Note: As of March 23, we have changed our program name from Learning in Retirement (LinR) to Lifelong Learning Program (LLeaP).

Registration for the Early Spring 2021 Session is now closed. This session featured five lecture series. Below you can find detailed descriptions, biographies, series outlines, and participant reactions. You can also read some of the feedback for our new online format!

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Lecture Series:
The Story of Rock and Roll: 1951-1966
Pre-Raphaelite Art in 19th-Century Britain
Behind the Headlines: Current News and World Events
Death and Afterlife: Eastern Traditions
A Voyage Through Classical Music


Lecture Series 1
The Story of Rock and Roll: 1951-1966
Lecturer: Keith McCuaig

This series celebrates the explosion of creativity in American and British popular music, using lectures, audio and video examples, and live demonstrations. We will explore the birth of rock and roll through to the British Invasion. Styles to be discussed include rockabilly, Brill Building pop, surf rock, folk, and more. We will also examine the social and historical context of this music, including a growing youth culture and changing race relations. From Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan, to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, the music of the 1950s and early 1960s exerted a cultural influence that lives on to the present.
Note: Keith will also offer “Rock in the Late 1960s and Beyond” in May/June.

  • Days: Mondays, March 8, 15, 22, 29, April 12, 19 (no class April 5, Easter Monday)
  • Time: 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time
  • Location: Zoom (This lecture series is offered via Zoom, which can be used on computers and mobile devices. We recommend you use a computer/laptop with high speed internet. A camera and microphone will enable you to participate more fully, but they are not required. See our Support page for details.)
  • Fee: $150 (HST included)
  • Lecture Series Outline
  • Registration is now closed.

Picture of LLeaP lecturer Keith McCuaigLecturer biography: With an MA in Music and Culture, and over 25 years’ experience as a musician, Keith McCuaig is dedicated to all things music and art. He loves exploring the histories of popular music, especially the interconnectedness of genres, and the socio-cultural significance of music. Keith has extensive experience in researching, writing and teaching a variety of music-related topics; he’s taught musicology courses through Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, and presented at international musicology conferences. From performing, writing, recording, and producing, to lecturing, giving music lessons, and working with community music programs (such as Ottawa Bluesfest’s Blues in the Schools and Be in the Band), Keith’s life and passion is music. Read what participants have said about Keith McCuaig’s lecture series.


Lecture Series 2
Pre-Raphaelite Painting in 19th-Century Britain
Lecturer: Dr. Eric Weichel

In late nineteenth-century Britain, academic painting went through an aesthetic revolution, as three successive generations of painters rejected the emphasis on neoclassical history painting and looked to the songs, stories and epic poetry of medieval Europe for inspiration in their work. This lecture series examines the development of “Pre-Raphaelite” visual art in Victorian England, surveying the life, career and major works of influential artists. We also discuss the “other” Pre-Raphaelite movement, including artists who were ethnically or sexually marginalized, because of their race, gender, sexuality or religion, from comparable levels of critical and commercial success in the period.

  • Days: Tuesdays, March 9, 16, 23, 30, April 6, 13
  • Time: 1:00 p.m to 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time
  • Location: Zoom (This lecture series is offered via Zoom, which can be used on computers and mobile devices. We recommend you use a computer/laptop with high-speed internet. A camera and microphone will enable you to participate more fully, but they are not required. See our Support page for details.)
  • Fee: $150.00 (HST included)
  • Lecture series outline
  • Registration is now closed.

Picture of LLeaP lecturer Dr. Eric WeichelLecturer biography: Dr. Eric Weichel has taught several popular lecture series for the Lifelong Learning Program (formerly known as Learning in Retirement). His fast-paced style is appreciated by his many regular participants. He received his PhD in Art History from Queen’s University (Kingston) in 2013, and completed a SSHRC-funded Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Concordia University (Montreal) in 2015. His research specialties involve the role of palace women in facilitating visual and literary cross-cultural exchanges in the courtly sphere. Eric has curated an exhibition on eighteenth-century French prints for the Carleton University Art Gallery, and was a research assistant at the prestigious Rembrandt Specialist conference at Herstmonceux Castle, Sussex. Eric currently teaches at Nipissing University. Read what participants say about Dr. Weichel’s lecture series.


Lecture Series 3
Behind the Headlines: Current News and World Events
Lecturer: Dr. Elliot Tepper

In this World Affairs lecture series, we will discuss current events that are making the news. Hot topics of the week will be explored in depth, providing context and background for stories in the headlines. We will also be exploring some topics that did not make the headlines, but should have. The content will be determined weekly by emerging issues of importance to Canadians that affect our lives and our world. The global COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on world politics will form the backdrop for Behind the Headlines this year. Come for lively discussions of the news that matters, led by a veteran Carleton University political scientist and media commentator. Perspective and analysis will be provided by the lecturer, followed by discussion with participants.

  • Days: Wednesdays, March 10, 17, 24, 31, April 7, 14
  • Time: 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time
  • Location: Zoom (This lecture series is offered via Zoom, which can be used on computers and mobile devices. We recommend you use a computer/laptop with high speed internet. A camera and microphone will enable you to participate more fully, but they are not required. See our Support page for details.)
  • Lecture series outline: n/a
  • Fee: $150 (HST included)
  • Registration is now closed.

Lecturer biography: Dr. Tepper is a veteran professor of comparative politics and international relations at Carleton University. He regularly provides media commentary at home and abroad on a wide range of topics, providing context and deep background to the news stories of the day. Dr. Tepper’s career in academia and public policy provides the basis for thoughtful analysis on current events, and his lifetime of teaching on-campus and through the public media provides the basis for an engaging, interactive classroom experience. An internationally recognized scholar, Dr. Tepper provides analysis and policy advice to national and international organizations. Read what participants have said about Dr. Tepper and the Behind the Headline series.


Lecture Series 4
Death and Afterlife: Eastern Traditions
Lecturer: Dr. Angela Sumegi

How do various religions and cultural traditions express their ideas and beliefs associated with death and life after death? Join Dr. Sumegi in this lecture series to explore the diversity of ways in which human beings conceive of their innermost selves in life and death. This series will focus on Eastern Traditions.* We will begin with the foundations of religion in India: the Goddess-oriented Indus Valley people and the hymns of the Aryan-speaking people. From there we will explore the meaning of Atman (Soul) in classical Hinduism and the rejection of a permanent unchanging Soul in Buddhism. Finally, we will examine the ways in which religion manifested in China and the far East. As we study the ways in which different religious traditions approach mortality and immortality, you will have the opportunity to examine your own conceptions of living and dying.
(*NOTE: Dr. Sumegi covered Western traditions in a separate lecture series, “Death and Afterlife: Western Traditions”, offered in January/February 2021. Registrants of the first (Western traditions) series will be given priority for the second (Eastern traditions) series. However, there are no pre-requisites for this Eastern traditions series.)

  • Days: Thursdays, March 11, 18, 25, April 1, 8, 15
  • Time: 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time
  • Location: Zoom (This lecture series is offered via Zoom, which can be used on computers and mobile devices. We recommend you use a computer/laptop with high speed internet. A camera and microphone will enable you to participate more fully, but they are not required. See our Support page for details.)
  • Fee: $150 (HST included)
  • Lecture Series Outline
  • Registration is now closed.

LLeaP Lecturer Dr. Angela SumegiLecturer biography: Angela Sumegi is a retired Associate Professor of Humanities and Religion from Carleton University. Her area of academic expertise is in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and the interface between Buddhism and Shamanism. Her current research interests focus on religious approaches to death as well as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and its interface with indigenous shamanic practices and beliefs. Outside of academia, she teaches Buddhist meditation and is the founder and director of a Canadian charity that supports Tibetan refugee children in India.


Lecture Series 5
A Voyage Through Classical Music
Lecturer: Julian Armour

Whether you are a long-time enthusiast or a newcomer to classical music, you’ll find something to enjoy in this series highlighting the unique characteristics of this remarkable genre. Accomplished cellist Julian Armour will help you explore and understand the periods of classical music, from before the Middle Ages to Romanticism and beyond. The series will include attention to folk songs and nationalism, the concerto, and 20th century music. Each week will contain musical examples, to demystify and help you enjoy the great forms of music including the sonata, the symphony, and the overture.

  • Days: Fridays, March 12, 19, 26, April 9, 16, 23 (no class April 2, Good Friday)
  • Time: 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time
  • Location: Zoom (This lecture series is offered via Zoom, which can be used on computers and mobile devices. We recommend you use a computer/laptop with high speed internet. A camera and microphone will enable you to participate more fully, but they are not required. See our Support page for details.)
  • Fee: $150 (HST included)
  • Lecture Series Outline
  • Registration is now closed.

Julian Armour has distinguished himself over the past 25 years as a performing musician, arts administrator and artistic director. He is currently Artistic and Executive Director of one of Canada’s major cultural festivals, Music and Beyond. As well, he is Artistic Director of the Chamber Players of Canada, Principal Cellist of the chamber orchestra Thirteen Strings and teaches regularly at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, offering courses in both music performance and arts administration. One of Canada’s most active cellists, he has performed throughout Canada and Europe and has been heard regularly on CBC Radio and Radio-Canada. As a chamber musician he has appeared in television broadcasts on CBC, CTV, PBS, EWTN and Vision TV. He has played in most of Canada’s concert halls and many in the United States and Europe. He has recorded over 30 CDs for many labels including Marquis, Crystal, ATMA, CMS Classics, CentreDiscs, SRI, CanSona, Studea Musica, NAXOS and CBC. One of the country’s foremost experts on Canadian music, Julian Armour has programmed and performed works by over 400 different Canadian composers and premiered over 200 different works, most of which were written especially for him. Read more details here.