The Odyssey Project
At the annual Odyssey Project study weekend, students discussed José Saramago's novel, Blindness.
Photo by Michelle Clifford-Landis
*** The Humanities in Difficult Circumstances --A conference featuring faculty from the Darfur/Sudan Clemente Course in the Humanities. Please join us for a unique opportunity to learn about the conditions of cultural life in Darfur/Sudan!***
A story on the Spanish language course will be featured on 98.7 WMFT as part of Voices: A Collection of Illinois Stories.
Air times:
- Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 at 4:45 p.m.
The Odyssey Project is founded on the premise that liberal education is education to make people free, and it proceeds on the conviction that engagement with the humanities can offer individuals a way out of poverty by fostering habits of sustained reflection and skills of communication and critical thinking. It provides a college-level introduction to the humanities through text-based seminars led by professors at top tier colleges and universities in order to help low-income adults more actively shape their own lives, as well as the lives of their families, communities, and nation.
The Odyssey Project offers college-level courses in philosophy, literature, art history, and history for men and women living below 150% of the poverty level. Its anchor program is the first-year course, which is offered in partnership with the Bard College Clemente Course in the Humanities and for which students may receive six units of college credit. Faculty members are largely from the University of Chicago, the School of the Art Institute, DePaul University, and other first-rate universities.
The Odyssey Project has a variety of offerings for prospective students.
First-year Course
Bridge Course
Spanish Language Course - El Proyecto Odisea
Odyssey Seminars
First-year Course
The first-year course provides a broad introduction to the humanities. Students study philosophy, art history, literature, U.S. history, and critical thinking and writing. Texts might include Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus," Shakespeare's sonnets, Christopher Columbus' diaries, Sappho's poetry, the Brown vs. Board of Education decision, or Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Students also have the opportunity to participate in selected adult education activities with the University of Chicago's Graham School of General Studies as well as see plays, visit museums, and attend outside lectures. Classes are held in both Chicago and Champaign.
Classes meet twice a week from September to May, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuition is free, and the Illinois Humanities Council provides free childcare, free books, and transportation. Six units of credit from Bard College, our academic partner, are fully transferable to other colleges and universities.
Courses in Chicago are offered at the Howard Area Community Center in Rogers Park (7648 N Paulina St) and at the Donoghue School in Oakland (707 E 37th St). Courses in Champaign/Urbana are offered at the Douglass Branch of the Champaign Public Library (504 E Grove St).
Applications for the first-year English courses will be available at this site beginning in June 2008.
Bridge Course
The Bridge Course is open to students who have successfully completed the first-year course and are interested in studying the humanities further and going on to a four-year college. Students take semester-long classes in philosophy and literature. Classes are held at Columbia College in downtown Chicago.
There are two discrete semesters: September to January and January to May. Classes meet once a week. Tuition, books and bus cards are provided at no cost to students. Those who complete the course successfully receive four fully transferable units of credit per semester from Bard College, our academic partner.
Students who are applying for admission to the Bridge Course should see the academic coordinator from their first-year course or contact the Illinois Humanities Council. Only students who have successfully completed the first-year course qualify.
Spanish Language Course (El Proyecto Odisea , Fundamentos de Educación en Humanidades)
Taught in partnership with the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), this course serves native Spanish speakers and is offered at Gads Hill Center in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. Students take classes in literature, philosophy, Latin American history, and other humanities subjects. All reading assignments are in Spanish, as is class discussion. Classes meet twice a week from November to March. Tuition is free and all books are provided free of charge.
Applications for the Spanish course must be received by December 3, 2007. (Late applications may be considered at the discretion of the coordinator.) Applications may be downloaded using the 'Application & Forms' link to the right and mailed to Irena Cajkova, Illinois Humanities Council, 17 North State St., Suite 1400, or emailed to iac@prairie.org. Please call Irena Cajkova with questions at (312) 375-2541.
Odyssey Seminars
Offered to and through social service agencies for free, these enhancement seminars are eight-session classes in the humanities that are designed collaboratively between the host organization and the Illinois Humanities Council. The topics are tailored to the needs and interests of the organization. The host agency is responsible for recruiting students (which may include clients and staff), and the Illinois Humanities Council provides the faculty and books.
Classes generally meet twice a week for four weeks. The level of instruction, quality of texts, and faculty are similar to those in the first-year course. However, these courses are not offered for credit. Examples of past courses are "The Good and Its Corruption: Ancient and Modern Perspectives" and "Love and Friendship: Ancient and Modern Perspectives." Texts included sections from Plato's "The Republic," Marx's "Alienation and Its Overcoming," Aristotle's "Three Kinds of Friendship," and C. S. Lewis' "Friendship vs. Eros."
The Odyssey Project is funded in part by the Polk Bros. Foundation, The Field Foundation of Illinois, and Powell's Books.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities (IPRH), The University of Chicago's Civic Knowledge Project, and Northwestern University are contributing partners.
For more information about The Odyssey Project, please call Amy Thomas Elder at (773) 550-9406 .
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