Acadia Senior College

Signs of fall: Classes are underway, and summer neighbors are heading out. Songbirds and seabirds are leaving our area and others are passing through on their way South. 

ASC members are invited to join Seth Benz, Director of Bird Ecology at Schoodic Institute on a fall migration birding walk on MDI.

We will gather at the Public Landing on Cape Road in Seal Cove. We can expect to observe some birds in the water and others in the woods and thickets as we make our way along the road bordering Blue Hill Bay.

The outing will last about two hours. Be prepared to be on your feet and walking much of this time. Bring binoculars and dress for the weather.

The cost is $10 per person.

To sign up please call ASC at 207-288-9500. Limited to 15 members.

Established by the ASC Board in 2021 to honor our founders, Dorothy and Jim Clunan, every fall The Dorothy and Jim Clunan Lecture Series on Cultural Understanding and World Affairs will host a distinguished speaker with expertise in the areas to which the Clunans dedicated their lives: foreign affairs, civil discourse, the arts, and senior learning. We are particularly pleased that our inaugural speaker for fall 2023, will be Dr. Anne Clunan, the daughter of Jim and Dorothy, who has herself embraced their interests.

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Anne follows her parents’ tradition of distinguished service in international affairs. She founded and led the Civic Education Project in countries transitioning from Communism, receiving the Velvet Revolution award from the Czech and Slovak governments. She subsequently worked in the U.S. Senate, the U.S. Department of State, where she was mentored by Madeleine Albright, and the British Houses of Parliament.

Anne earned her Ph.D. in political science at the University of California at Berkeley. She is now associate professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California and faculty affiliate at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. She has published extensively on Russia’s resurgence and aspirations, on the implications of economic globalization, and on the threats posed by emerging technologies and biological weapons. Recently she was banned from Russia for her participation in the International Working Group on Russian Sanctions.

The talk will take place at the Neighborhood House and a reception will follow.

This presentation is free and open to the public and no reservations are required.

Click to register for this event

NOTE: Registration for the lunch and lecture at Birch Bay Village is now Closed. However, you may still register for the Zoom presentation wich begins at noon. When you register you may also choose to join the waiting list for the in-person lunch.

Drawn from the original journals and albums of Sister Shirley Jean McNab of the British Army, her daughter, Val Libby, presents an illustrated talk about her mother's experience overseas near the frontlines of North Africa and Italy for almost four years of WWII.

Sister McNab joined Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service in 1942. She was quickly sent overseas with the first Allied effort “Operation Torch.”

She served in Algeria, Italy, back to Algeria, back to Italy until the war ended in 1945. Demobilized in 1946 she decided to immigrate to the USA. By that time, she was a lieutenant. McNab married Edward Libby in New York and continued her nursing career until retirement.

From 2007 to 2013 she resided at Parker Ridge in Blue Hill ME, close to her daughter and son-in-law.

Sister McNab’s documents are now in the collection of the Army Medical Services Museum, UK.

The luncheon, at Birch Bay Village in Hulls Cove, begins at 11:30 and costs $15, payable by cash or check at the door; the lecture is from noon to 1:00.

The Zoom presentation begins at noon. If you register for the online talk you will receive the link the day before. There is no charge for the Zoom presentation.

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Val Libby is a teacher for Acadia Senior College, a landscape historian, retired professor and author of the award-winning book The Northwest Gardens of Lord & Schryver (OSU Press 2021).

Click to register for this event, or email learn@acadiaseniorcollege.org.