Genesis of the Open University of Wellfleet

by Founding Director, Rhoda Flaxman

Retired from teaching English literature and art history at Brown (1987-2007),  I had lived in Wellfleet as a summer resident since 1970, and as a legal resident since 2003. I was looking for a way to get involved with the year-round life of my adopted community, and wanted to connect with other teachers like me who might also offer academic courses in their areas of expertise. 

Thus, The Open University of Wellfleet, a 501.c3. was born in 2015. Endorsed by Wellfleet Preservation Hall and the Wellfleet Library, our first semester featured four terrific humanities courses for a modest fee. Courses by Jeff Tash, Seth Rolbein, Deborah Forman, and me earned enthusiastic notices from participants representing every town from Brewster to Truro. Courses met for two hours every week for four weeks using a directed discussion format. In our inaugural semester we offered courses in local history (“Creating a Wellfleet Historical Map App”), local politics (“Governing, Cape Cod Style”), different genres of literature (“Outer Cape Lit”), and art history (“Perspectives on the Provincetown Art Colony”).  

The Open University of Wellfleet offers academic courses every spring and fall on a changing roster of topics depending on the interests of faculty who step up to teach subjects in the sciences and the humanities. Whereas we began to offer only courses with strong relevance to the life and thought of the Outer Cape, our interests have now expanded to welcome any topic that instructors find interesting.  Knowing how brilliant and creative our citizenry is, we are certain that more and more qualified faculty will identify themselves to us, enriching the Open University of Wellfleet with imaginative and diverse courses that will assure our new intellectual project a long and productive future. In the past, we’ve considered  topics such as: the literature of small towns; economic sustainability; ecological relationships between our area and the waters that surround it; the sense of place in our towns; the history of the modernist houses in the Seashore; important artists, writers, scholars who have lived and worked among us; and archeological finds in the Seashore and what they tell us. In the future, the sky’s the limit!

Possibilities are limitless.  We invite you to use your imagination and expertise, and propose a new course. Or take one! We welcome, with great warmth and enthusiasm, all interested learners.