University of Orange

What's the Story? A Memoir Writing Class - Winter 2025
2025-02-26 11:00 - 12:30, 2025-03-05 11:00 - 12:30, 2025-03-12 11:00 - 12:30, 2025-03-19 11:00 - 12:30 (America/New_York) | Online
10-week virtual memoir class offered by UofO, taught by developmental editor Susan Hasho
The class is held on Wednesdays 11:00am to 12:15pm on Zoom, and will run January 15 – March 19, 2025.
What’s the Story? A Memoir Writing Class
Do you have some stories you’d like to tell? There may be stories about your life that you want to tell your children or grandchildren, perhaps about another country or culture you came from or your parents came from. Was there an experience that changed your life or your neighborhood? How about if you were in the military and you want to share something about that? If you have a desire to share or describe anything that you are fascinated by, care about or even want to change, this class is a place to do that.

Format
What’s the Story is a 10-week writing class that intends to provoke, free and guide anyone to write a memoir that reflects their own unique voice and life experience. This is a workshop-style interactive course. Participants will take turns sharing their work and have opportunities to receive feedback and guidance from the instructor and the other participants. There is also time to discuss technical skills, confront creative blocks, and set writing goals. All writing is done outside of class at your own pace.
Like all UofO events, this class is offered for free, but your tax-deductible donation goes a long way to cover the costs of delivering the course.
Please register for the class here.
Susan Hasho is a developmental editor which is an editor involved in the mysterious process of enabling writers and anyone interested in writing to find their way through the maze of expectations, judgment and even fear to find the true heart of what they want to write. She has trained and worked as an actor and writer, and moved into the advertising field to work as a copy editor for advertising agencies and Fortune 500 companies. She began working with writers several years ago as an editor and it became her goal to teach a writing class that would enable people to be as free of self-criticism and inhibiting expectations as possible in order to write clearly and openly with joy.

Managing Shock and Awe: Lessons from Root Shock and Collective Recovery
2025-03-05 18:00 - 19:00, 2025-03-12 18:00 - 19:00, 2025-03-19 18:00 - 19:00, 2025-03-26 18:00 - 19:00 | NJ
Wednesdays, March 5, 12, 19 and 26
6pm-7pm ET via Zoom
The attacks of the Trump administration have upended the world and this kind of upheaval causes “root shock.” Root shock is the traumatic stress reaction to the loss of some or all of our emotional ecosystem. This four-session course will answer the question: How do we manage root shock and move forward with a collective vision? Drawing on 25 years of work on Collective Recovery, we will look at specific tasks, including staying centered, gathering with others to name the moment, finding what we’re FOR, and building coalitions for the work ahead. The course will include presentations, readings, daily journaling, and interactive activities.
Register for the course here.
Course Director:
Mindy Thompson Fullilove, MD, DLFAPA, Hon AIA, is a social psychiatrist, a native of Orange, NJ, and a co-founder of the University of Orange. Since 1986, she has conducted research on AIDS and other epidemics of poor communities, with a special interest in the relationship between the collapse of communities and decline in health. She has published over 100 scientific papers and eight books. Among her books are the highly-regarded Urban Restoration Trilogy, Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America and What We Can Do About It, Urban Alchemy: Restoring Joy in America’s Sorted-Out Cities, and Main Street: How a City’s Heart Connects Us All. She holds two honorary doctorates and is a distinguished life fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and honorary member of the American Institute of Architects. In the Fall of 2023 she delivered the Mary Flexner Lectures at Bryn Mawr College based on her new research and forthcoming book on the “Tao of K-drama.”

March Iftar Solidarity Potluck
2025-03-17 18:00 - 20:00 | 35 Cleveland St, 35 Cleveland Street, City of Orange, NJ, 07050, United States
Join us for this month’s Solidarity Potluck! Bring a dish, bring a friend! More details coming soon.
Monday, March 17th, 6pm-8pm
35 Cleveland Street, Orange, NJ 07050

Helen and Robert E. Fullilove Chair of Community Health Inauguration
2025-03-29 14:00 - 16:00 | The HUUB, inc, 35 Cleveland Street, City of Orange, NJ, 07050, United States
Saturday, March 29th, 2pm-4pm
The HUUB, 35 Cleveland Street
Orange, NJ 07050

The University of Orange is honored to welcome Dr. Mindy Fullilove in her new role as the Helen and Robert Fullilove Professor of Community Health, named in honor of two exemplary Essex County leaders whose lives demonstrated a commitment to education, health and society. We will be celebrating the inauguration on Saturday, March 29th from 2-4pm at the HUUB. The event will feature live music, speakers, including NJ Senator Britnee Timberlake, and a reception to follow.

Please join us! Register online here.

This is our first named chair at the University of Orange, a people’s free university in Orange, NJ, Mindy’s hometown. UofO is grounded in Dr. Fullilove’s four decades of work identifying the root causes of our social disconnection and creating the tools we need to reweave our fractured country. For sixteen years, UofOrange has been developing and practicing the skills essential for civic connection and collaboration to address the challenges we face together. We believe these are the skills and practices we need in this moment of American metacrisis.
To sustain and grow this work, we are launching a campaign to support The Helen and Robert Fullilove Chair in Community Public Health at the University of Orange. We invite anyone who has been influenced and shaped by Mindy’s research and teaching to consider making a donation in support of this milestone. Your investment will support both the Chair and the University of Orange, ensuring that Dr. Mindy Fullilove’s decades of research and practice continue to shape the future. It will fund:

A permanent home at the people’s free school for Dr. Fullilove’s research, writings and teachings.
Facts people need and media they can use: free public workshops, reading groups toolkits and other resources to support communities with tools for healing.
The longevity and health of our community campus at the HUUB, a space for collective learning, organizing, and civic engagement.
UofO’s ability to convene partners across the country, sharing knowledge and strategies for rebuilding communities.

If you have any questions you can get in touch by emailing mollyrose@universityoforange.org to discuss how to mobilize your network or institutional affiliation.
About Helen and Robert E. Fullilove:
Dr. Robert Fullilove was among the first African American physicians to become a Diplomate of the American Board of Urology in 1948 and at the time of his death, was the first African American President of the Essex County Medical Society. Helen Fullilove was the first African American woman to serve as the president of the Newark, NJ Board of Education and served as a member of the New Jersey School Boards Association. The Helen and Robert Fullilove Chair in Community Health will serve as an ongoing commitment to that work and will serve as UofO’s enduring promise to achieve the goals and objectives in health and education that the lives of the Fulliloves so powerfully inspired.

Please join us! Register online here.

Community Seder Solidarity Potluck
2025-04-14 18:00 - 20:00 | 35 Cleveland St, 35 Cleveland Street, City of Orange, NJ, 07050, United States
Join us on Monday, April 14th for our annual Community Seder Potluck. We will celebrate Passover, springtime and liberation.
We will read from our Haggadah, sing together, and eat traditional Passover foods. Sign up here if you’d like to bring a dish or an item for the Seder plate!
Monday, April 14th, 6pm-8pm
35 Cleveland Street, Orange, NJ 07050

A Conversation with Raúl Zibechi & George Ygarza Quispe on Place-based Knowledge production and Autonomous Learning Spaces
2025-04-20 15:00 - 17:00 | The HUUB, inc, 35 Cleveland Street, City of Orange, NJ, 07050, United States
Join us for a discussion about place-based knowledge and autonomous movements in Latin America. We will hear from Raul Zibechi, author of Constructing Worlds Otherwise, and George Ygarza Quispe, translator of the English edition of the book.
More details coming soon!
Register for the class here.
Raúl Zibechi is a Uruguayan writer, popular educator, and journalist. He writes for La Jornada, Desinformémonos, and NACLA Report on the Americas, among other outlets. Zibechi has published numerous books, including Dispersing Power, Territories in Resistance, and The New Brazil.
George Ygarza Quispe is a popular educator, translator, and organic researcher born in Paterson who has worked in Peru and across North America, thinking through undercurrents of resistance as well as analyzing structures of power.

COUSINS Closing Party + Garden State Art Weekend
2025-04-26 15:00 - 18:00 | Hale House, 47 Cleveland Street, Orange, NJ, 07050, United States
The COUSINS art show is coming to a close! Join us for the closing party on Saturday, April 26th from 3pm-6pm. The show is featured in the Garden State Art Weekend’s annual celebration of visual arts across NJ.
“Thinking of all things, people and places in our world as cousins allows us to treat them as relatives. We may not always agree, or even like all of our cousins, but we know that we are related. With many of them, we feel a sense of community and comfort when we are with them.” – Dr. Margaux Simmons
The COUSINS art show focuses on the theme of universal interconnectivity and its implications. This multimedia show features photography, collage, audio recordings, paintings, videos, and more from 22 artists. Many of the artists are from the Essex County area, others are from New York, Baltimore, D.C., Vermont, and South Korea.
The art show is at Hale House: 47 Cleveland Street, Orange, NJ.
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Garden State Art Weekend is a four-day celebration of NJ’s dynamic art scene. The annual event celebrates visual arts across the state. Its mission is to foster community engagement, support local artists and arts organizations, and raise the profile of New Jersey as a center for contemporary art.
Find out more about GSAW and other venues participating here.

Hat City: Orange Valley Walking Tour
2025-04-27 14:00 - 15:30 | NJ
UofO is partnering with the West Orange Public Library to lead a historical walking tour of the Orange Valley. The walk will be centered around a 3/4-mile stretch that once housed over 10 hat factories. This tour will be offered in English and Spanish.
Meeting location: parking lot behind How Delish restaurant (55 Kingsley St, West Orange)
**Note that parking in the immediate vicinity will be limited due to the Vegan in the Valley festival. If driving, please factor in additional time for parking.
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Un recorrido histórico a pie por la zona del Orange Valley. Caminaremos un tramo de 1,2 km donde antiguamente se ubicaban más de 10 fábricas de sombreros. Guiado por la Universidad de Orange y la biblioteca de West Orange. Se hablará español e inglés.
Lugar de encuentro: Este evento ocurrirá fuera de la biblioteca. El grupo se reunirá a las 14h (2:00pm) en el estacionamiento detrás del restaurant How Delish (55 Kingsley St, West Orange).
**Tenga en cuenta que debido al festival Vegan in the Valley será dificil estacionar en la misma cuadra. Si viene de carro, favor planear tiempo adicional para encontrar estacionamento.

May Solidarity Potluck
2025-05-12 18:00 - 20:00 | 35 Cleveland St, 35 Cleveland Street, City of Orange, NJ, 07050, United States
Join us for this month’s Solidarity Potluck! Bring a dish, bring a friend! More details coming soon.
Monday, May 12th, 6pm-8pm
35 Cleveland Street, Orange, NJ 07050

UofO Graduation + June Solidarity Potluck
2025-06-16 18:00 - 20:00 | 35 Cleveland St, 35 Cleveland Street, City of Orange, NJ, 07050, United States
Join us UofO Graduation and June solidarity potluck at the HUUB on Monday, June 16th. We will celebrate our accomplishments and what we have learned this year. We’ll also make a sign for the Ben Jones Community Garden.
Bring a dish, bring a friend, and bring a hat!
Monday, June 16th, 6pm-8pm
35 Cleveland Street, Orange, NJ 07050

Holding the Center at the Confluence of Crises
2025-07-28 18:00 - 19:00, 2025-08-04 18:00 - 19:00, 2025-08-11 18:00 - 19:00 | Online
Holding the Center at the Confluence of Crises: Understanding and Deploying a “Root Shock”-Informed Approach
Course Dates
Monday, July 28, August 4, 11 and 18
6pm-7pm via zoom
Optional in-person “sorted-out city” walking tour of Orange, NJ
Saturday, August 9th at 10am
Course Description
We are in a confluence of crises: rapid shifts of climate, attacks on our democracy, and disregard for the sacredness of all life. At the University of Orange, a 17-year old people’s free school based in Orange NJ, we have learned that “holding the center” requires three things: understanding how we got to this point; deploying strategies that support community recovery; and re-building political power rooted in place. This course will explore these three tasks through the lens of the work of the Cities Research Group (CRG), led by Drs Bob and Mindy Fullilove.
For four decades CRG has conducted groundbreaking research on the forces that caused catastrophic community upheaval, leading to multiple health epidemics and destroying economic, social, political and cultural capital. To describe the vast extent of the harm, Dr. Mindy Fullilove proposed the term “root shock,” a phrase gardeners use to describe what happens to a plant whose roots have been torn in the process of the transplantation. She defined it as “the traumatic stress reaction to the loss of all or part of one’s emotional ecosystem.” We believe we are all experiencing some form of root shock right now. With this understanding of root shock, CRG also identified and practiced collective strategies for community recovery which rebuilds the connective tissue necessary for democracy and people’s power.
Participants will engage with useful resources and tools that they can immediately incorporate into navigating the current crises with their own networks and communities. We will host an optional “sorted out city” walking tour in Orange, NJ on Saturday, August 9 at 10am and share a walking guide so participants can DIY in their own place.
CRG is now housed at the University of Orange under the direction of Dr. Mindy Fullilove, who holds the Helen & Robert E. Fullilove Chair of Community Health at UofO.
Register HERE for “Holding the Center at the Confluence of Crises”

Our Instructors
Dr. Robert E. Fullilove, III, is a professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He got his start in community organizing in 1964, working with the SNCC “Freedom Summer” project. Since 2010, he has been teaching public health courses in six New York State prisons that are part of the Bard College Prison Initiative (BPI) and serves as the Senior Advisor to BPI’s public health program.
Dr. Mindy Fullilove is the Helen and Robert Fullilove Professor of Community Health at the University of Orange and Professor Emeritus at the New School University. She is a social psychiatrist who studies urban problems and their solutions.
Molly Rose Kaufman is a co-founder and director of the University of Orange. She is a graduate of the Columbia University School of Journalism, with training in urbanism from the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, Paris, France. She uses her grounding in urbanism to develop free education for democracy.

Testimonials for our previous course, “Managing Shock and Awe”
I deeply appreciate the work Dr. Fullilove and the University of Orange team did in designing the sessions and curating the content because, as with all their work, the experience was phenomenal (both live and recorded). Through each weekly session I was grounded in examples, quotes, anecdotes, and stories connected to that week’s theme, which I was able to tie back to my own work and personal life. I have found myself re-listening to the sessions, coming back to the readings, and reflecting on the activities long after the course ended. I will consider this course as a resource especially now, when building belonging and coalitions is critical for the work ahead.
-Katherine Wright, The Rippel Foundation
I thought this course was very grounding and nice for the current political climate that is really overwhelming. It was nice to know that this was happening every week.
-Priscilla P, class participant
This was extremely accessible. I learned a lot and I really enjoyed the blend of New Jersey people’s history and the provided frameworks, ways of thinking for how we can move forward in this moment, and many more moments to come. Thank you so much. I feel more activated than I did before.
-Natalie T, class participant

About the Fullilove Chair of Community Health
The University of Orange established the Helen and Robert Fullilove Chair of Community Health in 2025. Dr. Mindy Fullilove is the holder of the chair. She will lead community courses, as well relevant research in root shock. She introduced the concept of root shock in 2001, and her book, Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America and What To Do About It, was published in 2004. UofO led an observance of the 20th anniversary of the book’s publication, which included editing a special issue of the journal, Built Environment, holding a symposium, and preparing an exhibit on root shock for the Orange Public Library.
Register HERE for “Holding the Center at the Confluence of Crises”

Course Fees
All are welcome to take our course for free! All contributions support the ongoing work of our people’s free university. If you are able, we ask you to please consider registering at a paid level.
$300 (full cost of class per person)
$150 (supporter rate)
$75 (solidarity rate)
OTHER amount (donation of any amount appreciated)
FREE (no one turned away for lack of funds NOTAFLOF)

Can your institution sponsor your team to come? Talk to us about team rates (info@universityoforange.org)

Illustration by Ayako Maruyama

Adult Steel Pan Intensive (all levels)
2025-07-28 18:30 - 20:30, 2025-07-30 18:30 - 20:30, 2025-08-01 18:30 - 20:30, 2025-08-05 18:30 - 20:30 | The HUUB, inc, 35 Cleveland Street, City of Orange, NJ, 07050, United States
The Steel Pan Ensemble of Orange offers opportunities for adults and children to learn and perform steel pan music.
The Steel Pan classes are designed to introduce people to playing Steel Pans, musical instruments originating from Trinidad and Tobago. Participants will get introduced to playing the tenor pan, double guitar pan, double seconds pan, and four-bass pan. Classes are taught by local steel pan musician and educator Jevaun Grant.
The adult summer intensive is open to any and all students above the age of 18.
Class Dates:
Monday, July 28th
Wednesday, July 30th
Friday, August 1st
Tuesday, August 5th
6:30PM- 8:30PM
Classes will be held at The HUUB, 35 Cleveland Street in Orange.
All programs end in a community event and performance the evening of Friday August 8th and a potential performance at the Caribbean Festival in Orange Park on Saturday August 9th.
Classes are pay-what-you-can. We suggest a sliding scale, but donations of any amount are appreciated and the amount you can afford is not a factor in acceptance to the classes. Classes do need to cover their costs in order to run. Any questions about our pay-what-you-can model or inquiries about full scholarships can be sent to info@universityoforange.org
Register for Steel Pan Intensive here.
If you are interested but the timing of rehearsals doesn’t work for you, please still fill out the sign up form and let us know. We will add additional sessions if there is enough interest.

Youth Steel Pan Summer Intensive (Beginner)
2025-07-29 09:00 - 12:00, 2025-07-31 09:00 - 12:00, 2025-08-04 09:00 - 12:00, 2025-08-06 09:00 - 12:00 | The HUUB, inc, 35 Cleveland Street, City of Orange, NJ, 07050, United States
The Steel Pan Ensemble of Orange offers opportunities for adults and children to learn and perform steel pan music.
The Steel Pan classes are designed to introduce people to playing Steel Pans, musical instruments originating from Trinidad and Tobago. Participants will get introduced to playing the tenor pan, double guitar pan, double seconds pan, and four-bass pan. Classes are taught by local steel pan musician and educator Jevaun Grant.
The youth (beginner) summer intensive is open to students age 10-15 (if your student is outside that range and you are interested in future classes please fill out the form also).
Class Dates:
Tuesday, July 29th
Thursday, July 31st
Monday, August 4th
Wednesday, August 6th
9AM- 12PM
Classes will be held at The HUUB, 35 Cleveland Street in Orange. Snack is provided.
All programs end in a community event and performance the evening of Friday August 8th and a potential performance at the Caribbean Festival in Orange Park on Saturday August 9th.
Classes are pay-what-you-can. We suggest a sliding scale, but donations of any amount are appreciated and the amount you can afford is not a factor in acceptance to the classes. Classes do need to cover their costs in order to run. Any questions about our pay-what-you-can model or inquiries about full scholarships can be sent to info@universityoforange.org
Register for Steel Pan Intensive here.
If you are interested but the timing of rehearsals doesn’t work for you, please still fill out the sign up form and let us know. We will add additional sessions if there is enough interest.

What's the Story? Memoir Class Reading
2025-08-06 17:00 - 19:30 | Online
The University of Orange’s What’s the Story? Memoir Class warmly invites you to a public reading of our latest work, written in response to the prompt “Where am I?”
Join us on Wednesday, August 6th at 5:00 PM ET on Zoom for an early evening of personal storytelling, reflection, and connection. The event will run approximately 75 minutes.
All are welcome – we hope to see you there!
Register here.

Steel Pan Showcase & Potluck
2025-08-08 18:30 - 21:00 | The HUUB, inc, 35 Cleveland Street, City of Orange, NJ, 07050, United States
Join the steel pan bands for their summer showcase and potluck dinner to follow.
Friday, August 8th
6:30pm-9pm at the HUUB
35 Cleveland Street, Orange, NJ

Getting to Know Korean Drama Through Korean Culture
2025-08-12 18:00 - 19:00 | Online
Tuesdays, August 12 + 19th
6pm-7pm ET on Zoom
Register online HERE
What makes Korean dramas so powerful — and so relatable, even across cultures?
Join Dr. Lee and Ms. Kim for two engaging sessions as we explore how Korean history, culture, and especially family values are at the heart of K-drama storytelling.
Part 1: Korean History & Cultural Roots Behind K-Dramas
What You’ll Learn:
• How key cultural values like collectivism, familism, jeong (정), and nunchi (눈치) shape interpersonal dynamics in Korean life and K-dramas
• Why these values continue to influence modern Korean society — especially within families, workplaces, and schools
• Watch three carefully selected K-drama clips that vividly portray these concepts in action
• Live panel discussion: Dr. Lee and Ms. Kim will unpack how these traditions are preserved, adapted, or challenged in contemporary Korea

Speaker Highlights:
• Dr. Lee will explain how Korea’s rapid historical transitions (colonization, war, economic boom) have embedded certain emotional codes into storytelling — especially the idea of family as both a comfort and a source of conflict.
• Ms. Kim will bring a real-world perspective on how these cultural values are taught, lived, and sometimes misunderstood — based on her experience in both education and the civil service.
Part 2: Why the World Loves K-Dramas
Topics We’ll Cover:
• Why family-centered stories in K-dramas emotionally resonate with viewers worldwide — and how they differ from Western portrayals
• How K-dramas challenge traditional norms like gender roles, class hierarchy, and generational tensions — while still honoring cultural identity
• How Korean dramas blend traditional values with modern and Western influences to create storytelling that feels both local and universal
• An open group discussion on how global audiences interpret K-dramas, and what that tells us about cross-cultural empathy
Teachers:
Dr. Isabel S. Lee – Assistant Professor at Salem State University School of Social Work. A former community social worker in the Korean American community turned social work scholar, Dr. Lee focuses on global social work education and practice.
Ms. Eunjeong Kim – Former Korean language teacher in Korea with Korean national educator certification. Now serving as an IRS officer, Ms. Kim brings deep, real-world insight into how cultural norms shape Korean society, from both educational and bureaucratic perspectives.

Register online HERE
