The University of Southern Mississippi Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) is an association of active women and men 50 years of age and older who seek to explore stimulating learning experiences (no homework or exams) while developing new friendships. 

The institute's program recognizes that a growing number of adults are adventuresome, active and intellectually curious. Its cornerstones are peer learning and shared responsibility. The strength of the program is that it is directed and run for and by the members. It draws primarily on the talents and experiences of members for instructors and facilitators.

Men and women, 50 years and older, are invited to become members of The University of Southern Mississippi Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Present members come from a wide range of experiences and backgrounds. They share one essential attribute: belief that learning is lifelong and that the world of ideas is one of knowledge. 

Organization

The institute is member-governed, member-driven and primarily peer taught.  There are two part-time staff members, a director-liaison and an administrative assistant. Its executive board and standing committees enable members to participate fully in the organization and direction of the institute. Officers are elected to serve one year. The vice president is the president-elect and the associate secretary is the secretary-elect.

The elected officers are president, vice president, secretary, associate secretary, treasurer and three board members. 

The standing committees are curriculum, finance, membership and publicity, governance and hospitality.  

About the Bernard Osher Foundation

The Bernard Osher Foundation was founded by Bernard Osher in 1977.  Through the foundation, his philanthropy has benefited a wide range of educational, cultural and other nonprofit organizations primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area and his native Maine.  In the 1990s, the foundation funded a series of Osher Scholar programs extending scholarship assistance for post-secondary education to nearly thirty colleges and universities as well as professional and technical schools in California and Maine. The Bernard Osher Foundation funded the first Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (The University of Southern Maine) in 1997.  The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Network began in the fall of 2002, when the Foundation Board awarded initial grants to six campuses in the Southern California University system. 

Maine native Bernard Osher is a sucessful businessman and community leader, a patron of the arts and education, whose philanthropy has affected countless organizations over the past quarter-century.  His wife, the Honorable Barbro Osher, Consul General of Sweden in San Francisco, serves as chair of the foundation.

2009-2010
OLLI OFFICERS

Karen LeBeau
President

Bill Youngblood
Vice President

Becky Barnes
Secretary

Shirley Ramser
Associate Secretary

Micky Chapman
Treasurer

Janette Tibbetts
Historian

Don Hegwood
Past President

COMMITTEE CHAIRS
Paul Reuter, Chair
Patricia Vanderloo, Vice Chair
Membership/Publicity

Paul Erickson
Governance

Micky Chapman
Finance

Jutta White
Curriculum

Tom Price
Buildings and Grounds

Doris Davis, Chair
Charlotte Hill, Vice Chair
Hospitality

Marlene Milkent
Ralph Bisland
Technology

DIRECTORS
Jim Higgs
Don Adamson

Janette Tibbetts
Historian

DIRECTOR-LIAISON
Susan Bone