Board News
This page contains news from the Board of Advisors. It will be useful to new visitors to the member website to catch up with information from and about your Board of Advisors. Here is a list of the articles; click on any of them to jump directly to that article, or just read the most recent at the top and work down.
OLLI Board Member to Work with SIGs
OLLI members love to get together – classes, parties, informal gatherings. The OLLI Hospitality and Social Activities Committee has always been ready to facilitate that. But with the pandemic shuttering social events, Chris Abrons, the OLLI Board Member who chaired that committee, has pivoted to assisting another area of OLLI socialization: Special Interest Groups (SIGs).
Staff member Kathy Parrish has long been the go-to person for SIG assistance, but her work load increased with growth of the OLLI Zoom classes, and some help from the OLLI Board was needed to support the growing member use of SIGs. Abrons will fill that need, working to help existing SIGs with enrollment and sign-up issues and to assist new SIGs in getting started. As she says, “The OLLI Board wants to help with SIGs, developing leaders, giving them a voice – in general, to elevate the SIGs, recognizing the service they provide.”
Some SIGs have obviously ceased to meet during the COVID shut-down: groups like the language tables and dance SIGs need to meet in person and at various sites to be successful. However, some SIGs have been working with Zoom: the mystery and science book groups, various craft groups, and the grief support group have all continued to meet on-line.
There are also SIGs that have grown out of OLLI classes. The new group “Courageous Conversations about Race” emerged from several classes on racial diversity that were offered last fall, as class members wanted to keep the discussions going and to learn more about racial issues. The Courageous Conversations SIG now meets twice monthly and will accept new members, with the prerequisite that they have taken at least one OLLI course on a topic involving race to become familiar with basic issues. Abrons, who serves on this SIG’s Steering Committee, says that members are currently “writing their own racial autobiographies” and learning to “do some of their own work” about racial awareness.
She notes that a few of the most successful SIGs are those that have grown out of OLLI classes, as class members get excited about a subject and don’t want to let it go after a term ends—and there is already a core group of interested people to recruit for a group. Abrons says that if an OLLI member is thinking about starting a SIG, she or he should contact her to talk about basic requirements: at least two committed leaders, some Zoom skills (a group can use a personal Zoom or hook up with a Duke account),and an openness to all OLLI members.
A Special Interest Group is just one of the member-originated learning opportunities that OLLI provides to its members, but Board Member Chris Abrons is dedicated to helping make this one as special for members as all of OLLI’s other offerings. (Chris Abrons, cmabrons@gmail.com)
OLLI members love to get together – classes, parties, informal gatherings. The OLLI Hospitality and Social Activities Committee has always been ready to facilitate that. But with the pandemic shuttering social events, Chris Abrons, the OLLI Board Member who chaired that committee, has pivoted to assisting another area of OLLI socialization: Special Interest Groups (SIGs).
Staff member Kathy Parrish has long been the go-to person for SIG assistance, but her work load increased with growth of the OLLI Zoom classes, and some help from the OLLI Board was needed to support the growing member use of SIGs. Abrons will fill that need, working to help existing SIGs with enrollment and sign-up issues and to assist new SIGs in getting started. As she says, “The OLLI Board wants to help with SIGs, developing leaders, giving them a voice – in general, to elevate the SIGs, recognizing the service they provide.”
Some SIGs have obviously ceased to meet during the COVID shut-down: groups like the language tables and dance SIGs need to meet in person and at various sites to be successful. However, some SIGs have been working with Zoom: the mystery and science book groups, various craft groups, and the grief support group have all continued to meet on-line.
There are also SIGs that have grown out of OLLI classes. The new group “Courageous Conversations about Race” emerged from several classes on racial diversity that were offered last fall, as class members wanted to keep the discussions going and to learn more about racial issues. The Courageous Conversations SIG now meets twice monthly and will accept new members, with the prerequisite that they have taken at least one OLLI course on a topic involving race to become familiar with basic issues. Abrons, who serves on this SIG’s Steering Committee, says that members are currently “writing their own racial autobiographies” and learning to “do some of their own work” about racial awareness.
She notes that a few of the most successful SIGs are those that have grown out of OLLI classes, as class members get excited about a subject and don’t want to let it go after a term ends—and there is already a core group of interested people to recruit for a group. Abrons says that if an OLLI member is thinking about starting a SIG, she or he should contact her to talk about basic requirements: at least two committed leaders, some Zoom skills (a group can use a personal Zoom or hook up with a Duke account),and an openness to all OLLI members.
A Special Interest Group is just one of the member-originated learning opportunities that OLLI provides to its members, but Board Member Chris Abrons is dedicated to helping make this one as special for members as all of OLLI’s other offerings. (Chris Abrons, cmabrons@gmail.com)
Check Out Benchmarks from OLLIs Across the Country
Click on the file link below to take a look at the comparisons among OLLIs across the country across demographics, memberships, and courses.
Click on the file link below to take a look at the comparisons among OLLIs across the country across demographics, memberships, and courses.
| may_2020_benchmarking_webinar.pdf |
Announcing the 2020 - 2021 OLLI Board Election Results
Ginny Knight, Board Past-President, has announced the results of the OLLI Board election. All candidates on the 2020 OLLI at Duke slate have been elected:
President -- Matt Epstein
Vice President -- Marion Jervay
Advisor At-Large (Term Ending 2022) -- Alan Teasley
Advisor At-Large (Term Ending 2022) -- Susan Dennison
You can find Board Member Bios HERE.
Ginny Knight, Board Past-President, has announced the results of the OLLI Board election. All candidates on the 2020 OLLI at Duke slate have been elected:
President -- Matt Epstein
Vice President -- Marion Jervay
Advisor At-Large (Term Ending 2022) -- Alan Teasley
Advisor At-Large (Term Ending 2022) -- Susan Dennison
You can find Board Member Bios HERE.