Continued Learning @ UE Courses

The University of Evansville is offering the following courses through our Continued Learning at UE program in Spring 2024. Complete the registration form to secure your spot in a course today.

SESSION 2: April 3 – May 2

Chaucer’s Wife of Bath: Imaginary Woman with a Real-World Legacy

Register Now for Chaucer’s Wife of Bath: Imaginary Woman with a Real-World Legacy

Price: $55
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Location: University Library, LI 203
Instructor(s): Sara Petrosillo, PhD

How can a literary character move from the page to our minds with such charisma that she ceases to be merely fiction? Chaucer’s most famous character, the Wife of Bath, is the first in a long line of fictional female characters in British literature who have captured our hearts and minds and made us wonder: who are you? Marion Turner’s award winning The Wife of Bath: A Biography seeks to answer that question by examining Chaucer’s star character over the course of 700 years, from the real medieval housewives and businesswomen who inspired her creation in the 14th century to her 21st century influences. We will read excerpts of The Canterbury Tales together in class. Outside of class, we will read Turner’s “entertaining and enlightening, funny and provocative” biography and discuss the chapters in class over the five weeks. Thanks to Turner’s book and our class discussions, students are sure to walk away with an inspired list of reading recommendations to take them into the summer!

Materials/Readings:

  • The Wife of Bath: A Biography, by Marion Turner (hardcover ISBN: 9780691206011; Paperback (9780691206035) comes out on March 5, 2024!
  • The Canterbury Tales, translated and abridged by Sheila Fisher (ISBN: 9780393427899)

Sara Petrosillo received her BA in English and Italian Literature from Colby College, and her PhD in English from the University of California, Davis. Her scholarship focuses on medieval literature and feminism and she has published articles on medieval poetry and drama in the Journal for Medieval and Early Modern Studies; Exemplaria: Medieval, Early Modern, Theory; Medieval Feminist Forum; and in a 2018 essay collection, Animal Languages in the Middle Ages: Representations of Interspecies Communication (Palgrave-Macmillan). Her book about the cultural influence of falconry on medieval reading practices, Hawking Women: Falconry, Gender, and Control in Medieval Literary Culture, was released in 2023. She teaches first year seminars, the first half of the British literature survey, world classics, renaissance and 17th century writers, the Romantics, and medieval literature. She also chairs and teaches the introductory class to the Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies program. She received UE’s Exemplary Teacher Award in 2021.

Painting with Claude Monet and Pierre-August Renoir (Four-week class)

Course Full

Date: 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Location: Krannert 2nd Floor, FA 204
Instructor(s): Michelle Peterlin

This class will study the painting techniques of Claude Monet and Pierre-August Renoir. Students will paint the base painting in one class and then finish it using paint and pastels in the second class for each painter.

Materials needed:

  • 8 x 10 canvas board
  • 8 x 10 sturdy watercolor paper
  • acrylic or watercolor paints in tube (cake watercolors are discouraged)
  • a variety of small to medium paint brushes
  • a soft pastel set (no oil pastels)
  • a small water container
  • 1 roll of toilet paper

Michelle Vezina Peterlin is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst where she studied under legendary painters John Grillo and Leonard Gongora and received a degree in painting. She was born and raised in Gardner, Massachusetts. Currently, she resides with her husband in Evansville, IN. She has been a professional artist for over 30 years and currently exhibits her work throughout the United States.

Bird Lovers’ Landscaping in Any Size Plot or Pot (Thursdays)

Register Now for Bird Lovers’ Landscaping in Any Size Plot or Pot (Thursdays)

Price: $55
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Location: Koch Center, Rm 100
Instructor(s): Sharon Sorenson

This course will focus on the why and how of planting native, especially for the survival and attraction of birds, bees, and butterflies, "birdscaping" no matter the size of one's available property, from acres to patio pots.

Week 1: Summarize research reflecting the necessity of native plants and describe how the research applies to personal landscaping, including small-space planting on patios, decks, and balconies.

Week 2: Detail the importance of incorporating biodiversity using various plant species and offer suggestions for incorporating additional native plants into either new or established landscaping and/or adding pots to landscaping for mini-gardens and landscape highlights.

Week 3: Explain how to choose plants with a purpose, especially to aid in the survival of birds, bees, and butterflies but also to create attractive landscapes, noting especially that not all natives are created equal, including parameters for plants in pots.

Week 4: Detail how to plant perennial natives in containers and how that process differs from that for traditional annuals--what kinds of pots, what kind of drainage, what kind of soil, what kind of "fertilizer."

Week 5: Recommend, illustrate, and detail specific native plants and their soil/water/light requirements, noting their specific wildlife purposes, focusing recommendations on those most likely to survive winters in pots.

Materials/Readings: None required. Helpful resources include D. Tallamy's Nature's Best Hope and Sorenson's Planting Native to Attract Birds to Your Yard

Sharon Sorenson has been a passionate birder since an early age and has gardened for birds, bees, and butterflies for over 35 years and now "gardens" on a 10' x 12' patio. She's authored 23 books, including Planting Native to Attract Birds to Your Yard and two broader references, Birds in the Yard Month by Month and How Birds Behave. Recipient of the Earl Brooks Award for the Advancement of Conservation of Natural Resources in Indiana, Sorenson has been writing a biweekly "For the Birds" newspaper column since 2002, has conducted over 200 birding workshops and lectures, and for 15 years has taught a popular monthly birding class free to the public at Evansville Central Library. Find her almost daily Facebook posts about birds and their habitats at SharonSorensonBirdLady.