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National Resource Center
for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes Newsletter
July 2013
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Greetings from Kali
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Even without looking at the date, one could identify this as a summer OLLI newsletter -- articles on a picnic, a garden, an art exhibit and an upcoming fall course among other things. I hope you are having a great summer and I look forward to seeing many of you at the Southern Regional Conference next week, where it will probably be cooler than it is this week in Maine! Better air conditioning anyway.
Happy summer,
Kali
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OLLIs -- Toot Your Horns!
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 Toot your horn! Does your OLLI have news that you are proud of and would like to share with the network? The NRC newsletter is looking for articles about those special happenings that you know will inspire and excite others. So, keep the network newsletter in mind as a place to "toot your horn!"
If you have a story to share, please send it (with photos if possible) to Fran or Anne at the National Resource Center.
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15th Anniversary Celebrations at OLLI UC Irvine
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 | OLLI at University of California, Irvine's celebratory picnic
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OLLI at University of California, Irvine celebrated its 15th Anniversary with a country picnic outside the University Club. Members and guests spent an enjoyable evening with OLLI friends listening to wonderful music and feasting on down-home cuisine.
Highlights of the event were a silent auction and a tribute book. The four founding "mothers" of OLLI at UCI were honored as well as extraordinary members and favorite course developers and presenters. Everyone came away from the event energized and looking forward to even more stimulating programs as OLLI at UCI continues to grow.
Submitted by - Joann Burch, OLLI at the University of California, Irvine
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Love of Learning Inspires OLLI at Arkansas Member
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Fred Paillet is a student of life.
In recent years, he has worked with graduate students in Brisbane and Prague, traveled to China to work on tree species restoration, and led an expedition to the Brooks Range in far northern Alaska. While these projects would be impressive on any professional resume, Paillet's motivation doesn't involve building his curriculum vitae. In fact, Paillet has been retired from his formal career for 11 years. But he is certainly not retired from continuing to gather life experiences.
Paillet's experience is typical of many Osher Lifelong Learning Institute members, who develop and explore different learning methods involving a diversity of intellectual topics. This fall, Paillet will be running a course that will examine the literary legacy of the Caucasus mountain region in Russia, where he has spent time working. Paillet's enthusiasm for the topic is apparent.
 | | OLLI at Arkansas member Fred Paillet (second from right) is pictured with a family in Armenia during his travels. |
"The Caucasus mountain region is the wild west of Russia, and served as inspiration for some of the country's most beloved writers and painters," he explained.
Tolstoi and Pushkin, for example, both spent time in military exile in the region, and Paillet wants to examine the influence of these experiences in Russian literature. The region continues to have implications in a turbulent social and political landscape, which makes the course particularly relevant, Paillet explained. The course is particularly timely since the region will be highlighted during the upcoming Winter Olympics.
This copy was taken from Katie Helms' article written for the University of Arkansas Newswire. (Please visit the link to see more of Fred's photographs and learn more about this extraordinary man.)
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Clemson Photo Display Develops into a Donation
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Larry McCollough, OLLI Instructor, and Dr. Pat Smart, OLLI Director
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Clemson Photo Display Develops into a Donation
OLLI at Clemson University held a successful funding event on May 30, 2013. Our OLLI has a great display space for art. Local artists, Clemson faculty, and students are frequently invited to exhibit their work in the halls of OLLI. Recently, Dr. Pat Smart, Director of OLLI at Clemson University, invited local photographic artist and OLLI member Larry McCullough to display a selection of his stunning photographs. Larry readily agreed to hang dozens of his photographs throughout the building. But Larry went a step further, offering to donate prints from the collection to OLLI, with the idea of using proceeds from an auction as a fundraiser. It was a very successful social event, with spirited bidding on many of the photographs adding a tidy sum to OLLI at Clemson's financial resources. However, this is not the end of the story. The disappointed second-place finishers in the bidding war were all offered prints at the winning bid prices-with those donations also going to OLLI at Clemson University.
Submitted by - Amanda Turner, OLLI at Clemson University
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OLLI Programs Focus at NIFI National Conference
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The work of the Osher Lifelong Learning programs at universities across the nation was the focus of a workshop at the Deliberative Democracy Exchange (DDEx), sponsored by the Kettering Foundation in Dayton, Ohio during the week of July 8-12. Kettering is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nongovernmental foundation that investigates the question of "What does it take to make a democracy work as it should?". The annual exchange brings together over 200 individuals from around the world to share information about their research and experience. One of the products of the foundation, a collaborative effort between Kettering and the National Issues Forums Institute, are the National Issues Forums. Each year Kettering identifies important issues facing the nation, conducts research about the issues, and writes an issue guide. The guides, which describe the issue and the options that might be pursued to address it, are then published by NIFI. NIFI makes the guides available to teachers at both the K-12 and higher education levels to use to inform students about the issue and to teach them how to use deliberation to make decisions. Likewise, communities hold forums in libraries, churches, senior centers, and various other locations to give citizens an opportunity to engage in a deliberative discussion about the issue. Feedback from participants is collected, analyzed, and shared with policymakers by the foundation. The workshop at the DDEx resulted from a course offered in the OLLI program at the University of Dayton, entitled "Learning from Others: The Power of Public Deliberation", during both the fall and spring semesters, 2012-13. The course involved older adults in deliberation about selected national issues such as Immigration, the National Debt, the Cost of Health Care, and America's Role in the World, in which they shared their views and experiences with the assistance of a trained moderator. Bill Muse, NIFI President, and Carol Farquhar Nugent, former Executive Director of Grantmakers in Aging, offered the course and used citizens from the community to serve as moderators. The moderators are not experts on the issues, but are skilled at facilitating discussion.
Submitted by - Julie L. Mitchell, OLLI at the University of Dayton
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OLLI at UConn Feeds the Less Fortunate!
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OLLI members talk to their seedlings in the greenhouse
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"From Seeds to Planting to Harvest: The Greening of Waterbury". This unique course was the idea of OLLI presenter, Nunzio DeFilippis. In partnership with a non-profit community organization that helps grow food and feed the less fortunate, the course began in a state-of-the-art greenhouse - planting seeds that eventually were transplanted into raised beds at a local garden. Now, in full harvest, the 20+ OLLI volunteers are donating the fresh vegetables to Waterbury residents through local soup kitchens. The volunteers have even gone one step further, spending time cooking and serving in the kitchens. Nunzio De Filippis radiates energy when he speaks of sharing his knowledge of opera and helping feed the hungry, two major avocations of a man who spent his childhood on a farm in Italy.  | Harvest time for members of the OLLI at UCONN class "From Seeds to Planting to Harvest: The Greening of Waterbury"
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Submitted by - Rita Quinn, OLLI at the University of Connecticut
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The 2013 Southern Regional Conference, July 24-26
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The 2013 Southern Regional Conference for Institutes of Learning in Retirement is being hosted by the OLLI at the University of Georgia, Athens, from July 24-26. Built on the theme " Engaged Minds, Enriched Lives," the conference will focus on techniques for improving lifelong learning programs, which provide educational, social and recreational opportunities for mature adults.
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News From Here and There . . .
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- Did you know that July is National Ice Cream Month? For useful information on this topic (e.g. you can buy squid ice cream in Japan) visit the Mental Floss blog.
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Wikimedia Commons Picture Credits
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OLLIs Toot Your Horns image: 'UW Band trumpet player reading music'. n: 1970/1979. Madison, Wisconsin. Wikimedia Commons
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