Misstropolis

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Back to School - Just for 1 Day

by Robin Hauck

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Like the Army’s publicity team, Misstropolis wants to help you Be All You Can Be. You know what you have to do for your body, (it’s just a matter of finding the time). But what about your poor old brain? Doesn’t the lump upstairs deserve some tlc as well?

One Day University thinks so, and so do we. So we’ve teamed up to offer two tickets to a full day of stimulating classes taught by some of the most celebrated professors in the nation. Details on entering to win below. (As of Oct. 1, Kristina Grace is the winner of the two tickets. Congratulations Kristina!)

No entrance exams, no application essay, no homework, no term papers: One Day University is the salve for that itch that comes up when taking college tours with your kids or watching The Wonder Boys with Ben & Jerry, minus the stress and tuition bills of graduate school. It’s the opposite of the classic anxiety dream: rather than waking up on the morning of the exam without having ever gone to class, you wake up on the morning of the class and get straight A’s just for showing up.

The founders of One Day University describe their program as a health club for the brain. A varied line-up of classes taught by celebrated professors from the nation’s top schools might be called cerebral circuit training; hearing the latest thinking in world affairs, science, politics, history, art & literature - mental aerobics; and friendly coffee and lunch breaks - water cooler time.

“It’s like a crystallization of the best day of college ever.” says John Galvin, one of the company’s founders. Galvin is only 37 years old, but he knows what keeps his students, the majority of whom are in the 50+ range, coming back. (Galvin claims a 75% or higher returning student rate). They come because One Day U “brings in the All Stars.” Award winning professors from Harvard, Yale, Brown, Princeton, Dartmouth, Columbia, The University of Pennsylvania, Cornell and other top tier schools make those 101 lectures of yesteryear seem like so much drivel.

On October 6, One Day University comes to Babson College. Professors from Princeton, Williams, University of Pennsylvania and Harvard will lecture on a fascinating range of topical subjects. (Schedule included below).

If you are interested in attending and would like to enter to win two free tickets, send an email to with your name, address and email. Get a friend to subscribe to Misstropolis and get your name entered in the drawing twice.

Just check out this lineup. Your brain might be a bit sore the next day

One Day U
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Babson College, Sorenson Center for the Arts
Babson Park, MA
9:30am to 3:45pm

9:30am–10:40
Sociology: School Shootings. Why Terrible Things Happen in Perfect Places
Katherine Newman, Princeton University.
Professor of Public Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School. Winner, Textor Prize of the American Anthropological Association.

10:55–12:05
Literature: What’s So Great About Shakespeare?
Robert Bell, Williams College
Winner, Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching, and Carnegie Foundation Professor of the Year.

12:05pm–1:10 Lunch (included)

1:10–2:20
History: Hitler. The Man and the Mystery
Jonathan Steinberg, University of Pennsylvania
Annenberg Professor of European History, past chairman of History Department.

2:35–3:45
Political Science: The Rise of the Left and Anti-Americanism in Latin America
Steven Levitsky, Harvard University
Winner, Roslyn Abramson Award for excellence in teaching, John L. Loeb Chair at Harvard for excellence in teaching and research.