POL SCI 747

Osher (50+). This current events lecture series features a different speaker each week. Guest speakers are experts in their field who provide a one-hour lecture followed by a thirty-minute Q&A.

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Typically Available

Fall

Winter

Spring

Duration

As few as 8 weeks

Units

0.0

Current Formats

Hybrid

Cost

Starting at $120.00

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About This Course

Pulled from today’s headlines, this exclusive speaker series offers an in-depth analysis of significant contemporary issues. Each week, an expert from the political, social, technological, or economic spectrum provides a 1-hour lecture focused on a major global, national, or local issue. Afterwards, students participate in a 30-minute Q&A session with the speaker. A list of speakers for this term will be available online approximately one month before the course begins. This course uses the Hybrid format which allows students to participate remotely and/or in the classroom. Speakers will be in the classroom. This course will be recorded. Students will have access to videos for the duration of the course.

Series Speakers & Topics

Moderator: James Aldinger

DATE			LECTURE
Jan. 6			From Pullman to Starbase: Jurisdictional Fragmentation and the Corporate Enclave Brian Highsmith, JD Assistant Professor, UCLA School of Law
Jan. 13			Stewards, Defenders, Progenitors, and Collaborators: Courts in the Age of Democratic Decline Igor Logvinenko, PhD Associate Professor, Diplomacy and World Affairs, Occidental College
Jan. 20			Homesick: The Persistence of Toxic Housing 20 years After Hurricane Katrina Nicholas Shapiro, DPhil Associate Professor, UCLA; Author, Homesick
Jan. 27			Trump's Tariffs as Fiscal Folly Kimberly Clausing, PhD Professor, Eric M. Zolt Professor of Tax Law and Policy, UCLA School of Law
Feb. 3			Can We Have Fair and Safe Midterm Elections in 2026? Rick Hasen, JD, PhD Professor of Law, UCLA; 2024 recipient of the David W. Peck Senior medal for Eminence in the LawA
Feb. 10			Would you Like Eggs with your Pandemic? An update on Avian Influenza Timothy Brewer, MD Professor of Medicine, member of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine
Feb. 17			Monitoring Wildfires using Collaborative Unmanned Aerial Vehicles/strong> Gustavo Vejarano, PhD Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Loyola Marymount University
Feb. 24			Enhancing Resilience in Aging: Digital Health Approaches to Geriatric Rehabilitation Bijan Najafi, PhD Professor, Dept. of Surgery; Research Director, Center for Advanced Surgical & Interventional Technology (CASIT), UCLA

Winter 2026 Schedule

Date

Details

Format

January 6 - February 24

Tuesday 10:30AM - 12:00PM PT

Instructor:

Jim Aldinger

REG#

405426

Fee:

$120.00

Hybrid

UCLA Extension Gayley Center in Westwood

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Notes

Hybrid course: combination of in-person and live-online.

Course fee is $120 for both OLLI Basic and Plus members. Enrollment limited; enrollment prior to the first class required. Visitors not permitted.

You must be at least 50 years old and a current member of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at UCLA to enroll in this course. If your membership has expired or if you wish to become a new member, please proceed with enrolling in courses and you will be automatically prompted to add a membership during checkout.

If you participate remotely, please download a free version of Zoom at https://zoom.us/ to participate in this course.

Deadline

Refunds only available from November 03, 2025 to January 18, 2026

Schedule

Type

Date

Time

Location

Lecture

Tue Jan 6, 2026

10:30AM PT - 12:00PM PT