In This Issue

 Fall 2014 Catalog

This Fall, Leadership Asheville for Seniors (LAS) has lined up an impressive array of Asheville area leaders representing all facets of the community from government and the economy to education and the arts. 

Speakers currently on the schedule include Ester Manheimer, Mayor of Asheville, David Gantt, Buncombe County Commissioner, Tony Baldwin, Buncombe County Superintendent, Karen Cragnolin, Director of RiverLink, and many more! 


The first session of 2014 happens September 10th, and we still have openings available. 

If you or someone you know is interested in joining in the conversation, please contact Laurel Jernigan at 828-250-3871 or ljerniga@unca.edu.  Click here for more information.

 

CREW helps those considering relocation in retirement examine all their options carefully and make an informed decision about this major life transition.

A journey to a friendship 

By Alfred Uhry

Directed by OLLI member and College for Seniors instructor Patricia Heuermann

Fridays & Saturdays at 

7:30 pm; Sundays at 2:30 pm

35 East Walnut Street, Asheville, NC
Click here for more information and to buy tickets.

August Storytelling Performance of
True Stories Told Live
Theme: A Twist of Fate

Organic Growers School Conference

September 5-6, 2014

We just finished an invigorating three days hosting over 150 people from more than 45 organizations around the country to talk about lifelong learning during the Southern Regional Lifelong Learning Meeting. Many thanks to all of the volunteers who helped, including our talented and dedicated steering council members who greeted participants as they arrived and made sure everyone was welcomed and well-treated and our talented members who made presentations on everything from Google Drive to instructor support, regional studies curriculum to strategic planning.  Special thanks to Judy LaMee, our steering council chair, who welcomed participants and served as a gracious host for all of the days of the conference, to Dennis DeSimone for enlisting and preparing our room hosts, to Donna Schramek for keeping everyone fed and full of energy, to Matt Mengel for providing support to our presenters, and to all of our staff members for taking on the extra work of conference preparation on top of the other tasks we all need to accomplish. We will have a complete list of our volunteers in next week's newsletter, but we couldn't let the moment pass without acknowledging how many people are instrumental in the creation and execution of an event like this.

We had a couple of presentations about research during the meeting, and our own Steve Schleifer impressed everyone with the work he has accomplished to help us better understand our members.  Please take some time to read Carol Gillen's story about Steve in this newsletter.

Finally, we welcome a new chancellor to UNC Asheville, Dr. Mary K. Grant, who will be leaving her position as president of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.  Click here to read more about Chancellor Grant.We look forward to welcoming Chancellor Grant to her new position in January and to working with former Warren Wilson president (and scholar and performer of traditional music) Doug Orr as interim chancellor.  It's always exciting to begin a new era, but we will miss Chancellor Ponder a great deal. Her support of OLLI through important transitions has been critical to the ongoing success and growth of our programs.

His clients were in industries such as pharmaceuticals, automotive, financial services, technology, health care, and packaged goods. Steve conducted studies involving new product development, market segmentation, advertising effectiveness, customer satisfaction, and customer profiling for these clients. Steve held positions including senior vice president of Team One Advertising in Los Angeles, where he was a member of the core team that launched and continued to provide advertising for Toyota's Lexus brand; president and CEO of Research Information Center, Inc. (a subsidiary of Greyhound Corp.) in Phoenix, AZ; and vice president and partner of Booz, Allen & Hamilton, Inc. in Philadelphia, PA.

When he first became active here, little prior research had been undertaken and nearly all research had been qualitative focus groups. He explains, "There was hardly any quantification, especially via surveys, of members' characteristics, attitudes, or needs. Given my background in consumer research, I believed a formal research function could provide information to assist in the organization's mission and planning as well as support the information needs of other committees." This seemed particularly important at the time, given the burgeoning financial meltdown and its then unknown impact on how people handled their retirement.

One of the first things that Steve recommended was for OLLI to subscribe to Survey Monkey, an online platform used to develop and conduct surveys efficiently, quickly, and inexpensively. Steve said, "An initial early task, using Survey Monkey, was to convert OLLI's College for Seniors (CFS) course evaluations from paper-based to online. This was well received by OLLI members who preferred to complete the evaluations in the privacy of their homes; it also significantly enhanced the response rate to over 80%." Further, changes to the form, suggested by the research committee, made its feedback increasingly useful to both the curriculum committee and to our instructors.

The research committee conducts surveys annually or periodically to track some measures over time to identify changes and trends that have implications for what OLLI does and what we offer. The OLLI Annual Member Survey, done each October, monitors member satisfaction and characteristics, perceptions of OLLI, subject interests, members' participation in OLLI and UNC Asheville events, and the use of technology and social media. The New Member Survey measures when new people arrive in Asheville, where they come from, their awareness of OLLI before relocating and its role in their move, how they first learned of OLLI, and their demographics and employment status. This information helps our marketing of OLLI to potential new members and allows us to identify any changes in our new member stream. Studies of former members help us understand why they left and how they still feel about us.

In addition to the above surveys, the research committee conducts one-time surveys to address specific issues. One involved inquiring where members volunteer in the local Asheville community. Steve explained, "We learned that education and literacy were especially important to our members, and this information helped focus efforts for the civic engagement committee's efforts in 2014. An assistive hearing survey measured the proportion of members with hearing issues and contributed to the decision to install a loop in the Reuter Center's Manheimer Room. We also learned ways that instructors could do things to assist those with hearing needs. Another survey on the subject of diversity at OLLI identified members' attitudes about this sensitive issue and helped guide our ongoing efforts to be more inclusive. All of this work provided information that was actionable rather than just 'nice to know.'"

This event is free & open to the public.

For more information, contact:  judymattox@sbcglobal.net   

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