Fall Term 2026

Music and Film
Presented by Megan Francisco
September 2- October 7
Wednesdays, 3-5pm

Calling all movie lovers! Explore film music from the silent era through modern times. Through selected films, the class will explore how music, sound effects, and dialogue work together to shape cinematic storytelling. This course situates film scores within their cultural and historical context, examining how composers use music to enhance emotion, mood, and meaning.
Come listen and watch with us!

Megan Francisco is an Assistant Professor of Music at Wake Forest University. She holds a PhD in musicology from the University of Washington and a master’s degree in religion and music from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Her scholarship explores intersections of music, media, and culture. Her publications include an article on opera and Battlestar Galactica in the Journal of the Society for American Music and a chapter on Mahler’s influence in Leonard Bernstein in Context. She is currently completing a monograph examining the musical evolution and cultural significance of superwomen in live-action film scores and editing a collected volume on the music of Battlestar Galactica.

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The Play’s the Thing: Shakespeare in Performance
Presented by Brook Davis
October 1 – November 5
Thursdays, 1-3pm

William Shakespeare wrote his plays and sonnets over 400 years ago, yet we are still intrigued, engaged and excited by his beautiful language and timeless stories. In this course, we will honor the Bard’s work the way it was meant to be experienced – in performance. We will hear from scholars who will deepen our knowledge of plays in performance by exploring those early texts, the First Folios. We will question a contemporary actor/director who has grappled with adapting Shakespeare’s works for modern audiences. We will have an opportunity to experience a live performance at Wake’s Reynolda campus of Much Ado About Nothing by actors from The London Stage in celebration of the language, the movement, and the heart that speaks to us across generations. Whether you are a bard enthusiast, a casual fan, or skeptical audience member who wonders what all the fuss is about, join us for lively conversation. After all, as the man himself once said, “Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast!”

Brook Davis is a Professor of Theatre in WFU’s Department of Theatre and Dance where
she regularly teaches Introduction to Western Theatre, Dramatic Literature, Acting One, and Theatre in Education.  She also directs at Wake Forest and professionally around Winston Salem. She is a founding member of Tom Foolery Productions and the Blue Moon Theatre Company. Brook’s research interests include theatre pedagogy; dramatic literature; and practitioner and playwright, Constance D’Arcy Mackay.  Brook is the recipient of the Reid-Doyle Prize for Excellence in Teaching (2006) WFU Award for Excellence in Advising (2013), and Building a Dream Award (2019). She also serves as the Associate Director for the WFU Center for Literacy Education.

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The 2026 US Elections
Presented by John Dinan
October 9 – November 6
Fridays, 1-3:15pm

A lot of attention is paid to presidential elections; but not enough attention is paid to elections for Congress, state legislatures, state courts, and ballot measures, including state constitutional amendments.  Among other topics, this course will examine the redistricting process for drawing congressional and state legislative districts, as well as the mechanisms for voting (such as voting by mail, early voting, and voter ID requirements) and current debates about these voting rules.  We will also discuss why certain candidates and ballot measures are successful, addressing the role of money, voter turnout, campaigning. and mid-term election patterns.

John Dinan is professor and chair of the department of politics and international affairs at Wake Forest University.  He regularly teaches courses on Elections, Congress, and State Politics.  He is the author of several books analyzing state politics and state constitutions. John has previously taught for the Lifelong Learning program as well as presented, “The Presidential Nomination Process: Is This the Best Way to Select a Candidate?” at the Spring 2020 Lecture.

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African Art Worldwide
Presented by Andrew Gurstelle
October 13 – November 17
Tuesdays, 5:30-7:30pm
@ the LAM Anthropology Museum, WFU Campus

This class is an introduction to the visual arts of Africa with an emphasis on how these works relate to global exchanges, movements, and diasporas. Every class features authentic artworks from the WFU Lam Museum of Anthropology collections for close-up inspection. Class topics include how artworks are produced within specific cultural traditions (Yoruba, Kuba, Zulu, Maasai, etc.) as well as how common themes are spread across mediums and materials (sculpture in wood, beadwork, ceramics, textiles, etc.). In addition to visual analysis, this course connects objects to their histories by exploring deep history and archaeology, the influence of African art elsewhere in the world, and the changing social context for art today.

Dr. Andrew Gurstelle is a museum anthropologist and archaeologist. He is the Academic Director of the Timothy S. Y. Lam Museum of Anthropology where he helps students learn to conduct anthropological research and curate exhibits. He actively researches the museum’s 30,000+ objects which allows him to study a broad range of cultures over the past 10,000 years of human history. As a curator, he emphasizes putting objects in historical and cultural context.

Dr. Gurstelle maintains a research interest in the traditional arts of West and Central Africa—the sculptures, masks, musical instruments, tools, clothing, and beadwork taken into museums and galleries during colonialism in the 19th and 20th centuries. Dr. Gurstelle also conducts archaeological and historical research in West Africa, including Ghana, Togo, and Bénin. He directed the Savè Hills Archaeological Research Project in Bénin which examined the early history and development of the Shabe Yoruba kingdom between 1600 and 1960 CE.

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Learning from the Navajo Nation:
Dine’ History, Culture, the Arts
Presented by Sarah Moore
October 14 -November 18
Wednesdays, 2:30-4:30pm

This course will immerse participants in Diné (Navajo) history, philosophy, art, and contemporary issues. In addition to weekly mini-lectures and discussion, students will have the opportunity to read from suggested books by and about Navajo, try ‘Navajo tacos’, hear Navajo folktales, observe arts demonstrations.

Navajo artists, Andrew and Bessie Henry from Diné community, will join the course as guest lecturers during their week-long WFU residency.  Andrew Henry is a silversmith and storyteller and Bessie Henry is a weaver and creator of bead jewelry, sewing, cooking, games.

Sarah Moore (she/her), PhD, LCMHC-S, RPT-S is an Associate Teaching Professor at Wake Forest University and has been at WFU in a full-time capacity since 2019. She completed her MA and PhD at the University of NC at Charlotte, has been a practicing counselor, counselor educator and supervisor for 20+ years.

In 1991, Sarah had her first encounter with Navajo reservation and people, and with Andrew and Bessie Henry in particular. She participated in a course, A Walk in Beauty: Natives of the Southwest, at Appalachian State University that had a focus on community building and included an immersive spring break experience on the Navajo reservation. The experience was both overwhelming, inspiring and made a lasting impact. Sarah had the opportunity to join the ASU course again in 2018, 2019 and 2020 as the instructor for the course and in 2021, on a family trip in the area. In addition, the Henrys have visited NC several times over the years and are looking forward to their trip here in November.
She looks forward to sharing her experiences with you and introducing you to a beautiful part of our country, a beautiful culture and to the Henrys. 

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Modern Day Surveillance Ecosystems
Presented by Ananda Mitra
NOTE: IRREGULAR SCHEDULE
October 26, November 2, 20, 23, 30 and December 7, 2026. 
Mondays & Fridays, 10am-noon

The notion of surveillance has become increasingly more crucial in public conversation as new tools of observation are obtained by many different players. The traditional notion of “overseeing” is being increasingly replaced by multi-level surveillance where many different actors, at different levels of hierarchy, from the child surveilling the parent to the state surveilling its citizens, are entering the surveillance theater. This creates a unique surveillance ecosystem where the individual is observed not only as an analog flesh-and-blood body moving through real spaces such as a shopping mall, but also tracked as a data point where the volume of data is perpetually and permanently expanding as the digital life story is inscribed in the digital spaces. The combined narrative of the individual is now under surveillance.

Professor Ananda Mitra teaches courses in research methodology, the impact of new technologies on society, entrepreneurship and mass communication. He is the author of several books including “Digital DNA” which explores the ways in which digital networks are creating opportunities for producing individual digital identities through the use of narrative bits – narbs – a concept invented by Mitra.

Dr. Mitra has taught several other Lifelong Learning courses including India Calling and most recently, AI and Communication.

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