All Harrisburg Courses   

The first session will show various techniques for painting with watercolor and acrylic paint and include starting a project. Following sessions will feature cardboard art and a recycling mixed media project, and the final project will consist of using one type of material (e.g., index card) to complete the entire project.

Course fee includes $10 for supplies.

This is a 5-week course for OLLI members. Participants will be OLLI members and college students who want to share their wisdom. During these sessions, older and younger learners will have conversations about important topics for successful aging. The topics to be discussed are relationships, mental health and well-being, caregiving/long-term care, and successful aging. The last session will be time to celebrate and be grateful.

Senior Living is a trade label for a number of different options, including the "dreaded" but important nursing homes (skilled nursing facilities), assisted living facilities, personal care homes, age-restricted apartments, and continuing care retirement communities, also known as CCRCs or life plan communities. Pennsylvania has the highest concentration of CCRCs in the United States. There is regulatory oversight for some of these options, and it can be challenging for residents to know how and to whom they should address any concerns, if they are unable to get full answers from management. During the first session, we'll take a "big picture" look at the options, including questions about payment, contracts, resident rights and resident obligations. During the second session, we will dig deeper and look at language in several types of contracts, including "refundable fee" options used in CCRCs. Professor Pearson will also address the latest events in a unique Pennsylvania law, what lawyers call "filial support" laws, that are sometimes the subject of attempts to hold adult children liable for the costs of long-term care of their parents.

Playwright Cindy Dlugolecki will share the inspiration behind her one-woman play, Violet Oakley Unveiled. The play and Cindy's PowerPoint share the story of muralist Violet Oakley (1874–1961). In 1902, Oakley became the first female artist to be commissioned to create murals for a public building: the capitol of Pennsylvania. Following the adage of her Drexel art professor, Howard Pyle, Violet spurned marriage and children to be married to her art. She and two other female Drexel art students—Jessie Wilcox Smith and Elizabeth Shippen Green—created an artistic bond and became known as the Red Rose Girls. All became famous in their own right, but Violet's contribution is local and on display at the Harrisburg Capitol. Cindy will share the secrets, of both the success and sorrow of striving in a man's world, that are embedded in the capitol murals. She will schedule a tour of the capitol and its art for Friday, November 14.

In this course, grandparents and caregivers will discover ways to promote mathematical thinking with their little ones when they read any storybook. A storybook does not have to have a math theme for the reader to pose questions that will spark children’s mathematical thinking. This hands-on workshop will demonstrate strategies to find the math in a storybook and excite your little ones to think mathematically. The course targets strategies for reading storybooks with children ages 3–6.

Join Penn State Harrisburg's archivist, Heidi Abbey Moyer, in this introductory course as she takes you on a visual journey through time and through the postcards in the Alice Marshall Women's History Collection. Learn about deltiology, the study and collection of postcards. View and touch some of the 6,000+ postcards in the largest, privately compiled women's history collection in the country—right in your backyard at Penn State Harrisburg. Topics that Ms. Moyer will cover include postcards that reflect the history of woman suffrage in America and the UK, stereotypes of women, and "women as edible objects."

Seniors are often targeted by cyber criminals, making security awareness crucial. By staying informed about common scams, using strong passwords, enabling two-factor authentication, and updating devices, seniors can significantly reduce their risk. 

Think of cyberspace as the freeway: you have to navigate it defensively. Just like fastening your seat belt, using some basic internet safety practices can help ensure that your online experience is safe and enjoyable. This course will cover some of the most important practices.