The Louisville Free Public Library's short course, 鈥淪ocial Justice Movements: Past and Present,鈥 features six scholars from UofL鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences, Brandeis School of Law and the School of Public Health.
The Louisville Free Public Library's short course, 鈥淪ocial Justice Movements: Past and Present,鈥 features six scholars from UofL鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences, Brandeis School of Law and the School of Public Health. Photo courtesy of LFPL's Facebook page.

Several University of Louisville professors are taking their expertise to the public early this semester as invited participants in Louisville Free Public Library鈥檚 MyLibraryU.

“The University of Louisville and its professors are such an amazing resource for the community,鈥 said Paul Burns, LFPL鈥檚 communications director. 鈥淭he Louisville Free Public Library started the MyLibraryU program to make college-level learning experiences accessible to the public by scheduling free short courses and fast classes on a variety of topics during the year.鈥

For the first 2019 short course, the library staff wanted to explore social justice movements. LFPL Program Coordinator Aaron Rosenblum suggested Catherine Fosl, director of UofL鈥檚 Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research, would be perfect to help spearhead the six-week, multi-instructor course, Burns said. Here鈥檚 the speaker lineup for that course:

Jan. 17-Feb. 21:聽鈥淪ocial Justice Movements: Past and Present,鈥 a short course on Thursday nights, will feature six scholars from UofL鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences, Brandeis School of Law and the School of Public Health and Information Sciences, as well as University of Kentucky, presenting aspects of social movements. .听

  • Jan. 17: 鈥100 Years of Housing-Justice Movements in Louisville,鈥 Catherine Fosl, Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research and women鈥檚 and gender studies
  • Jan. 24: 鈥淵outh-led Immigrant Justice Movements,鈥 Enid Trucios-Haynes, law
  • Jan. 31 鈥 鈥淯sing History to Build a Movement,鈥 Lara Kelland, history and comparative humanities
  • Feb. 7 鈥 鈥淪chool-to-Prison Pipeline and Mass Incarceration,鈥 Cherie Dawson-Edwards, criminal justice
  • Feb. 14 鈥 鈥淕lobal Solidarity,鈥 Karen Tice, UK women鈥檚 and gender studies
  • Feb. 21 鈥 鈥淭ransgender Health and Social Justice,鈥 Ryan Combs, public health and information sciences

鈥淎lso, through LFPL鈥檚 ongoing partnerships with the Commonwealth Center for the Humanities and Society and the Liberal Studies Project, the Main Library is delighted to host Andreas Elpidorou鈥檚 upcoming fast class on 鈥楾he Bright Side of Frustration鈥 and Karl Swinehart鈥檚 fast class on 鈥業ndigenous Languages of the Americas,鈥欌 Burns said. Here are details about those one-night educational events:

  • Jan. 15:聽鈥淭he Bright Side of Frustration鈥 fast class, UofL philosophy professor Andreas Elpidorou will share examples of how negative emotions can have a positive impact on life. He鈥檒l share stories of art, mathematical discoveries, animal behavior, video games and neuroscience. The professor will explore how frustration surprisingly can lead to invigoration and energy, as he also discusses in his forthcoming 2019 book 鈥淧ropelled Toward the Good Life.鈥
  • Feb. 12:聽鈥淚ndigenous Languages of the Americas鈥 fast class. Linguistic anthropologist Karl Swinehart, comparative humanities, will give an overview of how Native American languages live on in certain words as well as the means of communication for millions of people throughout the hemisphere. He will discuss grammatical features, address some language myths and share examples of contemporary language activism such as hip-hop among youth in Bolivia.

All the January and February MyLibraryU short courses and fast classes will be at 6:30 p.m. at the Main Library, 301 York St. Although they are free, registration is requested to reserve a spot by calling 502-574-1623.