New Web Postings For October
MANAGING YOUR LLI
Elderquest
Seeks New Partners
Lifelong
Learners, by Lucy Kline
LIR
Changes its Name – 5 Colleges, Massachusetts
Science
Courses at an LLI – Rock Valley CLR, Illinois
Senior
College Offers Nine New Courses – USM/Lewiston-Augusta, Maine
Special
Interest Groups – LIR, Inc. - Athens, Georgia
Nobel
Prize Lecture Series – OLLI Program, Duke University, North Carolina
Service
Learning – OLLI Program, University of Southern Maine
LLI News
LLI
News for October
LLI Celebrations
LLI
Celebrations for October
WELCOME NEW AFFILIATES
Learning in Retirement, Inc., Washington Chapter, GA
Lifelong Learning Institute, National-Louis University, Lisle, IL
UPDATE NEW ENGLAND/EAST REGIONAL CONFERENCE
SUNY Potsdam and the SOAR program are pleased to host the New England/East
Regional Institute for Lifelong Learning Conference June 3-5. 2007.
More information will be available next month, including conference
theme, tracks and a call for proposals. People can keep a pulse on what
is happening at SOAR's website – www.potsdam.edu/soar
- and within the next month a link will be created from SOAR to the
Conference Page and information will be updated as it becomes available.
There will be some campus housing available at a very reasonable cost
which some participants might enjoy taking advantage of as well as using
the campus facilities including the fitness center, libraries and computer
facilities. Folks will be coming at a great time because school is in
session for the summer so there will be students on campus. A pre-conference
track will be included that will certainly be of great interest to many.
You can reach Nancy Hess via email or phone with thoughts on how you
would like to participate in this event at hessnl@potsdam.edu
or 315-267-2168. Please note the corrected email address which is different
from the last one.
LLI DIRECTORS HONORED BY EXPERIENCE WORKS
Dr. Rose H. Arthur, Founder and Director of the Rivier Institute for
Senior Education in New Hampshire has been named New Hampshire
Older Worker of the Year by Experience Works. She will be honored
with a Prime Time Award at an October ceremony in Washington, DC. The
award, she says, is really a recognition of the success of RISE, the
senior education program she began nine years ago for the Greater Nashua
area. The award also highlights the college as an institution which
hires and keeps its experienced older workers. Arthur has been with
the college since 1988 when she accepted the deanship of Rivier’s
Undergraduate Evening School.
Marvin Schlafer, Director of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
at Rutgers University in New Jersey has been named New Jersey
Older Worker of the Year by Experience Works. For the last
thirteen years under Marvin’s direction the program has grown
to more than 700 members offering more than 70 courses in three different
locations. Marvin’s award states that he is an outstanding role
model for others who want and need to remain in the workforce past the
“traditional” retirement age and an outstanding example
to employers of what mature individuals bring to the workplace.
Experience Works Prime Time Awards Program is America’s singular
and most far reaching effort to salute older workers. No other national
program recruits and identifies people over age 65 who are still contributing
to their communities and keeping themselves healthy by working. The
Prime Time Awards seeks to remove barriers and lessen stereotypes about
older workers. Launched in 1998, Experience Works Prime Times Awards
Program salutes America’s senior workforce by identifying winners
in three categories: Outstanding Older Workers, Outstanding Employers
of Older Workers and America’s Oldest Worker.
WONDER, fully…
EIN is pleased to once again promote the Great Books program. We have
talked about them in the past. Some of the LLIs are well aware of their
excellent curriculum material but others many not know much about them.
Here then, is a short write-up from the Great Books Foundation.
Have you ever wanted to feel some of the same thrill of discovery the
world's greatest authors and thinkers have felt? The Great Books Foundation
is dedicated to helping experiences like this happen; to have one, all
you need is a desire to see how high your imagination can lift you.
The Foundation encourages people to read and discuss brief, outstanding
works of fiction, philosophy, poetry, etc. and provides anthologies
and a discussion method called Shared Inquiry that can help "wonder"
take off. Meeting to discuss great writings is an ideal adventure for
people who want to consider Euripides, Tolstoy, Voltaire, etc. using
the perspective of their own life experience. Such gatherings can become
electric, as bright, curious individuals collectively uncover all the
treasures of the work they have read.
Please ask your local college or Lifelong Learning Institute if they
offer a Great Books course you can join. Or, to find an independent
Great Books discussion group near you, (and learn more about us), please
visit our Web site, www.greatbooks.org,
or call us at 800-222-5870, ext 273 (Bryan Gaul).
Your feet never leave the ground, but you might soar higher than you
ever have.
NETWORKING THE NETWORK
The Maine Senior College Network is holding their annual conference,
“Meeting of the Minds, 2006” from October 22-24 at the Bar
Harbor Regency Hotel located on the oceanfront in Bar Harbor, Maine.
It will be a wonderful spot to enjoy the fall season and the camaraderie
and friendships with other leaders and members of Maine’s sixteen
Senior Colleges.
THE LLI REVIEW
The first volume of The LLI Review: Explorations By and About Older
Learners, a new scholarly journal produced annually by the OLLI
National Resource Center at the University of Southern Maine in Portland
has just been published online. You can read it in its entirety by visiting
www.osher.net and clicking on “LLI Review.” Contents of
this volume include Research and Theory – Life Stories –
Best Practices – Poetry and Learning Resources.
NATIONAL SURVEY ON BRAIN HEALTH
A new national survey on brain health was recently conducted by the
American Society on Aging and the MetLife Foundation. A panel of experts,
including Jim Frasier from the OLLI program at Eckerd College, each
wrote a short monograph for the report. You can read the full report
at www.asaging.org/brainhealth.
ILR COORDINATOR LEAVING
Teresa Durham, the long-time director of three ILR programs sponsored
by Kellogg Community College, in Michigan, will be leaving her position
early next month. Teresa will become the Director of the Nonprofit Alliance,
a program affiliating with Kellogg Community College in early January.
Teresa has been instrumental in setting up programs in Hastings, Coldwater
and Battle Creek, Michigan. She will be sorely missed.
18th CONVOCATION HELD
The 18th Annual Convocation was held for the University for Seniors
program at the University of Minnesota, Duluth on September 9, 2006.
Over 200 people attended to hear Dr. Paula Panchuck, Dean of Lasell
College in Auburndale, Mass. speak about " Lifelong learning in
University settings- the Future of a Movement." Lunch followed.
On September 25, the 18th year of the University for Seniors began with
34 study groups, 5 SIGs and many special events. Free transportation
to the University is offered with the help of the Brownlee Foundation.
Free memberships are offered to those over 90 years old, with three
years of previous participation. Membership is growing, and there is
an air of enthusiasm all around.
A SPECIAL SENIOR-CIZE SUMMER EVENT
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Alabama,
Huntsville (UAH) teamed up with the UAH Fitness Center over the summer
to sponsor a free program designed for older adults to enhance health
and flexibility. Four August morning sessions, starting at 9 a.m. and
ending at Noon, at the fitness center on the UAH campus, consisted of
exercise classes, breaks, snacks, lectures and more exercise classes,
a very full schedule.
OLLI INTERGENERATIONAL CLASS
Where is the line between right and wrong? What is in the realm of morality
and what belongs to opinion and policy? In this discussion-based course
offered jointly with the Duke University Trinity College of Arts and
Sciences, a class of twelve Duke undergraduates and twelve OLLI students
will discuss ethics in realms such as war, science, politics, sex, and
marginalization, with an emphasis on intergenerational differences and
communities. Each class will include a student presentation led by one
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute student and one Duke undergraduate
in collaboration. One 1,500-word paper will be assigned.
LLI LOGO DESIGN
The new logo of the Lifelong Learning Institute at Indian River Community
College in Florida has been designed, as their brochure states, “to
symbolize knowledge, power, the radiation of the light and the organization
of the Universe. Lifelong learners embody the power of knowledge and
believe enlightening others mean sharing something of their unique selves,
a significant contribution to the greater good of society.” Check
out the logo at www.irccfoundation.org
SECOND “HANDS AROUND THE WORLD” TRIP
As part of the University of Southern Maine’s Osher Lifelong Learning
Institute, a second, ten-day learning/service trip to Safe Passage in
Guatemala is being scheduled for next month. The group will fly from
Portland to Guatemala City, then be transported by van to a hotel in
Antigua which will be home to them for their stay. The time will be
divided into educational tours and volunteer service with the children
and staff of Sage Passage, as well as a recreational outing over the
weekend through the highlands of Guatemala with a stay at a Lake Atitlan
resort.
GREAT DECISIONS
Many of the LLIs offer Great Decisions programs. The Encore program
at North Carolina State University in Raleigh will be offering one this
fall. Great Decisions was created by the Foreign Policy Association
(FPA) in 1954 to educate Americans about international issues. Each
year the FPA chooses eight topics of current interest and produces a
non-partisan briefing book written by experts in these areas. Participants
read the articles before each session and then discuss the issue (each
week’s reading assignment is about 10 pages.) The Great Decisions
video series is also shown in class to enhance each week’s discussion.
After engaging in discussion, participants may vote on how the United
States should conduct its foreign policy. FPA shares the results with
government policy makers every year. The topics selected for 2006 are:
UN Reform – Brazil – Human Rights in the Age of Terrorism
– The U.S. and Iran – Global Health Pandemics and Security
– Turkey – Energy Resources – China and India: Partners
or Competitors. For more information on the Great Decisions program
visit www.fpa.org
SUDOKU POPULARITY
Several LLIs are offering introductory and more advanced classes in
the incredibly popular new puzzle craze, Sudoku. For instance, the L.I.F.E.
program at Mount Saint Mary College in New York is offering an introductory
class. The OLLI program at the University of Alabama, Huntsville offers
members workshops on this popular past-time, and the Academy for Lifelong
Learning of Cape Cod, Inc. in Massachusetts is offering a course entitled
Sudoku: History and Strategy.
LEGACY FUND
The Academy for Lifelong Learning (ALL) at Cape Cod Community College
in Massachusetts established the Legacy Fund for the purpose of raising
money to renovate the space allocated to ALL at the College. The renovation
was completed in time for the beginning of classes last fall, and they
have enjoyed the benefits for an entire academic year. There were, however,
a few improvements that had to be deferred until more funds became available.
Recently they were able to add chair rails, and microphones for improve
classroom communication. They are still eager to acquire new, more comfortable
upholstered classroom chairs with casters, shades for better video viewing
for both classrooms, and gallery hanging and lighting equipment. So
the Board of Directors of ALL voted to continue the Legacy Fund for
this purpose.
COTTON AND RACE IN AMERICA (1787-1930)
Today’s global business world was alive and well even in the 19th
century cotton world. This course being given at the Berkshire Institute
for Lifetime Learning in Massachusetts explores the sophisticated, constructive
and the tragic consequences of the global cotton business in the American
Experience. Economics and money determined the course of American history
for both the North and the South. The African-American past was a byproduct
of economics and racial enmity; this country’s racial legacy has
not been fully addressed or redressed. A broad, fresh approach to this
subject includes lively stories of people, towns states, regions, the
nation and the world. The past, present and future are all considered.
A FUN-RAISER
The Adult Learning Institute at Columbia-Greene Community College in
Hudson, New York is holding a fun-raiser this month. As the announcement
says, “You’ll chuckle and cheer – You’ll want
to be here – So heed our persuasion – And join the occasion.”
WISE STARS ON TV
Members of the Worcester Institute for Senior Education (WISE) at Assumption
College in Massachusetts were invited to take part in a Public Access
Television program. The interviewer made the group (none of whom had
ever been on TV before) feel comfortable about sharing their experiences
at WISE. What great promotion for their program.
CREATING A PEER FAMILY
This fall the Center for Learning in Retirement at Rock Valley College
in Illinois is offering members a chance to learn how to live in an
alternative setting. People who need assistance are often faced with
a choice between a big institution or staying “at home”
without enough help or companionship. Many people – older people
who need support, people of any age with disabilities or people who
would be lonely alone – can benefit from a small household with
shared expenses. Participants will learn how to create a “Golden
Girls with Maid Service.”
That’s all for this month.
Nancy Merz Nordstrom, M.Ed.
Elderhostel Institute Network
Nancy.merz-nordstrom@elderhostel.org
www.elderhostel.org/ein/intro.asp
617-457-5564
“Experience is a hard teacher because
she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.”
…Vernon Sanders Law
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