OLLI offices and Northwestern University are closed Monday, September 5 in observance of Labor Day. We will return to regular office hours Tuesday, September 6.

September 4 – September 18, 2022

Fall Study Groups Begin This Tuesday, September 6. 

The OLLI Way is our lens as we prepare for an exciting, uniquely engaging peer learning experience

✓ Your role in the peer-led experience: 

• Prepare: Carefully and purposefully read assigned material and discussion questions in advance. Consider ideas, arguments, or views presented in the selection. Highlight, make notes, and identify questions you want to explore.

• Participate: Enter the conversation, sharing your ideas succinctly and with focus. Listen actively and respectfully to the ideas and opinions of others. 

• Volunteer to be a Discussion Leader alone or with a partner: Discussion leaders are needed every week for the peer-led experience to be a success. Coordinators look to study group members to play this important, fun, and rewarding role.

Support Your Coordinators: Coordinators put a lot into preparing study groups. Show your support by notifying them if you are going to be absent, participating in discussion, volunteering to lead a session, and thanking them for their time and effort.

✓ In-person Reminders

• Daily room assignments are posted on the digital signage on both campuses. 
• Masking is encouraged, but optional in classrooms. Please respect those who choose to remain masked.
• Northwestern continues to monitor CDC, state, and local guidelines and revisits masking requirements as necessary.
• Discounted parking is available in Evanston and Chicago:
• Evanston parking information
• Chicago parking information

✓ Wildcards

• OLLI members with a Full Year Memberships receive a Wildcard.
• Wildcards are in the process of being mailed from the Evanston OLLI office.
• Note: if you have a 2021-22 Wildcard, it is valid through September 30, 2022.

✓ Canvas

• Members participating in virtual study groups will enter the virtual classroom via Canvas. In addition, some coordinators of in-person study groups may use Canvas to post discussion questions, links, reading materials, etc.
• You will not be able to see or access your study group Canvas site until the coordinator publishes the site, which they will do when it is ready.
• Log into Canvas using your NetID and Password, and MFA (see instructions below).
• The Student Canvas site contains tips and information for a successful OLLI experience.

Where to Get Assistance

• Email OLLI@northwestern.edu
• Do NOT email Northwestern IT.
• Note: The OLLI Office is closed on September 5 in observance of the holiday.

Location: Online via Zoom

This summer, the world marveled at the first breathtaking images of NASA’s $10-billion James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), from 14 billion years ago to nearly the Big Bang. The JWST heralds a new era of space exploration, able to discover unfathomable numbers of galaxies, stars, planets, and other cosmic bodies—even perhaps the chemical signatures of life.

Dr. Mark SubbaRao, the Lead of NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio, will demonstrate how JWST’s digital data from the blackness of space is turned into stunning images. Our second expert speaker Dr. Allison Strom, Assistant Professor at Northwestern’s Department of Physics & Astronomy and a core faculty member of CIERA, The Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Exploration in Astrophysics, will share some first highlights of Northwestern’s research.

Click Here to Register

This event is free and open to all 2022-23 OLLI members. Registration is required through the OLLI online registration system.

OLLI Members are also invited to CIERA’s 13th Annual Public Lecture on October 6th at the Cahn Auditorium at 5:30pm. Subscribe to the CIERA Friends email list for information about monthly “Astronomer Evenings” at the Dearborn Observatory on the Evanston campus, and other public participation opportunities.