Tag Archive for: Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

SOU-OLLI-Campbell Center

OLLI facilities at SOU in line for makeover

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After 25 years, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) facilities at SOU are receiving new life.

OLLI’s program on the SOU campus operates from the Campbell Center – a pair of former World War II barracks with a courtyard between them, just west of the empty Cascade Complex. The old barracks have taken a beating, and for their 25th anniversary as OLLI’s home, the organization has launched a ReNEWall campaign to upgrade the facility with reconfigured classrooms and other refurbishing.

One classroom and the Campbell Center office were already renovated last year, making the classroom a preferred site for OLLI offerings. The addition of better lights, more comfortable chairs, and touchscreen technology helps make everything easier on OLLI’s older students.

Two more of the complex’s five classrooms are in line for remodeling next winter. But nearly $665,000 is needed for construction, technology and furnishings. More than $330,000 has been raised to date, and the balance is expected to be generated through grants and individual contributors. About a quarter of the cost, for infrastructure improvements, will be paid by SOU.

The OLLI facilities have a bit of a history. The barracks were originally part of Camp White, an Army training base and POW camp that transformed the Medford area during World War II. Hundreds of buildings were left behind after the war, and many were relocated all over southern Oregon.

The two that found their way to SOU were named for Phil Campbell, the university’s former facilities director, and have been used for a variety of purposes. The Campbell Center has been used at various times as dorms, married student housing, apartments, faculty housing, Elderhostel classrooms and SOU maintenance offices, and even now it is used during the summer by SOU Youth Programs.

OLLI member and wildlife artist Pam Haunschild is creating a black-and-white mural called the “Giving Garden” to measure fundraising for the Campbell Center’s renovation. The mural will be colored in as gifts are received. It will be hung in the new members’ lounge.

To learn more about the ReNEWall program or to make a contribution, call the OLLI office at (541) 552-6048 or email Lorraine Vail at lvail627@gmail.com.

Story by Bryn Mosier, SOU Marketing and Communications intern

OLLI open house to feature opportunities to engage with SOU

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NEWS RELEASE (available online at https://goo.gl/TbfRnp)
(Ashland, Ore.) — More than 700 attendees are expected when the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute offers its fourth annual open house with the theme, “Aged 50+? What’s in it for you at SOU?” The event will be from 1 to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, July 26, in the Stevenson Union at SOU.
The open house will highlight OLLI’s program of courses for 2017-18 – including more than 100 that will be offered during fall term – along with a variety of other opportunities for community members to engage with the Southern Oregon University. For instance, those who are over 65 and have been Oregon residents for at least a year can audit most SOU courses tuition-free. Any community member with at least a high school diploma may take SOU courses for credit on an individual or “a la carte” basis, beginning two weeks before each term starts, if space is available. Community members can also help students with their housing needs by offering spare bedrooms for rent and can serve as volunteers for various academic, student support and community-facing programs at SOU.
Wednesday’s open house will feature 18 SOU exhibits and 20 OLLI instructors and event sponsors in the Stevenson Union’s Rogue River Room. Another 18 exhibits by non-profit community partners will be in the student union’s lobby area.
Those who attend the event, which is free and open to the public, can enjoy free desserts and beverages, and enter drawings for door prizes. Those who preregister by today will be eligible for the grand prize drawing of a “Rogue Valley Theater Bundle” – tickets for two donated by the Britt Festival, Camelot Theatre, Oregon Cabaret Theatre and Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
OLLI at SOU offers a variety of peer-taught, non-credit classes to almost 1,900 members at locations in Ashland and Medford. Membership is open to adults of any age, but the program is geared toward those who are 50-plus. More information is available on the OLLI website.
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About Southern Oregon University
Southern Oregon University provides outstanding student experiences, valued degrees, and successful graduates. SOU is known for excellence in faculty, intellectual creativity and rigor, quality and innovation in connected learning programs, and the educational benefits of its unique geographic location. SOU was the first university in Oregon—and one of the first in the nation—to offset 100 percent of its energy use with clean, renewable power. It is the first university in the nation to balance 100 percent of its water consumption. Visit sou.edu.