OSU lifelong learning program awarded funding; OLLI classes available for those 50 and older

Friday, September 10, 2010

Take an up-close and personal look at the microorganisms in your life.  Better understand world religions.  Delve into Oklahoma cold cases.  These are just a few of the interesting topics that will be explored this fall as part of Oklahoma State University’s lifelong learning program in Stillwater, Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Edmond.

Thanks to a $1 million endowment from the Bernard Osher Foundation, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at OSU (OLLI@OSU) provides courses, workshops and travel trips for people 50 and older.  OLLI will offer more than 30 classes on a wide array of topics and a Town Hall series at a variety of sites. 

“The OLLI program is an incredible resource for the people of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University is proud to serve those who have a passion for learning,” said OSU President Burns Hargis.  “OLLI is a shining example of OSU’s land-grant mission of teaching, research and outreach.  We owe a huge thanks to the many volunteers who teach the courses.”

Classes resume in September in Tulsa and in October in Stillwater, Oklahoma City and Edmond.  For more information on the program, please call the OLLI office at 1.800.765.8933, or go to http://education.okstate.edu/olli

“The Osher Foundation was impressed with the scope and originality of the courses we offered as well as the overwhelming response of the communities we serve,” said program director RuthAnn McCarthy Sirbaugh.  “We had to gain at least 500 members to qualify for the endowment, and we reached 604.  We expect to continue to grow to more than 1,000 members in the next few years. ” 

Support from Hargis and the College of Education’s Dean Pamela Fry helped to satisfy the Foundation’s requirements that the program be grounded in a university that provided adequate office space, funding and promotion. 

“We are able to offer such a diverse curriculum because of the interest generated within the university and the community as a whole,” said Sirbaugh. “Our instructors are volunteers who are experts in their fields of interest.  Their enthusiasm generates excitement in the classroom, and our students get hooked.”