Scroll down the page to see the upcoming Learning in Retirement (LIR) course offerings. When you find a class you would like to attend, click on the Events Calendar button, find the session on the calendar, and click on it to start the registration process.
We look forward to seeing you at an LIR soon!
3-part series begins on March 2nd. Organized by Mark D'Esposito, MD, Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology; Director, Wheeler Laboratory for Advanced Brain Sciences (Wheeler LABS)
The Modular Brain
Mark D'Esposito, MD, Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology; Director, Wheeler Laboratory for Advanced Brain Sciences (Wheeler LABS)
Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - 2pm via Zoom
Online Registration
The brain is widely assumed to be a modular system. In this talk, I will discuss a series of empirical findings from fMRI studies that begin to elucidate the neural architecture of modular processing by showing that brain modules execute discrete processes and connector hubs are likely integrating and sending information across modules in support of goal-directed cognition. I will also discuss how a better understanding of this type of large scale organization of the brain may lead to new approaches in the diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of neurological and psychiatric (or cognitive) disorders.
Imaging the Fibers of the Brain: What They Tell Us About Brain Function, Stroke, and Recovery
Nina Dronkers, Adjunct Professor of Psychology, UCB, and Adjunct Professor of Neuroscience, UCD
Tuesday, March 9, 2021 - 2pm via Zoom
Online Registration
The human brain is made up of approximately 100 billion neurons that support such functions as language, cognition, and motor functions. But, neurons do not work in isolation; they communicate with other neurons via a complex system of fibers that connect them. Previously, a brain dissection was the only way to see these fibers. But now, a variation of Magnetic Resonance Imaging known as “Diffusion MRI” allows us to trace fiber bundles in the living brain. We now see how they connect certain brain regions, how they are affected after a brain injury, and what role they play in recovery. We have learned that these fibers are just as important as the neurons they connect, in supporting the complex functions that make us human.
Sardines, Sea Lions and Surgery - How a Berkeley MRI scanner ended up at the center of a new approach to treat epilepsy
Ben Inglis, PhD, Manager & Physicist, Henry H. Wheeler, Jr. Brain Imaging Center; Scientific Director, Wheeler Laboratory for Advanced Brain Sciences (Wheeler LABS)
Tuesday, March 16, 2021 - 2pm via Zoom
Online Registration
In October, 2020, a 7-year old epileptic California sea lion named Cronut (after the croissant-donut hybrid baked goodie) underwent an experimental brain surgery. Neurosurgeons from UCSF implanted several thousand progenitor interneuron cells into Cronut's brain. Scientists at Berkeley and UCSF hope that these new inhibitory cells will migrate throughout Cronut's hippocampus and suppress the epileptic spiking of excitatory neurons. The goal is to reduce, perhaps even eliminate, Cronut's frequent seizures. But how did Cronut end up on an operating table in the South Bay, the first higher mammal to receive this experimental treatment? How did he develop the epilepsy that might require such an invasive procedure? And how on earth did an MRI scanner in Berkeley end up at the nexus between climate change, ecology and cutting-edge medicine? All will be revealed in this not-so-tall but fishy tale.
3-part series begins on April 6th. Organized by Tom Laqueur, Helen Fawcett Professor of History Emeritus
Tracing Slavery and Imperialism in England’s Stately Homes
Stephen Small, Professor of African American Studies, Interim Director, Institute for the Study of Societal Issues
Tuesday, April 6, 2021 2 pm via Zoom
Online Registration
Dramatically increased public interest in slavery and its legacies in England are a direct response to the killing of George Floyd by the US police in Minneapolis. There is now a wide range of discussion at universities like Bristol, Oxford and Liverpool over statues, monuments and buildings named after men that were actively involved in or profited from slavery and imperialism. Attention has also been turned to the impressive stately homes that dot the British countryside - homes so representative of the British aristocracy and their elegant lifestyles. Many of these homes, it turns out, were built with funds earned directly or indirectly from slavery and/or imperialism. In this presentation I suggest that the current debates over these homes are an end in themselves, and a means to end. As an end in themselves they seek to identify specific men, homes and activities directly arising from slavery and imperialism. And a means to an end they are prompting a far broader and deeper discussion about the ways in which slavery and imperialism reached and influenced every corner of English society.
Monumentality after Iconoclasm in Twentieth-Century Russia
Aglaya Glebova, Associate Professor of Ηistory of Art
Monday, April 12, 2021 2 pm via Zoom
Online Registration
Twentieth-century Russia experienced two major moments of iconoclasm, first following the Bolshevik Revolution and then again in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Both were succeeded by extensive campaigns of monumental sculpture-building, which remarkably drew on realist conventions, and which continues full force in Russia today. What is the relationship between moments of radical iconoclasm and figuration on a monumental scale?
Memorials and Obligation in Germany, England, and the U.S.
Andrew M. Shanken, Professor, Departments of Architecture and American Studies
Tuesday, April 20, 2021 2 pm via Zoom
Online Registration
This talk explores how we structure our obligations and try to give enduring shape and a lasting place to them, with examples ranging from the Civil War in the U.S. to World War I in England and Germany. It goes on to discuss how commemorative practices become embedded in larger cultural concerns, such as heritage, and how complicated the material manifestations of debt can be.
Organized by Donald Mastronarde, Professor of the Graduate School, Emeritus Melpomene Distinguished Professor of Classical Languages and 
Literature
Carol D’Onofrio was Chair of the UCB Retirement Center Board from 2009-2011 and served as a member at large from 2006-08. She served on the Learning in Retirement Committee for many years, chairing the committee in 2017-2019. Carol passed away on April 14, 2020.
Social Justice and Access to Health Care: Lessons from the COVID Pandemic
Tuesday, May 11, 2021 2pm via Zoom
Registration online
Speaker: John Swartzberg, MD, FACP
Clinical Professor Emeritus, School of Public Health
Division of Infectious Diseases & Vaccinology
UC Berkeley -- UCSF Joint Medical Program
Not very long after the onset of the COVID crisis, it became apparent that both the disease and the associated economic disruptions have disproportionately affected those of lower socioeconomic status. As we look to a future beyond this crisis, what lessons can we derive in order to confront similar future events more effectively and equitably?