OLLI News

BERNARD OSHER FOUNDATION FUNDS THE SCHOOL OF CONTINUING STUDIES WITH $1 MILLION ENDOWMENT GIFT IN SUPPORT OF THE OSHER LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE

January 8, 2009 - Northwestern University School of Continuing Studies announces a $1,000,000 endowment for its Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), from the Bernard Osher Foundation of San Francisco. This gift will sustain the operations of the approximately 500-member institute, which offers an extensive program of peer-led study groups on the Chicago and Evanston campuses.

Studies of older learners have shown that optimal learning is achieved when mature students are actively engaged in the learning process. This program, founded at Northwestern in 1987 as the Institute for Learning in Retirement, is a peer-led curriculum with no exams, no grades, and no age restrictions. Members range in age from fifty-two to ninety-nine and enroll for the pleasure of interactive learning. OLLI offers approximately sixty study groups in subjects from literature and history, to science, philosophy, and art, all of which are proposed and facilitated by members. A members' Advisory Council oversees the program. The program received its first grant from the Osher Foundation in 2005, when the name changed to reflect the Osher Foundation's generous support.

School of Continuing Studies Dean Thomas F. Gibbons commented, "I am thrilled with the endowment from the Osher Foundation, whose philanthropy has changed the face of lifelong learning across the country. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Northwestern University's School of Continuing Studies is a leader in the field of programs in the Midwest, providing the highest level of peer-based educational enrichment."

This year, Northwestern's OLLI is offering such unique study groups as: Japanese Sunset: The Asian-Pacific War; Science and Health News; History's Famous Trials; The First 100 Days; The New Yorker; The Play's the Thing, and dozens more -- in a collegial and comfortable learning environment. For further information about membership in Northwestern's OLLI, go to: www.scs.northwestern.edu/OLLI.

The Bernard Osher Foundation was founded in 1977 by respected businessman and community leader, Bernard Osher. The Foundation seeks to improve quality of life through support for higher education and the arts, including post-secondary scholarship funding to colleges and universities across the nation, with special attention to reentry students. In addition, the Foundation supports a growing national lifelong learning network for seasoned adults. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes, operating on the campuses of 122 institutions of higher education from Maine to Hawaii, have a National Resource Center at the University of Southern Maine.

The School of Continuing Studies (SCS) strives to be a national leader in continuing education by providing accessibility to learning and exceptional teaching to nontraditional students whose professional and personal obligations affect when and where they may achieve their educational goals. Through academic excellence and the creation of diverse educational pathways, SCS serves the lifelong learning needs of its students, offering nontraditional students a superior educational experience at Northwestern University.

Contact: Joan Dry, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute 312.503.1561; j-dry@northwestern.edu