Osher - Special Events

Special Events

Courses & Events

Osher Membership Fee

A required individual Osher membership fee of just $25 will be collected during the fall semester each year to grant participation in the Osher offerings for the next 12 months. Your paid membership allows you to attend Osher courses and special events. Membership in Osher helps to keep the cost of classes affordable for all. We're excited to nurture your ongoing quest to learn as you engage with and contribute greatly to the world around you.

July 16, 2025 to December 31, 2025

Black History in Kansas City

Kansas City has a rich and sometimes overlooked history of Black culture. Together we'll explore the deep cultural roots of the Black community including jazz, barbecue and baseball, and also dive into Kansas City's role in the civil rights and desegregation movements. We'll start with a guided bus tour of several influential sites around Kansas City. Discussion topics and sites will include the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers, slavery in the heart of America, the Kansas Jayhawks, the Underground Railroad, the untold story of Douglas's Battery and the wartime sacrifices of African Americans. After a barbecue lunch at KC's first and only Black-owned craft brewery, we'll spend the afternoon exploring the American Jazz Museum and Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in the historic 18th and Vine District. Trip includes executive coach transportation, admission to all sites, docent-led bus tour, tours of the museums and lunch at Vine Street Brewery.

This course contains no sessions

Let's All Go to the Movies: Film Critique and Conversation

Learn how to watch a movie like a film critic with veteran film critic Abby Olcese and join other Osher students for a specially curated film screening and discussion. This is a three-part course explores the fundamentals of filmmaking and film criticism designed to help the everyday movie fan understand how critical thinking works when watching a movie - and how to apply those concepts to watching movies at home or with friends and expanding their cinematic horizons. To top it off, we'll meet on a Saturday to view a film curated by Abby. She'll lead a discussion following the screening. We'll bring the popcorn and candy!Includes three-session class, private film screening and refreshments.

This course contains no sessions

Renée Fleming's "Voice of Nature: the Anthropocene" at the Lied Center

Renée Fleming is one of the most highly acclaimed singers of our time, performing on the stages of the world's great opera houses and concert halls. A 2023 Kennedy Center Honoree, winner of five Grammy Awards and the U.S. National Medal of Arts, she has sung for momentous occasions from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to the Diamond Jubilee for Queen Elizabeth II to the Super Bowl. Ticket price includes an optional panel discussion with Ms. Fleming on April 16 that focuses on the connection between music and wellness, a pre-performance lecture with a KU School of Music professor, light refreshments and reserved seats for the performance on April 17. All reservations must be made by March 26. No refunds will be given after that date.

This course contains no sessions

The "Iron Curtain" at 80: Missouri's Role in Winston Churchill's Famous Speech

Osher is hitting the road for a deep dive into Missouri's connection to Sir Winston Churchill and the end of the Cold War. We'll start the trip with a tour of the newly renovated Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri. President Truman's endorsement of Westminster College's invitation was pivotal in bringing Churchill to Missouri to give the famous speech. After lunch, we' will head to Jefferson City, Missouri's state capital, for a tour of the domed Capitol building, home to many famous works of art. We'll enjoy dinner together before spending the night in Jefferson City. We'll make our way to Fulton the next morning to explore Westminster College's connection to Sir Winston Churchill, who gave the famous "Iron Curtain" speech there 80 years ago. We'll take a class on the Cold War, tour the National Churchill Museum and Library, and view a segment of the Berlin Wall that was moved to Westminster after the fall of communism. We will also tour St. Mary the Virgin Church, a church designed by Sir Christopher Wren that incorporated stones from the original church that was built in the early 12th century. The church stood in London until it was bombed during the Blitz and before being moved stone by stone to Westminster's campus. We' will return to the Edwards Campus and Lawrence that evening. This trip will feature considerable amounts of walking, but all venues are fully accessible. Trip includes roundtrip luxury coach transportation, overnight hotel accommodation in Jefferson City, hot breakfast at the hotel, one dinner, two lunches, a lecture class and admission to all sites and tours.

This course contains no sessions

The Underground Railroad and Lawrence, Kansas: A Legacy of Freedom in Bleeding Kansas

A popular bus tour developed by the Watkins Museum of History, join us as we travel to historic sites around Lawrence and learn stories of heroism and tragedy from the city's early days as an important place on the Underground Railroad and the fight for a free Kansas. We'll explore homes, cemeteries and other sites that directly witnessed these events and learn about specific people who risked their lives in the cause of freedom. This tour involves several stops where we will walk and explore sites. Those preferring to stay on the bus may do so. We'll conclude our afternoon with a self-guided tour of the traveling exhibition, "Through Darkness to Light: Photographs Along the Underground Railroad," on display at the Watkins Museum of History. Photographer Jeanine Michna-Bales has spent more than a decade meticulously researching "fugitive" enslaved people and the ways they escaped to freedom. From the cotton plantations south of Natchitoches, Louisiana, all the way north to the Canadian border, this series of photographs by Michna-Bales helps us imagine what the long road to freedom may have looked like as seen through the eyes of one of those who made this epic journey. Trip includes bus transportation, docent-led two-hour bus tour and access to the Watkins Museum of History's traveling exhibit.

This course contains no sessions

Turn-of-the-Century Holiday Traditions

Experience the holidays through the lens of history by visiting two of Kansas City's turn-of-the-century mansions, completely transformed for the Christmas season, and a traditional Catholic Church built in 1900. The day will start with a tour of the Strawberry Hill Museum and Cultural Center, housed in a mansion built on a bluff overlooking downtown Kansas City in 1887. Each of the mansion's rooms will be awash in holiday décor, including traditional Eastern European decorations. After a traditional Croatian lunch, we will tour the St. John the Baptist Church, celebrating its Centennial in 2025. We will board the bus and head east to the Vaile Victorian Mansion, one of the best examples of Second Empire-style architecture in the United States. The 31-room mansion includes nine marble fireplaces, spectacular painted ceilings and a 48,000-gallon wine cellar, all transformed for the holidays.

Includes: Docent-led tours of the Strawberry Hill Museum, the Vaile Mansion and St. John the Baptist Church, a traditional four-course Croatian lunch, executive coach transportation and a special Christmas treat. The coach will pick up and drop off students at the St. Andrews Office Building in Lawrence and at the KU Edwards Campus in Overland Park.

Friday, December 12, 2025

Walking Tour of Old West Lawrence

From its beginnings in 1855, Old West Lawrence has been home to socially and politically prominent families. The beautifully preserved neighborhood is the perfect backdrop to learn about the people who built and grew the city of Lawrence. We'll learn their stories and highlight the variety of architectural styles and building materials that make this area unique. Our guide is Dr. Bob Dinsdale, local Lawrence history aficionado and tour leader. This is a two-hour tour with a mostly flat terrain, but uneven brick sidewalks are a feature.

This course contains no sessions