Director's Note
Volunteerism is a critical component of our Osher Lifelong Learning Institute community. Without dedicated volunteers, OLLI at WMU could not do or offer the many courses, trips, or events that are planned in a year. A volunteer is defined as “a person who freely offers to take part in an enterprise or undertake a task.” Undoubtedly exemplifying this definition and more is Molly Williams. After years of extensive involvement with OLLI, Molly shared that she would be stepping down as chair of the Evaluation Committee, a responsibility she has shouldered nearly single-handedly. I asked Molly to share about her enthusiastic involvement with OLLI and more pointedly why she has continued to commit to helping our lifelong learning community thrive over the years. Below is Molly’s response:
“I was part of the WMU Emeriti Council at the time several recently retired faculty pitched the idea of a Lifelong Learning Academy to WMU president John Dunn. I knew of the concept well before it became reality. In the early days, Ruth Heinig led the effort to recruit instructors to teach for the LLA, later renamed OLLI. Wanting someone with expertise in science and technology, Ruth invited me to join the Curriculum Committee.
A survey (printed on actual paper) had been developed for participants to complete after each course concluded, but no one had compiled or analyzed the responses. There were just stacks of completed surveys. So, being comfortable with spreadsheets and data analysis, I offered to take a look at the information (Big Mistake!). My report of the surveys was so well received that I was asked to lead the evaluation and assessment efforts going forward. That led to 12 years of managing that process. In the early days, we used paper surveys, collected by a volunteer after each class and delivered to the office in Ellsworth Hall. Other volunteer members came to the office to tally and record the responses manually, leading to a summary for each instructor and a compilation for the Curriculum Committee. Eventually we transitioned to an on-line survey to replace the paper ones, making the data gathering much faster. At the same time, surveys were also developed for events and for trips, providing feedback to those OLLI committees.
I taught several courses myself: Women Workers in WW-II, Chemistry 101, What is Stuff Made Of?, On the Shoulders of Giants, The Energy Landscape, and an Introduction to Microsoft Word/Excel/PowerPoint. I engaged with OLLI because I agreed with the early instigators that we should never stop learning. This member-directed organization requires a community of volunteers to deliver the courses, trips, and events that engage us all in learning throughout our lives.”
Molly, we cannot thank you enough for your dedicated volunteerism to OLLI; we will miss you as part of the leadership team but look forward to you staying involved as an engaged member.
Thank You,
Toni Woolfork-Barnes, Ed.D.
Director, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at WMU
Curriculum
Course survey responses are rolling in and we’re happy to share some highlights! Here’s what OLLI Members are saying...
Lab Speak: Deciphering the Language of Lab Tests, taught by Amy Vida: “The instructor presented complicated information in a manner that all of us could understand—fantastic!”
Against the Grain: Four Scientists Who Saw Things Differently, taught by Carol Hodges: “The OLLI community can benefit from knowledge transmitted from this course. Carol Hodges truly is excellent!”
Demystifying Artificial Intelligence, taught by Alex Kowitz and Nathan Wollensak: “The course was excellent. Alex and Mathew did an outstanding job of engaging the class. It was very thought provoking and we learned new skills.”
Social and Political Impact of Music in Modern Society 1960 to Present, taught by Tony Dennis: “His class was GREAT! I hope that he will present another OLLI adventure. Clearly, he is an interesting teacher and engages his students. Thanks!!”
These fall courses still have seats open—snag yours before it’s too late!
- Wine 101 with Charlie Olzewski
- Even More Iconic Photographs: The Rest of the Story with Sam Grossman
- Inside the NFL's Third Team on the Field with Ron Winter
Events
OLLI Annual Meeting Registration Deadline Extended
Our 2023 Annual Meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 15 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the beautiful Girl Scouts Regional Center on 601 W Maple St in Kalamazoo. Along with a brief but important State of OLLI report from our Director and the election of Advisory Board members, we’re excited to welcome a very special Guest Speaker, Justin Black. A former foster youth and graduate of WMU’s Seita Scholars Program, Justin will share the inspiring story of how he and fellow student and now wife, Alexis, rose above their trauma to become bestselling authors, business owners, and Forbes’ Next 1000 Entrepreneurs for 2021.
We’ll also have time to socialize, learn about our OLLI volunteer committees, and enjoy some refreshments. This event is free, and the deadline to register has been extended to Monday, November 6. Click here to register now!
Membership and Marketing
Gift-giving Time is Coming Up!
Gift-giving time is coming up, and we have the perfect gift idea for your relatives and friends—give the Gift of OLLI. One size fits all!
Your gift of an OLLI membership includes:
- members-only rates for OLLI trips and courses
- access to our Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
- discounts at the WMU Bookstore, Gilmore Theatre Complex, Miller Auditorium, and West Hills Athletic Club
- ability to participate in the exclusive Osher Online program, which offers high-level online courses coordinated by the Osher National Resource Center
That’s a lot to fit into a small package!
Call the OLLI office at (269) 387-4157 for more information on how you can give the gift of lifelong learning this year.
Year End Appeal - We Need YOU!
The generous contributions of our OLLI members greatly support our overall operations and our scholarship fund. This year, we seek donations to support two important initiatives. First, we want to upgrade our registration system to communicate more efficiently, by adding a texting option. Second, we want to raise funds to provide gifts that recognize our OLLI volunteers. By participating in our Year End Appeal campaign for OLLI at WMU, you can support these initiatives and more! Be on the lookout for more information this month about how to participate.
As you contemplate how to give, consider timing your impact with a gift from your IRA! An IRA is an appealing way to save for retirement—you contribute and enjoy tax savings. But eventually, the tax bill comes due, when you take your annual distributions and again when you leave your assets to heirs. If you want to avoid taxes on your distribution and make an impact for OLLI at WMU, consider a gift from your IRA. Called a qualified charitable distribution (QCD), at 70 ½ you may give up to $100,000 per year, tax-free from your IRA to WMU.
By gifting from your IRA, you can:
- See the difference you’re making today.
- Pay no income taxes on the gift. The transfer doesn’t generate taxable income or a tax deduction.
- Satisfy all or part of your RMD obligation, If you are required to take minimum distributions. For a QCD to count toward your 2023 RMD, your gift must be completed by December 31.
You can also name OLLI at WMU as a beneficiary of your retirement account. This is a great way to continue your support of OLLI when you no longer need the funds. It costs you nothing today. This can be done by completing or updating the beneficiary form through your plan provider.
For more information, please contact the WMU Office of Gift Planning at (269) 387-8791.
Travel
A huge thank you to our travelers as we re-ignited travel options following the COVID shutdown. This year, we had a great time attending a play at the historic Croswell Theater in Adrian and our trip to Detroit’s Motown Museum and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History was a big hit! Best of all, we have a big group heading to Ann Arbor on November 11 to visit two of the University of Michigan’s museums, which will round out our 2023 adventures.
We’re enthusiastic to continue hitting the road together next year, and your travel committee is hard at work exploring a long list of exciting trip possibilities for 2024. Our next destinations will combine suggestions from your travel feedback surveys, AAA, and the OLLI travel committee. We plan to make personal visits to many locations to ensure that they are enlightening and enjoyable for all of our travelers. Our hope is to visit regional destinations, including Detroit and Chicago, along with Northern Ohio and Indiana. We are also exploring the coordination of an overnight Michigan trip for next year.
Please keep checking this OLLI newsletter every month and our OLLI Travel page frequently for complete information about our 2024 trips as it becomes available. Remember that early registration is essential for making these trips happen as the bus must be confirmed or cancelled 30 days prior to departure!
Don’t forget to visit our OLLI Travel table at the Annual Meeting for updated information from the travel committee. Our alliance with Premier World Discovery is proving to be an exciting option for travelers wishing to go the extra mile on tours across the United States and in Europe. Look for their promotional flyers at the Annual Meeting and additional contact information via the newsletter and online.
As always, the travel committee works hard to make our trips educational, fun, and unique, so…hop on board and explore the world around us with your OLLI friends in 2024!
Wellness Moment
Sumo Diet
So…raise your hand if you skipped breakfast today. Don’t be alarmed, but if your hand is in the air, you’re on the sumo wrestler diet. It’s a dramatic analogy, but an accurate one, and always good for entertainment when I do public speaking. We’re talking about frequency of eating. When you hear “they” say eat small frequent meals, “they” are people like me usually in reference to weight management.
Tyler Norman, Ph.D.
Manager of Corporate Outreach
ACSM Exercise Physiologist
NCFI Corporate Fitness Specialist
West Hills Athletic Club, WMU
Metabolism is the rate at which our bodies burn calories. The two most significant factors in determining your metabolism are lean bodyweight and frequency of eating. Lean bodyweight is a big determinant because muscle is the one substance in our bodies that uses calories to do work—the more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism. Frequency of eating is the other big determinant because our bodies need calories to carry on the billions of chemical transactions that occur in humans every day. If you are someone that skips breakfast, your metabolism adapts to going from dinner until noon the next day before it gets more calories! The way your metabolism adapts to this long stretch without calories is by slowing down and trying to conserve as many calories as possible. Subsequently, your body converts as many calories as possible to fat mass and stores the newfound fat.
This is why eating one or two large meals per day is such a great eating plan for the sumo wrestler, who wants to gain as much fat mass as possible. However, eating breakfast, lunch, dinner, mid-morning snack, mid-afternoon snack, and an evening treat will supercharge your metabolism! If your body has a consistent influx of calories, it has no reason to conserve them, so it burns them, speeding up your metabolism and making your body a more efficient, calorie-burning machine—which is the opposite of the sumo diet. Don’t eat like a sumo wrestler!
Community Connections
As you do your fall cleaning, downsizing, and donation gathering this year, please consider lending a helping hand to the Kalamazoo Literacy Council. Their list of wants and needs is located on their website.
The KLC is also looking for tutors as we head into the winter season. If you're passionate about literacy and would like to become a tutor, please register online for an upcoming session of training. With just a couple of hours a week, you can help change someone's whole life.
The KLC is seeking individuals who have been tutors to share their stories, which may be used as part of our upcoming 50th anniversary celebration in 2024. We are especially interested in volunteers from the 70's, 80's or 90's, but we'd love to hear from all of you! Please contact Kito at (269) 382-0490 ext. 211 or kjumanne-marshall@kalamazooliteracy.org.
'Tis the Season
As we move into the season of gratitude, I want to take a moment to say how deeply thankful and appreciative we are of each OLLI member.
Wishing you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!
What is the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute?
The program was initiated under the auspices of the WMU Emeriti Council and WMUx. OLLI offers intellectually lively and culturally appealing learning experiences. We accomplish this by focusing on intellectual stimulation, personal growth, social engagement and enrichment. Read more
What do we do?
We offer short courses for one to four weeks. Sessions are usually two hours long. Travel programs are also a part of our offerings. There are no tests and no required homework, just exploring lots of interesting topics.
In the near future we will offer courses in different formats -- noon hour discussions, several sessions in one week, and more evening courses. OLLI courses and activities are developed and produced by its members with the support of the staff of WMUx.
We need your ideas for course topics and instructors. Let us know your suggestions. Call the OLLI office at (269) 387-4157 or send an email. The curriculum committee will review all suggestions.