Spring 2024 Minicourses
The Friends of the Madison Public Library are offering two new minicourses for the Spring 2024 Semester to begin on April 1 and 10 for a total of five weeks. The minicourses will cover topics relating to ‘Constitutional Controversies’ and ‘Art in the U.S. from Reconstruction to WWII.’ While the Madison Library is undergoing renovations, the classes will be held at the Florham Park Library.
“Constitutional Controversies” will be taught jointly by Dr Bruce Peabody, Professor of Government and Political Science, and Professor Madelyn Ferrans, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Pre-law Program, at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Classes will be held on Monday afternoons, 1:30-3:30 pm on April 1, 15, 29, and May 6 and 13 (skipping April 8 and 22 due to other events scheduled at the library). The schedule is as follows:
Week 1: Dr. Peabody: First Hour-Introduction; Prof. Ferrans: Second Hour-topic TBA
Week 2: Prof. Ferrans: “Free Speech”
Week 3: Prof. Ferrans: “The establishment clause and free exercise of religion”
Week 4: Dr Peabody: a) the Supreme Court confirmation process and who gets selected (first hour, and b) how the Justices decide cases
Week 5: Dr. Peabody: “The problem of amending the Constitution (and why it will never happen again), and b) the problem of the Supreme Court, the public, and legitimacy
“Art in the United States from Reconstruction to WWII” by Dr. Kimberly Rhodes, NEH Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Art History, Drew University will be held Wednesday afternoons from 1:30 – 3:30 pm on April 10, and 24 and on May 1, 8, and 22 (skipping April 17 and May 15 due to other events scheduled at the library).
This course will cover the development of the visual arts in the United States from Reconstruction to the 1930s. Topics will include the discussion of exchange between European and American artists, the education of American artists in Europe and the United States, the relationship between political events and visual culture, and the rise of modernism. We will study the work of such artists as Thomas Eakins, Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, William Merritt Chase, Marsden Hartley, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Thomas Hart Benton.
The tuition for each course is $95. No refunds or credits will be issued once the course begins. These minicourses are organized by the all-volunteer Friends of the Madison Public Library, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. All proceeds benefit the Madison Public Library.
These non-credit courses are open to the public with no prerequisites or examinations.
