University Club programs are open to the public and are held Tuesdays in the Padua Room of the Hughes Community Center, 1700 Danbury Road, Claremont, California. Meetings start at 11:30 AM. The $20 meeting fee includes a buffet lunch. Membership applications are available at each meeting. Map to Hughes Community Center
July Program Chair: Don McDonald
July 2 – No meeting due to the holiday
July 9 – “Travels to Kenya, Tanzania and Ruanda”
Speaker – Don McDonald
Don has recently returned from a fabulous three-week trip to Africa, which he will share with us. The Big Five (African animals), gorillas, and the Ruanda holocaust museum, memorial and cemetery were particularly memorable.
Don earned a BS in pharmacy from the University of the Pacific and also went to Claremont Graduate School. He is retired from his work as a health care specialist for Pacific Advisors, and is a past president of the University Club.
Introduction: Pat Kelly
Fellowship: Marilyn Lubarsky
Greeter: Lori McGrath
July 16 – “Remembering, Aging and the Brain”
Speaker – Dr. Don MacKay, Professor of Psychology Emeritus, UCLA
How do we produce language and other cognitive skills, and how does normal aging alter these processes? Professor MacKay’s research has centered for over 30 years on relations between language and other aspects of human cognition, including not just memory, emotion, attention, but also action, music, perception, and various types of thought e.g., descriptive versus evaluative.
Dr. MacKay earned a BA from the University of Toronto and a PhD in psychology from MIT. He began teaching psychology at UCLA in 1967, where he was chair of the Cognitive Area from 1989 to 1991. Dr. MacKay has been the principle investigator for a major project funded by the National Institute on Aging, on the organization of cognitive processes in old age. He is principal investigator and director at UCLA’s Cognition and Aging Lab and co-director for the Language Emotion and Memory Lab. He has many, many publications, including his newest book: REMEMBERING: What Fifty Years of Research with Famous Amnesia Patient H. M. Can Teach Us about Memory and How It Works (2019). [What is “H. M.”? The initials of the famous amnesia patient who revolutionized our understanding of memory, mind and brain.]
Introduction: Celeste Palmer
Fellowship: Anne Sonner
Greeters: Pat Kelly, Art Parker
July 23 – “Cannabis: Its Current Status in the U.S.”
Speaker – Mimi Brown
Times have changed from the 1960’s when marijuana was seen as an evil drug smoked by hippies. Since legalization, many people – including seniors – are using it to help with legitimate medical needs. (Example: CBD is a non-addictive non-“high” marijuana extract used to relieve arthritis and back pain.) Learn about cannabis: its history, state approvals, and how this new industry works.
Mimi Brown founded The Brown Group in Orange County, which does security consulting for businesses, including for marijuana facilities in California and six other states. She is a pioneer in physical security for marijuana cultivation, distribution, retail and manufacturing, since the legalization of marijuana. She has developed expertise in interpreting the many laws for this new industry, including on licensing, jurisdiction, and banking. She says, “In general, there is no consistency and changes are frequent; it’s like the Internet DotCom boom/bust emerging market experience + added wild west gold rush of a grey market – lots of infrastructure complexity with borders and Federal laws.” Bring your questions!
Introduction: Don McDonald
Fellowship: Michael Fay
Greeter: Peter Boniface
July 30 – “Petrogylyphs and Jaguars in Central America”
Speaker – Anne Stoll, anthropologist
Anne Stoll and her husband George travel around the world, investigating prehistoric art. Last year she presented a program to the club about Zimbabwe. This year it is about petroglyphs and jaguars in Central America.
Anne has an MA in anthropology, and enjoyed a professional career as a field director, writer, instructor, and lecturer in archaeology and anthropology, and later as cultural resources staff at Statistical Research in Redlands, where she worked on archaeological jobs for private and government clients. Since retirement, she has been presenting and publishing papers on sites she has investigated around the world.
Introduction: Don McDonald
Fellowship: Art Parker
Greeters: Bob Knell and Julia Arias
Birthdays (July and August): Art Sutton