by

OLLI Holiday Party 2023

After three long years, OLLI@UCLA brought their annual holiday party back to the classroom. On December 7, more than 100 instructors, members, and their guests enjoyed a catered lunch and entertainment by the West Coast Singers. One member of the choir was OLLI Program Representative, Jon Kuykendall-Barrett, a tenor (He’s in the second row, on the far right, wearing blue). Jon, who is from the UK, also introduced our members to a wonderful British tradition called holiday crackers. These pop-open party favors are festive table decorations that make a snapping sound when pulled open, and contain a small gift, paper crown, and a joke.

Our tenor! Opening a cracker
Jon Kuykendall Barrett
Program Representative, OLLI		Gioia Frelinghuysen
Vice Chair, OLLI Advisory Board
Sharon Boorstin, OLLI Advisory Board Chair
Stephen Mucher, OLLI Program Director
by

2024 Lifelong Learning Summer School at Girton College, University of Cambridge

This summer school enables participants to take academic courses for the love of learning, live and take meals in the College, and have a pretty full and exciting social program to get the most out of being in Cambridge. In sum it is a fantastic opportunity to spend one or two weeks experiencing the highlights of Cambridge college life in the company of other lifelong learners from around the world!

The two-week summer school will take place 18-31 August 2024.

More information of course is also available on their website at: https://www.girton.cam.ac.uk/lifelong-learning

by

Free Event offered by OLLI@FIU and OLLI@Pacific

Meet Alex Prudhomme , author of: Dinner with the President (2023) 

Julia Child’s great nephew, Alex Prudhomme, talks about his new bestseller, Dinner with the President, a narrative history of American food, politics, and twenty-six presidents, from George Washington to Donald Trump’s burger banquets, and Joe Biden’s “performance enhancing” ice cream in 2022. The White House is the most important home in the world, and the meals served there communicate many things: the meals our leaders eat, who prepares and consumes them, and the context of presidential gatherings. Taken together, these messages touch on everything from personal nutrition to the evolution of American taste (squirrel stew, jellybeans, kale), local politics, global diplomacy, climate change, war, race, class, gender, and the like. At the White House, every meal, every bite, has consequences – some intended, some not.

ALEX PRUD’HOMME is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and other publications. He is the coauthor of his great aunt Julia Child’s best-selling memoir, My Life in France, and has authored or coauthored The French Chef in America, France Is a Feast, Born Hungry, The Ripple Effect, Hydrofracking, The Cell Game, and Forewarned.

Here’s the info you’ll need to join on Zoom:

Topic: OLLI FIU and OLLI PACIFIC present: Dinner with the President 

Time: Nov 1, 2023 06:00 PM Eastern Time, 03:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting: https://fiu.zoom.us/j/92966605384

Meeting ID: 929 6660 5384

by

Free Courses offered by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Boise State University

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Boise State University is pleased to offer the following April programs at no charge to Osher members at other institutes. Please note that all times mentioned are Mountain Time (MT).

Register here to receive the Zoom link to for the each presentation. The deadline to register is Monday, March 27, 2023. Reminders are sent one-week, one-day, and one-hour prior to start of the program. 

Nanoworld With X Rays

The National Synchrotron Light Source II at Brookhaven National Laboratory creates light beams 10 billion times brighter than the sun. Researchers use this light and X-rays to advance our knowledge in a wide range of scientific areas, such as life sciences, energy storage, nuclear and environmental sciences, and geology and planetary sciences. This lecture will take the audience from Röntgen’s discovery of X-rays to their use in modern science at state-of-the-art facilities, using highlights from different scientific areas to emphasize the significance of this research.
Presenter: Dr. Juergen Thieme, Adjunct Professor, Department of Geosciences, Stony Brook University
Date and time: Tue., Apr. 4, 10:00 a.m.-noon (Mountain Daylight Time)

The History of Public Health

This lecture will focus on the history of public health and its impact on the health of the population. The evolution of theories of disease causation will be reviewed. We also will discuss forces contributing to better health, such as improved sanitation and nutrition, medical advances, and economic development.

Presenter: Dr. Doug Myers, occupational epidemiologist and Associate

Professor, Department of Public Health and Population Science, Boise State University
Date and time: Fri., Apr. 14, 10:00 a.m.-noon (Mountain Daylight Time)

Cybersecurity Preparedness

This lecture will provide a high-level overview of what citizens should know to protect their digital information from being compromised. Device management, password management, and best practices will be covered. CapEd is a valued community sponsor of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Boise State University.

Presenter: Toby King, Chief Information Officer, CapEd Credit Union
Date and time: Tue., Apr. 25, 10:00 a.m.-noon (Mountain Daylight Time)

by

Trip Report: The 2022 Osher Institutes National Conference, by Robert Cannon

Bernard Osher, Founder of the Bernard Osher Foundation

UCLA sent me as its representative to Broomfield, Colorado, site of this year’s OLLI conference. The program ran from Monday evening on April 25 to lunch on Wednesday, April 27, 2022. There were plenary sessions (interesting speakers presenting useful information), keynote addresses (similarly learned speakers), breakout sessions (small group get-togethers), facilitated table topic discussions (similar to the breakout sessions) and plenty of food.

The first plenary session on Tuesday morning featured Diane Lebson talking about ”How to Raise the Money You Need for the Critical Work You Do.” Ms. Lebson packed a day’s worth of fund-raising ideas in one hour. Her PowerPoint presentations were especially fun (yes, it’s possible to make PowerPoints fun). One big takeaway from the session was to understand the why, as in: Why does your OLLI exist? Why should people support you?

The keynote address was entitled, “Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life” by the well-known author and psychiatrist Dr. Louise Aronson from the University of California at San Francisco. She explored the challenges associated with aging in the U.S. and offered a positive approach to overcoming those challenges. That approach includes community organizations and volunteers getting more involved with older people, and intergenerational relationships becoming more meaningful. She also talked about ageism, which is the practice of classifying anyone over the age of 60 as “old and weak.” She stressed that older adults have different needs depending on the state of their health and not all should be treated the same. She also suggested that “we are all old people in training”, that we don’t “just walk away” from older people, “you don’t just push them out on the ice” and forget them. “You must continue to provide care.”

A Breakout Session

The breakout sessions I attended included how to deal with change and its effects on staff, volunteers and OLLI members; insights into strategic planning, which was about the important question of whether an OLLI wants to be in the same place in the future as it is now; and ways to achieve diversity, equity, and inclusion in OLLI programs.

The founder of the Osher Foundation, Bernard Osher, attended the opening night session and gave a brief speech. It was a real privilege seeing and hearing the man who has given so much of his time and money to create the foundation that oversees the more than 120 OLLI’s around the country. He received a well-deserved standing ovation.

Without exception the conference programs were well-run, and the staff at the national level, among them Steve Thaxton, the executive director, and Stacey Hart Rivera, manager of operations, were really helpful. One particularly fun event was the “Woo-Hoo” competitions. Each OLLI was represented by a quick PowerPoint slide which highlighted one of its most successful programs. There were two winners each day and the winning OLLI was presented with a new IPad. UCLA was represented in the competition but unfortunately was not a winner.

The conference was a great experience for me and I learned a lot. I hope that whoever represents UCLA in the future learns as much as I did about the Olli world. 

Taking a Coffee Break
by

Interview with J. Arch Getty on Russia-Ukraine War

J. Arch Getty

This Thursday, March 3 @ 1pm on Zoom we are hosting J. Arch Getty, a UCLA Distinguished Research Professor and expert on Russia, to speak on the developing Russia-Ukraine War. This session will last 45 minutes; he will be interviewed by Sharon Boorstin, a contributor to the Los Angeles Times, from 1-1:30pm and take Q&A from 1:30-1:45pm.The event is free for members and the public.

Sharon’s Salon: J. Arch Getty and the Russia-Ukraine War

In late 2021, Russia built up troops and heavy artillery on the border with Ukraine. On February 21, Russia officially recognized the two self-proclaimed states in the Donbas, and sent troops to the territories. Three days later on February 24, Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine. The invasion received widespread international condemnation, including new sanctions imposed on Russia, triggering the 2022 Russian financial crisis. In this course, Ms. Boorstin interviews J. Arch Getty, a UCLA Distinguished Research Professor and expert on Russia. Professor Getty provides insight and predictions about this international crisis and address members’ questions. 

Click here to enroll or call 310-825-9971 ext. 601 and provide reg# 387443.

by

Meet the L.A. Mayoral Candidates

This November, Angelenos elect a new Mayor. The winning candidate will become the leader of the second largest city in the United States, with nearly four million residents. 

LA’s next mayor will inherit a slew of growing issues: rising homelessness, coronavirus recovery, spiking crime rates, climate change, and much more. Who is best suited for the challenge? 

To help Angelenos answer this question, the Los Angeles World Affairs Council & Town Hall, in partnership with Ebell LA, is hosting a 2022 Mayoral Series with the key frontrunner candidates. Live in front of a public audience, the candidates will join us to discuss their campaign’s message, critical issue areas, and distinct plans for the future of our city.

Dan Schnur


The series will be moderated by Dan Schnur, professor of politics at USC, UC-Berkeley, and Pepperdine. Mr. Schnur has been a frequent speaker at OLLI@UCLA programs.


Each session will feature a live audience Q&A, for your opportunity to ask pressing questions of LA’s next mayor.  


THIS IS A LIVE IN-PERSON PROGRAM
FREE OF CHARGE WITH REGISTRATION
PROOF OF VACCINATION REQUIRED

Tuesday, February 15th
6:30pm PST 
REGISTER HERE
by

Fernando Torres-Gil, UCLA; Panelist, The Aging Landscape: Emerging Trends and Changing Perspectives

Fernando Torres-Gil, PhD; Professor, Social Welfare and Public Policy; Director, UCLA Center for Policy Research on Aging;

According to the US Census, between 1950 and 2020 the number of adults 65 and older doubled, from eight to sixteen percent; by 2050 an estimated twenty percent of adults will be 65 and older. While advancements in medicine have significantly increased life expectancy, research indicates older adults who remain socially active live longer and feel more fulfilled. In 2018, UCLA joined the Age-Friendly University (AFU) global network to collaborate across academic disciplines, our many professional schools, and with staff, retirees, emeriti and alumni to support older adult equity.

On December 9, 2021, a panel of experts shared emerging trends in aging research and practice across UCLA, exploring how culture and society shape our views towards aging, and examining changing perspectives in the aging landscape.

One of the panelists, Fernando Torres-Gil, was also interviewed by Adriane Berg on her podcast, Generation Bold Radio, on December 8. Fernando Torres-Gil, PhD is a professor of Social Welfare and Public Policy at UCLA, an Adjunct Professor of Gerontology at USC, and Director of the UCLA Center for Policy Research on Aging. He has written six books and over l00 publications, including The New Aging: Politics and Change in America (1992) and Lessons from Three Nations, Volumes I and II (2007). He is also the co-author of The Politics of a Majority-Minority Nation: Aging, Diversity, and Immigration.

Please click here to listen to the interview.