Greetings from the NRC........................... April 2026 | |
I’m on the road.
I spent three weeks last month on an extended ski vacation, driving from Chicago to the Colorado Rockies. As I mapped out the trip, I realized I'd be passing eight OLLIs along the way. That made my adventure a double treat.
The trip included plenty of skiing with a group of friends I’ve hit the slopes with for many (many!) years. It was a true bucket-list experience. But the visits to Osher Institutes gave me a fresh perspective on each of these outstanding OLLIs, most I had visited before, and one I was visiting for the first time.
There were no immediate issues or problems to solve during these visits, which was refreshing in itself. Still, I hope there was some value from an outside voice, one who knows OLLIs well. More importantly, the trip offered a welcome opportunity to see, once again, just how powerfully an OLLI can enhance lives across eight very different communities.
Whether in big cities or smaller towns, at major universities or smaller colleges, being part of an OLLI is life-affirming and genuinely beneficial to well-being. I’ve known and witnessed this for more than a dozen years. But stepping back, slowing down, and seeing it through the lens of this trip brought those benefits into sharp focus. Meeting so many engaged, positive, and enriched people along the way was a mood booster that will last far longer than my sore ski muscles.
If you’re reading this, you probably experience these benefits every day. You are part of a community of hundreds of thousands who have been touched by OLLI over the years. Stay grateful, stay involved, and above all, Stay Curious.
With greetings from the road,
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OLLI AT UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS
Celebrating Creative Scholarship
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Each October, the city of Denton, Texas celebrates 31 Days of Halloween with hundreds of events and an entire city’s worth of haunted decorations. In 2025, the city was officially named the Halloween Capital of Texas by the state legislature. OLLI at the University of North Texas (UNT) joined in the spooky season fun with the help of Dr. Kerry Goldmann, Professional Faculty in the UNT Department of History. In October 2025, three years after Dr. Goldmann gave her first OLLI presentation exploring American history through horror films, members joined her at a local theater for a private screening of The Haunting (1963). The event included a pre-screening lecture, bottomless popcorn, and complimentary brain-shaped stress relievers for all attendees. Last month, UNT Provost Michael McPherson presented Dr. Goldmann with the Provost’s OLLI Faculty Award in recognition of her exceptional service to OLLI at UNT members. She recently shared the following reflection on the role OLLI has played in her academic career:
“In October of 2022, I taught a workshop for OLLI on American history through horror film. I knew it would be a bit unconventional as a history lecture, but I also believed it would draw a lot of curiosity and interest. It was a class I really yearned to teach for my department, but I needed space to experiment with it and to know it could be viable. I thought of OLLI immediately because OLLI administrators always encourage creative curriculums, and OLLI members are some of the most generous students I work with in terms of their excitement for new ideas, lecture participation, and feedback. I workshopped my lecture in various iterations for OLLI for several years, and as of 2025, I have an official undergraduate course on American history through horror film that pulled high enrollment and has been nominated for UNT CLEAR’s Online Course of the Year Award. I am so grateful to OLLI because that course would not exist without their support. I look forward to my next ‘out there’ course idea that I can workshop with OLLI.”
Submitted by: Jordan Williams, Senior Director, Lifelong Learning & Community Engagement, OLLI at University of North Texas
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OLLI AT UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI
'My tiramisu': Instructor Reflects on First Year at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
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For Lorella Di Gregorio, teaching at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at University of Miami (UM), is not just another class on her schedule. She describes it as a highlight of her week.
Originally from Italy, Di Gregorio has taught basic Italian, along with art history and American studies, at OLLI. "Every week, I genuinely look forward to my OLLI class," she says. "The interaction is unparalleled, the human connection incomparable. I often say this experience is my tiramisù – the moment that lifts my spirit."
A full-time lecturer with the College of Arts and Sciences and a residential faculty member at Mahoney Residential College at UM, Di Gregorio has reason to be fond of lifelong learning. Long before she dreamed of working at a university, her first teaching role was with adult learners in Italy. In 2009 she walked into a bocce club in Imola in northern Italy and began teaching art history to a group of women who quickly became close friends. When she discovered OLLI, the parallels were immediate and irresistible, she said. "Learning that I could have a similar experience here felt like being offered a gift twice," she says. "I couldn't pass it up."
In her OLLI classes, language is only part of the journey. She said she hopes students come away with a sense of what it means to be Italian: the humor, values, art, and everyday warmth that shape Italian life. Fluency, she notes, takes time and immersion, but cultural understanding can begin right away.
Beyond her love for lifelong learning, Di Gregorio brings an extensive academic and professional pedigree to her work at OLLI. She holds a doctorate in literary, cultural, and linguistic studies from UM, along with advanced degrees in Spanish and art history from institutions in the U.S. and Italy. She has received many teaching and research honors, including an outstanding teaching award from the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and multiple research fellowships.
Looking ahead, Di Gregorio said she is eager to continue developing new OLLI courses, including ones suggested by her OLLI students. "Anything I'm passionate about can become a course," she said. "And collaboration always leads to the most rewarding ideas."
Submitted by: Michelle Alvarez, Executive Director, OLLI at University of Miami; Article by Amy Ellis, Director of Communications, University of Miami in the Coral Gables Gazette.
| | | April 2026 Osher NRC Webinar | | |
Join us for an informative webinar where Osher NRC staff will present pertinent data from across the Osher Network.
2025 Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and Member Benchmarking Data
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Tuesday, April 28th
- 3pm Eastern/2pm Central/1pm Mountain/12pm Pacific/11am Alaska/10am Hawaii
- 60 minutes
- This webinar is open to OLLI staff, volunteers, and members
- Register here
Hosted by the National Resource Center for Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes (Osher NRC), this webinar presents the latest benchmarking data gathered from Osher Institutes and their members across the Network. Through a series of comprehensive surveys, the NRC has compiled key demographic and operational benchmarks that reveal how Institutes are evolving and how your own Institute compares. The session will include highlights on membership trends, technology use, volunteer engagement, and more. Don’t miss this opportunity to explore the data and discover how it can inform strategic decision-making at your Institute.
If you have interest in being a presenter or have ideas for future webinars, please contact Kevin Connaughton (kevin.connaughton@northwestern.edu).
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INNOVATIVE COURSES AND CONTENT DELIVERY
Curriculum Corner
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Osher Institute at University of Delaware
"Artificial Intelligence: A Nontechnical Look"
Course Length: Five Weeks (five sessions)
Course Instructor: Mary Ann Wangemann
Course Delivery: In person discussion/lecture
Course description: This class explores evolutionary and revolutionary artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that affect how we work and live today, and will continue to do so in the future. The instructor shares examples to teach the history, fundamentals, and applications of AI and examines common ethical concerns. Students will leave with an overview understanding of what AI can and cannot do.
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QUICK TIPS FOR HELPING OPERATE AN OSHER INSTITUTE
Quick Tip - Intergenerational Game Night
| | Looking for an easy, low investment way to create a fun intergenerational experience? Consider a game night for both university students and OLLI members. Bonus benefit: Osher NRC research shows that younger members are particularly interested in topics related to games and hobbies so this could also be a way to engage those younger members. See above for how OLLI at Auburn got this party started. | | | |
CAREER OPENINGS IN THE OLLI NETWORK
Job Board
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National Resource Center for Osher Institutes, Northwestern University
Wieboldt Hall, Sixth Floor, 339 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611
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