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SOU Receives Largest Cash Gift Ever from Osher Foundation (3/9/09)
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Southern Oregon University (SOU) is the recipient of a $1 million endowment gift from the Bernard Osher Foundation. The SOU Foundation will manage the endowment, which will support the continued operations of the OLLI program at SOU. The endowment is the largest cash gift the foundation has ever received.
“This is a very generous gift, and we are extremely grateful,” says SOU Foundation Executive Director and SOU Vice President for Development Sylvia Kelley. “It’s exciting and encouraging to work with organizations like the Osher Foundation that have faith in the future and continue to support education in these trying economic times.”
Since 1993, OLLI (formerly SOLIR) has served adults in the Rogue Valley who want to enjoy lifelong learning. OLLI members can select unlimited classes, space permitting, from among an average of 60 class choices each quarter, September through June, as well as attend social events, all for a low annual fee of $100. Current topics include art history, fitness, government, literature, music, philosophy, science, technology, theater and writing. Members and instructors enjoy the absence of tests, grades and prerequisites. “With the earnings from the endowment, we can continue to enrich the course offerings for our members and make classes even more easily available through instructor recruitment and larger classroom facilities,” says OLLI at SOU Council President Larry Kellogg.
As a lifelong learning program, OLLI at SOU is part of the Division of Continuing Education. The division’s Executive Director, Jeanne Stallman, worked with local leaders in 2007 to help transform SOU’s SOLIR program into OLLI. “I congratulate the OLLI volunteers who made this day possible,” says Stallman. “SOU is committed to lifelong learning, and we are very happy to see OLLI at SOU succeed.”
OLLI invites any adult to join and to continue to learn, just for the fun of it. For more information, visit www.sou.edu/olli or call Sally Klein, Program Coordinator, at 541-552-6048.