Archive for OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning) – Page 2
Named “Community Collaborator of the Year” by Arizona Community Foundation of Sedona
Dr. Paul Friedman will be recognized by the Arizona Community Foundation of Sedona as one of five “community heroes” who go “above and beyond “ to contribute to their local community, and gives each a “Spirit of Sedona” award. There are five categories for annual awards including Philanthropist, Volunteer, Nonprofit Organization, Business Benefactor, and Community Collaborator of the Year. Paul is being recognized as the Community Collaborator or the Year as someone “who demonstrates effective community engagement and leadership by working collaboratively across the community to improve the quality of life in Sedona and the Verde Valley.”
Paul is being honored for his work at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) including having facilitated two new classes per term for the last 12 years. He also facilitates the Lunch & Learn/Sedona Community Forum program, which has hosted nearly 200 community leaders for the whole community to meet, hear from, and dialogue with.
In addition, Paul founded and runs the Sedona Mediation Service (hosted by the Sedona City Manager’s Office), which helps local residents resolve disputes. And he has contributed to public education programs hosted by the Sedona Public Library, the League of Women Voters, the Sedona Women, Chamber of Commerce, Restorative Justice, the Jewish Community of Sedona, the Yavapai County Detention Center, the Verde Valley Forum, Hope House, the Humane Society, the Historical Society, SedonaKind, and several other groups.
This award comes with a grant of $1,000 from the ACF of Sedona that the honoree can donate to the non-profit organization of his choice.
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) will be online with summer programs starting June 29
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Yavapai Community College will offer its 2020 summer OLLI programs online from June 29-July 30.
There will be interactive classes via Zoom and online videos. There will be four-week and five-week courses and one-time workshops.
OLLI classes available this summer include health and nutrition, history, current affairs, finance, self-enrichment and computers.
For more information about signing up for OLLI classes and registration, you may visit yc.edu/ollise- donaverde or contact the OLLI office at 928-649-4275 or email [email protected].
OLLI members photo shoot at Sedona Center Tuesday, Jan. 14, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m
According to a story by reporter Byvyto Starinskas in the Sunday, January 12, 2020 edition of the Verde Independent, the Community College via the Sedona/Verde Valley Osher Life Long Learning (OLLI) operation “is giving local people “ a modelling “ chance in their OLLI member photo shoot at the Yavapai College Sedona Center on Tuesday, Jan. 14.” Mr. Starinskas writes that OLLI “ will be shooting both posed and candid photographs in the classrooms and on the campus. These photos will be used in future OLLI and Yavapai College print and digital media,” says the casting call put out to members.”
Sourcea: Article by Byvyto Starinskas, Verde Independent, Sunday, January 12, 2020; Olli Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/olli.sedona.verdevalley/photos/gm.730857907405263/1736029956534396/?type=3&theater. (Photo from OLLI facebook posting.)
Enrollment slightly down; fundraising up
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Yavapai College – Sedona-Verde Valley (OLLI at Sedona-Verde Valley) reported on enrollment and fundraising efforts to its members in its December 19, 2019 newsletter. The data showed a slight decline in enrollment and an increase in fundraising.
OLLI Sedona/Verde Valley offers most of its academic, not-for-credit programming designed for adults 50 years old or better, primarily at the Verde Valley Campus, Sedona Center, and Camp Verde Library. It is a program of the Division of Lifelong Learning at Yavapai College.
OLLI receives funding from several sources. There is an endowment grant from the Bernard Osher Foundation, fees charged for the classes, and donations. It also receives in-kind services from Yavapai Community College.
The last estimate (2014) from OLLI indicated that it operated based on annual interest from the endowment, which at that time supported about 40% of the expenses. The rest, an estimated 60% of the expenses, was covered by the fees charged for classes and workshops.
There was an estimated (2014) $170,000 “in-kind” services given from Yavapai College to OLLI for use of its facilities, but no money was actually exchanged. Of these services most are unseen expenditures. The faculty is comprised mostly of volunteers. In the 2019-20 budget, the Community College estimated it would receive $111,000 in revenue from OLLI. (It is not clear exactly how this is handled.)
The Newsletter stated that “for your information, the following is an updated report of the OLLI Sedona Verde Valley (1) By the Numbers; (2) Fundraising Outcomes from 2014-2019; and (3) Report on Each Campaign.”
Sedona Verde Valley By The Numbers
Founded: 2003
Staff:
Two permanent employees: 1 full-time and 1 ¾ time (30 hours per week) + 3 part-time (19.75 hours per week).
Committee Volunteers: 21
Facilitators: 170
Number of classes 2019:
Summer (46) Fall (111) Winter (114) Spring (79)
Annual Budget: $172,935
Students over the past four years:
2015-16: 1030
2016-17: 959
2017-18: 971
2018-19: 919
Fundraising Outcomes 2014-2019
Total annual support for last 6 years:
2014: $275 from 11 donors (Ave. $25)
2015: $150 from 6 donors (Ave. $25)
2016: $450 from 9 donors (Ave. $50)
2017: $2,825 from 26 donors (Ave. $108)
2018: $5,625 from 31 donors (Ave. $181)
2019: $12,225 from 113 donors (Ave. $108)
Reporting on Each Campaign
100% of OLLI Leadership Council contributed.
Contributions have ranged from $25 to $1,500.
113 Members contributed; 80 first time donors.
20 first-year OLLI members contributed.
16 persons are OLLI 300 Club members ( giving $25 per month for a total of $300)
1 OLLI member contributed 401K earnings
2 OLLI members joined Leave A Legacy for Life Long Learning: Pledged $80,000
Event at 12:30 in Room M-137 on Verde Campus
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute’s (OLLI) Brown Bag Brain Buzz will host Dr. Diane Ryan, Yavapai College’s vice president of strategic initiatives on Thursday, November 7 at the Verde Campus. The program will be held in Room M-137 and begin at 12:30. The Verde Campus is located at 601 Black Hills Dr. in Clarkdale.
This free lunchtime forum is sponsored by Yavapai College. You may bring your brown bag or purchase lunch at the Snack Bar in Building “F” at the Verde Valley Campus.
Dr. Ryan’s presentation will focus on the Open Educational Resource movement. It is said to be spreading across college campuses and is an attempt to reduce or eliminate textbook or course material costs for students. This movement has been funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Dr. Ryan was recently appointed to the newly created position of Vice President of Strategic Initiatives. The College describes the position as “created to bring vision and strategic leadership to a broad range of key initiatives.”
Dr. Ryan earned a Ph.D. in Community College Leadership from Old Dominion University. She holds a B.A. and M.A. in Communication from Western Illinois University and graduate hours in English from Old Dominion University. Her academic research focuses on open educational resources and academic outcomes in the community college classroom.
Source: Yavapai Community College press release Oct 31.
Volunteers needed at the Clubhouse to set up tables and chairs for 3 p.m. program
Time to register for OLLI courses
The summer term for OLLI begins July 1, 2019. It’s time to register.
Alabama graduate, Masters from Auburn, working at the University of Montana with decade of OLLI experience at Auburn University before moving to Montana will live in Sedona
Linda Shook
In a College press release, it announced that it had hired Linda Shook as the Associate Dean for the Sedona Center and Program Director for Osher Lifelong Learning Program.
The College reported that Ms. Shook will live in Sedona.
Shook is a graduate of the University of Alabama and holds as Master’s Degree from Auburn University in Adult and Continuing Education Administration. She spent the last year as the interim Summer Programs Coordinator/Summer Director at the University of Montana.
Prior to taking the position at the University of Montana, she served a decade with the OLLI program at Auburn University and spent a four-year stint as its director before moving to Montana.
She will be the guest of honor at OLLI’s kick-off spring luncheon programs. The first “Lunch and Learn” will be held on Wednesday, January 30, from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m., in room 34 of Yavapai College’s Sedona Center.
She will also be the guest of honor at the second lunch called the “Brown Bag Brain Buzz,” which will be at the Verde Valley Campus Thursday, January 31, from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. in Room G-106.
According to the College press release, Shook will serve as the local OLLI Director and the Associate Dean of the Yavapai College Sedona Center, “the head of the College’s Community Education program in the Verde Valley, the organizer of the College’s programs for local high school students (specifically, their College for Kids Program), and the liaison between Yavapai College and the Sedona and Verde Valley city governments and other entities concerned with higher education and economic development in this area.”
It appears she will have her administrative plate overflowing with all these programs to oversee.
College promised to “strongly encourage” newly hired leadership to live on the east side of the County if program being directed by person hired is located there; will it apply this philosophy to the new OLLI Director?
Dr. Robin Weeks
The Blog has learned that Dr. Robin Weeks is leaving his position as the head of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) on the east side of Yavapai County. Robin began his work with OLLI over five years ago. Working closely with Yavapai Community College, OLLI has steadily expanded it programing from Sedona to Cottonwood, the Village of Oak Creek, and Camp Verde.
Robin is originally from a small town in Devon, England. He came to the United States and earned a Ph.D. at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was a professor Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. He also had positions at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado and Santa Fe, New Mexico before arriving in Sedona. Everyone in the Verde Valley will agree, I think, that we are fortunate to have this rare and wonderful person heading up OLLI.
The Community College has undertaken a search to replace him. It is hoped that some of the highly qualified staff now working with Mr. Weeks and living on the east side of the County will be considered to replace him.
Recall that in March 2016 the College appeared before the Sedona City County where a number of concerns about its operation were raised. Among those concerns was a specific query regarding hiring staff for the Community College who would live in the area, that is in the Verde Valley, rather than on the west side of the County. The response was that the College promised to “strongly encourage” new hires assigned to manage the College would live in the Verde Valley. That concern obviously applies to the new OLLI hire. The question is: Does the College care about this east-county concern?
It is believed that Mr. Weeks will leave his position in about two months.
A video clip of the College’s meeting with the Sedona City Council of March 2016 where the concern over local leadership was raised with the College.