Communiversity celebrates its 70th year with music, food
Come celebrate an open house Sept. 10, featuring culinary bites, live music and presentations by instructors from several of the 150 fall term classes for adults
Event Information (passed)
From its humble beginnings in University of Cincinnati's Hanna Hall — offering 15 classes in 1949 to hundreds of courses now in the evening and online — UC Communiversity celebrates seven decades of serving the needs of the community and adult students of all educational backgrounds.
As part of its open house festivities on UC's Victory Parkway Campus, the Communiversity team will be on hand to shine a light on the progression of its program, which continues to meet the educational needs of its community.
"At the open house, instructors will be on hand to talk about many of our new course offerings including a peek through books by local authors of true crime stories, catered bites served by The Jaded Fork and live music played by our guitar and Native American flute instructors," says Janet Staderman, program director for UC Communiversity.
All UC faculty, staff, alumni, UC Health employees and UC donors receive 50% discount on one Communiversity course per term.
Janet Staderman UC Communiversity program director
For professional and career advancement, Communiversity now offers certificate programs in partnership with a national provider of online instruction called ed2go. The online courses are offered on a monthly basis and cover a wide variety of skills and broad interests. photo/Priscella du Preez/courtesy Unsplash
Students of all ages hungry for new knowledge can mingle with a bevy of area experts who will be on hand to offer presentations of several fall courses. And program administrators will be ready to register students for upcoming classes while answering questions about how to teach for Communiversity.
Meet the instructors
Professional photographer Robert A. Flischel. photo/UC Magazine
"Photography's Greatest Secrets, Finally Revealed," taught by local professional photographer Robert Flischel, familiar to UC for capturing the architecture of UC's campus in his book of photographs first published in 2007. As Flischel roams the open house with his camera, potential students can peruse through a copy of his coffee table book "Cincinnati Illuminated, a Photographic Journal."
Personal finance classes with Glynnis Reinhart can help get your financial affairs in order. Through her "Estate Planning with a Heart," Reinhart can help organize planning details and help guide one through the proper documents. Plus, she'll share how she began her career in finance after taking a Communiversity course herself over 35 years ago.
Cincinnati Observatory's 1904 Clark Telescope.
J.T. Townsend, Cincinnati's own armchair detective and author of three books on local real-life crime stories, will describe his upcoming fall class, "Cincinnati True Crime Detective," focusing on the Bricca family murder case. Students will become part of his detective team matching evidence and evaluating prime suspects in this cold case from a half century ago.
Connect with the Cincinnati Observatory's historian, John Ventre, who will discuss the historic connection between UC and the Observatory. Plus, he'll spotlight the Observatory's seven classes being offered this fall. These include two new ones: "The Night of 100 Astronomers" and "Found in Space: The Solar System's Minor Bodies."
Writing instructors of fiction, screenwriting and creative writing will also help unleash the writer in students and get to the heart of their creativity.
And demonstrations in visual arts, weaving and calligraphy will help enrich the appreciation and participation in art at any level.
Adult students learn the latest in computer programming at UC Communiversity.
Meet Kathleen and Katherine Kern, owners of Churchill’s Fine Teas, the Midwest’s largest selection of loose-leaf teas.
Let these tea experts introduce you to the classes at their tea shop in Rookwood Commons, including an "English Afternoon Tea" at the Downton Abbey Movie Celebration Event and a tea tasting called "Learn the Varieties of Tea and Associated Health Benefits" that will take you around the world in specialty teas.
For musicians on any level, discuss your interests with Native American Flute instructor, John De Boer, Spirit of Thunder, and guitar instructor, Kevin Topmiller, a graduate from UC’s College-Conservatory of Music in classical guitar performance.
Free food will be provided by Communiversity's culinary partner, The Jaded Fork. Communiversity and The Jaded Fork began offering cooking classes at Findlay Kitchen in 2017. Since then, they've moved their classes to UC's Victory Parkway Campus utilizing the first-floor cafe.
Owners and chefs Lindsey and Debi will be serving specialty appetizers during the open house and can answer questions about upcoming culinary classes.
"UC faculty, staff, alumni, UC Health employees and UC donors receive an added bonus of a 50% discount on one course per term," says Staderman. "Most all of our courses are offered in the evening, so you can stop by after work and enjoy a fitness class, stress reduction course, learn a foreign language, enjoy music, history and so much more."
Classes are held at convenient hours during the evenings and parking at the Victory Parkway Campus is free.
More about classes can all be accessed through UC Communiversity.
Featured image at top: Love to Learn fence sign. photo courtesy of Tim Mossholder/Unsplash
Expand your knowledge — learn new skills
Take UC Communiversity Continuing Education classes and become a smarter Bearcat. Apply today
Related Stories
Sugar overload killing hearts
November 10, 2025
Two in five people will be told they have diabetes during their lifetime. And people who have diabetes are twice as likely to develop heart disease. One of the deadliest dangers? Diabetic cardiomyopathy. But groundbreaking University of Cincinnati research hopes to stop and even reverse the damage before it’s too late.
Is going nuclear the solution to Ohio’s energy costs?
November 10, 2025
The Ohio Capital Journal recently reported that as energy prices continue to climb, economists are weighing the benefits of going nuclear to curb costs. The publication dove into a Scioto Analysis survey of 18 economists to weigh the pros and cons of nuclear energy. One economist featured was Iryna Topolyan, PhD, professor of economics at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business.
App turns smartwatch into detector of structural heart disease
November 10, 2025
An app that uses an AI model to read a single-lead ECG from a smartwatch can detect structural heart disease, researchers reported at the 2025 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association. Although the technology requires further validation, researchers said it could help improve the identification of patients with heart failure, valvular conditions and left ventricular hypertrophy before they become symptomatic, which could improve the prognosis for people with these conditions.