Sep 26, 2024 Osher Lifelong Learning Institute celebrates its 20th anniversary

September 26, 2024 - CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI)'s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) celebrates its 20th anniversary this year with a brand-new classroom/learning lab, a fundraising campaign and generous donations from members.

Longtime OLLI members Paul and Christine Maggie are making a $50,000 gift to the OLLI program, which provides opportunities for intellectual stimulation and social connection through university-level classes designed for those age 50+ , but that are also open to younger adults. The Maggies want their gift to go toward the furnishings and technology in a state-of-the-art classroom/learning lab for OLLI members. The new area will be located in Gateway Hall, currently under construction.

"Watching OLLI over the years, we had problems now and then with equipment and we've got older people in these classes, not kids, so why not get some more comfortable furniture and new computer equipment and screens," Paul said. "I thought, 'I've got some retirement money, why not donate it?'"

CSUCI OLLI began with retired Professor of Social Psychology Marty Kaplan, who, with others, petitioned the Bernard Osher Foundation to bring OLLI to Ventura County, launching it in 2004. By 2008, OLLI had grown to 500 members, which allowed Kaplan to petition for a $1 million grant from the Osher Foundation which continues to help fund the program today.

Today, OLLI boasts 705 members and counting. A fundraising drive for the new classroom entitled "OLLI 20th Anniversary Room to Grow" will build on the momentum of the recent gift from the Maggies and from others who have supported the program with donations.

Paul's association with CSUCI and OLLI goes back to these beginnings, when he was working for the California Conservation Corps, which had its offices at Camarillo State Hospital. After the hospital buildings were transformed into CSUCI, Paul was intrigued by OLLI classes being offered on some Saturdays.

He knew his wife would be interested as she had been an educator at Camarillo High School and was always intellectually curious. Both also valued education as they were the first in their families to graduate from college, so after they retired, they wanted to keep learning.

"These were high level college classes, and they were so interesting," Christine said. "I had a chance to expand my educational background in terms of arts and science. And there are so many excellent instructors with fabulous backgrounds."

OLLI features expert lecturers from across California, and the U.S. who teach classes on the arts, sciences, literature, current events, entertainment, ecology, biology, geography and much, much more. In many cases, OLLI members are so enthusiastic about their classes that they independently arrange trips around the U.S. and abroad to explore what they've learned.

One such trip to Iceland last year was inspired by classes on the country's flora and fauna offered by CSUCI Professor of Biology and Artic plant expert Amy Denton, an example of many of the OLLI classes taught by CSUCI faculty members.

"We've taken five or six trips with OLLI members," Christine said. "We've been to Egypt, Tunisia, Spain, and we just came back from the Baltics."

The social aspect of OLLI is also strong for the like-minded people, which is part of why the new classroom for OLLI and CSUCI Extended University is expected to have comfortable couches and a coffee machine, among other amenities.

"We want our space to be not just a classroom space, but a social space for interactions," Banyai said. "It won't be an average classroom but designed to be a social experience where people can come, have coffee, mingle, and there will be an indoor and outdoor space."

The classroom plan also brings OLLI members directly onto the main campus with the general student population as OLLI "works toward a more intergenerational education," Banyai said.

OLLI offers face-to-face and hybrid classes which involve Zoom and in-person learning in the John Spoor Broome Library, the Studio Art Center in Camarillo, the Ventura College of Law, and just began offering classes at the Goebel Senior Center in Thousand Oaks.

Banyai said Extended University's OLLI program will benefit greatly from the Maggies' generosity, and OLLI staff and volunteers hope the 20th anniversary campaign will raise more funds to further enhance OLLI's new classroom for those who love lifelong learning as much as the Maggies do:

"Once a student, always a student," Christine said.

OLLI's Fall II session registration is open. To view the catalog visit: OLLI.

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