President's Messages

March 19, 2011

March 19, 2011 by

OLLI for All

I am delighted to report that the Board has approved a uniform OLLI with a uniform dues structure.

Effective immediately, all OLLI members are free to participate in everything at OLLI – courses, events and activities – at all locations. In stunning unanimous decisions, the Board voted to open the OLLI program to all members in this manner while achieving a single dues structure. Everyone joining OLLI from now on will pay full dues, and those who do not now pay full dues will renew their memberships in a two-step process until dues parity is reached at renewals starting in fall 2012. See details below.

This action was taken at the open public meeting on Friday, March 18, 2011. The Board meeting was preceded by a closed retreat, during which options and their consequences were studied in detail. As with all compromises, no one was completely satisfied, but everyone came to a common agreement. The fact that the agreement was unanimous was a surprising show of unanimity of purpose and resolve. This would not have been possible without the evident success of The Loudoun Experiment, which in four years has bloomed into a mature program of its own.

The fine print: Effective immediately, all new members regardless of location will pay full dues (currently $350), and all members, including Loudoun members, now have full membership privileges (i.e., access to everything at all sites). Loudoun members who currently pay a temporary reduced dues amount will renew starting with fall 2011 at annual dues of $275; their next renewal starting with fall 2012 will be at the full dues amount at that time (currently $350).

This agreement was not reached easily. But it was reached with collegiality and accord, and demonstrated representative democracy at its finest.

OLLI at Mason continues to offer a superior program at a lower total annual cost than many other lifelong learning institutes in the area. And for those who cannot afford the cost, Friends of OLLI can offer supplemental help to make OLLI affordable.

Manuel Pablo
President, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George Mason University

October 20, 2008

October 20, 2008 by

At the Board meeting on Oct 17, I explained the result of the recent addendum to the agreement between the Osher Foundation and the GMU Foundation concerning our $1 million endowment. This addendum will have a major impact on OLLI because the payout procedures have been modified.We will now receive either 50 percent of the average annualized rate of return achieved by the GMU Foundation applied to our endowment's principal amount or five percent of the principal amount, whichever is greater, less management fees of 1.75% – meaning we can count on approximately $50,000 per year from the endowment.

Furthermore, with this revised understanding, our chances have increased somewhat to be eligible for a second $1 million endowment when our total membership reaches 1,000 members. We now have 847 members, consisting of 767 full members ($350 dues) and 80 Loudoun members ($125 dues).

Pat Carroll
President, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George Mason University

August 10, 2008

August 10, 2008 by

Excitement is building for the fall term at OLLI. You should be receiving your catalog in the U.S. mail this week. The catalog has a new look and also includes a special section for the courses and activities at the Loudoun location. I’m sure you’ll agree that our program, already recognized as one of the best in the nation, continues to improve. Wouldn’t this be a great time to share OLLI with your friends and neighbors?

Registration for the Fairfax and Reston courses begins on August 20th and continues through August 29th.

The start of registration for classes at the Loudoun campus originally scheduled for August 20, 2008 has been rescheduled to August 27, 2008 and will continue through September 3rd. The OLLI Board of Directors will be considering options for the Loudoun registration fee structure that may necessitate a change in the information in the Loudoun registration section of the catalog. Walk-in registrations at the Loudoun campus will be accepted on August 27th and 28th from 10:00 a.m. until noon.

The OLLI office will reopen on August 18th. Please call the office at 703-503-3384 if you have any questions about registration.

All OLLI members are invited to attend the next monthly meeting of the Board of Directors on Friday, August 22nd, beginning at 10 a.m. at Tallwood.

Pat Carroll
President, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George Mason University

May 20, 2008

May 20, 2008 by

I am pleased to announce the results of the recent election for the OLLI Board for the term of 2008 through 2011. The successful candidates were:


Ben Gold	Kathie West	Kathleen Meyer


Jack Underhill	Manny Pablo	Bob Persell

A total of 431 persons voted equal to 56 percent of the membership.

Additionally, Paul Howard has resigned from the Board effective May 16, 2008 due to personal reasons. After the new Board is seated at the June 13, 2008 meeting and the Officers of the Board are elected for the 2008-2009 term, the President will appoint a member to replace Paul on the Board for the remaining one year of that term.

Pat Carroll
President, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George Mason University

February 11, 2008

February 11, 2008 by

I am pleased to announce that the 2008 Nominating Committee has been selected and approved by the Board. Bob Bohall has volunteered to be the Chair and the following members have volunteered to serve on the Committee--

Brenda Cheadle
Abbie Edwards
Paul Howard
Cloe Ingram
Ann Wagner

I would like to thank all of the members of the Committee for volunteering their time for this difficult and challenging effort. The key to the growth and governance of OLLI at Mason is continuing to have a hard-working Board that is committed to making OLLI the best that it can be.The Committee has advised that it will appreciate knowing if any members have an interest in being a candidate to serve on the Board of Directors for the next three years or if you have suggestions regarding members who should be considered as potential Directors. The Committee expects to meet next week and would like to get off to an immediate start. One comment was, "This is not a time to be bashful and we need your input," so I would encourage you to visit or get in touch with any of the Committee members. Also, Thom Clement, OLLI Executive Director, will be pleased to pass along any of your suggestions to the Committee.

Pat Carroll
President, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George Mason University

December 18, 2007

December 18, 2007 by

Thomas Clement is the new OLLI executive director as of 2008. On Friday, December 14, the OLLI Board accepted the recommendation of the Search Committee and voted unanimously to empower me as president to offer the position of OLLI executive director to Thomas Clement. Recently retired from the Fairfax County School System, he has been a principal and teacher and has held leadership positions in the Fairfax Association of Elementary School Principals.I will be working out the details of a written agreement with him this week.He will be meeting with outgoing ED Dick Chobot this week to effect a smooth transition and will start at OLLI in early January. He will spend his first few weeks getting acquainted with staff and OLLI operations at all locations and will look forward to meeting members as winter term classes begin.

My thanks and gratitude to the nine members of the ED Search Committee, chaired by Carol Henderson, for an excellent effort. They received over 50 applications from as far away as China. Eight of the candidates were interviewed to narrow it down to the top two. Mr. Clement was recommended to the Board as the overall top candidate.

Pat Carroll
President, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George Mason University

President's Messages

OSHER LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE AT GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

4210 Roberts Rd. Fairfax, VA 22032-1028 Phone: (703) 503-3384 Email: olli@gmu.edu

OSHER LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE
AT GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

4210 Roberts Rd. Fairfax, VA 22032-1028
Phone: (703) 503-3384
Email: olli@gmu.edu