presents
One Day University
Fascinating talks by over 300 remarkable professors
chosen from 150 top-tier schools.
One Day University Seattle Times Series
Sponsored by
On September 20, 21 and 22, One Day University will be presenting three remarkable talks featuring award-winning professors from across the country.
Each talk will air from 5:30 – 6:30 PST and is about 45 minutes with a 15 minute Q&A session. We hope you’ll join us for one, two, or all three of these talks and rediscover the joy of lifelong learning.
A link to view the talks will be sent to all registrants prior to each session.
The talks are FREE thanks to The Seattle Times and AARP Washington, but you must register.
All courses are from 5:30 – 6:30PM PST
FDR and the Four Freedoms
Jeffrey Engel / Southern Methodist University
The United States stands for freedom. No politician dares say otherwise, lest they seek an early retirement. But what kind of freedom, precisely, and for whom? Franklin Roosevelt offered an answer in 1941. Believing the United States had a role to play in the battle against Nazi and fascist aggression already underway in Europe, he called Americans to arms not just to preserve their security, but their way of life, and their very freedoms. Four freedoms, to be exact: freedom of speech, freedom from want, freedom of religion, and freedom from fear.
Roosevelt’s words helped define American politics and foreign policy for generations, but the freedoms he desired are not necessarily those espoused today. Contemporary Americans live in the shadow of FDR, but as we ponder the country’s future, and as we trace the evolution of our common understanding of this term from 1941 to our present day, we need ask, as well: if we stand for freedom, can we even define it?
Louis Armstrong: The Man Behind the Trumpet
Nate Sloan / USC
Louis Armstrong is known for his funny voice and great smile, but he’s also one of the most inventive and original jazz musicians of the 20th century. He arrived on the scene like a comet in the 1920s, and quickly became known for his personality as much as for his trailblazing musical style. He remained in the limelight for the following four decades, even beating out the Beatles for the #1 song in 1964 with his recording of “Hello Dolly.”
But how did this kid beat the odds to escape the “Colored Waifs Home for Boys” in New Orleans and become jazz’s first superstar? Join Professor Sloan to explore the musical innovations, classic performances, and key recordings that made Armstrong instantly recognizable around the world. We’ll listen to and analyze some of his most famous recordings, watch and discuss legendary filmed performances, and study how he influenced every musician who followed in his wake: from Bing Crosby to Billie Holiday.
The Scientific Genius of Marie Curie
Susan Lindee / University of Pennsylvania
The brilliant Polish physicist and chemist Marie Curie lived a life of profound personal courage. Her experiences illuminate a culture of “pure science” now long gone, and they help us understand some of the continuing issues for women scientists. She and her future husband Pierre worked ceaselessly under what turned out to be very dangerous and unwise conditions: they isolated radium and polonium, launched the entirely new science of radioactivity, and basically founded a scientific empire. Curie defended her doctoral dissertation in the spring of 1903 and a few months later she and her husband were awarded the Nobel Prize. After her husband died, Marie Curie continued her genius scientific work, going on to win another Nobel Prize for chemical work with radium. She served heroically at the French front during World War I, when Curie and her teen-aged daughter Irene drove an X-ray truck she had outfitted herself, to help doctors assess the brutal wounds of the First World War.