Pitt's College of General Studies Receives $100,000 Grant to Expand Curriculum for Older Adult Learners

PITTSBURGH—The Bernard Osher Foundation has awarded the University of Pittsburgh's College of General Studies (CGS) a $100,000 grant for the establishment of an Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), which will enable CGS to develop new programs for the Pittsburgh region's audience of students ages 55 and older.

"This grant will support the college's efforts to establish a true intellectual community of older adult learners at the University by offering them an intellectually stimulating academic program on a continuing basis and creating fresh opportunities for them to interact socially among themselves and with institute faculty," commented CGS Dean Susan Kinsey. "CGS is pursuing an innovative approach in the OLLI by engaging a core of Pitt emeriti faculty as instructors complemented by a number of our current noncredit instructors. In this way, the OLLI will tap into the rich intellectual resources of the University and make them available to the community."

The OLLI grant is one of numerous gifts made by the Osher Foundation to universities across the country to advance the interests of lifelong learning for older adults in the liberal arts and sciences. Currently there are 48 such institutes across the United States, from Hawaii to Maine. According to Mary Bitterman, president of the Osher Foundation, "The $100,000 grant may be renewed for a second year or, if considerable progress toward success and sustainability is evident, a $1 million endowment may be considered."

As part of its six-month implementation process for OLLI, CGS has decided to discontinue immediately its noncredit personal enrichment courses, which include such topics as wine tasting and personal financial planning. CGS will construct for OLLI a wide-ranging curriculum drawn from the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences that will include challenging courses designed to appeal to older

adults. Individuals may choose to become either Osher Institute members (for a fee of $100 for the spring term and $75 for the summer term; for the three terms of 2005-06, a discounted annual membership fee will be available) or affiliates (auditing undergraduate courses only for a fee of $45 per course). Institute members may take an unlimited number of OLLI programs and five-week minicourses in a term and audit one undergraduate credit course per term. OLLI will offer 16 minicourses per term beginning in February 2005.

"The OLLI membership concept is one way that CGS can offer high-quality liberal arts programs in a noncredit framework within a low-cost structure," Kinsey commented.

The Osher Foundation grant will enable the college to:

• Broaden the scope of programming currently available to older students;

• Foster a cohesive intellectual community of older learners at Pitt by creating opportunities for student social interaction through the construction of an OLLI lounge, an authors series, a lecture series, and field trips;

• Engage emeriti faculty to deliver courses and lectures; and

• Provide permanent leadership for senior learning initiatives.

The college has already begun to implement changes through the grant and will use the fall term to renovate space to accommodate an office for Osher staff and faculty and the lounge area, plan curriculum, and communicate the program's benefits to its targeted student audience.

The OLLI's February launch will not affect current Third Age audit enrollments for the fall term. Beginning with the spring 2005 term, however, auditors ages 55 and above will become Osher Institute affiliates, and students under the age of 55 interested in noncredit courses through CGS may take professional development courses only. Students under the age of 55 interested in personal enrichment courses are urged to explore area community college programs.

CGS will continue to offer to adults of all ages undergraduate degree completion programs, professional development for-credit courses and certificates, and the noncredit professional development courses, as well as all test prep classes.

"With this grant, we are pursuing a strategic direction in noncredit programming that better enables us to meld the needs of the community with the strengths of our University," said Kinsey. "The college's market research, combined with census data on the aging regional population, indicates a need for academically oriented programs geared toward educated, older individuals. The College of General Studies can fill that need within the dedicated intellectual environment of the OLLI."

OLLI members will receive a number of University benefits, including an identification card that provides access to the University's 11 libraries, campus shuttle service, and computer resources.

Judith A. Bobenage will serve as OLLI coordinator. Bobenage, who has held the position of manager of noncredit programs in the college, worked for 25 years in the field of continuing education before coming to Pitt in 2000, including 15 years as chair of education at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh.

Established in 1977, the Bernard Osher Foundation, among other projects, supports educational programs for older adult learners. Foundation grants support the creation of new programs or the strengthening of existing programs in lifelong learning at college and university campuses.

Allegheny County's population demographics, the combined missions of the University and CGS, and the college's existing foundation of programs all contributed to the selection of CGS as a grant awardee.

"The University of Pittsburgh's mission statement includes the directive, 'Offer continuing education programs adapted to the personal enrichment, professional upgrading, and career advancement interests and needs of adult Pennsylvanians,'" noted Kinsey. "The Osher grant enables us to help fulfill the University's mission as well as our college mission to both be engaged with the community and provide academic resources to nontraditional students." In addition to inaugurating the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, the college is continuing its expansion of professional and workforce development programs.

People interested in receiving additional information about the OLLI can subscribe to the mailing list via the Web at www.solutions.pitt.edu (click Contact Us) or by phone at 412-624-6600.

The OLLI will be offered through the University of Pittsburgh Learning Solutions at the College of General Studies. Learning Solutions provides adult and continuing education programs that both enrich lives and promote the economic health of the region.

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7/21/04/tmw