May 2019

Executive Director Newsletter

Thank You for another Great Year of OLLI at DU!

As we end this academic year and prepare for a summer of fun, family and Summer Seminars, I wanted to thank each of you for your contribution to our success. OLLI at DU continues to grow in attendance, expand its offerings and enhance an already wonderful lifelong learning experience. We have increased the number of classes offered at all of our six sites to a total class offering of over 550 classes. This is due to the commitment and focus of our Curriculum Committees and the amazing Facilitators they ‘draft’ to present the classes.

The OLLI at DU Facilitators are the Lifeblood of Our Learning Experience!

Each year we honor the incredible contribution by our OLLI at DU facilitators at our Facilitator Dinners. This year we hosted more than 350 Facilitators and their guests. Each event had a special focus for our new facilitators as well as those facilitators who achieved the Senior, Master and Diamond facilitator award levels.  Ninety (90) New Facilitators were honored (thank you for bringing your passion to OLLI at DU) Nineteen (19) Senior Facilitators were honored (Senior Facilitators have facilitated 10 or more classes for OLLI at DU) Six (6) Master Facilitators were honored (Master Facilitators have facilitated 15 or more classes for OLLI at DU) Ten (10) Diamond Facilitators were honored (Diamond Facilitators have facilitated 25 or more classes for OLLI at DU) A special Thank You to each Facilitator… Thank you for the time and energy you commit to OLLI at DU. Without you, there would be no OLLI!

THE 2025 MEMBER SURVEY

As we bring the OLLI at DU 2020 Strategic Plan to fruition, it is time to begin thinking forward with the OLLI at DU 2025 Strategic Plan. This project, launched in the fall of 2018, will be completed by the Fall of 2019. One of the elements of this Strategic Plan is the 2025 Member Survey. As you can well imagine, we have OLLI at DU members with expertise in survey design and writing. With their assistance, we launched the survey. Due to your response, and with a bit of additional ‘survey education’, we understand that the information we received has a 99% confidence level with a very small margin of error. Overall, the survey results showed a high degree of satisfaction as indicated by the following question responses: Overall, how satisfied are you with your OLLI courses? – 91.5% Satisfaction! Overall, how satisfied are you with the selection of courses? – 85.9% Satisfaction! Overall, how happy are you with the quality of classes? – 89.6% Satisfied! Overall, how happy are you with the quality of your facilitators? – 89.6% Satisfaction!  Overall, is OLLI meeting your lifelong learning needs? – 91% Replied Yes! This summer we will be analyzing the data and comments more completely with a full presentation at each site during the Fall 2019 term.  What the results have indicated to the 2025 Strategic Plan Steering Committee is that the format and processes used by OLLI at DU provide a high satisfaction rate and are aspects to remain intact. Additional analysis of the comments, both positive and negative will provide more in-depth awareness.

OLLI AT DU SUMMER SEMINARS

OLLI at DU will be launching its Summer Seminar offering. An email noting the Summer Seminars was distributed and many of you have already registered for the seminars of your choice. In fact, the two offerings of ‘Summer Soapbox with Dick Wisott’ have filled! All others continue to have space available.  Each summer we strive to provide a slightly different selection of Summer Seminars with a few of our favorite presenters included in the mix. This year we are introducing two unique seminars:   ‘Lives and Legacies of Colorado Veterans’ is a seminar presenting the research findings of students of the DU History department as they researched individuals buried in the Fort Logan Colorado cemetery. During this research, the students are finding many connections to University of Denver students and faculty. Understanding the research process and how we, too, might find out more about our roots is an intriguing topic. (Tuesday, July 9th) ‘Yoga and Pilates Paradigms’ touches on the need for each of us to stay active and how these two different yet similar programs can assist us with such. This is a unique seminar, as we do not often focus on health or movement.(Tuesday, August 13th)

Click here to register for the Summer Seminars

Upcoming and Ongoing Research Projects

OLLI at DU members are highly sought out to be part of research on how best to support and benefit the aging population in the Denver metro area. I would like to highlight two projects you may want to engage.

Research Opportunity at  Anschutz Medical Campus

Healthy adults age 65+ needed for a research study on aging, memory, and immune function. This study involves two research visits (baseline; follow-up) over the course of two years at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Compensation provided. ·         Neurological Exam ·         Set of tests that assess memory, attention, behavior, and other thinking skills ·         Questionnaires about health history ·         Collection of a blood sample ·         MRI of brain ·         Lumbar Puncture to review spinal fluid Please contact Nicola Haakonsen at 303-724-4644 or nicola.haakonsen@ucdenver. edu to learn more and see if you qualify. COMIRB #18-2607, Principal Investigator Brianne M Bettcher

Research Opportunity at the Denver Art Museum

The Denver Art Museum is currently trying to gain a better understanding of how we can advance healthy aging among adults 55 and over and contribute to overall feelings of well-being. We would appreciate you taking the time to complete a short survey to help us learn about and plan for better serving these needs. If you are an adult over 55 click on this link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/93Y2CYK If you are a service provider (anyone who cares for an adult over 55 either professionally or personally) click on this link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JJ5KPWM Thank you for your contributions to helping us advance healthy aging and well-being! The Denver Art Museum

Enjoy Your Summer

Please enjoy your summer. I hope to see you at some of the OLLI at DU Summer Seminars (registration link above) and I definitely look forward to seeing you at the OLLI site of your choice this Fall term.  Our Fall term catalog will be posted on August 5 th (notification emails will be sent) with the term beginning on September 16 th.  HAPPY SUMMER ! ! !

‌ Barbara Ratcliffe Executive Director OLLI at DU barbara.ratcliffe@du.edu