IN PERSON AT AUBURN PUBLIC LIBRARY AND ZOOM

Senior College in the Communiry is our partnership with the Auburn Public Library to offer a series of Tuesday afternoon speakers and presentations.

All of these presentations are free and open to the public at the Auburn Public Library -- no registration required. However, if you want the option of attending any of these programs via Zoom, you must be registered here. (The Zoom link will be sent out each week to all who are registered.)

Our scheduled programs for Spring 2026 include the following:

• April 7 - Christine Guerette, Lake Stewards of Maine, "Keeping Maine Lakes Clean and Free of Invasives”  
• April 14 - Micah Miller, Biodiversity Research Institute, "What are the biggest threats to Arctic Birds and Loons?"
• April 21 - Norlands Living History Center, "The Busy Cradle - Tales of the Washburn Family in Maine"
• April 28 - Arlo Hennessey, Lewiston Auburn Community Market, "Lewiston Auburn Community Market: Local Food, Community and Belonging on Park Ave"
• May 5 - John Alsobrooks, Little Dragon Integrative Medicine, "What Is Traditional Chinese Medicine? A Beginner’s Guide to an Ancient Medical System”
• May 12 - Keith Carson, Maine Conservation Voters, “What motivates a well-known local ‘weatherman' to become a climate acitivist?"

IN PERSON AT AUBURN-LEWISTON AIRPORT

One of the pressing issues of our time is social and political polarization in the United States. What causes polarization and what can we do to lessen it? Maine author Colin Woodard has addressed these questions in his book Nations Apart: How Clashing Regional Cultures Shattered America (Viking, 2025). In this class, we will spend four weeks reading Woodard's book and discussing his analysis of our polarization and his prescriptions for change. The book is available in hardcover, ebook and audio book formats. Many libraries in Maine own copies, but you may need to get on a waiting list to borrow it.  

Jean Potuchek holds a PhD in sociology from Brown University and spent 40 years teaching sociology and gender studies to college students. She is committed to using the insights of social science to understand contemporary social and political issues.  

IN PERSON AT TEMPLE SHALOM

This will be a concert-style presentation, alternating between Lisa's reading of her humorous and poignant Jewish memoirs and Rabbi Sruli's Jewish themed magic. They will also play some Jewish Music.

Rabbi Sruli is the spiritual leader of Temple Shalom in Auburn and has been performing Jewish magic for many years. He was a featured performer at last year's Maine Conference for Jewish Life in Waterville. Lisa's memoirs have been published many times in Jewish publications such as the Forward. She has also opened for best-selling author David Sedaris.  

IN PERSON AT AUBURN PUBLIC LIBRARY

Richard Mullins will discuss the event known today as The Expulsion of the Acadians. He will use the contents of his book Evangeline: the Novel, which provides the historical information missing from Longfellow’s Evangeline. He will present this history through the biographical material researched on each of the major figures involved. A major objective is to educate on one of Canada’s greatest tragedies that is not systematically taught in schools, through both historical and personal experiences.

Richard Mullins taught high school English in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia; then moved to Mahone Bay, N. S. As principal of the high school; then moved to Rumford, ME and taught high school English; taught English Literature for Hudson College; retired and now lives in Dixfield, Me with his wife, Lorraine; they have three daughters and two grandchildren.  

ZOOM

You are invited to attend a spectacular tour of the Netherlands during the height of tulip season. We'll travel through eclectic, multi-cultural cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and the Hague by bike, boat, and rail...and meander through museums filled with timeless Van Gogh, Vermeer, Renoir, and Picasso masterpieces. We'll visit a cheese market that is hundreds of years old and stroll through the Kinderdijk windmills, a United Nations World Heritage Site. All this...plus wondrous fields of tulips in full bloom.  

Eve Fralick began her career as a United States Air Force officer traveling internationally to develop and implement multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art, telecommunications programs. After leaving the military, she worked in healthcare technology and as an adjunct faculty member at Southern New Hampshire University's Graduate School of Business. She holds Master degrees in Public Health and Systems Management. Eve's passion is hiking far off the beaten path around the world. She develops, and presents, travelogues of her adventures to libraries, assisted living facilities, senior colleges, and other organizations.  

IN PERSON AT AUBURN PUBLIC LIBRARY

This course explores the literal and metaphorical value of rhythm in the context of human behavior. Research has documented the physical and emotional benefits of drumming for 25+ years and increasing adoption of drumming across religious and spiritual traditions. Each session provides a brief background connecting drumming to physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits and will spend more time turning theory into practice and play. No musical experience or knowledge required. Instruments will be provided and participants are invited to bring their own hand drums/percussion instruments. 

Sean Douglas, LCSW has been tapping out rhythms for as long as he can remember and has been practicing as clinical social worker for 20+ years. As a social worker, he has brought drumming to individuals, couples and groups in a variety of clinical, professional and recreational settings  

IN PERSON AT SCHOONER ESTATES

2026 marks the 100th Anniversary of the establishment of Route 66. It was determined that a road was needed between Chicago and Los Angeles. 2400 miles across what most people thought of as the Great American Desert. But it is far more than that, and we'll do some exploring of the route.

Alan has taught many courses over the past 20 years. 

IN PERSON AT LA METRO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Whatever we think about immigration into the United States now and in the past, we can agree, I think, that immigration has shaped the character of the United States and also that immigration is implicated in much of the partisan divide we have today.

Issues of economic growth and fiscal health, crime, climate, culture change, racial, religious and national identity (among others) are all connected to immigration matters.

Positions around immigration defy easy labelling of ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative.’ In six short weeks, this course will try to help its participants find their bearings in the immigration debate. 

Doug Bennett taught political theory and public policy at Temple University, Reed College, and Earlham College for 25 years. From 1997 to his retirement in 2011 he was president of Earlham College. He holds a B.A. from Haverford College and Ph.D. in political science from Yale University. Now living in Topsham, he is a member of Durham Friends Meeting (Quakers).