President's Messages

I think this is an excellent outreach effort for OLLI. I plan to attend the meeting on Monday and discuss at that time how we can help. I would like to get a volunteer to serve as an OLLI liaison to the Mason Military Outreach committee. If anyone wants to contribute money for postage as indicated above, get a check to me before Monday and I will take it in.

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

We received a letter concerning when we will be leaving Tallwood. The letter stated that they understood that we would be leaving in 2007. This is absolutely not true. We will be moving to other quarters provided by George Mason, but not in the near future. The still current plan is to move to the University Based Retirement Community when it is completed. The initial discussions are underway with Sunrise Corporation with the approval of the Board of Visitors. The earliest date would be in the 2009/2010 time frame. The Planning Committee has done initial planning and will continue as more information becomes available. Charles Duggan, the University Liaison, monitors the status on a regular basis and advises the Board when there is any new information.

I was traveling out of the state during the Town Meeting, but my understanding is that it was well received and that Ben Gold did a masterful job as the coordinator. Also, the Holiday Luncheon will be on December 7 at the International Country Club in Fairfax. I hope everyone can come as it is always a fun event. Please sign up in the office.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

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

OLLI is initiating a search for an executive director. This is a full-time salaried position, but without a benefits package. I've appointed Board member Carol Henderson to chair an Executive Director Search Committee. Other members include Gordon Canyock, Emmett Fenlon, Rosemary McDonald, Lilyan Spero and John Woods from the OLLI Board, and non-Board members Michael Coyne, Janice Dewire and Kathryn Russell.

Since the Board has determined that offering a full benefits package is not possible for financial reasons, it's possible that potential candidates might be retirees or family members of individuals with benefits. The Search Committee will soon advertise in local outlets and use some electronic job posting sites. If you are aware of a newsletter, website or electronic mailing list that might post job listings such as ours, or reach retirees or other potential candidates, perhaps in the field from which you yourself retired, please contact Carol Henderson or any member of the committee.

The executive director will be responsible for the management and program direction of the Institute, including supporting the Board and its committees, overseeing operations, implementing the program, managing financial operations, promoting membership, and promoting community relations.

The successful candidate must possess (1) significant management and supervisory experience, (2) program development experience, (3) good communication skills, (4) fiscal management and budgeting experience, (5) familiarity with information technology and (6) a four-year college degree. Highly desirable is experience in working with a board, multiple committees and volunteers; fundraising experience; and experience in membership or nonprofit organizations.

If you know of a potential candidate, encourage him or her to see the full job announcement that will be posted on the OLLI Website later this week. Current OLLI members are not eligible to apply. The announcement will include a link to the job description for the executive director. Both the job description and selection criteria were approved by the Board at its meeting on October 24.

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

There are a number of items of interest that have arisen in my short tenure as your new President. We have successfully transited our first registration with the use of both the on line system and the use of credit cards. We still used the standard paper registration forms and managed to get the registration letters mailed with minimum visible disruption. Thanks go to those who worked with the contractor to develop the system, to the staff who had to train on the new system and implement it, and to the volunteer members who spent many hours working with and supporting the staff.

The next and most important item is the Board decision on the contract of the Executive Director. The board, after significant time and effort reviewing the budget for 2008, determined that, for budgetary reasons, we could not extend the contract beyond the current expiration date of December 31, 2007. The options available were to raise member dues significantly or borrow from the Osher Endowment or a combination of the two. The board did not believe any of the options was workable. This does not reflect on the current Executive Director and his performance in any way, but is purely a matter of finances.

Some of you may have seen and others heard of the water main break in the main parking lot at Tallwood. A seepage had been discovered a few days ago and GMU Facilities was notified. As it did not appear to be an emergency, they responded within a couple of days. They arrived Wednesday morning to find a major disintegration of the main water line. The line was repaired on Wednesday, with considerable effort, and at 6:30am on Thursday they checked the lines and verified the repairs complete. Paving will be accomplished on Thursday and Friday so that classes will start on Monday, September 17, 2007 as scheduled. A large thanks to GMU for quick action to save any significant disruption to our class schedule.

An Open House was held at the Loudoun-Sterling campus on Monday, September 10, 2007. The event was very successful thanks to the efforts of Eileen Duggan, Sheila Gold, Jan Dewire and many volunteers. Approximately 10 new members joined the pilot program and a number of others added additional classes to their registration. A number of Board members and other members were there to greet people and discuss the benefits of OLLI. Some of the instructors gave a brief discussion of their classes and Beverly Cosham sang for the audience.

I will report periodically to the membership in an attempt to add to your knowledge of the activities at your OLLI.

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

Today I have an announcement to make that I deliver with mixed emotions.  As of Monday, August 20th, I am stepping down as president of OLLI at Mason. This past year has been a ride of many delights for me as I have represented you and your best interests as leader of OLLI.

However, this is a right move at the right time for both me and for OLLI. You should appreciate the fact that being the head honcho of our fabulous organization is a full-time job. With that come opportunities to represent OLLI to others, to interface with you and get your take on what you want from our institute, to lead a board that is devoted to your best experience, and to help solve problems that come along that need attention for the betterment of OLLI.

There are also sacrifices … family and other needs that suffer as a result of lack of time. And I consider among those sacrifices various other OLLI-related opportunities I have had to put on the back burner due to lack of time. Some of you know I enjoy teaching; and some may know that I have course ideas that I want to get off the planning table and into the classroom.

I am still membership chair … imagine that! Throughout the year I have not been able to find someone else to fill that spot and so I have done a spotty job of handling membership chair duties. Did you notice? I hope not.

In any case, I am looking forward to taking a stronger hold on those reins and especially in working on the social aspect of OLLI. Perhaps you attended the meeting early this summer when some of us discussed what we want to do in terms of enlarging social activity at OLLI. Time will now be available for me to work on that with your help.

So, my friends, I look forward to some fun with you and to doing research on topics that might turn into classes.

At this time Vice President Ben Gold will take over the president's duties until the next opportunity to elect a new president occurs. A smooth transition is expected, you can be sure.

My thanks to each of you who has supported me in my role this past year; I can see your good faces in my mind's eye as I write this. I shall miss Benny Meyers' greeting me as "your majesty" whenever we meet in the social room, but if I know Benny, he'll find another way to make me feel special.

Many thanks to you all for a good year and I'll see you on campus when fall term begins.

Warmly,
Debbie Halverson
President, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George Mason University

It is my pleasure to announce the results of the election for membership on the board of directors for the term 2007 to 2010.

Following are the new directors, shown alphabetically.

We are pleased also to report that 410 members, that’s 54% of OLLI members, voted, clear evidence of their interest in the governance of the institute.

Our gratitude to all of those who participated, especially to those candidates whose names are not on the above panel, and our appreciation to the nominating committee for the arduous work they did to make this election happen so smoothly.

Debbie Halverson
President, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George Mason University