UNM-LA Community Education Spring 2014 Schedule. Courtesy photo

The University of New Mexico-Los Alamos (UNM-LA) Community Education Department has announced the schedule for its Spring 2014 lineup of classes. The schedules are now available on the UNM-LA campus and in stands around Los Alamos and White Rock. They will also be mailed out to households the first week in January. 

“This spring we have a wonderful array of new and popular enrichment courses,” UNM-LA Community Education Director, Eva Artschwager said. “We will continue language classes in French, Spanish and Portuguese; expand our history and culture offerings to include the History of Technology and Homer’s Iliad; and add Pilates and Intermediate Yoga to our fitness section.

“We’ll also have a new section devoted to earth skills that includes courses in creating primitive shelters and weaving willow baskets,”Artschwager said.

The new schedule includes more classes for teens such as Digital Photography and Financial Literacy. For parents, there will be a workshop, run by Dr.  Christine Hazard, on how to assist individuals with autism spectrum disorder in negotiating the post-secondary transition. 

Artschwager also noted new classes were added this spring for adults and retirees.

“We’ve expanded our offerings to include classes in managing retirement income and the Affordable Health Care Act,” Artschwager said. “We will be partnering with the Fuller Lodge Art Center and the Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC) to bring several classes in paper arts to the community. It should be an exciting semester.”

UNM-LA has dramatically expanded its professional development classes for spring, Artschwager said.

“We will be launching a new program in Professional Development for Educators that will provide classes in key topics for teachers, including Differentiated Instruction, Technology for the Classroom, and Preparing the Professional Development Dossier,” he said.

“Each course is taught by an academic or technology specialist in the field of professional development for teachers and will provide students with concrete skills and tools to apply in their classrooms and dossiers,” she said.

For those with limited time and budgets, the spring program also offers a robust listing of classes in Microsoft computer skills. UNM-LA Community Education offers short sessions in the late afternoon focusing on specific workplace tasks that will allow students to focus on the skills they need at that moment, such as PowerPoint animation, Excel pivot tables or Word reports.

Registration for spring is now open, either online or through the office. A full listing of Community Education classes is available at http://losalamos.unm.edu/community-education/index.html.

For more information, contact Eva Artschwager at 505.663.3410 or eartschw@unm.edu.