Welcome to SPACE, our adult continuing education program which offers interactive monthly courses for personal enrichment! Learn more here.
Patrick Lyon
Signum Tutorials Program
•
SPACE Preceptor
Patrick Lyon is a graduate of the Program of Liberal Studies at the University of Notre Dame and is currently in the midst of completing his Master’s Thesis with Signum University.
[see full bio...]
Current and Upcoming Modules
April 2026
Highlighted Modules
All Modules
Smith of Wootton Major: Tolkien and the Dark Side of Faerie
Discussion-based Medium intensity
The last story Tolkien ever published is one of the most curious stories he ever wrote, and provides rare insight into his final thoughts on storytelling and the world of Faerie he first explained in "On Fairy-Stories." This module will explore the ways in which Tolkien explored philosophy, mytholog...
The Bovadium Fragments: Tolkien and Satire
Discussion-based Low intensity
Tolkien had an incisive sense of humor, and it comes through remarkably well in stories like The Hobbit and Farmer Giles of Ham. Tolkien also occasionally put his humor to pointed satirical uses, and perhaps the most serious of these satires is the forthcoming Bovadium Fragments...
Adaptations of Middle-earth: From Deitch and Bakshi to Jackson
Discussion-based Medium intensity
The long and tangled history of cinematic attempts to bring the world of Middle-earth to the big screen is full of fascinating what-ifs, insurmountable setbacks, and ultimately a slew of good, bad, and utterly bizarre movies as a result. In this module we will dive deep into the cinematic adaptation...
Beginning Quenya Series of 4
Discussion-based Low intensity
Beginning Quenya aims to take students with any level (or no level) of previous language experience and introduce them to the quest to learn Quenya, Tolkien's most developed invented language.
The first module of Beginning Quenya will introduce students to the pronunciation and basic inflections...
Creative Quenya Translation
Discussion-based Medium intensity
After completing the Quenya course, this ongoing Creative Quenya Translation group aims to take the Quenya learned in the course and apply it to more active creative endeavors: exploring the further poetic writings of Tolkien in Quenya, and translating classic texts into Quenya while working towards...
J.R.R. Tolkien: A Life in Letters Non-Sequential Series
Mixed Lecture/Discussion Medium intensity
How do you pick up the threads of an old life? Come and take a deep dive, attempting to do just that, as we look into the life of the maker of Middle-earth! This series will go on an adventure through the life of Tolkien over three months through the lens of the newly revised and expanded Letters of...
Readings in Latin
Discussion-based Medium intensity
This series will help introduce students to the breadth and depth of Latin texts available for intermediate-level study . Each month, our preceptors survey the group using the In...
The Art of Juggling
Mixed Lecture/Discussion Low intensity
This month-long module would teach students the art of juggling, from the absolute basics to some of the more advanced flourishes and tricks. Juggling is actually much easier than most people think, and as long as students put in the practice and repetitions necessary to learn, most people can start...
The Classical Art of Memory: Building the Mind Palace of Simonides
Discussion-based Medium intensity
One of the most crucial elements of education for millennia was teaching the ability to harness the potential of the memory. From the time of Homer until the 19th century, bards and bureaucrats both would have used established methods to organize and categorize their thoughts and remember crucial pi...
The Story of Cinema: A SPACE Odyssey
Discussion-based Medium intensity
How did cinema develop from a curiosity of the early 20th century to the multi-billion dollar industry it is today?
The story of the rise of filmmaking as both mass entertainment and an art form is a tale of epic proportions that is still in the making. From Victor Fleming to Tarantino and John Fo...
When I Consider Everything that Grows: The Shakespearean Sonnets Non-Sequential Series
Discussion-based Medium intensity
While Shakespeare is famous for his plays, he also wrote more than 150 sonnets, which display his wit, his charm, his insight, and his unparalleled talent for turning a phrase and playing into double-entendres. Join us as we scan and analyze the whole compendium of Shakespeare's sonnets from beginni...
The Iliad in Translation, Part 1
Discussion-based Medium intensity
Homer's Iliad is the foundational text of Western Literature, focusing on powerful perpetual problems of human life and experience: the desire for glory, the destructiveness of war, the struggle against overwhelming fate, the complex and powerful bonds of family, and the unexpected value of p...