French existential philosophers have suggested that we are what we do. If so, OLLI at CSULB must be joyous and enthusiastic learning. Seeing the friendly smiles on OLLI members as they walk through our doors and sensing their mental curiosity makes me think that OLLI must be, to steal a phrase from our Anaheim neighbor, the happiest place on campus. And I expect that our new OLLI locations will soon look like the happiest places in downtown Long Beach and Leisure World.
Under the guidance of Governing Council President Carl Curtis and Executive Director Barbara White, OLLI at CSULB has grown to over 1,200 members, one of the largest in the Osher-sponsored nationwide network of 117 lifelong learning institutes. This growth, however, has come at a price. Our loyal cadre of dedicated volunteers (office staff, instructors, liaisons, et al) have stretched themselves to their limits to recruit and serve our membership. We have also held down our annual membership fees and class tuition to affordable levels in order to continue serving members of our community who live on fixed incomes and limited resources. We welcome volunteers to help in our office and classrooms and thank our donors and benefactors who contribute to secure the financial future of OLLI and to enable us to serve all senior members of our community.
With our growing membership, our popular computer and lecture courses often quickly reach their class size limit. Most members don't wait until our Saturday registration meeting to enroll. As a result, fewer than ten percent of our members register for classes on our scheduled registration day. Out of consideration for our volunteers who generously come in on those Saturdays to register the few who show up, we have decided to discontinue the Saturday registration meetings starting with the 2012 winter session. You can continue to register, as most of you do now, by mail or in person during our regular office hours Monday through Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
All OLLI members should thank Carl Curtis, Barbara White, the members of our Executive Committee, our Governing Council members, and all our volunteers for having built, maintained, and given to all of us this joyous and generous community learning experience that we call OLLI at CSULB.
As members of OLLI we connect with each other, we connect with the University, and we connect with our community at large. 2011 has been a productive year in forging connections. Our valued instructors have offered 220 classes on a variety of subjects. With the support of our College Dean we have forged a collaborative relationship with the Center for Active Aging on campus that provides an opportunity to exercise not only our minds, but also our bodies. With the vision and enthusiasm of our new Development/Fundraising Committee and Governing Council and with your continuing generosity, we are maintaining financial stability in these difficult economic times as well as building for the future.
With all of this success, we are also suffering growing pains. Classes fill quickly on a first come, first served basis, especially at our on-campus site, and our Office Administrator’s workload has increased. As we begin 2012 we are looking at ways to address these issues. We continue to develop our satellite sites at Leisure World and downtown Long Beach. We hope you will consider connecting with your OLLI by providing some volunteer hours in the office, classroom or for special events. We welcome your support and your suggestions so that your lifelong learning opportunities through CSULB continue to provide the quality you expect.
Wishing you and yours a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year.
