Stockton Institute for Lifelong Learning

SILL: Why Study the Holocaust? - Part 1 (5 weeks)
Wednesdays until April 2nd
Wednesday, March 5, 2025 | 12:30 - 1:30 p.m.
Location: Stockton at Manahawkin, 712 E Bay Ave. (Room TBD)
Join Pearl “Peppy” Margolis as she discusses Why the Holocaust? Topics covered in Part 1: Defining Terms about the Holocaust, Prewar Jewish Life in Germany, Nazi Antisemitic Ideology and Propaganda, Nuremburg Laws, and Kristallnacht. This course will present participants with opportunities to: Increase knowledge of the content and context of the history of the Holocaust; Foster empathy for the victims of the Holocaust and other genocides; Engage in critical thinking to support thoughtful reflection on a range of societal issues; Make relevant and contemporary connections; and Compel action by examining the role and responsibility of individuals in a democratic society.

Click on the event title to register. Tuition for each SILL course is typically $45. But, thanks to the generosity of our cosponsor, the Sara & Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center, this course will be free at all! 
SILL: American Criminal Justice System: An Insider's View
*Meets 3/7, (skip 3/14), 3/21, 3/28, 4/4*
March 7 - February 18, 2025 | 10:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Location: Stockton University Galloway Campus (Room TBD)
This course is an introduction to the various components of the American criminal justice system from a seasoned practitioner. The components include law enforcement and policing, courts and prosecution, community and institutional corrections, as well as the victims of crime. You will receive a trip through the criminal justice system using real life examples.

Professor Rick Mulvihill is a Tenured Instructor of Criminal Justice at Stockton University. He spent twenty-six years in local policing, including 13 years as chief. He was then appointed the Director of Public Safety for Atlantic County. Finally serving as a research director for the U.S. Department of Justice. He is a graduate of the New Jersey State Police Academy and the FBI National Academy. He holds both an B.A. and M.Sc .in Criminal Justice.

Click on the event title to register. Tuition for each four-session SILL course is $45. Courses are FREE for residents age 60+ who live in Atlantic County. 
SILL: (Re)Reading Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn though Percival Everett's James
Every Friday until March 28th
Friday, March 7, 2025 | 11:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Location: Stockton University Galloway Campus (Room TBD)
Percival Everett's 2024 novel James reimagines Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) from the enslaved Jim’s point of view. The first class (March 7) will compare the two novels' openings. In the following weeks, we will complete part 1 (March 14), part 2 (March 21), and part 3 (March 28) of James along with selected readings from Huckleberry Finn.

Kristin Jacobson is a professor of American literature, American studies, and women’s, gender and sexuality studies and the author of two books, Neodomestic American Fiction and The American Adrenaline Narrative.

Click on the event title to register. Tuition for each four-session SILL course is $45. Courses are FREE for residents age 60+ who live in Atlantic County. 
SILL: The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
Every Tuesday in April until 4/22
Tuesday, April 1, 2025 | 12 - 1 p.m.
Location: Stockton Hammonton, Room 201
With a growing need for morale-boosting activities on the home front during WWII, the first women’s professional baseball league was created. Existing from 1943-1954, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) formed the foundation for women’s professional sports. In this course, learn about history of the league, including the training, rules, and players.

Patty Chappine is an adjunct professor at Stockton University. Her recent book New Jersey Women during World War II: On the Home Front and Abroad was published by Lexington Books in 2024.

Click on the event title to register. Tuition for each four-session SILL course is $45. Courses are FREE for residents age 60+ who live in Atlantic County. 
SILL: Standing on Shoulders: Personal Histories and Family Storytelling
Every Tuesday in April until 4/23
Wednesday, April 2, 2025 | 11 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Location: Stockton Galloway Campus (Room TBD)
Explore your family history and identity in this four-week workshop. Using amateur genealogy, participants will examine family artifacts, migration stories, and oral histories. Through hands-on activities and group discussions, learn how to connect with your heritage, gain insights into your ancestry using accessible tools, and understand how your past shapes who you are today.

Erin O’Hanlon is a teaching specialist focusing on education and human development at Stockton University. She also partners with the New Jersey Child Welfare Training Partnership to educate child welfare and protection workers, as well as the Stockton Center for Successful Aging. Erin lives in New Jersey with her partner, Charlie Keys, and their four sons.

Click on the title to register. Tuition for each four-session SILL course is $45. Courses are FREE for residents age 60+ who live in Atlantic County. 
SILL: Who are "we"? American Immigration & Citizenship Policy and The Italians on the Land
Begins April 15 & ends 5/6
Tuesday, April 15, 2025 | 10:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Location: Stockton at Hammonton Room 201, Room 307 on 5/6
In the first half of this course, we will review the history of immigration and citizenship policy in the United States - from the Revolutionary period to today. In the second half of the course, we will take a special look at an anthropological study written by Dr. Emily Fogg Mead(e), an early American sociologist and scholar of Italian immigration (and mother to anthropologist Margaret Mead!). We will read Dr. Meade's The Italians on the Land, written about Italian immigrants to Hammonton, NJ and discuss how her work sheds light on the complexities of immigration and xenophobia in the South Jersey region in the late 1800s-early 1900s. This course is being presented with support from the Historical Society of Hammonton.

Dr. Jess Bonnan-White is a Professor of Criminal Justice at Stockton University and an affiliated faculty member of the MA in Holocaust and Genocide Studies program. She studies homeland security and policing and is currently engaged in a long-term research project on policing in Northern Ireland. She has a BA in Archaeology (Washington University - St. Louis), an MA in Anthropology (Northern Illinois University), and a PhD in Anthropology (University of Iowa). Dr. Bonnan-White is a resident of Hammonton and is active in humanitarian work as a volunteer with the New Jersey Region of the American Red Cross.

Click on the title to register. Tuition for each four-session SILL course is $45. Courses are FREE for residents age 60+ who live in Atlantic County.