Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

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OLLI at Southern Miss

Due to the threat COVID-19 poses to our community, all spring and summer 2020 OLLI classes, events, and field trips have been postponed. We aim to offer in-person classes again beginning Monday, August 17. Masks and distancing will be required. This remains a fluid situation, and we appreciate your patience as we work to update this website with accurate course details.

Members of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) are active adults who share a love of learning. Members enjoy innovative and enriching programs in an inclusive environment with others who share their interests. Many members are retired, but it is not a requirement to join, nor do you need to be a graduate or otherwise affiliated with Southern Miss. Our members come from a wide range of backgrounds, vocations, and connections to local community.

There are only 124 Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes in the United States. In Mississippi, OLLI programming is available exclusively at Southern Miss, in Hattiesburg and Long Beach.

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Learning is for Life!

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Our semesters are filled with opportunities for learning, creating, camaraderie and fun!
Term I (Five Weeks)

Term II (Five Weeks)

OLLI offers classes that meet the needs and schedules of active adults. We divide the Fall and Spring semesters into two five-week terms and offer a six-week term in the Summer, with no classes the week of July 4th. Fall terms begin in September and October. The Spring terms begin in February and March. The Summer term runs during June and July. During each term we offer three different formats of learning experiences: classes, seminars, and field trips. All Hattiesburg classes and seminars are held at the Peck House or Asbury Annex (unless otherwise indicated). Gulf Park classes are held in Lloyd Hall, unless otherwise indicated.

Two-Hour or Four-Hour Seminars

Seminars meet only once in a five-week term and are two hours in length. Occasionally we have a two-part seminar which meets a total of four hours. One-time, two-hour seminars are $10; two-time, four-hour seminars are $15 (unless a supply fee is included). Previous topics have included Famous Trials of the Early 20th Century, Self-Hypnosis, and Creole Jazz Lunch at The Kitchen Table, among many others.

Five-Week Classes

Classes are two hours each and meet once a week; however exercise classes are one hour in length and meet twice a week. Class fees are $25. Previous topics have included French Language and Culture for Traveling, Introduction to Apple Computers, Yoga for Strength and Flexibility, and Users' Manual of the Human Body.

Field Trips

Field trips are planned each semester. They range in length from one day to one week; costs vary. OLLI members have traveled to The Biltmore in Asheville, NC, Country Girls Creamery, Shroomdom (our local mushroom farm), and to various shows at The Saenger Theatre in New Orleans.

OLLI Code of Conduct
Our goal at OLLI at Southern Miss is to create environments that maximize the learning experience for all members. Many of our programs offer a forum for the lively and even passionate exchange of views. To that end, our learning community follows principles of courtesy and mutual respect that promote reasoned discourse and intellectual honesty. Opposing viewpoints are honored and appreciated to preserve the dignity of others.

Transgressions may include denigrating others’ views or opinions, threatening behaviors, offensive or abusive language, disruptive classroom conduct, sexual harassment or discrimination, and monopolizing discussions. Personal attacks are especially unwarranted.

OLLI members, instructors, facilitators, staff, or guests who do not or cannot adhere to the principles of courtesy and mutual respect may be removed from class or denied the privilege of future participation.

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 across the United States. Currently, the foundation provides support to four distinct programs:

Osher Scholars and Fellows
Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes
Osher Integrative Medicine Program
A Local Arts and Educational Program

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 at 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. The foundation began its partnership with The University of Southern Mississippi in 2008.

Bernard Osher is a successful 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. To learn more about Bernard Osher, his philanthropic interests and investments, please visit the foundation's website: http://www.osherfoundation.org.

OLLI at Southern Miss

Learning is for Life!

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