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Hello and welcome to Focus on OLLI. What is OLLI? OLLI is a program at UNLV dedicated to active retired or semi-retired individuals who understand the importance of keeping themselves engaged. OLLI is the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNLV. Every month this program will dig into favorite classes, interesting teachers and members as well as special events offered through OLLI.
Announcer 0:00
This is a K-Unb Studios original program. The
Wesley Knight 0:05
content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and Moore, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.
Keith McMillen 0:16
Hello, and welcome to Focus on Olli. Olli is a program at UNLV dedicated to retired or semi-retired individuals who remain engaged and active in civic activities and lifelong learning. ALLI is the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNLV. OLLI is made possible by support from the Bernard Osher Foundation, established by philanthropists Bernard and Barbara Osher, with a mission to support lifelong learning, higher education, and the arts. This series is designed to give you an in-depth look at the OLLI program and encourage you to join in the fun. Welcome back. This month we are going to examine one of the committees that keeps Olli running. Olli is a volunteer-driven organization. We only have a couple of people who are employed by the university. The rest of it is all done by volunteers, and one of those committees is called Educational Programming. And we're going to explore what they do and how they make life interesting for Ali members. Now, if you're interested, later on, will we be looking at some of these other committees, and they include fundraising, member experience, community outreach, and volunteerism. But today we're looking at educational programming, and we'll start around the table, have everybody introduce you, what part they play in educational programming, and give you an idea what's coming up. And I'll start at my left with Bernice.
Vernice Jackson 1:52
Why? Thank you very much. Good afternoon, my name is Vernice Jackson, and I am the chairperson for the Educational programming committee, I have been with Olli, now going into my fifth year, have been teaching at Olli for four years, and my background is in training and development, but my passion has always been women's history, and so those are the types of classes that I'm teaching at Olli right now.
Keith McMillen 2:27
Very interesting. Yeah, I think we have a vast number of members who happen to be women, and I'll bet they're all interested in that topic,
Vernice Jackson 2:38
and so are the men. Yes. Oh,
Keith McMillen 2:42
I'm having, you know, been married for 37 years, have a daughter. Yeah, I've been indoctrinated. Well,
Vernice Jackson 2:52
I always say that women have made up half the human race, but you can't tell it by the books that historians write, which is mainly by men, and so that got me started with doing characterizations of famous women in American history.
Keith McMillen 3:10
All right, there you got there's a class to look for. Next is Janet, and she's on this committee. She's doing a slightly different part of that work.
Janet Ernst 3:21
Yes, I've been working with what is used to be called a curriculum rally, which is what we get out and we try to get people interested in volunteering to become instructors. Everything is a volunteer organization, so we're looking for new instructors all the time. And you know, people think of retirement as an end, and that's not how I feel about retirement. I think retirement is a beginning to do something else, and you know, I've had several careers, I've traveled the world, raised a family, built businesses, yet the one thing that I've learned is that the most interesting chapter is always the next one, and that is what I feel that Holly helps, Ali helps people write new chapters in their lives, and that's why I'm really grateful to be a part of it. But the curriculum rally is now called the Teach for Tomorrow Rally, and we have one every semester, and there will be one coming up this fall. And what we'd like to do is to reach out if you have something that you're interested in, whether it's an interest or a hobby, or if you have been certified as teaching for many years. We have a wonderful support system. And sitting next to me is Danielle, and she will tell you more about how we do everything we can to support any volunteer work as far as the Teach for Tomorrow committee is concerned,
Keith McMillen 4:41
that's a perfect introduction. Danielle, hi, I'm
Danielle Hartnett 4:43
Danielle Hartnett. I've been with Olli for about eight years now, and I've taught about 20 different classes. My role on the Educational Programming Committee is actually to bring on board all of the new instructors to the program. I acclimate them to, I guess, what I call the culture of Olli, for people who want to teach but have not yet been involved, and I support people through class development, syllabus development, and really I'm a liaison for the new instructors with the administration, but I actually came out here only about nine years ago, and I didn't know a soul when I lived on the Central Coast. I was actually involved with an Olli program there, and through another person here in town, I found out about Olli, and it has been one of the greatest joys of my life, the teaching, the community, my volunteer work with the committee, it has enriched my life beyond belief.
Keith McMillen 5:48
Fantastic, and we're glad you're here now. You are, you were responsible for introducing new instructors. I hear that we have about 10 new instructors coming in this fall. How many classes are we offering this fall?
Vernice Jackson 6:06
This fall we are offering 100 classes, 75 of them are going to be held right here at the Maryland Parkway campus, and then 25 will be at various locations around the city,
Keith McMillen 6:22
100 classes to choose from, and once you join Ollie, you can take as many of them as you can handle.
Vernice Jackson 6:29
That's one of the benefits of being a member of Olli, is that you can sample as many classes as you would like, and and there's certainly a wide variety of courses that are available, and the great thing is there's no homework
Keith McMillen 6:46
and no tests, and no tests,
Vernice Jackson 6:48
and no grades.
Danielle Hartnett 6:49
One of the things I'm not sure that people are aware of is that if you become an instructor at Olli, your tuition is completely waived, so you can take as many classes as you want, and I took a class with the gentleman who was in the CIA about the CIA, which was phenomenal, and I never knew what cantilever was, so I decided to take a class on architecture, and I moved from about a kindergarten level to at least second grade, but I think that's progress in about 10 weeks.
Keith McMillen 7:23
Absolutely,
Danielle Hartnett 7:24
and one of the things I really enjoy about working with the new instructors is I get to see new classes and new ideas being developed from the ground up, and to know the kind of enthusiasm our instructors have, the kind of passion and knowledge. It's one of the things I most enjoy about my committee work.
Keith McMillen 7:47
It is continues to amaze me that every time you turn around, an Olli student has a story. Every one of us has a story, and sometimes digging those stories out is a little bit of work, but you folks are trying to do that very diligently, and I'm quite impressed. Now we have an annual survey from our members, and one of the questions is, what other classes would you like us to have? So we have developed, I think, a wish list, if I'm not mistaken, and how do we encourage people to do that?
Janet Ernst 8:27
Well, what we're looking for is, as I said before, is anybody who has a hobby, something they're interested in that we could share with it. We want people that are interested in history, telling stories, but you know the most important thing about these classes that we have as Ali is to be able to walk into the room and not know one single person in a class and be able to turn around and walk out of that room and you have all these new friends, so my feeling is it's about the people, but we have many different classes in the arts programs. That's probably I would say one of the biggest classes that we have is people that enjoy doing things, so you know, you guys can come in and you could do crocheting, you can do tapestry. We don't mind, we don't mind if you're a man, we'll take it, we'll take you. Thank you.
Vernice Jackson 9:22
And the games, there are a number of opportunities for board games and for Marjong that has become very popular.
Keith McMillen 9:34
Yeah, are we teaching that as a class or just as a special interest group?
Vernice Jackson 9:38
Well, a little bit of both, because people are joining that have never played it before, and now they have an opportunity to learn, and and then the fellowship, in terms of playing these games, it's a great way to meet new,
Keith McMillen 9:55
oh, absolutely, and to learn about the fellow students, I mean. We had, I had three semesters of class with an older gentleman who happened to have been a project manager on a, on the Apollo project. He helped put a man on the moon, and he had the receipts to prove it, and the stories took us three semesters to go from a the first home built liquid propellant rocket to Neil Armstrong, which is only 30 weeks to do what took almost nine years, but yeah, it was fascinating, and we have instructors like that all over the place, and the how to things, diamond painting, drawing, you might have a hidden talent that you never even knew about. So, what unusual things have popped up? What you're looking at the list of new classes, anything jump out here at you, Vernice? Say, I saw one that was about secret files.
Vernice Jackson 11:04
Oh, yes, that was there in
Keith McMillen 11:07
the, the Octopus Murders, the
Vernice Jackson 11:10
Octopus Murders, and
Keith McMillen 11:13
the Jeffrey
Vernice Jackson 11:15
Files.
Keith McMillen 11:15
I'm not sure if we're ready for that, but you know, hey,
Vernice Jackson 11:20
well, for those people who are interested in current events, there's always soap box that they bring in a variety of speakers.
Keith McMillen 11:27
Yes, and it's always different every semester.
Vernice Jackson 11:30
Absolutely, and you know the great thing about that is that that is a hybrid class, which means that people who are unable to come to the Maryland Parkway campus, can simply log in on their computers and enjoy the class from the comfort of their own home.
Keith McMillen 11:49
Yes, and we have some that are just virtual, there's nobody here on campus for them, and as we develop, I mean, 74 classes pretty much pushes our limits in terms of classroom space during the week, so the satellites are important, and with 25 of them out there, there's probably one in a neighborhood near you. We
Danielle Hartnett 12:12
have them as far north as the Alliante Library, as far south as Merrill Gardens and Carnegie Heights, and as far west as Las Ventanas, yes, so they really are all over the valley, and having taught there before, I can tell you the community feeling is very much still there. So, if you're not allowed to make it across town or not able to make it across town to come here, there may be a living community close to you that you can be part of
Keith McMillen 12:43
wonderful now. The when you do the curriculum or the teach for tomorrow, are you mentioning topics that we're especially interested in? Or we
Janet Ernst 12:57
do that, we do like to give suggestions. Anybody have a certain expertise or an interest in a certain subject, and everything, but mainly we bring in people, we bring Danielle comes in and talks about all the support system that we have through the Educational Programming Committee, is and try to give any kind of support necessary, because no one knows quite what it is when you come in, but the quality of our instructors is just absolutely amazing. So, once they get there and get comfortable with it, they're more than happy to share with them. So, I feel the quality of our instructors and the enthusiasm that we have. We always bring in some of our former instructors that like to come in and say, but you know, it's like they tell us that it's when you teach somewhere, whether you were a high school teacher or college professor or whatever, that that is a part of you, and that is still something that needs to be expressed, as well as somebody that just has a passion, just an ordinary citizen that has a hobby that enjoys doing something that wants to share with other people, and again, I'll go back to this thing - it's all about the people, and that's the one thing that I feel our organization is just over the top in,
Danielle Hartnett 14:17
and really
Janet Ernst 14:18
proud.
Danielle Hartnett 14:18
Yes, and John's going to say, I've heard from several people that we would love to have folks come in to teach more of the earth sciences, of history, of foreign language, of travel. We really do have a need for new instructors, and what people may not know is something they love might fit perfectly with what we're looking for, so definitely, if you have a passion, we can get you connected with information about how to go about becoming a new instructor,
Vernice Jackson 14:51
and there are those people who are a little reluctant about doing it, but what we're now offering is a mentoring program, so. That we have a member of our committee who will go out and assist new instructors in reaching their comfort level in front of the classroom. Also, the technology training, many times people have the passion and the interest in a particular subject, but they're not up to date on using the technology, and so we can certainly help them with that.
Danielle Hartnett 15:25
Certainly, Mark Macario is our tech guru, and if there's a problem to be solved, he's our go-to guy.
Keith McMillen 15:32
Yeah, this is something that folks who haven't been at Ollie don't understand. We do use PowerPoint, you know, a display program on the computer, we use videos frequently in classes, depending on what we're teaching. Zoom,
Danielle Hartnett 15:48
definitely.
Keith McMillen 15:49
Oh, sure. And Zoom, we've even brought in outside guests on Zoom, so there is a lot of potential there. And if somebody is reluctant because of that. Yeah, we certainly have the folks that can help them with technology.
Danielle Hartnett 16:04
Absolutely, the
Vernice Jackson 16:06
support is definitely there.
Keith McMillen 16:08
Oh, yeah, yeah, we want teachers to succeed because we want them to come back and we want more students to talk about it. That's the whole plan. So, what have you seen coming up this year, this fall, that might, what intrigues you? Anything? Have you looked at the list yet?
Danielle Hartnett 16:27
Well, can I give a plug for the other Kurosawa, which is the class I will actually be teaching. That was shameless. No, that was shameless. We have a couple of folks who are going to be teaching a class on Bitcoin? We have somebody currently who's teaching a class on contra dancing.
Keith McMillen 16:48
Yes,
Danielle Hartnett 16:49
so really the breadth of our of our offerings. Bernice said we have 100 new classes, so if there's something that you are interested in, chances are we have it to offer for you.
Keith McMillen 17:03
Yes, I don't believe you can get to that list yet online, but sometime in August it will be available, and even before you sign up, you can look at it and see if there's something there that sparks your attention.
Vernice Jackson 17:16
Oh, absolutely, I'll be teaching a class on real pioneers, and when I say real, it's R E L, in talking about women who have been behind the camera, the pioneers,
Keith McMillen 17:36
Ida Lipino.
Vernice Jackson 17:37
Before then, really, let me ask, let me put a question out to you. When do you think there was the first female director?
Keith McMillen 17:49
My guess, having looked at old movies, there had to be at least one or two back in the days of the silence.
Vernice Jackson 17:57
Yes, so give me a year,
Keith McMillen 18:00
Vernice Jackson 18:02
okay. okay,
Keith McMillen 18:03
yeah,
Vernice Jackson 18:03
Keith McMillen 18:04
2019,
Vernice Jackson 18:06
24 no little further back than that. How about 1896
Keith McMillen 18:12
Whoa, 18 night, that 18 was she friends,
Vernice Jackson 18:16
she was French,
Keith McMillen 18:17
aha, okay, yes, her
Vernice Jackson 18:19
name was Alice Guy Boucher, and she directed films, and came over to the United States, and headed up her own studio in New York.
Keith McMillen 18:33
Fantastic.
Vernice Jackson 18:34
So that's one of the great things about some of these classes, is you walk away with information just blows your mind. You have,
Keith McMillen 18:41
oh yeah, absolutely no
Vernice Jackson 18:43
idea.
Danielle Hartnett 18:43
And again, you learn all of this through participating in the classes themselves. There's absolutely no homework involved. You don't have a textbook, you don't have tests. You show up, you grab a cup of coffee, meet with your friends, and learn something exciting and new.
Janet Ernst 19:01
Yeah, we also have - we're working with sometimes you might have a class, they are 10 week courses, and you might feel, well, that's kind of a long time to get involved in something, but you can also have buddy teaching, you can have somebody that shares some of the time with you, and just a lot of support that people aren't aware of, so we don't just throw people out there. They definitely have the support of the entire community.
Keith McMillen 19:27
Yeah, which is very important, especially if you're new to teaching. It can be daunting to sit in front of, or stand in front of, a group of 30 or 40 adults and go, I'll be blah blah blah blah. Yeah, you're afraid you're going to do that. It won't happen. We won't let you. We know, we know how this works, and it's, it's not that hard. And if you've really got a good topic and you need help with it, there's a lot of Ollie members that we can tap that might be able to stand right next to you and help. You with that,
Janet Ernst 20:00
we will be offering an open house too for fall semester.
Keith McMillen 20:04
Yes, and everyone is
Janet Ernst 20:06
open and it's invited to come and see what we're about. We'll try to give you any information we could possibly give you.
Keith McMillen 20:12
Yeah, meet some of the instructors, learn about all the classes, meet the staff, meet other students. Yeah,
Vernice Jackson 20:20
yes, our open house is going to be august 25 and we will also have a virtual open house, and that will be on the 27th of August. So, there are two ways that people can find out detailed information about the classes.
Keith McMillen 20:39
It's great. Yes, so going forward, are there any other things that we need to remind people about? I'm looking over my list here, and I think we've covered all of our major topics. I put you on the.. I was.. I promised I wouldn't put you on the spot. I changed my mind, had has there been an Olli class that has especially interested you or moved you in the past that you've taken, maybe one that surprised you.
Janet Ernst 21:12
Well, I really enjoy the soap box because every week we have a new guest, we've had the mayor of Las Vegas, we've had political candidates, we've have people of special interest groups, so it's very varied, and I never, every Monday I come and I learn something new, and that's what it's about, and it's usually about our community.
Keith McMillen 21:33
Well, I believe in the past we've had the governor. I remember going to a meeting that had a member of Congress, yeah, we have fast and people, especially local politicians, have learned that we are a very active organization, and if they want to press the an older generation, because we do have our fingers on the pulse of the community, at least of slightly older folks, I've
Janet Ernst 22:03
even taken a belly dance course over there. Good exercise, everybody.
Keith McMillen 22:09
Well, that yeah, that beats the pole dancing, I think.
Vernice Jackson 22:14
Oh, maybe next semester I'm not sure that I'm up
Keith McMillen 22:19
for that.
Vernice Jackson 22:21
I think it's important for people to know that the first day of the fall classes are going to be september 8, so if they're thinking about joining us at Olli, that's when the classes will begin, and it's 10 weeks of programming.
Keith McMillen 22:37
Yes, and if you pay attention to the end of our podcast, we will include a phone number and a web address where you can get more information,
Danielle Hartnett 22:46
and I'd like to just add it's rather early into the semester, the new semester that we also have a potential instructor meeting, and there you can come and find out how to submit a proposal, some of the benefits of teaching, so if this podcast has sparked your interest, that maybe you might be interested in teaching, we will even get you running with how to get the proposal going. We don't have an exact date for that yet, but it will be a couple of weeks into the semester.
Keith McMillen 23:16
Okay. Okay,
Vernice Jackson 23:17
so in terms of new instructors, there's always room for one more, correct.
Danielle Hartnett 23:22
Yes, absolutely.
Keith McMillen 23:24
And especially if you're near one of our satellites and want to teach out there, we would love to build that program a lot, because we are limited. I mean, there's only so many classrooms, and we share our building with other services, so yeah, the satellite places are really going to do a lot for us, and then online I'm taking a course right now every Wednesday morning about what we eat for breakfast. The instructor is a fascinating lady, she loves to do research. I, in fact, she was a guest on this program a month or two ago. She's talking about what we have for breakfast. She did a survey of what Americans have on their breakfast menu, picked the top 10 items, researched each one of them to an incredible depth, and is presenting each one once a week. We have talked this week. We talked about tea, simple easy tea. Turns out tea is more complicated than wine. If you pick a tea leaf in the morning and another one from the same plant in the afternoon. It's entirely possible that they will wind up brewing completely different teas. It is one of the most complex and crazy things that I have ever learned, and I'm fascinated with it, and that happens all the time. Uh, this, it is, it is truly amazing. So, any last words about what's coming up and what you're looking forward to?
Janet Ernst 25:09
Of course, we're all looking forward to fall next semester, and we still got a very vivacious and happy group that's over there for the summer session.
Keith McMillen 25:17
Yeah, we're about halfway through that now, right? Yeah, that's right. Okay, so
Janet Ernst 25:20
there's just so much more coming, you know. One of my favorite quotes is Helen Keller always said, life is either an exciting adventure or nothing. So, if you have anything, any, if you're inquisitive, if you're curious, we're going to be more than happy to have you.
Keith McMillen 25:37
That's a very good point, and I like that a lot. If we got nothing else to say, folks, then let's wrap this one up next month. I promised you a thing about a special class this month, this month, and we had to push it back simply because the people involved, I couldn't find a single week when they were all in town at the same time, so hopefully we can pull that off, and you will hear that come August, but nonetheless we will be back with something exciting and talking about Olli. Thank you. Thanks for listening to Focus on Olli. There are several ways to get more information. Our web address is Olli, o l l i.unlv.edu i.unlv.edu You may also email us at Olli at UNLV, that's Ollie O L L I A T U N L V at sine U N L v.edu You can also just give us a call at 702-895-3394 Monday through Friday, between the hours of eight and five, except of course on university holidays,
Unknown Speaker 26:46
the.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai