Due to the dangerously low temperatures combined with high winds (including wind chills predicted between 40 and 50 below zero), Bradley University will close at 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 29 with plans to resume regular operations on Thursday, January 31. 

The Continuing Education office will be closed Wednesday, January 30.

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Coming in February are two learning trips that will
re-introduce us to well-known community organizations: Methodist College at its new location and Woodruff Career and Technical Center and its innovative programs.  Find out more about each below.

Methodist College

Friday, February 1

8:45 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Level 2 Learning Trip

Join OLLI as we tour the campus of Methodist College, an accredited four-year college affiliated with UnityPoint Health - Peoria. Providing degree programs in nursing, health sciences, and human services, Methodist has roots that date back more than 100 years when Methodist Episcopal Church opened the Deaconess Home and Hospital and School of Nursing.  On our tour, we'll see the innovative labs and classrooms, and amenities including a café, campus store, fitness center, and recreation center.

$27 - includes lunch, gratuities, tour, and shuttle transportation

Woodruff Career and Technical Center

Thursday, February 14

9:15 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Level 2 Learning Trip

Woodruff Career and Technical Center is home to Peoria School District 150's vocational programs. Launched after the closing of Woodruff High School, the Center offers students a variety of exciting hands-on learning with the goal of preparing them for college, career, or both. During our visit, we'll meet administrators and watch students engage in the curriculum, which includes cosmetology, barbering, natural hair care, construction, metals, engineering, health occupations, auto body, and culinary arts.
$27 - includes admission fees, tour, lunch, gratuities, and shuttle transportation

For more information, contact  Bonnie or Gwen at (309) 677-3900.  You may also  register online .  

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For those of you registered for the spring class  #20, A Study of The Shepherd of the Hills, we want to clarify some information that was in the brochure.

Participants will be asked to read parts of the book each week and then discuss the characters, plots, and sub-plots. 

The Shepherd of the Hills is available at local and online retailers and in libraries.

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This Thursday, January 31 at 5:00 p.m., is the deadline to enter the lottery to see Hamilton in Chicago on March 27 for the matinee performance of this critically-acclaimed musical.

If selected, you will pay $230 which includes round-trip charter coach transportation, lunch, dessert, snacks, gratuities, and balcony tickets. 

Call Gwen or Bonnie by Thursday, January 31 at (309) 677-3900, or register for the Hamilton lottery online at bradley.edu/olli

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In spite of the current weather conditions, warmer temps and spring are ahead, and that means it's time to sign up for OLLI.  Classes, study groups, learning trips, and more are still available for springtime learning with your peers.  

RBG, Film Screening and Discussion

Wednesday, March 6

10:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

Peoria Riverfront Museum

Nominated in two categories (Documentary Feature and Music Original Song), RBG is not only a double Oscar contender, it's also a film that OLLI will screen.   

Watch the Oscars on February 24, then join OLLI in March when we watch and learn about the exemplary life and career of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  Jerelyn Maher, retired Tenth Judicial Circuit judge and director of the Center for Legal Studies at Bradley University, will lead our discussion prior to the film screening.

OLLI has partnered with the Peoria Riverfront Museum, the Encore program at the Hult Center for Healthy Living, and AARP to present this special screening of RBG as part of the new OLLI Originals program made possible through generous donations from our OLLI members.

Register online for RBG, or call Bonnie or Gwen at (309) 677-3900 for more information.

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Dear OLLI Insider,

I signed up for a learning trip later this week, but I've been fighting a nasty cold.  I've already paid for the trip and don't want to lose my money.  What should I do?

Signed, 

Coughing Craig

Dear Coughing Craig,

By all means, if you are sick, please stay home until you are feeling 100%.  We know that people can be infectious even before symptoms occur and can remain infectious while symptoms (coughing, running nose) persist, so it's wise to stay home until you're feeling better. 

Even our staff stays home when we're not feeling well - especially since OLLI trips present particular opportunities for spreading germs (sitting close together on the shuttles and in restaurants, passing around items).  So our preference is that a person who doesn't feel well should stay home - whether you're an OLLI participant or a staff member.  Get well.  That's the important thing!  

You also expressed a concern about losing your money.  If you are feeling ill, please call our office (677-3900) as soon as possible, so that we have sufficient time to find a replacement - either from the waiting list or through a replacement like a friend or relative that you may recommend.  If a substitute can be found, we will refund your money AND the spot can be filled.  Everybody wins!  

Feel better soon!  We'll see you on the next trip!

Sincerely,

OLLI Insider

OLLI Insider   is a weekly article that addresses questions from our members.  If you have a question about OLLI you'd like featured in an upcoming edition, please email  [email protected].

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January 2019

Jan. 31, 9:00 - 11:00 a.m., Study Group Committee Meetings,  Peoria Next Innovation Center

Love Bradley, an initiative to spread kindness on the Hilltop, opened Monday and will continue for four weeks. 

Students, faculty, staff and OLLI members are encouraged to complete any of the five acts of kindness listed below (or creating your own acts of kindness!) and sharing your experience on social media. By sharing openly and widely, we hope to create a ripple effect of kindness on campus.  Acts of kindness for week one are:

Send an encouraging text to a friend

Hold the door open

Leave a positive sticky note for someone

Donate blood during the Challenge on 74 blood drive

Buy someone coffee, hot chocolate, or tea

On social media, use the hashtag #LoveBradley and tag Bradley University in your post for a chance to win one of the weekly prizes!    Email Liz Gunty if you have any questions.

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January 29 - 31

Noon - 6:00 p.m.

Bradley University Markin Center

The annual Challenge on 74 Blood Drive competition between Bradley and ISU gets underway this week. The school that collects the highest percentage of its 3-day goal secures all-important bragging rights for the year. 

The American Red Cross has an urgent need for blood and platelet donors of all blood types to help address a winter blood donation shortage. Visit  redcrossblood.org,  and enter sponsor code BRADLEY, or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) for more information. 

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The Leadership Crisis in Illinois, America,
and the World

Presentation by John Shaw, Director,
Paul Simon Public Policy Center, SIUC

Thursday, January 31

7:00 p.m. 

Bradley University Michel Student Center 

The Peoria World Affairs Council (PAWAC) will host author John Shaw, Director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Center at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, in this lively discussion about leadership.  Relying upon 25 years as a congressional and diplomatic reporter in Washington, D.C., Shaw will speak on the global leadership crisis and will conclude his presentation with a question-and-answer session.  Shaw has appeared on C-SPAN, the PBS NewsHour, and station KPCC, Southern California Public Radio.    

For more information and to register, visit the PAWAC website.  

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Pollinators: What They Are -  Why They Matter

Tuesday, January 29

6:00 p.m.

Chillicothe Public Library

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For the Love of Japanese Prints:

Frank Lloyd Wright and the Art Institute of Chicago

Thursday, February 14

9:30 a.m.  Social time

10:00 a.m. Presentation 

Peoria Riverfront Museum

Frank Lloyd Wright's activities as a promoter of Japanese prints had a lasting impact on Chicago, and this is very much in evidence in the Art Institute's collection. Presenter Janice Katz, Weston Associate Curator of Japanese Art at the Art Institute of Chicago, will present her research into Wright's role in building the museum's Japanese print collection, the landmark exhibition he designed in 1908, and the drawings done by Wright and his studio held by the museum.

Admission is $12 for adults, $5 for students.  For more information, visit the Fine Arts Society website, or call (309) 692-1858.  

(Photo from 1908 exhibition courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago Institutional Archives)

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