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Vintage House to host SSU courses

 

Local adults who would like to take college level course purely for the joy of learning may do so right here in Sonoma Valley starting Thursday, April 14, when the next round of Sonoma State University's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute courses begin at Vintage House.

The two new courses being offered here are "Balancing Act: Medial Ethics in an Era of Biotechnology," taught by Michael Thaler, M.D. and professor emeritus at U.C. San Francisco, and "Look at Sonoma County History," taught by John and Gaye LeBaron, a longtime Sonoma County couple, who have both had distinguished journalistic careers covering Sonoma County for more than four decades.

Both courses begin Thursday, April 14, and run every Thursday through May 19.

"Look at Sonoma County History" is from 1 to 3 p.m., and "Balancing Act" is from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

The tuition for each course is $75 (take both for $140). Enrollment is limited and you can sign up at Vintage House in Sonoma. To get more information go to www.sonoma.edu/exed/olli or telephone 664-2612.

Thayer's course will cover the confrontation between biotechnology and the socio-economic realities of managed care, specialty practice, aging demographics and an increasingly pluralistic, fragmented society, precipitated the emergence of a new bio-medical ethics in the past 40 years, including the theory, history and applications of modern bioethics, its fundamental assumptions such as patient autonomy, informed consent and fairness doctrines, and will examine how these principles shape medical decision-making and ethical/legal challenges posed by dramatic but expensive medical innovations and the spiraling costs of health.

The LeBarons will use their extensive collection of historic photographs in chronicling the history of the area, supplemented by colorful tales of the county's past - of Squatters Wars and Civil Wars, of visionary Utopians and people from many different places making new lives.