BOLLI Instructor Gil Harel (far left) directs the Naugatuck Valley Singers at Slosberg Hall at Brandeis | | Spring 2026 BOLLI Course Catalog Available | |
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Brandeis University is built on the belief that learning is lifelong—and best when it’s shared. Our members bring experience, openness, and generosity of thought into every discussion.
This spring, we’re rolling out 60+ fresh, engaging courses across history, literature, science, the arts, and more. Study Groups are led by your peer members, Brandeis Faculty, top Brandeis graduate students, and incredible guest scholars. Courses are offered in-person at our headquarters at 60 Turner Street in Waltham, and in a worldwide classroom on Zoom.
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Registration Timeline
- Registration opens on December 16, 2025
- Early Registration Closes: January 9, 2026 at 4:00 PM ET
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Course Assignments Confirmed: Late January 2026
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Not Sure What to Take?
Our friendly and experienced advising team is here to consult with you on courses matching your interests. Reach out to:
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Abby Pinard – 781-899-2698 / apinard@snet.net
I joined BOLLI eleven years ago when I moved to Boston to be among my people — family and Red Sox fans. I’m attracted mostly to courses in literature, art, and music and co-lead the BOLLI Book Group. Beyond the satisfaction of ongoing learning, BOLLI has provided the miraculous opportunity to make late-in-life friends.
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Tamara Chernow – 617-223-1576 tamarachernow@comcast.net
I have been a member of the BOLLI community for 24 years and am grateful to have this satisfying educational, social and cultural connection. My favorite courses have been in the Arts and Literature field, but I also like to takes courses out of my “comfort-zone” and enjoy the challenges this presents. Over the years, I have led courses, served on committees and offered help to members in navigating the registration process.
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AI Course Guide
BOLLI is offering several course on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for all skill levels. Consult our guide to find the course for you.
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The Course Lottery
To give everyone an equal opportunity to get into their preferred class choices, BOLLI uses a lottery system (rather than first-come, first-served). The system works very well, with 95% of members receiving their first choice and 97% receiving their first or second choices. Even with these terrific odds, there are sometimes disappointments. Understanding how the lottery works can help you plan your registration strategy.
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Dear BOLLI members,
The energy in our study groups this fall has been electrifying! From the expert insights in courses by instructors like Hollie Harder and Suzanne Art to the incredible passion of SGLs like Gil Harel and Marlene Hobel, BOLLI is where curious minds ignite and connections are forged.
But that spark needs fuel.
Generosity never retires!
As you consider your end-of-year giving, remember that every gift to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Brandeis (BOLLI) makes a difference—one that reflects your values and leaves a lasting impact on future members. How might you make a gift to BOLLI before December 31?
Consider the following options:
Charitable IRA Rollover (Qualified Charitable Distribution)
If you are 70 ½ or older, you can make a 2024 tax-free gift of up to $105,000 to BOLLI from your IRA account. Your gift is not included in taxable income from your IRA. If you are age 73 or older, a QCD gift can satisfy your required minimum distribution (RMD) without increasing your income taxes.
Appreciated Securities
Gifts of securities, such as stocks and mutual funds, entitle you to an income tax charitable deduction for their full market value. You'll avoid capital gains tax if the securities that you contribute have appreciated in value.
Grants from your Donor-Advised Fund (DAF)
Establishing and funding a DAF account with a financial institution (please ask us if you would like some suggestions) is very easy to do, can provide you with significant tax benefits, and make your charitable giving easier for years to come. If you already have a DAF account, or are thinking of creating one, consider recommending a grant to Brandeis.
Charitable Gift Annuity
Make a gift and receive fixed payments for life—now with increased annuity rates. You will receive an income tax charitable deduction, and a portion of your payments may be tax-free. If funded with appreciated securities, you may also reduce or eliminate capital gains taxes.
We are here to nourish lifelong learning, but we cannot do so without your help. Feel free to contact me with any questions. We have Brandeis staff who can walk you through the process for any of these giving options. And as always, you can also make your gift to BOLLI by mailing a check to me or directly online at the link below.
-Ted
| | Starting Monday! Neo-noir Meets Shakespeare | |
The Kurosawa’s The Bad Sleep Well with Billy Flesch
Join Billy Flesch, Brandeis Faculty, for a deep dive into the neo-noir movie: The Bad Sleep Well (1960). As with so much of Kurosawa, this movie is a transformation of a Western source—in this case Shakespeare's Hamlet. You'll look at how one of the great geniuses of twentieth-century film did with the work of one of the great geniuses of 17th-century drama, going through the movie shot by shot to see what light Hamlet throws on The Bad Sleep Well, but also how The Bad Sleep Well can illuminate Hamlet.
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Location: Zoom
Dates and Times:
- Monday, December 15, 2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. ET
- Tuesday, December 16, 2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. ET
- Wednesday, December 17, 2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. ET
- Thursday, December 18, 10:00am – 11:30am ET
- Friday, December 19, 2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. ET
| | Bolli Meetings in Coming Weeks | | |
Writers Guild
Friday, December 12, 10 am
Friday, December 12
What was your first impression of your spouse?
Friday, December 19
Someone you admire and why.
Due to time constraints, writing should be limited to 500 words max.
Prior to the meeting, a Zoom link will be sent to Writers Guild members who regularly submit writing. For more information, please contact Jane Greenwald.
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New Yorker Fiction Salon
Wednesday, December 17, 10:30 am, on Zoom. (Note the time and place!)
The story we will discuss on Wednesday, December 17, 10:30 am, on Zoom, is “The Pool” by T. Coraghessan Boyle. It appears in the September 22, 2025 issue of the The New Yorker Magazine. To read the story, please click here.
To read the author commentary on the story, click here.
For further information, please contact Aaron Goldberg.
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Bolli Investing Group
The next meeting will be Wednesday, January 7, 2 pm on Zoom. For more information, contact Dick Goldman.
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Photo Group
The Photo Group does not meet this month. The next meeting will be Friday, January 16 from 10:30-12:00.
We're looking for members who want to show photos at 60 Turner street. Photos should be no smaller than 8 x 10 and no larger than 16 x 20 and framed. Hal will send out further information in an email to Picture Group members. For more information, contact Hal Lichtin.
| | Arts & Culture Excursions | | Click here for the A&E Website. To join the mailing list for Arts and Culture events, please contact Marsha Semuels. | | |
Tour of Addison Gallery Exhibits
Friday, December 12, 11 am
Captive Lands examines what it has meant to "capture the landscape" in an exhibition built from American art works from the Addison's permanent collection. The Florida Highwaymen Painters displays work from 25 loosely affiliated African American artists 1950-1980, who built and sold their expressive tropical scenes out of the trunks of their cars and door-to door. The tour will also include nine genre paintings of John Singer Sargent.
Free tour for the first 20 people who register. Lunch nearby TBD. Contact Margot Walthall. Click here for more information.
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Tour of Allan Rohan Crite: Urban Glory, at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Monday, December 15, 11:30 am
This special exhibit showcases works from across Crite’s decades-long career, encompassing vivid depictions of life in Lower Roxbury and the South End, art for Christian worship, and late works that combined neighborhood scenes with religious vignettes. Crite’s work evolved from documentary naturalism to works inspired by African art to a graphic-novel-like approach to line drawing and bookmaking. For more information, click here.
The senior rate is $28, that includes an admission fee to the museum, and $15 for members. Please pay Jennifer Coplon on Venmo or Zelle, and if you are a member, provide her with your member ID. Lunch will be at the Simmons University Cafe next door to the museum. LIMITED TICKETS REMAIN. RESPOND BY NOVEMBER 24.
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"A Face in the Crowd," West Newton's The American Dream and the Movies
Thursday, December 18 at 4 pm
This film is the 4th in a new series sponsored by the West Newton Cinema. Here is a link to a video clip from this 1957 satirical drama starring Andy Griffith, Patricia Neal and Walter Matthau. Dr. Julie Levinson, Professor of Film, speaks after the performance. Contact Judy Bernstein to purchase a discounted $15 ticket. Be sure to check out the other films in this series here.
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Curator-Led Tour of Of Light and Air: Winslow Homer in Watercolor, MFA
Thursday, December 18, 11 AM
We have the privilege of a guided tour of Winslow Homer’s watercolor exhibit at the MFA with Ethan Lasser, John Moors Cabot Chair of the Art of the Americas & Head of Exhibition Strategy. This exhibition brings dozens of the MFA’s Homer watercolors back into the galleries for a new generation to experience, alongside a selection of related oils, drawings, and prints by the artist. Limited to the first 20 BOLLI members who have secured tickets for this exhibit on the MFA website with an 11-11:30 AM entry. For more information, click here. WAITLIST ONLY.
Notify Jennifer Coplon. Only payment is for non-members of the MFA, who will pay when they enter the museum. We will meet in the Sharf Visitor Center just before 11 and will gather for lunch in the museum cafeteria after the tour.
| | BOLLI Book Group Selections | | |
We love to read! And we love to talk about the books that entertain, inspire, and inform us!
We meet once a month for a lively discussion of a work of contemporary literary fiction. We are a “drop-in” group: All BOLLI members are invited to join us on Zoom every month or once in a while, no registration required.
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Friday, January 9 at 9:30am
The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry, the acclaimed Irish writer’s first novel set in America, is a savagely funny and romantic tale of young lovers on the lam in 1890s Montana. In a story that is lyrical, profane, and propulsive, Barry proves himself once again to be a master stylist and a true poet of the human heart.
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Friday, February 6 at 9:30
What We Can Know by Ian McEwan is the most recent novel by a BOLLI favorite author who never fails to surprise and delight. It is a brilliantly plotted literary detective story that takes us from the present day far into a future in which, despite catastrophic events, all is not quite lost.
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Friday, March 6 at 9:30am
Heart the Lover by Lily King: The passions and choices of three people who met in college crash into their later lives with the superb wit and emotional sensitivity that characterize Lily King’s deeply moving body of work. This is a love story that celebrates literature, forgiveness, and the bonds that shape our lives.
| | For more information contact Charlie Marz or Abby Pinard, If you haven't previously attended a BOLLI Book Group meeting and would like to receive the Zoom link, contact Abby Pinard and she will add you to the mailing list. | | | | |
