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THIS WEEK
JUST ADDED
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CSO Open Rehearsal tickets — Tuesday, December 8
UPCOMING OLLI EVENTS
OLLI NEWS
OTHER INFORMATION
Scroll down to learn more. All times are CT.
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Daylight saving time ends today. Remember to set your clocks back one hour.
OLLI staff work remotely on Fridays throughout the Fall term.
To reach the OLLI staff please email: olli@northwestern.edu
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Free Online Speaker Event for OLLI Members
Recent Advances in Alzheimer's Research & The Immune System Connection
This Friday, November 6
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Time: 12:00pm–1:00pm
Location: Online Zoom Webinar
The zoom link will be emailed to all registrants the day before the event.
Speakers: Northwestern University’s Dr. David Gate and Dr.Stephanie Eisenbarth
We are living through a pivotal moment in brain science. In recent years, researchers have uncovered surprising links between the immune system and Alzheimer’s disease, changing how we think about its causes and how we might one day treat it. What do these discoveries mean for the millions of families affected? How close are we to new therapies? And what can we do now to protect our brain health?
Dr. David Gate of Northwestern University will share findings from his research on Alzheimer’s disease and explain what they could mean for patients and families. Dr. Stephanie Eisenbarth will introduce Northwestern’s new Center for Human Immunobiology and describe how its work may shape the future of medicine.
Come with your questions!
| | INTRODUCING OUR GUEST SPEAKERS: | | |
Stephanie Eisenbarth, MD, PhD is Professor of Medicine and Pathology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine where she is Chief of Allergy and Immunology and the inaugural Director of the Center for Human Immunobiology.
Dr. Eisenbarth runs a joint lab working to understand how pathogenic antibodies to food allergens are regulated, to identify ways to reverse susceptibility to allergic reactions. Dr. Eisenbarth has been elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians; she chairs a national committee to advance immunology education nationally and internationally and is on the editorial board of numerous immunology journals. Her research has been supported through grants from private foundations, international scientific societies, and the NIH.
| |  | Dr. David Gate is the Director of the Abrams Research Center on Neurogenomics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine as well as Assistant Professor of Neurology, in Behavioral Neurology. He runs a laboratory that studies how brain inflammation (neuroinflammation) affects diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and ALS. His team uses advanced technology to look closely at the body's genetic instructions and cell activities to figure out the exact molecular processes that cause these diseases. A major part of his work is exploring how the immune system reacts to new medical treatments being tested in clinical trials. The goal is to find ways to use the immune system's power to fight off these diseases and improve patient outcomes. | | | SPONSORED BY THE OLLI ACADEMIC ENRICHMENT COMMITTEE | | This event is free and open to all current OLLI members. Registration is required by noon the day before the event through the OLLI Augusoft registration system. The Zoom link will be emailed to all registrants the day before the event. | |
Registration Opens Today!
OLLI HOLLI-day Party Luncheons
Celebrate the holiday season with a festive luncheon! Choose your location and join us for a wonderful afternoon of fellowship, delicious food, and holiday cheer. Log into your Augusoft Student account to register and pay.
SPONSORED BY THE OLLI CHICAGO AND EVANSTON MEMBERSHIP ENRICHMENT COMMITTEES
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CHICAGO HOLLI-day Lunch
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Date: Friday, December 4
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Time: 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM
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Location: Harry Caray’s Italian Steakhouse (at Dearborn & Kinzie), Chicago
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Cost: $45/person
Join us for a festive HOLLI-day lunch—new this year!—at this classic Chicago restaurant, located in River North in a historic landmark building with a storied past.
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11:30 AM: Reception, with cash bar
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Noon: Sit-down lunch
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Menu: Your choice of one of three entrees, selected at the dining table: Rigatoni Vodka, with Mascarpone Cheese and Shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano; Chicken Piccata, with Capers, Lemon, and Fresh Herbs; or Mustard Maple Glazed Salmon. Served with mixed baby greens and vegetables, bakery rolls, roasted market vegetables, Yukon gold potatoes, Tiramisu dessert, coffee, and hot tea.
Open to OLLI members and one paid guest. Space is limited. Bookings must be received no later than Wednesday, November 25 at 5:00pm.
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EVANSTON HOLLI-day Lunch
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Date: Friday, December 11
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Time: Noon–2:00pm
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Location: 500 Davis Street, 7th floor, Evanston (Parking discount stickers available for easy parking in the building.)
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Cost: $35/person
Celebrate the holidays with your fellow OLLI revelers! You won’t recognize our Davis Street space which will be transformed into a beautiful HOLLI-day Haven.
- Enjoy a delicious lunch featuring new menu items catered by Michael's
- Buzzy holiday spirits
- Just $35/person. OLLI Members and ONE paid guest per member welcome
Registration closes December 4, however due to the popularity of this event, please register as soon as possible. Open to OLLI members and one paid guest.
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FREE to OLLI Members
Chicago Symphony Orchestra Open Rehearsal tickets
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Date: Tuesday, December 8
Time: 1:30pm-3:30pm
Riccardo Muti, Conductor and Music Director Emeritus
Yefim Bronfman, Piano
"Postcard from Vienna"
The Program May Include:
Mozart Overture to Don Giovanni and Piano Concerto 24
Johann Strauss Sr., Johann Strauss Jr., Josef Strauss
Selections of Dances, Waltzes, and Polkas
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Interested in attending?
RSVP: mattcorey222@hotmail.com
• Indicate your full name and number of tickets requested (max 2).
• Tickets are very limited and offered on a first come, first served basis. Those who cannot be accommodated will be added to a wait list.
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Osher Online Community Event
Grandfamilies: Rising to the Challenge of Raising Another Generation with Hope and Heart
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Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2026
Time: 4:00pm–5:30pm
Location: Online Zoom Webinar
Speaker: Donna Butts
Today, 2.5 million children live in grandfamilies, or families headed by grandparents, aunts and uncles, siblings, or close family friends. A recent report by Generations United found that grandfamilies save taxpayers more than $10 billion each year by keeping children out of foster care. In her new book, Grandfamilies: Stories of Children and the Loving Relatives Who Raise Them, Donna Butts explores the unique challenges, resilience, and successes of grandfamilies through the stories of the caregivers and the children they raise. This session will use these stories to highlight how public policy and perceptions of grandfamilies and kinship care have changed over the past 30 years, and what more is needed to help these families thrive.
Speaker Donna Butts is an award-winning nonprofit executive, author, and nationally recognized advocate for intergenerational solutions that benefit children, youth, older adults, and families. For more than twenty-seven years, Donna served as Executive Director of Generations United, a national nonprofit dedicated to strengthening communities and families through intergenerational policy and practice. In this role, she elevated the needs of grandfamilies and advanced policies supporting families across generations. Her leadership helped shape national conversations and paved the way for critical legislation and resources for relative caregivers.
| | Osher Online Community Events are sponsored by the Osher National Resource Center; events are free and open to all current OLLI members. | | | |
Families and Politics Workshop
OLLI Members and Their Guests Are Welcome
Date: Friday, November 13⋅
Time: 9:45am–12:45pm
Location: Chicago Wieboldt Hall, 339 E Chicago Avenue, Room 517
Facilitated by: Maryanne Colter, Illinois State Chair for Braver Angels
The holidays are coming up, and toxic political polarization can make some family gatherings stressful and difficult to navigate. For years, politics has been straining and breaking relationships. Our Families and Politics Workshop will teach you how to preserve family bonds while also staying true to your own political beliefs. We will use fun, engaging, interactive exercises to practice effective communication skills with difficult family members. Our goals are to understand why family differences over politics can be uniquely challenging and provide some strategies and skills for handling political differences in a constructive way.
Guests and family members are welcome to attend. Even if your own family is a dream, these skills will help you navigate any contentious gathering. Our Workshop facilitator is Maryanne Colter, Illinois State Chair for Braver Angels, a national organization working to bridge political divides and fight polarization. Maryanne is also a media personality and appears on the WTTW series Firsthand Democracy. You can see Maryanne in action in this 22-minute WTTW segment here.
SPONSORED BY THE OLLI CHICAGO COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT COMMITTEE
| This event is free and open to all current OLLI members and their guests. Registration is required through the OLLI Augusoft registration system. OLLI members may register themselves and their guests through Augusoft. | | | |
Not Sure How to Proceed with Your Spring or Summer 2027 Study Group Idea?
From an Idea to a Proposal Workshop
Date: Friday, November 13
Time: 9:00am–12:00pm
Location: Chicago Wieboldt Hall, 339 E. Chicago Ave., Room 402
Do you have an idea for a study group but are not sure how to proceed? This workshop is designed as a hands-on experience on how to turn an idea into a proposal and a successful study group. This workshop is for:
- Members who have an idea for a study group, but are not sure what to do next.
- Those who have co-coordinated but did not participate in all aspects of planning, therefore have questions about offering their own study group and submitting a proposal.
We will assist you to write and then refine your study group description, complete the proposal form, and construct your syllabus. We will also briefly explore how to identify engaging resources.
There is no text for this workshop, but participants are expected to bring an idea that they would like to develop. Participants should come to the workshop with their study group idea and book (or other course material you plan to use), as well as a preliminary written description of the idea. We will look at each person’s idea, then as a group we will discuss and offer constructive suggestions to help refine that idea. Next, we’ll work through the process of transferring the ideas into the proposal software system. We’ll also discuss ideas for finding a co-coordinator for your study group if you don't have one, as each fall and spring study group is expected to have two coordinators. We’ll also briefly discuss developing the syllabus for your study group. Our goal is for participants to end the workshop with a fully developed study group proposal ready to submit for fall term.
This workshop will not cover how to use Augusoft and MyOLLI as a coordinator, nor coordinator responsibilities and classroom management techniques. Those topics are discussed in the New Coordinator Orientation workshop which is required for all new coordinators prior to the beginning of each term.
SPONSORED BY THE OLLI CHICAGO STUDY GROUP COMMITTEE
| This event is free and open to all current OLLI members. Registration is required by noon the day before the event through the OLLI Augusoft registration system. | |
MEC Has an Invitation for You!
The Membership Enrichment Committee (MEC) is one of the ways you can become more involved in the special pieces that enrich our OLLI program! This is the committee where the OLLI Volli’s (volunteers for our social events) plan and activate fun happenings for all OLLI members.
We invite you to join this team as we host welcome events, lunch gatherings and special parties. If having fun and helping others to do the same calls to you, join us on either the Evanston or Chicago campus!
Evanston MEC, please email: ghulse9359@gmail.com
Chicago MEC, please email: barbleff24@gmail.com
Looking forward to working with you for an enriched OLLI experience!
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Recording Now Available
Speaker Abdiaziz Ahmed, technology policy strategist at the Brennan Center Elections and Government Program
Recordings of this speaker event as well as recent past speaker events are posted on MyOLLINU under General Info > Lectures/Training tab. You must log into your MyOLLINU account to access the video link.
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Do you have OLLI news?
If you have OLLI news to share, send us your news and photos to be considered for inclusion in an upcoming OLLI newsletter (notate OLLI Newsletter in the subject line): olli@northwestern.edu
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Northwestern University Speech, Language, and Learning Program (NUCASLL)
FREE Healthy Hearing Event
Date: Friday, November 13
Time: Call for Appointment
Location: Center for Audiology, Speech, Language, and Learning — 2315 Campus Drive, Evanston
Let the doctors of audiology at Northwestern University help you take charge of your hearing health.
- Receive a Free Hearing, Cognition, and Balance Screening
- Speak to an Audiologist
- Demo Hearing Devices
More information on the Healthy Hearing Event flyer.
Appointments are limited. Call now to secure your spot:
847-491-3165
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Travel Opportunities
Through OLLI NU Partnership with OLLI ASU
The OLLI NU travel partnership with OLLI at Arizona State University offers our members a unique opportunity to deepen friendships, expand horizons, and learn in new settings beyond the classroom. Whether exploring cultural treasures, natural landscapes, or intellectually inspiring destinations, each trip is thoughtfully curated to combine expert-led learning with rich social experiences. You’ll traverse new terrain with people who share your curiosity and enthusiasm. You will create lifelong memories, sparking fresh ideas, and coming home with renewed energy for community and lifelong learning.
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Just Added! OLLI Corps New Zealand OLLI at ASU in collaboration with AUIP Study Abroad Program
- December 4–17, 2027
- Information meeting: November 9, 3:00pm–4:00pm MST (4:00pm CT). Register here.
- Click here for full itinerary.
- A rich blend of cultural discovery, service learning, and scenic exploration across Auckland, Rotorua, Napier, and Wellington.
- Note: All the trip coordination and payments will be handled directly by AUIP. You must provide proof of a current OLLI Membership to make a deposit and reserve a spot for the trip.
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Food & Landscapes of Ireland with ASU Faculty Kathleen Dixon
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OLLI's South Africa Expedition
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Madrid, the Camino & the Portuguese Coast with ASU Professor Dr. Eduardo Pagàn
| Questions? Email Tracy Grewe at Arizona State University: tmgrewe@asu.edu | |
Invitation to Travel with OLLI at Southern Oregon University
OLLI at Southern Oregon University has organized three trips in 2027 with Premier World Discovery (PWD) travel company. and is inviting fellow OLLI members from other regions of the USA to join.
ONLINE BOOKING OPTION: Save time, postage, and secure your seat for this group departure. Simply type https://res.premierworlddiscovery.com/ into your web browser and use the Booking Number (Web Code) to make your deposit online in just a few minutes. No need to submit a Reservation Form if booking online.
Burgundy & Provence French River Cruise
Mackinac Island, The Grand Hotel & Niagara Falls
Treasures of Ireland
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Experience Three Distinct Theatrical Events from the Wirtz Center
This fall, the Wirtz Center invites audiences to experience exceptional productions in both Evanston and Chicago.
In Evanston, discover Grace and the Butterfly Effect, a moving new musical about connection, resilience, and the ripple effects one life can have on others. Then step into the charming world of She Loves Me, the beloved romantic musical comedy filled with mistaken identities, heartfelt romance, and an unforgettable score.
At Wirtz Center Chicago, experience 73 Seconds, a gripping and deeply human drama that explores memory, family, and the life-changing truths that emerge when the past resurfaces.
Whether you're drawn to the emotional power of new musical theater, the timeless joy of a classic musical comedy, or thought-provoking contemporary drama, the Wirtz Center offers extraordinary performances on both campuses.
Visit wirtz.northwestern.edu to learn more, explore performance schedules, and reserve your seats today.
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Northwestern Library holds over 8 million items making it the 11th largest private university library.
Need help finding resources for your study group, or have other library-related questions?
Email Tracy Coyne: tracy-coyne@northwestern.edu
OLLI Research Guide
| | National Resource Center for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (NRC) |
The mission of the National Resource Center is to help OLLIs thrive by connecting OLLIs to each other and to resources, collaborating with OLLIs and partner organizations, consulting with OLLI leaders to find solutions, and celebrating the camaraderie and growth of OLLIs and their members. Members can subscribe to their monthly newsletter to find out what is happening at OLLIs across the country.
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Chicago Office:
339 East Chicago Avenue
Wieboldt Hall, Room 412
Chicago, IL 60611
312-503-7881
M-F 9:00am–3:30pm
olli@northwestern.edu
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Evanston Office:
500 Davis Street
Suite 700
Evanston, IL 60201
847-467-1523
M-F 9:00am–3:30pm
olli@northwestern.edu
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