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OLLI@DU / 2023 FALL / MEET OUR FACILITATORS
Steve Spirn-
Steve was born in the Bronx, moved to the MidWest and ended up in Denver. He has lived in Denver for 11 years. The sticker on his car says it all: “Not a Native But Got Here As Quick As I Could.” Steve has held lots of jobs along the way from running a newsstand in Grand Central Station to professional sports agent but spent the last 45 years in a dual career of college professor and labor relations consultant. Along the way he received a Ph.D. and a J.D. which means he is over-educated, but still can’t put a nail straight in the wall. Steve has facilitated seven other OLLI classes.
Timothy Steele-
Timothy D. (Tim) Steele (Master Facilitator) studied chemistry (A.B. magna cum laude) and hydrology (M.S. & Ph.D. degrees). He has been involved in water-quality hydrology and regional (watershed) assessments and data programs for over 54 years. He has managed numerous multidisciplinary projects and directed hydrologic baseline and modeling studies for characterizing water-quantity and -quality conditions. He has helped prepare permits and documents for local, State, and Federal agencies and has given expert testimony or litigation support on a range of technical areas. He has consulted on projects dealing with various water-quality contaminants, hydrologic and water-quality monitoring network design/ operations/data assessments, and watershed/ river-basin planning. He has taught in short courses and seminars and has been an Affiliate Faculty Member at Colorado State University (CSU) and several German universities. He has worked in 13 countries for The World Bank, UN agencies, and consultants. Since 2012, he has given lectures and courses at various OLLI-DU locations.
Mitchell Stewart-
Mitchell Stewart received his BA in International Studies from The American University and his MPA from Harvard University. He spent 16 years with the State Department and then 21 years with the Bureau of Reclamation (Interior Department) before retiring. He began taking OLLI courses in 2010 in lieu of returning to graduate school, and started facilitating in 2014, leading seminars in political and moral philosophy with occasional side trips into political theory and intellectual history. In addition to taking OLLI courses, he sits in on political theory courses in DU’s Korbel School of International Studies and philosophy courses in DU’s philosophy department. He is a member of the Hunting Working Airedales, Inc., though he does not hunt and his Airedale does not work.
Sally Stich-
Sally Stich taught writing at UCD (undergrad) and DU (Masters of Humanities) for approximately 30 years. At the same time she established a freelance writing career and wrote for such publications as TIME, Ladies Home Journal, as well as taught a variety of classes at the Academy of Lifelong Learning.
Becky Stout-
Becky Stout took a deep dive into facilitating after several terms at OLLI South as a participant. While literature is her primary focus, her classes feature such complementary facets of history, art, herbal medicine, music and more. She enjoys the process of researching and organizing her presentations for what she hopes is an enjoyable and fully realized OLLI experience.
Dan Strammiello-
Dan worked in government service as a China analyst producing writings focused on China’s economic growth models, political strategy both long and short term, military forces developments, and the tendencies of both countries to be natural allies and mercantile competitors. While working there, he was a regular contributor to the President’s Daily Brief. He holds a BA from Trinity College, an MA from the Elliott School for International Affairs (formerly the Sino-Soviet Institute) at George Washington University and studied at Georgetown Law School. Dan was a member of the Political Science faculty at the Air Force Academy and taught as an adjunct at CU Denver for many years.
Linda Susak-
Linda Susak has a B.A and M.A. in German Language and Studies and a BFA in Painting. She taught German at the high school level and, since 2008, on the college level, both at the main University of Denver campus and at University College and, now, for the Center for World Languages. As of Winter Quarter 2020, she has been teaching German Art History through OLLI.
Daniel Teitelbaum-
Daniel has been a photographer and print maker for many years. He has worked in virtually every format and film type that has been available in the 20th Century and continues to be available. Over the years his preferred camera has been the 35mm Leica. His particular interest is in street photography. His work has been shown in both local and national shows over the past 25 years. Daniel has taught courses at the Academy for Lifelong Learning in the history of photography, focusing on individual photographers and on subjects such as The Great Depression and American landscape photography. He is currently adjunct professor of Occupational and Environmental
Health at the Colorado School of Public Health. He has been on the Medical School faculty and the School of Public Health faculty since 1967.
Alec TsoucatosMaster Facilitator, Alec Tsoucatos was born to Greek parents in Alexandria Egypt. He attended a British primary school in Egypt and finished junior and senior high school in Athens. He received his B.A. and M.A. at UC Berkley and his PhD from the University of Colorado at Boulder under the tutelage of Kenneth Boulding. His main interests are New Economics, Positive Psychology, Integrative Medicine and Mystical Christianity.
Peter Van ArsdaleNamed by the Denver Museum of Nature and Science as “Denver’s own Indiana Jones,” Peter Van Arsdale, Ph.D., has had the opportunity to span the world during a 50-year career. He has worked or traveled on all seven continents, as well as the major island groups in the Caribbean, Pacific, and Mediterranean. In the humanitarian sphere, he is the co-founder of The Denver Hospice, the Rocky Mountain Survivors Center, and the Humanitarian Assistance Program at the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies. Although retired from the University of Denver in 2020, he remains active there as a Global Fellow. Many of his current projects involve Rotary International, while also advising (pro bono) on several other initiatives in East Africa. He is the author or editor of 10 books, the most recent being “Encounters: 50 Fascinating Strangers from My Life on the Road.” One of his encounters, during a voyage in New Guinea, will be featured in this course.
Donna Van Dusen-
Donna Van Dusen is Professor Emerita at Regis University. Upon retirement after 35 years in higher education, she continued her academic interest in identity and life transitions, focusing this time on the experience of older individuals.
Mitra Verma-
Mitra Verma is an art educator, an artist, and a craft designer. She has a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts (BFA) and completed her master’s from a distinctive handicraft design institute in India. She creates because she loves and wants to feel colors, forms, and nature in her creations. Working in various mediums her paintings celebrate the Indian culture and tradition with distinctive colorful designs, which are treated with religious and mystical motifs and patterns. She is a self-motivated, conscientious, passionate artist and for the past twelve years she held classes and workshops in painting and crafts. She is eager to share her love of art with students who want to venture into new areas.
Dixie Vice-
Dixie Vice retired in 2015 from state and federal government where she worked as a computer programmer/analyst and has been taking OLLI classes in music, literature, and film ever since. Her background includes a degree in Anthropology from CU with an effective minor in Film Studies. Her interest in foreign films began at age 16 when she was finally old enough to be admitted to the art film theatres in Indianapolis. She lives with her longtime partner, John, and their 3 orange kitty boys Jimmy, Eddie, and Sparky.
Judith VlasinJudith Vlasin is happily retired after having taught English, language arts, film and composition to high school students for 42 years. After discovering OLLI twelve years ago, she has taken and facilitated many classes and has an active interest in reading fiction and nonfiction from the US and other countries.
James WalshDr. James Walsh is an Associate Professor in Political Science at the University of Colorado Denver, where he has taught for twenty-two years. He specializes in Irish Diasporic Studies, as well as Labor and Immigration History and Politics. Walsh is also the founder of the Romero Theater Troupe, an all-volunteer “organic” community theater that uses the stage to preserve the history of human rights struggles.
Barb WardenBarb Warden has lived in Golden since 1987. She runs the local news website GOLDENTODAY.COM and writes a daily column about Golden history. Barb has written three books about Golden (Guidebook to Golden Colorado, Funiculars of Golden Colorado, and Olde Golden Christmas).
Barbara WerrenBarbara was born in New Orleans. She moved to Colorado when she was 14 and rapidly adopted the Colorado lifestyle, becoming an avid skier, hiker, biker and traveler. She has hiked on all 7 continents and traveled to 100 countries. She has been on both sides of the travel business, having been a hiking and skiing guide for adventures in the mountains of the world, and more recently a participant in less strenuous journeys with Overseas Adventure Travel (31 trips), Road Scholar, Viking, Vantage, etc.
Barbara has combined a passion for travel with her passion for photography. She is a noted travel journalist, giving travel presentations to groups throughout Colorado. As much as she has seen of the world’s most beautiful and interesting places, she realizes her great fortune to live in the very best place - our beautiful state, Colorado!
William WestWilliam West, Master Facilitator, received his BA degree at Ohio Wesleyan, his MA at Columbia University, and his PhD at the University of Michigan/Ann Arbor. He began his teaching career at the University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill from which he moved to Denver to continue teaching at the University of Colorado/UCD. His academic specialties are Victorian Literature and the English Novel.
Wilson WiedenheftWilson Wiedenheft has degrees in Electrical Engineering, a Master’s in Business Administration, and a Master’s of Science in geology. After spending most of his engineering career directing software and hardware development programs at Motorola, Wilson retired in 2012 to finally engage with his love for science. His interest and research have ranged broadly and are reflected in the classes he teaches for OLLI at DU since 2016, which include physics, cosmology, geology, and the history of science. His passion is making the complex and fascinating topics of science accessible to the curious general public.
Diana Williams-
Diana has taught History and Art History at the college level. Her areas of interest are the Italian Baroque for Art History and Ancient through the Renaissance for History. She has lived in Italy, studying with the Latin Secretary to the Pope and done research at the Vatican Library and the British Library. She loves to share her passion for Italian art and history.
David WilliamsDavid is a retired marketing executive and has been a member at OLLI South since its beginning. He has facilitated more than 30 courses—mostly in history or literature—and has never repeated a course. He served on the OLLI South Curriculum Committee for eight years and as Chairman for three years before moving from Lone Tree, CO to Fishers, IN six years ago.