is offering courses in cosmology, engineering and math, all taught by Cornell graduate students.

“We’ve received tremendous support from our Cornell faculty and graduate students,” Gruber-Hine said, “all of whom are eager to teach these courses even after a full semester of online instruction.”

Online programs for adults runs Jan. 9 through Feb. 5. Offerings include:

• Live, interactive weeklong and weekend courses on art, astronomy, evaluating wine, hip-hop culture, Italian film, medical ethnobotany, poetry, spider biology and others. All courses are taught live; most meet every day for an hour or two. These courses will give learners the opportunity to ask questions, chat with classmates and participate in discussions with faculty. Each course, taught via Zoom, is $250 per person. Discounts are available for Cornell faculty, staff, students and retirees.
• Tuesday night webinars will feature topics including ancient military strategies, and Cornell’s role at the forefront of digital technology and immunology research during the global COVID-19 pandemic. The cost for the five hourlong webinars is $100 per household.

Online programming for youth (ages 10-15) runs Dec. 28 through Jan. 22.

The two-week youth courses will feature 10 hours of live instruction and 10 hours of asynchronous learning. Students ages 13-15 can choose from Biomedical Engineering or Discovering the Cosmos; students ages 10-12 can choose either Math Problem-Solving Techniques or Intro to Engineering. Each course, taught via Zoom, is $350 per student. Discounts are available to children/grandchildren of Cornell faculty, staff, students and retirees.

Free CAU webinars include:

• “Jewish Identity and Hollywood Cinema: What Makes it Jewish? (and Why Does it Matter?)” – Dec. 21, 2 p.m. EST, taught by Elliot Shapiro, senior lecturer at the Knight Institute and Jewish Studies Program in the College of Arts and Sciences.
• “The Professor and His Student: Arthur Wesley Dow and the Education of Georgia O’Keeffe” – Feb. 18, 2021, 2 p.m. EST, taught by Nancy Green, the Gale and Ira Drukier Curator of European and American Art, Prints, and Drawings, 1800-1945, at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.

Classes are open to all but have limited space; registration deadline for both the adult and youth courses is Dec. 21.

Visit the SCE website for the full schedule of offerings and to register.

Shelley Preston is the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions’ communications and marketing specialist.