Learning never stops for Osher Institute members

BY LORI TIERNAN, '08

Tim Williams, a three-year member of the Osher Institute for Lifelong Learning, describes the program for senior adults as “a passion to learn about what I didn’t have time to learn about when I was trying to figure out about my life.”

With courses ranging from “The Wacky World of the American Legal System 2008” to “Jeff McKee’s School of Rock: The Sixties,” the Osher Institute—administered by the School of Continuing Studies—provides adults over 50 a chance to learn within an interactive and positive environment.

For as little as $50 a year, members can enroll in classes and mini-courses, attend the International Film Series, or participate in Osher Institute trips, hikes and walks. The institute, which recently received a $1 million endowment from the Bernard Osher Foundation of San Francisco, boasts a vibrant community of like-minded and motivated students.

The institute offers an extensive array of liberal arts courses in the fall, spring and summer semesters. The offerings are a combination of undergraduate credit courses for audit, special interest mini-courses, free lectures, community service projects, performing arts events and more. There are no grades, and no college background is required—just a passion for life and learning. Though Osher Director Jane Dowrick notes that the mini-courses in world affairs are popular, it’s a fairly even spread of students throughout all courses due to their interdisciplinary nature.

Mini-courses are offered each semester. “Topics in American History” provides an interactive learning experience, including a tour of the Virginia Capitol.

Love history, hate the government? “The Wacky World of the American Legal System 2008” provides a humorous analysis of recent wacky happenings in the judicial, legislative and executive branches. In a parody of Jack Black’s comedy, School of Rock, Jeff McKee’s “School of Rock: The Sixties” teaches the story of the music and its most volatile decade.

The Osher Institute also provides credit courses for audit. Courses are offered in every discipline, ranging from business to art. “The New South” provides a trip back in time, examining the growth of the New South from Reconstruction to present. “Business and Professional Speech” can groom members interested in corporate or governmental advocacy, while “Creative Writing-Poetry” might attract those interested in tapping into their inner-Shakespeare.

With day trips and access to speaker series and the Weinstein Center for Recreation and Wellness, the institute isn’t all about hitting the books. Dowrick describes Osher as a “community of learners” that provides an atmosphere of “camaraderie.” With 600 members, 22 percent of whom are over 65, every member is sure to find his or her niche, she says. 

Osher-sponsored activities such as day trips also provide members with a social outlet. In April the institute will sponsor a trip to the Chesapeake Bay Field Education Program at the Port Isobel Island Residential Study Center. Members will spend the weekend on the Chesapeake Bay, studying its culture, history and ecology. The Barboursville Vineyards Motor Coach Tour provides a change of pace in May, offering a wine tasting and gourmet lunch.

Membership in the Osher Institute starts at $50 per year. There are three types of membership: Gold, Gold Plus One and Silver. For $50, silver members receive a University One Card, e-mail address, parking pass and full use of Boatwright Library. Unlike gold members, silver members pay for each course they take. The gold membership, which costs $400, includes all the perks of a silver membership plus six complimentary tickets to the Modlin Center and unlimited access to all Osher courses free of charge. The gold plus one is $600 and includes the same benefits as the gold membership but covers two people joining together. Dowrick noted that although many of the memberships are now silver, there is a steady movement toward gold memberships.

An often overlooked yet important aspect of membership is becoming an Osher instructor, says Dowrick. Osher members have the opportunity to create their own mini-courses. Instructors are “more like a tour guide, not the expert,” says Dowrick.

The main benefit of an Osher membership, according to Dowrick, is connection. “The members have an opportunity to be more connected to their own passion for learning, to others who are lifelong learners, to the University of Richmond and to finding meaning in the world outside themselves.”

For more information, contact Dowrick at 287-6344 or jdowrick@richmond.edu.