MCC Releases the Spring 2015 Credit-Free Course Catalog Online

Manchester Community College’s Spring 2015 credit-free catalog is available online and open for registration. The catalog includes nearly 400 courses, with nearly 80 new offerings and 12 new instructors. Credit-Free programs offers courses in personal enrichment, professional development, Allied Health programs and more.

If Arts and Crafts is a hobby you would like to take-up or continue, check out some of MCC’s new courses. Friday Morning Watercolor Workshop begins April 10 for six sessions from 10 a.m. to noon (reference CRN 12007). Learn and practice how to sketch a composition and paint a basic still life with the guidance of seasoned instructor Iris Van Rynbach. Also new for spring is The Magic Medium, beginning Tuesday, February 17 for eight sessions evenings from 6 to 8 p.m. (reference CRN 12005). Students will create varied and beautiful effects with oil pastels, drawn from imagination or still life with layering, smudging techniques and using a palette knife. The course will be taught by artist Zbiniew Grzyb, whose work is included at the New Britain Museum of American Art and has been exhibited at Real Art Ways, Brick Walk Fine Art and MCC. Beginning artists can develop their craft in Gryzb’s Foundations of Drawing course, held on Wednesdays beginning March 4 from 1 to 3 p.m. for eight sessions at MCC on Main (reference CRN 12006).

Crafters and artists alike can celebrate the Easter season with the new course Ukrainian Egg Designs, on Saturday, March 28 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (reference CRN 12066). Each student can expect to go home from this one-session course with one to three eggs, depending on the intricacy of the designs. The instructor, Anita Ferron, recently hired by MCC Continuing Education division this semester, will also provide students with a traditional Ukrainian lunch as part of the course fee.

Culinary enthusiasts or kitchen rookies have a range of new courses to choose from this spring. Prepare for Valentine’s Day with the course A Valentine’s Day Chicken Piccata Dinner, held for one session Thursday, February 12 from 6-9 p.m. (reference CRN 11882). Students will prepare a gluten and dairy-free meal that includes a beet and orange insalata, a side dish of sautéed prosciutto-wrapped asparagus and red velvet cupcakes. Celebrate Mardi Gras with the course A Taste of French Mardi Gras: Join us for an Authentic Cajun Dinner and Culinary Talk to be held Tuesday, February 24 from 7 to 9 p.m. (reference CRN 11855). Enjoy a meal prepared by the award-winning student chefs from MCC’s Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts programs as Chef Joshua Ogrodowski speaks about the food, culture and special recipes of French Cajun cuisine.

Culture and history are rich in this spring’s catalog where four new courses are offered by veteran MCC instructors. Barbara King offers The History and Impact of the Panama Canal after a Century, held on Monday, April 6 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. for three sessions (reference CRN 12013). King will also teach Election, Inauguration, Assassination: Lincoln’s Final Days, held Monday, May 5 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. for three sessions (reference CRN 12014).

Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel James Shelmerdine will teach World War II: North Africa, Anzio and the Bulge, held on Tuesday, May 5 from 6 to 8 p.m. for three sessions (reference CRN 12149).

Retired Hartford Courant reporter Charles F.J. Morse offers Connecticut Spring Town Meeting Friday, April 10 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. for six sessions (reference CRN 12017). Take a look at election promises, important issues such as gun control, immigration, equal pay and terrorism, with the help of journalists, educators, risk-takers and lawyers.

Three international films will be viewed and discussed with expert-instructor Robert Kagan in the new  Friday afternoon Film Study series, shown from 1 to 4 p.m. The Austrian Film, The Counterfeiters, will be shown Friday, April 10 (reference CRN 11831). Based on the true but little-known event during World War II in a concentration camp, the story revolves around Nazis conscripting prisoners in an attempt to counterfeit the English pound and American Dollar. The Sea Inside will be shown on Friday, April 24, and based on the story of a Spanish fisherman who is paralyzed in a diving accident and confined to bed for more than 25 years (reference CRN 11832). The German film Nowhere in Africa will be shown Friday, May 1(reference CRN 11833), and tells the story of a Jewish family who flees Germany to run a farm in Kenya.

For more information about credit-free course offerings for Spring 2015 or to request a copy of the catalog, call 860-512-2800. To register for these and other credit-free courses, call 860-512-3232.

MCC also offers credit bearing degrees in liberal arts. For more information, call the Division of Liberal Arts at 860-512-2663.