Mini University offers alumni a chance to return to IU, take classes about contemporary issues

About 490 students came to campus this week to take 110 classes in five days. But they aren’t incoming freshmen.\nRunning from June 15 to 20, IU’s 37th annual Mini University offers a chance for participants to take classes ranging from music to world issues.\n“Humanity is the most (popular) topic, including history, literature and music, which has a good reputation at IU,” said Mini University Co-Chair Jeanne Madison, who has been involved with the program for about 13 years.\nAlthough the program is for anyone 18 or older, Mini University students are mainly between the ages of 55 and 70, said Mini University Co-Chair Nicki Bland. IU alumni make up 50 percent of the enrollment, Madison said.\nMini University will offer chances for students to reflect on issues in the world that may be absent from CNN and other mainstream media coverage, Madison said, such as immigration, the effect of the elections on the U.S. economy and Muslims’ interaction with American culture. \nAll faculty members teaching these classes are volunteers, and the students’ tuition will go toward three Mini University receptions and other expenses, Bland said. Each October, Mini University begins planning a new series of summer classes. \n“We will have a meeting for the next year’s plan right after this summer,” Bland said. \nStudents take different classes in three sessions every day. On Tuesday, School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation Associate Dean for Research David Koceja taught “Human Balance: Practical Concerns as We Age” to a crowded classroom. The class provides activities that can help to improve posture control and balance as people age, according to the Mini University directory of classes.\n“I love this class,” said alumna Marcia Grassman, who said she now lives in Evanston, Ill., with her husband and child. She added that it was a great experience to come back. \nAnother class held Tuesday was “A Backward Glance: The Poetry of James Whitcomb Riley,” taught by former IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis Assistant Dean of Faculties Kim Manlove. Manlove was born in Bloomington and attended Mini University in the past. His father taught classes at Mini University each summer for nearly 27 years. Before coming to IU, Manlove’s father was an English and literature fan and still kept his interest in Riley’s poetry after he took up teaching. Manlove has absorbed his father’s interest in Riley and the importance of teaching literature.\n“Riley was famous for his dialect poems from the 18th century to the 19th century,” he said. “We should preserve our tradition of language diversity since we are a huge, diverse country with a lot of immigrants from the world.”