Ask OLLI

Jo Brownlie, OLLI at Saginaw Valley State University, Asks OLLI:

Our university is exploring the possibility of offering retirement housing adjacent to our campus, which might be managed by the university or by a private company. Our OLLI offerings would be a major benefit to the residents. Is your OLLI’s university or college currently doing this? And if so, how is it working out?

Maxine Doherty, OLLI at The University of Alabama Huntsville, Asks OLLI:

Does your OLLI offer opportunities for host-university graduate students to propose, prepare, and teach short courses/give lectures for OLLI members? If so, what criteria do you use to select the graduate students? Do you provide guidelines for submission of course proposals? If so, would you be willing to share the guidelines? Do you offer stipends or some form of remuneration to the graduate students selected? If so, is the remuneration on a “flat-rate” or number of hours taught basis?

Barbara White, OLLI at California State University Long Beach, Asks OLLI:

Does your OLLI offer a volunteer program or have an established curriculum of community civic engagement for your members? If so:

• How did you establish the program?
• How did you connect with the site or sites for volunteering?
• How do you recruit OLLI members to participate?

Lucy Woodhouse, OLLI at Furman University, Asks OLLI:

Has your OLLI celebrated a milestone anniversary? If so, how did you celebrate it? It would be fun to hear ideas other OLLIs have on celebrating their special anniversaries.

Judith Bobenage, OLLI at the University of Pittsburgh, Asks OLLI:

Does your OLLI connect members to your host institute’s community service activities? If so, does your OLLI have a course or event to help members explore a volunteer site match?

Jeannette M. Toohey, OLLI at University of North Florida, Asks OLLI:

How does your OLLI orient and nurture its members?

Mary Quinn Burkhart, OLLI at Auburn University, Asks OLLI:

Are there any OLLIs that have partnerships with a Village to Village Network organization? Villages in the network (http://www.vtvnetwork.org/) are membership-driven, grass-roots organizations run by volunteers and paid staff and help coordinate access to affordable services to enable seniors continue to live in their own homes. One of the well-known Villages is Beacon Hill Village in Boston: http://www.beaconhillvillage.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=332658&module_id=75811

Dee Aguilar, OLLI at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Asks OLLI:

Following up on an Ask OLLI question posted in February (http://usm.maine.edu/olli/national/askolli/?p=192), I would like to know if your OLLI has introduced measures for increasing diversity in your membership.  I am interested in knowing about ideas for increasing diversity in each of the following areas: age, education, ethnicity, geographic location.

Elena Marciano, OLLI at University of the Pacific, Asks OLLI:

Has your OLLI held a member day of service to the community?

If so, please briefly describe the project. Was it successful?

How many members participated?  Did any of them have an existing connection with the organization for which the project was done?

Did member volunteers help your staff with the planning?

How far in advance of the project did you start planning?

Jo Brownlie, OLLI at Saginaw Valley State University, Asks OLLI:

Does your OLLI offer a Grandparents University? The OLLI  at SVSU will offer its first Grandparents University in June. This will be a two-day, overnight “camp” with classes and other fun activities. It’s geared for 8-12-year-olds which is typical of similar programs throughout the country. Does any other OLLI offer a GPU? How successful is it? Do you have a brochure about it, and if so, is it available on your OLLI’s website?  If not, and you do have a brochure, would you email a pdf of it to Kyle Allen (kallen@usm.maine.edu)? Kyle will forward the brochure to Jo and, with your permission, arrange for it to be posted on the national website.