The Athletic Club for Your Mind

More than 40 classes are available this spring at The Academy for Lifelong Learning, a nonprofit association of active adults who believe that learning is life-enhancing.

Each semester, over 1,000 adults with varied professional and educational backgrounds enroll in Academy courses. Together they enjoy the social and intellectual stimulation of learning with others like themselves.

One of the courses available, “What’s Up Doc? Relevant Medical Issues for 55+” will focus on different medical areas of particular interest to the 55+ generation.

“Think of it as a Mini-Med School,” says Dr. Woody Emlen, one of the coordinators for this course. “It’s a way to get the science and new thinking behind some of the medical issues that seniors like me deal with on a daily basis.”

“What’s Up Doc?” starts March 4, when each week a different specialist from the greater Denver area will explore the effects of aging on the body, specifically general geriatric medical issues, arthritis, psychiatry, dermatology, cardiology and exercise, and ophthalmology.

In addition to science courses, the Academy offers many civics and social science courses that raise challenging social issues.

A speaker series called “Academy Town Hall:  Experts and Controversies” will host a different expert each week to present and discuss: the separation of church and state (retired constitutional law attorney Dan Lynch); elections and voting rights, and the 14th Amendment (Suzanne Staiert, Colorado Deputy Secretary of State, and ACLU speaker Andrea Shpall); a gender perspective on the Middle East (Dr. Elayne Gallagher, Senior Advisor, Consultant on Governance and Gender for the United Nations);views on capital punishment (Robert Grant, retired Adams County District Attorney, and David Lane, criminal defense attorney and certified “learned counsel”  for federal death penalty cases); impact of changes in our public schools (Michael Mazenko, former public school administrator and Denver Post opinion writer, and retired economist Jim Kneser); and hate crimes five years after the Shepard-Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act (Jeremy Shaver, assistant director for the Anti-Defamation League).

There is a wide variety of subjects offered by the Academy: “Financial Literacy: 21st Century Survival Skills,” “Middle East and North Africa in Turmoil,” “Write to Save Your Life,” “Nutrition for Every Body,” “How Our Courts Ensure Equal Justice,” “All That Jazz,” and many more.

Academy courses are led by experts: typically current or retired faculty, professional practitioners, and others with special expertise, all in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.

Classes are held at 8081 E. Orchard Road in Greenwood Village and many start on Feb. 24. Registration is now open. Course descriptions, course leader resumes and registration information are all available online at AcademyLL.org, or call (303) 770-0786.