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Discover the ‘Surprising Range of Mexican Music’: November 2018

Discover the ‘Surprising Range of Mexican Music’: November 2018

Join Russ and Blyth Carpenter for a presentation of multimedia Mexican music that audiences may not have encountered before. Through video, audio, and live commentary, the Carpenters will present a “surprising range of Mexican music,” from the urbane melodies of

ASA Webmaster September 23, 2017November 17, 2017 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Brainwashing: The Story of an Idea: August 2017

Brainwashing: The Story of an Idea: August 2017

Have Islamic State soldiers been brainwashed? Is that why they’re willing to engage in suicide bombing attacks? Scott Selisker is less interested in whether brainwashing is possible than in the history of the idea of the programmable mind. Selisker, an

ASA Webmaster August 7, 2017August 17, 2017 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Learn More About the Rincon Valley Fire District: March2017

Learn More About the Rincon Valley Fire District: March2017

The Rincon Valley Fire District was formed in 1985 by residents of Tucson’s southeastern metropolitan area to ensure that the community receives consistent high-quality emergency services at a reasonable cost. Since its inception, the district has provided increasingly higher levels

ASA Webmaster March 15, 2017April 2, 2017 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Journalism and the Media—Then and Now:Jan.2017

Journalism and the Media—Then and Now:Jan.2017

A veteran journalist with extensive experience in both the print and broadcast fields will present a timely lecture at the Arizona Senior Academy Wednesday (Jan. 11) on the subject “Journalism and the Media—Then and Now.” The speaker is Anthony P.

ASA Webmaster December 28, 2016January 12, 2017 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Government Surveillance: Finding the Right Balance: December 2016

Government Surveillance: Finding the Right Balance: December 2016

Through our phones and other personal devices, governments have an unprecedented ability to collect data on our whereabouts, conversations, habits, purchases, and connections. Many are concerned that this new level of surveillance will impede free speech and the ability of

ASA Webmaster December 15, 2016December 22, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Become a ‘Citizen Scientist’ by Tracking Plants and Animals:Dec.2016

Become a ‘Citizen Scientist’ by Tracking Plants and Animals:Dec.2016

Have you ever paid attention to when ocotillos bloom, your first sighting of a white-winged dove in the spring, or that last butterfly you saw fluttering around for the year? The study of these plant and animal life-cycle events, and

ASA Webmaster November 30, 2016December 14, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Estate Planning and Charitable GivingL Dec. 2016

Estate Planning and Charitable GivingL Dec. 2016

Do you know the latest estate planning and charitable giving options?  With changing legal requirements, it is important to be up-to-date on how best to make charitable gifts within the context of your estate planning. Mary Louise Luna, director of

ASA Webmaster November 22, 2016December 9, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Deciding What’s Art, What’s Not: November 2016

Deciding What’s Art, What’s Not: November 2016

What is Art?  How do we decide what art is and is not?  Why do we disagree with others on what is and is not good art?  Is the value of a work inherent in the object at hand, or

ASA Webmaster October 9, 2016November 9, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Tracing the History of Painting Techniques: Nov.2016

Tracing the History of Painting Techniques: Nov.2016

When did paint in a tube help make painting easier?  What did artists do before that?  When did attempts at perspective enter two-dimensional art? At 3:30 p.m. Wednesday (Nov. 16), Mariana Carreras will discuss a brief history of painting techniques

ASA Webmaster October 8, 2016November 17, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

How Our Brains Change As We Age: October 2016

How Our Brains Change As We Age: October 2016

“Inhibition Deficits in Older Adults” will be the topic of the October Wellness lecture at the Arizona Senior Academy on Thursday (Oct. 13).  The speaker, Mary Peterson, is a professor of psychology and director of the Cognitive Science Program in

ASA Webmaster September 17, 2016October 13, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Navigating the Frontiers of Patent Law:Sept.2016

Navigating the Frontiers of Patent Law:Sept.2016

Do you know what inventions are patentable?  Is DNA, or software, or a new business method patentable? And did you know that each country has its own set of patent laws, so that the answers to these questions vary from

ASA Webmaster August 26, 2016September 8, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Cruise Ship Lecturers Share Their Stories:Sept.2016

Cruise Ship Lecturers Share Their Stories:Sept.2016

While many retirees turn to cruises as a convenient way to see new places, meet new people, and sample new cuisine, some also seek opportunities to learn from the speakers that cruises offer. Three Academy Village residents will describe their

ASA Webmaster August 24, 2016September 14, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

The Many Histories of Chiricahua National Monument:Aug.2016

The Many Histories of Chiricahua National Monument:Aug.2016

Robin Pinto is making a return visit to the Arizona Senior Academy to share her observations about parks and monuments in Arizona. The focus of her Wednesday (Aug. 31) 3:30 p.m. talk is “The Chiricahua National Monument: One Landscape Steeped

ASA Webmaster August 14, 2016September 2, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Bernstein’s Omnibus: ‘What Makes Opera Grand?’: July 2016

The Omnibus television program of the 1950s and ‘60s has been called “the most successful cultural magazine series in the history of U.S. commercial television.” One of its most popular and innovative undertakings was a seven-part series—plus a bonus eighth

ASA Webmaster June 16, 2016July 28, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Bernstein on Omnibus: ‘Handel’s Messiah’: Aug. 2016

Bernstein on Omnibus: ‘Handel’s Messiah’: Aug. 2016

The Omnibus television program of the 1950s and ‘60s has been called “the most successful cultural magazine series in the history of U.S. commercial television.” One of its most popular and innovative undertakings was a seven-part series on music—plus a

ASA Webmaster May 31, 2016August 5, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Bernstein on Omnibus: ‘The Music of J.S. Bach’:July2016

Bernstein on Omnibus: ‘The Music of J.S. Bach’:July2016

The Omnibus television program of the 1950s and ‘60s has been called “the most successful cultural magazine series in the history of U.S. commercial television.” One of its most popular and innovative undertakings was a seven-part series—plus a bonus eighth

ASA Webmaster May 31, 2016July 26, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Bernstein’s Omnibus: ‘Introduction to Modern Music’: July 2016

Bernstein’s Omnibus: ‘Introduction to Modern Music’: July 2016

The Omnibus television program of the 1950s and ‘60s has been called “the most successful cultural magazine series in the history of U.S. commercial television.” One of its most popular and innovative undertakings was a seven-part series—plus a bonus eighth

ASA Webmaster May 31, 2016July 14, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

‘Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die’L June2016

‘Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die’L June2016

Back in 1878, when a miner named Ed Schiefflin was searching for silver in the middle of the Sonoran Desert about 100 miles north of the Mexican border, he was frequently told by the soldiers at Fort Huachuca that all

ASA Webmaster May 29, 2016June 22, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Bernstein’s Historic TV Series: ‘American Musical Comedy’: July2016

Bernstein’s Historic TV Series: ‘American Musical Comedy’: July2016

The Omnibus television program of the 1950s and ‘60s has been called “the most successful cultural magazine series in the history of U.S. commercial television.” One of its most popular and innovative undertakings was an eight-part series on music that

ASA Webmaster May 27, 2016July 10, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Bernstein’s Historic TV Series: The Art of Conducting: June2016

Bernstein’s Historic TV Series: The Art of Conducting: June2016

The Omnibus television program of the 1950s and ‘60s has been called “the most successful cultural magazine series in the history of U.S. commercial television.” One of its most popular and innovative undertakings was a seven-part series—plus a bonus eighth

ASA Webmaster May 27, 2016July 1, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Bernstein On Omnibus: ‘The World of Jazz’: June 2016

Bernstein On Omnibus: ‘The World of Jazz’: June 2016

The Omnibus television program of the 1950s and ‘60s has been called “the most successful cultural magazine series in the history of U.S. commercial television.” One of its most popular and innovative undertakings was a seven-part series—plus a bonus eighth

ASA Webmaster May 24, 2016June 23, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Watch Leonard Bernstein’s Historic TV Series: June 2016

Watch Leonard Bernstein’s Historic TV Series: June 2016

The Omnibus television series of the 1950s and ‘60s has been called “the most successful cultural magazine series in the history of U.S. commercial television and a prototype for the development of programming on educational television.” One of its most

ASA Webmaster May 23, 2016June 16, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Bridging the Science/Humanities Gap: June 2016

Bridging the Science/Humanities Gap: June 2016

In the 1950s the British scientist and novelist C. P. Snow—tired of hearing educated people express astonishment at the illiteracy of scientists—sometimes asked them to describe the Second Law of Thermodynamics, or to define mass. The response was usually silence.

ASA Webmaster May 23, 2016June 17, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Up Close and Personal With a Comet: June 2016

Up Close and Personal With a Comet: June 2016

In 2004, The European Space Agency launched a spacecraft called Rosetta, which, after roaming the solar system for more than 10 years, matched the orbit of a comet named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Once there, it could orbit around the small icy body,

ASA Webmaster May 8, 2016June 16, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Is Creativity Inherited or Acquired?: May 2016

Is Creativity Inherited or Acquired?: May 2016

George Domino will speak on “The Nature and Nurture of Creativity” in a 3:30 p.m. lecture Thursday (May 26) in the Arizona Senior Academy’s Great Room. A retired psychology professor, Domino will talk about creativity from a psychological point of

ASA Webmaster May 8, 2016June 16, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Foe of New Cruise Missile to Speak: May 2016

Foe of New Cruise Missile to Speak: May 2016

Does the United States need a new nuclear-armed cruise missile? Will Saetren, a former research fellow with the Ploughshares Fund, has just released a report that attempts to answer this question, and will summarize his arguments in a 3:30 p.m.

ASA Webmaster May 4, 2016June 16, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Legumes—More Than Just a Hill of Beans:May2016

Legumes—More Than Just a Hill of Beans:May2016

Why should we give a hill of beans about legumes?  They don’t amount to much, do they? If anyone can put that old colloquial expression to rest it is Matthew B. Johnson, program manager and curator of DELEP, the acronym

ASA Webmaster May 3, 2016June 16, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

What We Can Learn From Ancient Southwestern Pottery: May 2016

What We Can Learn From Ancient Southwestern Pottery: May 2016

In an illustrated presentation at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday (May 25), archaeologist Allen Dart will show and discuss Native American ceramic styles that characterized specific eras in the south­western United States prior to about 1450. His many illustrations include examples of

ASA Webmaster May 2, 2016June 16, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Slow to Recover, Tucson’s Economy Improving: June 2016

Slow to Recover, Tucson’s Economy Improving: June 2016

Metropolitan Tucson’s economy has grown in recent years, albeit slower than the rates posted by the state and nation.  Federal budget cuts mattered more to Tucson because federal government civilian and military employment is a larger share of the local

ASA Webmaster May 2, 2016June 16, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Exploring Music’s Biological Power: May 2016

Exploring Music’s Biological Power: May 2016

Why do certain songs resonate on a core level, providing comfort to heal or producing various emotions? Pima Community College faculty member Timothy Cruz will discuss “The Biology of Music” in a 3:30 p.m. lecture Thursday (May 5) in the

ASA Webmaster April 22, 2016June 16, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

How Artists Saw the Great Depression: April 2016

How Artists Saw the Great Depression: April 2016

At 3:30 p.m. Wednesday (April 27), Brack Brown, a resident of the Academy Village and a docent at the University of Arizona Museum of Art, will present a talk on “The Art of the Great Depression.” Depression-era art chronicled people’s

ASA Webmaster April 21, 2016June 16, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Can Humans Change to Keep Birds Singing?: April 2016

Can Humans Change to Keep Birds Singing?: April 2016

Imagine a world without birdsong. Su Rynard’s film, “The Messenger” brings us face to-face with the variety of human-made perils that have devastated populations of wrens, warblers, flycatchers, orioles, grosbeaks and many other birds that we see and hear on

ASA Webmaster April 16, 2016June 16, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

‘Why the French Love Film Comedies’: May 2016

‘Why the French Love Film Comedies’: May 2016

Why do the French like Jerry Lewis so much? Did you ever wonder why Hollywood remakes so many French comedies? What do Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, and Eddie Murphy owe to the French? Come join in the fun at 3:30 p.m.

ASA Webmaster April 11, 2016June 16, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Monuments Trace America’s Triumphs, Tragedies: April 2016

Monuments Trace America’s Triumphs, Tragedies: April 2016

From small towns to the nation’s capital, our country is dotted with thousands of monuments and memorials. Chuck Tampio has spent years exploring different perspectives and understandings of monuments and has discussed them in presentations at Academy Village and around

ASA Webmaster April 5, 2016June 16, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Dance—The Heartbeat of American Musical Theater: April2016

Dance—The Heartbeat of American Musical Theater: April2016

Richard Hanson returns to the Arizona Senior Academy’ Great Room at 2:30 p.m. Thursday (April 2) to celebrate American Musical Theater and the dance steps that have come to define it. From Kick Lines to Tap Extravaganzas, dance has been

ASA Webmaster April 1, 2016June 16, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Public Art Through the Eyes of an Artist: April 2016

Public Art Through the Eyes of an Artist: April 2016

Artist and author Chris Tanz will definitely leave her mark on Pima County in the form of numerous pieces of public art. She will present an overview of local public art programs at 3:30 p.m. Thursday (April 7) at The

ASA Webmaster March 19, 2016April 7, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Can Tiny Algae Help Stop Global Warming? April2016

Can Tiny Algae Help Stop Global Warming? April2016

Most of the talk about man-made global warming centers on reducing carbon dioxide emissions, but there’s doubt that emission reduction can cut CO2 levels fast enough to avoid catastrophic results by the year 2050. To be safe, scientists and engineers

ASA Webmaster March 14, 2016April 14, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

How Climate Change Can Affect Health: April 2016

How Climate Change Can Affect Health: April 2016

Climate change affects human health in many ways, and a University of Arizona epidemiologist says both top-down and bottom-up actions must be taken now to mitigate current and future health threats. At 3:30 p.m. Wednesday (April 6), Kacey Ernst, an

ASA Webmaster March 11, 2016April 6, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Can Human Ingenuity Halt Global Warming?-March2016

Can Human Ingenuity Halt Global Warming?-March2016

Humans have learned to dominate the natural world, but that domination now threatens the very ecosystems mankind depends upon for survival. To avoid disaster, we must now learn to maintain biotic diversity and avoid what Russell Keith Monson calls “climatically-controlled

ASA Webmaster March 7, 2016March 31, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

How Global Warming Affects Food Security:March2016

How Global Warming Affects Food Security:March2016

By the year 2050, the increase in global temperature is projected to cause a 20 percent reduction in the yield of all of the major grains (maize, wheat, rice and soybeans). Increasing stresses on the major crops due to climate

ASA Webmaster March 6, 2016March 25, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

How ‘Normal’ Should U.S.-Cuban Relations Be?: March 2016

How ‘Normal’ Should U.S.-Cuban Relations Be?: March 2016

News about Cuba greets us at every turn—in newspapers, in magazines, and on television: President Obama will travel to Cuba this spring. Senator Rubio blocks the appointment of a State Department official as Ambassador to Mexico, citing her role in

ASA Webmaster March 2, 2016March 21, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Astronomy Course (Without Tests) Continues at ASA-March30,2016

Astronomy Course (Without Tests) Continues at ASA-March30,2016

Astronomy professor and Academy Village resident Michael Chriss is continuing his encore presentation of an undergraduate course he is teaching at the University of Arizona. His course is entitled “The Philosophy and History of Astronomical Thought.” The free, non-credit course

ASA Webmaster February 29, 2016March 30, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Astronomy Course (Without Tests) Continues at ASAMarch 23-2016

Astronomy Course (Without Tests) Continues at ASAMarch 23-2016

Astronomy professor and Academy Village resident Michael Chriss is continuing his encore presentation of an undergraduate course he is teaching at the University of Arizona. His course is entitled “The Philosophy and History of Astronomical Thought.” The free, non-credit course

ASA Webmaster February 29, 2016March 25, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Astronomy Course (Without Tests) Continues at ASA: March 2016

Astronomy Course (Without Tests) Continues at ASA: March 2016

Astronomy professor and Academy Village resident Michael Chriss is continuing his encore presentation of an undergraduate course he is teaching at the University of Arizona. His course is entitled “The Philosophy and History of Astronomical Thought.” The free, non-credit course

ASA Webmaster February 29, 2016March 9, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Why Care About the Two Koreas?:March2016

Why Care About the Two Koreas?:March2016

The Arizona Senior Academy is presenting a discussion on inter-Korean tensions and U.S.-South Korean relations at 3:30 p.m. Thursday (March 3) as part of the Foreign Policy Association’s annual Great Decisions program. What is the threat to international stability triggered

ASA Webmaster February 24, 2016March 7, 2016 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Folk Songs Tell the Personal Side of World War I: May 2015

Folk Songs Tell the Personal Side of World War I: May 2015

Folk singer Pamela Reinagel will perform a concert of unaccompanied ballads memorializing the First World War. In this centennial memorial program, she will sing several unaccompanied folk ballads about the war and talk about the history that they illustrate. Her

ASA Webmaster April 25, 2015May 21, 2015 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Two Years in Micronesia – America’s Edge of Paradise? March2015

Two Years in Micronesia – America’s Edge of Paradise? March2015

Imagine a sovereign country, a full voting member of the United Nations, whose citizens speak a dozen distinct languages, but which uses English as its official language and the U.S. dollar as its currency.  Citizens of this nationality can enter

ASA Webmaster March 12, 2015March 28, 2015 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Prof defends granting hip hop degree at UA: July 2013

Prof defends granting  hip hop degree at UA: July 2013

Hip Hop Culture includes many forms of expression – rap music, dance, graffiti art, slam poetry, fashion and film.  Beginning in the South Bronx in the 1970s as a combination of neighborhood rhymes and rhythms, it developed in the 1980s as

ASA Webmaster July 1, 2013July 18, 2013 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Questions Without Easy Answers: Jan. 2013

Questions Without Easy Answers: Jan. 2013

ASA member Gary Fenstermacher, an internationally recognized scholar in the philosophy of education, is presenting a four-part course on Western Philosophy on successive Thursdays through Jan. 31.

admin December 20, 2012March 7, 2013 Lectures, Past Event Read more

Tracking Near-Earth Asteroids: May 2012

Tracking Near-Earth Asteroids: May 2012

On a daily basis, about a hundred tons of comet dust and asteroid fragments collide with the Earth.  Most burn up in the atmosphere.  However, a kilometer-size or larger asteroid could someday collide with the Earth, causing a global disaster. 

admin November 20, 2012March 7, 2013 Lectures, Past Event Read more
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Testimonials

We have always enjoyed performing at the Academy. A gorgeous spot, a wonderful piano, a fantastic audience and exceptional hosts who make their guests feel really special. Does not get better than that!
A treasure on the eastside.
 
I’ve given talks in venues across the country, and I always look forward to returning to Academy Village. The setting is superb and the venue comfortable—and a speaker couldn’t ask for a more responsive, more receptive audience.
The Arizona Senior Academy provides a comfortable space with great acoustics …  This ensures a great time for both audience and performer. It is a fantastic venue in a beautiful desert setting.  The icing on the cake is the audience — engaged and eager to hear what the performer has to offer.
I’ve given public lectures around the world, and found the questions asked here at the ASA to be some of the most thoughtful and perceptive that I’ve ever gotten!  
Making presentations at the Arizona Senior Academy is always a joy and a challenge, because I have to work a little harder to stay one step ahead of the very sharp audience. … And the lovely desert location helps keep us all stimulated.
Playing at the Academy offers the performer the unique experience of an audience that is simultaneously appreciative and stimulating. The questions that follow can lead to unusual and thought-provoking turns of conversation, both during the performance hour and at the congenial luncheon that so often follows. What a great place to play!
Designed to bring together individuals with intellectual curiosity in a stimulating environment, [Academy Village] is a successful model for creative retirement that is being used by several other American universities.
The opportunity to preview University of Arizona concerts in such a receptive venue, both audience and acoustic-wise, makes the Senior Academy a unique place for us performers. … It is always a great pleasure to perform/lecture at the Arizona Senior Academy.
The first time I performed at the Arizona Senior Academy I offered two options to the audience for an encore: Chopin or Schoenberg. Who could imagine an audience whose resounding answer would be ‘SCHOENBERG!’ Clearly, this response demonstrates unusually open, perceptive ears!
Performing at the Arizona Senior Academy, in their gorgeous location on the eastern side of Saguaro National Park East, is a high point of the year for both my students and myself.  The audience and administration are very welcoming to UA students and faculty, and the subsequent question-and-answer period is always informative.
ASA is a very unique venue that offers a very intimate feel that I truly appreciate as a musician. … A Hidden Gem in the Desert.

Concerts and Lectures

  • Mar. 5:  “Nancy McCallion’s Irish Trio”
  • Mar. 7: “Whiskey is for Drinking, Water is for Fighting Over: The Legacies of Spanish and Mexican Law and Natural Resources”  
  • Mar. 6: TED Talks
  • Mar. 27: “Trade in the Time of Trump”
  • Mar. 14: Understanding Mexican History through Frida Kahlo and her Artwork

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