Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Receives a $1 Million Endowment

Issue Date: 
August 22, 2007

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Pitt’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI)—which offers a wide array of courses to adults 55 and older—has received a $1 million endowment from the San Francisco-based Bernard Osher Foundation.

The gift will allow OLLI, which operates within the University’s College of General Studies, to continue to offer noncredit courses to its more than 700 members. OLLI members also have the opportunity to audit two Pitt undergraduate courses a term.

Members pay $100 a term (or $180 for an annual membership) and may take as many OLLI classes as they like. Most courses meet for two hours a week for five weeks. Members receive an OLLI photo ID card for admission to Pitt libraries and shuttles as well as a Pitt computer account.

More than 50 OLLI courses are being offered this fall—including four at the Monroeville ExpoMart, directly in front of The Monroeville Mall, on Business Route 22. It’s the first time OLLI is offering courses in Monroeville.

OLLI course subjects range from Brazilian music and Irish culture to the history of Pittsburgh streetcars and the appreciation of fine wine. A complete course catalog is available at www.cgs.pitt.edu/osher.

In granting the endowment, the Osher Foundation praised OLLI director Judith Bobenage for making “remarkable progress” since the program’s inception in January 2005.

For more information, call 412-624-7308 or visit www.cgs.pitt.edu/osher.