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Volume 2 Issue 30

Hello!

I hope you are all staying safe with these crazy wildfires. My husband and I live in Ken Caryl so we have our go-bag ready and are constantly monitoring the Quarry Fire.

I am writing with an update on the leadership and staffing for OLLI at DU for next year. After six years on the OLLI staff and 2 ½ years as Executive Director, I have made the decision to retire. My decision was bittersweet as I love OLLI and have enjoyed working with our members, our facilitators, our staff, and our volunteers as we strengthened the foundation of OLLI in these post-pandemic times. As I am solidly in my 70s and I am fortunate to have good health and 15 grandchildren, it's time to pass the leadership of OLLI on to others. The Deans of University College and I researched executive leadership of other OLLIs and decided to split the tasks of the Executive Director into two positions. We created two, 28-hour/week positions and posted the jobs on 30+ hiring sites. We conducted multiple interviews with candidates, semi-finalists and finalists.

I am pleased to introduce:

• Our new Co-Executive Director for Curriculum, Operations, and Finance, David Schoenhals. David Schoenhals is an experienced educational leader with a track record of implementing strategic initiatives to drive excellence and ensure financial stability. Over the past 30 years, he has held various roles in education including teacher, coach, coordinator, principal, and director. Skilled in data-driven decision-making, program management, and collaboration, he graduated from Colorado State University with a BS in Mathematics and obtained his Principal License from the University of Denver. David's first day was Monday, July 29 (david.schoenhals@du.edu)
• 
  
• Our new Co-Executive Director for Marketing, Communications, and Development, Laura Uzzle. Laura has more than 25 years of experience in nonprofit management, specializing in partnership development and community engagement. Her background includes leadership roles at two national nonprofit organizations where she focused on member recruitment and retention, communication/ marketing, program development, and building strategic partnerships. Laura earned her BA from the College of William and Mary. She enjoys traveling with her family, reading, and taking long walks with her dogs. Laura's first day will be August 19 (DU email forthcoming).

I will be available to assist in the transition of the leadership of OLLI through September 30 and I have created an extensive OLLI at DU Executive Leadership Guide for both directors. As I love learning and OLLI, I definitely plan to register for courses and teach and I welcome the opportunity to see you at an OLLI site or in a Zoom room- I have already selected the courses I will be registering for the fall term!

I am confident that OLLI is in a very good place, our membership grew by 7.5% last year and you will be in the very capable hands of David and Laura.

Please join me in welcoming them.

Forever in your gratitude,

Jackie Wyant

Executive Director, OLLI at DU

Our Fall Term Mini-Catalog is here!

Our long-awaited mini-catalog contains an index of all courses and webinars which will be offered during our Fall Term 2024. Click on the image above to access the digital version. "Hard copies" will be available in the office beginning 7/24. Our full catalog with course descriptions and facilitator bios will be available on our website on 8/12/24.

Please note the following changes to the information in the mini-catalog:

• Putman course is 7 weeks long and ends on 10/30
• Spelling of facilitator Lane Hart (not Heart)
• Chernobyl course by Cassell will be meeting on Wednesday AM at First Universalist
• Elliott webinar will be held on 9/20; not 10/18

A reminder that REGISTRATION BEGINS at 10:00 AM MONDAY, AUGUST 19.

Our Annual Membership for 2024-25

is now available for purchase

Over 350 people have already purchased their 2024-25 annual membership. Enroll now to be ready when fall term registration begins on Monday, August 19 so you won't be disappointed as courses fill quickly.

The cost of an OLLI at DU Annual Membership remains at just $65 and includes a number of benefits:

• free registration to over 40 webinars and access to a library of recordings of the webinars (individual non-member webinar cost is $15)
• free daily online fitness classes (Tai Chi, Yoga, Mindfulness, Meditation, and Qigong)
• Lunch and Learn presentations throughout the year
• social events and excursions
• domestic and international travel opportunities (this year: Washington DC, New York City, Cuba, Ireland)
• access to registration for over 330 courses each year

To renew your membership and be ready when registration opens on August 19, simply go to our website and follow these instructions:

1) FIRST sign into your account (click on SIGN IN which is in the red bar below the image of DU

2) NEXT on the Home page, click on BECOME A MEMBER.

3) Select OLLI at DU ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP and click on ADD TO CART. NOTE: If you don't sign into your account first, the ADD to CART button will not appear for you to purchase a membership.

Having challenges? Email or call our office for assistance. Note our summer office hours are 9-2 Tuesday through Thursday. Email: olli@du.edu. Phone: 303-871-3181.

PRICING PLAN 2024-25

You talked; we listened! Our pricing plan is changing this year. We heard from many of our members that, although the enjoyed the many benefits of an annual OLLI membership, they wanted different course registration fees for different length courses. Our financial advisory team of three volunteers spent months reviewing the data from this year and designing a plan for course fees that would allow us to meet our expenses and keep our fees low. We based on budget on our 2170 members registering for the same number of courses as this year. Last year's registration fee was $65 per course, no matter the length. The new pricing plan is:

$70 for an 8-week course

$65 for a 7-week course

$60 for a 6-week course

$55 for a 5-week course

$50 for a 4-week course

Two years ago, OLLI members paid $140 per term and $15 per webinar. Our average member took 2 courses per term; which meant that they paid $70 per course and an additional $15 for each of the ten Summer Shorts and six Fall Recess webinars. We were not able to meet our expenses and had to use funds in our reserve account for the FY21-FY23 years.

Our new plan allows for the member to choose the courses they wish to take and pay the fee associated with the length of the courses. In addition our $65 membership fee covers all 40+ webinars during the year and the daily online fitness classes.

How to use your

OLLI at DU Account to:

• find your Zoom links
• make a payment
• review your courses and webinars for the term
• update your personal information (phone, address, email address)

Did you know that every OLLI member has an account on our website which is linked to our registration system (this is called a Learning Management System)? We encourage you to use this account to find out all the information about your courses, events and webinars

To access all the information about your course/webinar/event or to pay an outstanding balance:

1) Simply sign into your account on our website (olli.du.edu).

2) Once there, click on the word ACCOUNT in the red bar below the image of DU.

3) Click on MAKE A PAYMENT to pay an outstanding balance

4) Click on CLASS LIST to see all the information about your courses/webinars/events, INCLUDING your Zoom Links for online courses and class meeting locations for in-person courses.

SUMMER OFFICE HOURS

During the summer months, OLLI staff relax and spend some time gearing up for the intensity of the academic year.

Our office hours beginning 6/10 and continuing through 8/1 are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 9:00-2:00. Please understand that we will respond to you in a timely manner once the office reopens each week. Our Support Specialists are Dave Johnson (david.k.johnson@du.edu) and Mitra Verma (mitra.verma@du.edu).

Frequently, other OLLIs nationwide will offer free webinars for all OLLI members. Below are two additional opportunities for our members this fall offered by OLLI at the University of South Dakota:

Burning Issues – Monitoring Fires Remotely from South Dakota ZOOM - 1 session(s) with Joshua Picotte 

Friday, September 6, 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. CENTRAL | Zoom

USGS Earth Resources and Observation Science Center (EROS) operates the Landsat satellite program with NASA, and maintains the largest civilian collection of images of the Earth’s land surface in existence, including tens of millions of satellite images. They use satellites to monitor fires across the United States, all from a tiny place in eastern South Dakota. Joshua Picotte, a research biologist with USGS EROS who has been involved in fire science for the past 20 years, will explain the techniques that EROS uses to map those fires and how the data is used. Limit: 300

Name That Tune and Music Trivia 5 - 1 session with Anne Hullinger

Thursday, November 7, 1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. | Zoom

A fun game of music trivia and Name that Tune, with songs especially selected for an OLLI audience.

Limit: 300

OLLI at the University of South Dakota would like to share two classes with all OLLIs this fall. Please email us at OLLI@usd.edu for the Zoom link to the class you want to attend. 

Join us each Tuesday morning from 10:00-11:30.

Our Summer Shorts webinars are free to OLLI members and cost $15 for a non-member. This is the perfect opportunity for you to introduce a friend, colleague, or family member to OLLI. The lineup of speakers is outstanding and a new member will pay just $35 for a Spring-Summer membership which will include free registration for all 10 webinars (only $3.50 per webinar instead of $15 if they attended all of them). If you loved our spring webinars, you're in for a treat this summer. And guess what? You can invite your friends along!

This special Summer 2024 membership is only available until July 15 so have your friends and family act fast before the webinars begin!

Share this info with your friends so they can get a taste of what OLLI has to offer this summer!

Eighth Summer Shorts Webinar

Tuesday, July 30, 2024

10:00-11:30 via Zoom

free for OLLI members

The Past, Present, and Future of Water in Colorado

with Thomas Bellinger,

Hydrologist; MSU Adjunct Professor of Earth & Atmospheric Studies; H20 Talk Podcast co-host

This webinar will focus on water resources in Colorado. Topics discussed will include a brief introduction to water resources, and history of water resource development in the state, as well as the existing doctrine of water rights/”ownership” in Colorado. Main topics covered will include present and future water related issues in the state and Denver Metro area such as potential water conflicts, supply needs, quality concerns, and the influence of climate change on Colorado’s water resources.

Tom Bellinger is a certified Professional Hydrologist with the American Institute of Hydrology (Emeritus). He retired as Principal Hydrologist from the Bureau of Reclamation. He also worked for the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Since retiring, Tom has been on the faculty at MSU Denver (Earth and Atmospheric Science Department), served on the Board of Directors for Bancroft Clover Water and Sanitation District and Metro Water Recovery and has consulted both domestically and abroad on a variety of environmental/water issues. Tom also co-hosts a podcast: H2O Talk (on Spotify, Amazon Music, Podbean, and Google Music.

Ninth Summer Shorts Webinar

Tuesday, August 6, 2024

10:00-11:30 via Zoom

free for OLLI members

Lessons from the African Philosophy of Ubuntu

with Arthur C. Jones

The philosophy of Ubuntu is ubiquitous in traditional African communities. Ubuntu translates roughly as “I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am.” Additionally, it implies “I in you, and you in me.” Beyond the basic idea of group or communal identity, Ubuntu connotes a complex interplay between the concerns of the individual and the concerns of the group. Employing vignettes, music samples, and writings on Ubuntu, Arthur Jones will invite reflections on lessons from Ubuntu that we might all strive to apply to our increasingly polarized social and political lives in America.

Arthur C. Jones, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus of Music, Culture and Psychology at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music. He is also a licensed clinical psychologist. At the University of Denver, he has held a variety of teaching and administrative positions since 1991, culminating in a year as Interim Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion before his formal retirement in 2020.

Dr. Jones has been the recipient of numerous awards for his work as a practitioner, teacher, scholar, and community worker. In the 1990s, his expertise in African American psychology merged with a revival of his childhood love of singing, leading to sustained efforts to help revitalize the legacy of the sacred songs first sung by enslaved Africans in America. He is the founder of the award-winning Spirituals Project, which is now an official program of DU’s Lamont School of Music. His groundbreaking book, Wade in the Water: The Wisdom of the Spirituals, was released in a revised, 30th anniversary edition in 2023.

Enjoy a Bygone Era of Silent Films

August 15 through September 5; 1:00-3:00

OLLI on the Move Course at Acoya Cherry Creek

Slapstick comedy in black-and-white! These pioneers of today’s motion pictures are yours for the laughing for four weeks starting Aug. 15 from 1-3 p.m. at the beautiful Acoya Cherry Creek senior community in Denver. Silent Film Comedy: The Movies Learn to Laugh is open to all OLLI members by registering on the OLLI website at the new 4-week course fee of $50.

Remember the days of Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, and Charlie Chaplin? Come watch and discuss the early American films that still influence comedy today. Learn about film preservation and why so many of these great films are still with us when so many have disappeared.

Facilitator Greg Moody spent 45 years working in the news media, radio, newspapers, TV and online. He’s been an anchor, reporter, film/theater critic, feature reporter, producer, videographer, and editor.

Free parking and a beautiful theater room await you at Acoya Cherry

OLLI at DU

Annual Report 2022-2024

Building a Lifelong Learning Organization focused on

 Collaboration, Communication, Community

Over the last two years, the staff and volunteers of OLLI at DU has worked to re-invigorate our program and to further nurture the learning community of members and facilitators which has enjoyed success for 28 years. Our goal remains to foster a collaborative and communicative community where members and facilitators learn from each other as friends. Where every member has the opportunity to both teach and to learn.

As with almost every organization in the world, the Covid pandemic of 2020-2022 necessitated significant changes in almost every aspect of our program–location of our sites, marketing, technology, communications, member engagement, volunteer involvement, finance, and operations. There were silver linings, however: members no longer had to choose from attending courses which were close to their homes; they could enjoy online courses with facilitators and members and create new friends from throughout Colorado and the nation. Facilitators who previously had difficulty attracting enough members for in-person courses for meaningful discussion could welcome members from multiple OLLI at DU sites. Facilitators who had moved could once again teach for OLLI and new facilitators from other states could offer online courses to our members enriching our program of opportunities. And, finally, the behind-the-scenes operations of OLLI could create program-wide processes and procedures to reduce the burden of staff and volunteers at each in-person location and to create consistency throughout.

OLLI at DU has emerged from the shadow of the pandemic a stronger and more cohesive community of learners. After much reflection and a thorough review of both the origin of our OLLI (as VIVA in 1996 and then as OLLI at DU in 2006) and through communications with other OLLIs nationwide, we introduced an annual membership in the summer of 2023. The focus of this membership is on building a community of curious individuals who seek to both teach and learn from each other – it’s how we began 28 years ago! OLLI at DU wishes to distinguish our program from other lifelong learning organizations who only offer courses. Through this membership program, we will build a foundation of members who can engage, socialize, have meaningful discussions between classes, attend webinars, participate in fitness activities, and travel together.

We are grateful for your participation in OLLI at DU and have prepared this report to inform you of our work. Throughout this report, you will note the accomplishments of this community of learners over the past two years; I am confident you will be impressed.

OLLI at DU will end the 2023-24 year with a balanced budget. Costs, as you know, have skyrocketed over the past three years and one area which OLLI could benefit from is more volunteer participation. There are a number of staff tasks which could be done by our members. I encourage you to reach out when you see a notice that volunteers are needed – everything from a one-time task to serving on one of the committees noted above will be of great importance to our community.

As the Executive Director, I am proud of the accomplishments of our community and look forward to seeing you in a course, at a social event, or even on a travel opportunity.

All the best,

Jackie Wyant

Executive Director

OLLI at DU would like to recognize the passing of three members of our community.

Mo Mathews, a long-time OLLI at DU member and a Platinum Facilitator, passed away on July 6. A celebration of Mo’s life will be held Saturday, August 17, 2024, 2pm, at the Brookdale Park Place Auditorium, 111 N. Emerson St., Denver, CO, 80218 

Obituary for Mo Mathews:

https://www.denverpost.com/obituaries/amos-mo-mathews-denver-co/

Arnold Ray (Arne) passed away suddenly in May. Arne was a long-time member and volunteer with OLLI at DU.

Arnold Ray Obituary - Littleton, CO (1945-2024) (denverpost.com)

Dale LeNoue was a big fan of OLLI at DU. In fact, in lieu of flowers, people are asked to send a donation to OLLI at DU. A Celebration of Life will be held in his honor at 10:00 am on Saturday, September 7th, at Pax Christi Catholic Church, 10675 Jaguar Drive, Lone Tree, CO 80124.

Obituary for Dale LeNoue:

https://www.afterall.com/obituaries/DaleLeNoue

Please let the office now if you hear of any of our members' passing. Thank you. (olli@du.edu) 303-871-3181

Did you miss an edition of our weekly Everything OLLI newsletter?

Click here to go to our website where we archive all of our editions:

Everything OLLI Newsletter Archive (du.edu)

Come visit the OLLI at DU Facebook page!

2211 S. Josephine Street | Denver, CO 80208 | olli@du.edu | 303-871-3181