Course Leaders & Speakers

Learn more about these highly respected course leaders and presenters.

COURSE LEADER: Bob Adelstein

ABOUT: Bob Adelstein has been taking pictures since he was 12 years old and still owns the box camera that he used back then. In fact, he has kept most of the cameras he has used over
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Steve Bernard

COURSE LEADER: Judge Steve Bernard

ABOUT: Steven Bernard was a prosecutor for 28 years.  For the past five years he has been a judge on the Colorado Court of Appeals, where he has presided for over five years. He has
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COURSE LEADER: Susan Blake-Smith

ABOUT: Susan Blake-Smith is an early member of The Academy who spent 25 years living in Mexico City, making her uniquely qualified to teach conversational Spanish.  Susan has a BFA in
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Kathy Boyer

COURSE LEADER: Kathy Boyer

ABOUT: Kathy Boyer has conducted LIFE STORY workshops for libraries, summer camps, churches, community centers, and with the Academy.  As a child, Kathy developed a love of the personal
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Mary Conroy

COURSE LEADER: Dr. Mary Schaeffer Conroy

ABOUT: Dr. Mary Schaeffer Conroy is Emeritus Professor at the University of Colorado at Denver. She has focused her professional research on the politics in Late Imperial Russia and
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Art

COURSE LEADER: Georgi Contiguglia

ABOUT: Georgi Contiguglia was the Curator of Decorative and Fine Arts at the Colorado Historical Society before becoming its President and CEO. She has a Master’s Degree in art history
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Marty Corren

COURSE LEADER: Marty Corren

ABOUT: The Academy’s liaison with the Denver Art Museum, Marty Corren joined the museum as a volunteer in 2006 and serves as an outstanding and popular docent.  She has a special
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COURSE LEADER: Patricia Cox

ABOUT: Patricia Cox has been writing to save her life, practically all her life.  With a B.S. in Education and an M.A. in Guidance and Counseling, she taught for the Denver Public
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COURSE LEADER: Colorado CPR

ABOUT: The Colorado CPR Association was started in 1981 and believes that effective CPR saves over 150,000 lives per year. As a nonprofit American Heart Association Training Center
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Don Culp

COURSE LEADER: Don Culp

ABOUT: Don Culp originally intended to be a commercial artist. He attended The Art Center College in Los Angeles then, as young men often do, became sidetracked and worked in a steel
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Billie Day

COURSE LEADER: Billie Day

ABOUT: Billie Day lived in Washington, DC for over thirty years.  She was a high school teacher of modern world history and created a course, Global Perspectives, focused on the culture
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COURSE LEADER: Dr. Kip Doran

ABOUT: Dr. Christopher “Kip” Doran, a graduate of Boston College and Yale Medical School, a Clinical Professor at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and a Distinguished
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COURSE LEADER: Anita Fricklas

ABOUT: After graduating from high school, Anita Fricklas attended Boston University.  Her career included many years as Director of Education at Temple Sinai. She later became the
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Rosalie Goldman

COURSE LEADER: Rosalie Goldman

ABOUT: Rosalie Goldman, a semi-retired Special Education teacher and a community volunteer, has a lifelong interest in current events and civil and human rights.  She wanted to organize
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COURSE LEADER: Dr. Linda Gordon

ABOUT: After 35 years as an educator, Linda Gordon recently retired as a principal. She lived in Mexico City for ten years, serving as director of an English as a Second Language school.
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COURSE LEADER: Scott Henke

ABOUT: Onsite Consulting owner, Scott Henke, has been a consultant for 32 years, working with over 6000 families and businesses in South Denver. He taught classes through Denver Community
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Shellie Hochstadt

COURSE LEADER: Shellie Hochstadt

ABOUT: Shellie Hochstadt graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a degree in history, and a minor in political science. She was a divisional merchandise manager for a
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COURSE LEADER: Connie Hyde

ABOUT: Connie Hyde spent her college and graduate days immersed in literature, but, after a final year in the rare book room at Duke University library with 16th century folios, decided
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COURSE LEADER: Dr. Hiroko Johnson

ABOUT: Dr. Hiroko Johnson is an art historian specializing in Japanese art history. She received a PhD from the University of Southern California and was a post-doctoral fellow at
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Sally Kneser

COURSE LEADER: Sally Kneser

ABOUT: Sally Kneser is always ready to learn something new and help teach others. “I love to learn, and it’s so much more fun with friends around.” Sally is a Life Master in bridge
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Jim Kneser

COURSE LEADER: Jim Kneser

ABOUT: Jim Kneser is in his fourteenth year of leading classes in economics, public policy, and high art music. He has led more than 60 economics and public policy classes with more than
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COURSE LEADER: Gloria Kubel

ABOUT: Gloria Kubel received a BA in Education from Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York and a MA in Dance from the University of Colorado.  She studied ballet growing up in New
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COURSE LEADER: Sara Marsden

ABOUT: Sara Marsden retired in May 2012 from Adams County Social Services after 20 years as a caseworker. She has developed an interest in foreign policy over a lifetime of travel and
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COURSE LEADER: Dr. Larry Matten

ABOUT: Larry Matten wears many hats: teacher, paleobotanist, administrator, lawyer and researcher.  Above all, Larry loves teaching about his favorite subject – paleontology and
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Robin McNeil

COURSE LEADER: Robin McNeil

ABOUT: Robin McNeil began his study of piano at DePauw University at the age of four, taking lessons with Irene Soltas. He has a Bachelor of Music in Perform­ance from Indiana University
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Denver Art Museum

COURSE LEADER: Joanne Mendes

ABOUT: Longtime art enthusiast Joanne Mendes has recently retired from a career spent organizing programs in art history in London and at the Denver Art Museum, for which she developed
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Walt Meyer

COURSE LEADER: Dr. Walt Meyer

ABOUT: Dr. Walt Meyer is a retired “technocrat,” having spent 22 years in the weather field of the US Air Force and almost 20 years as a program manager for a defense contractor. Walt
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Jonathan Ormes

COURSE LEADER: Dr. Jonathan F. Ormes

ABOUT: Dr. Jonathan F. Ormes is a Research Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Denver. He was formerly the Director of Space Sciences at NASA’s Goddard Space
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Sheila Porter

COURSE LEADER: Dr. Sheila Porter

ABOUT: Since retirement has unfolded, Sheila Porter’s interest in people and places have taken her to far flung locations and led her to doing psychological evaluations of asylum
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Sharon Rouse

COURSE LEADER: Sharon Rouse

ABOUT: Sharon Rouse is a retired art teacher who then enjoyed being a supervisor for art student teachers at Metropolitan State College.  She has taught adult watercolor and sketchbook
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Lorenz Rychner

COURSE LEADER: Lorenz Rychner

ABOUT: Lorenz Rychner took up piano and clarinet lessons as a child in his native Switzerland. He combined a career in publishing with a busy performing schedule. After emigrating to
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COURSE LEADER: Judy Schwartz

ABOUT: Judy Schwartz is a career teacher and counselor. She taught at Temple Sinai for many years.  She taught English and coached the speech and debate team at Denver’s East High
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COURSE LEADER: Dr. Lorraine Sherry

ABOUT: Lorraine Sherry’s passion in life has always been music – primarily singing – beginning with her first solo in third grade.  She was selected for Allstate Choir while in
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COURSE LEADER: Ralph Stern

ABOUT: Ralph Stern has spent the past 44 years reading about religious philosophy, theology, theodicy and comparative religion. In 1985 he entered Hebrew Union College, Jewish Institute
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Sandy Stollar

COURSE LEADER: Sandy Stolar

ABOUT: Before retiring after 30 years of teaching experience, Sandy Stolar taught Spanish at the middle school and high school and several semesters of community college, too. She loves
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COURSE LEADER: Paul Turelli

ABOUT: Paul Turelli is a retired middle school teacher and administrator from Littleton Public Schools.  Paul studied literary and film criticism as a graduate student in college and
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Paulette Wasserstein

COURSE LEADER: Dr. Paulette Wasserstein

ABOUT: Dr. Paulette Wasserstein has always loved sharing “a good read.”  Her career in public education, teaching high school English, afforded her the endless opportunities to open
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Doug Wilke

COURSE LEADER: Doug Wilke

ABOUT: Doug Wilke discovered a new passion in retirement. His father had a large collection of old family photos and documents to donate to a hometown museum.  Before disposing of them
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Dick Young

COURSE LEADER: Rear Admiral Richard (Dick) E. Young

ABOUT: One of the Academy’s most accredited facilitators, Rear Admiral Richard (Dick) E. Young, has a BA from the University of Michigan and graduated with honors from the United States
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