UC San Diego Receives
$1 Million Lifelong Learning Grant

January 2, 2008

By Henry DeVries

The Bernard Osher Foundation has awarded UC San Diego a $1 million endowment gift to support lifelong learning for older adults. The endowed earnings will support expanded outreach and significantly strengthen lecture programs at UC San Diego Extension’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, an adult education program with a curriculum designed for those who are at least 50 years of age and enjoy thought-provoking learning opportunities in a university setting.

“This gift demonstrates the Foundation’s appreciation for the great strides we have made in developing a wide array of intellectually stimulating, learning opportunities for older learners,” said Mary Walshok, associate vice chancellor for public programs and dean of Extension.

Stanley Faer, president of The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC San Diego, says the group’s board of directors plan to use the endowed earnings to broaden the membership and expand the program activities of the learning-in-retirement program.

Recent guest lectures have featured

• Former White House Counsel John Dean, the man who served and then testified against President Nixon during the Watergate hearings. Dean spoke on his new book, “Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive and Judicial Branches.”
• Film and television director Gene Reynolds offered a peak behind the Hollywood curtain as he recalled his life on the sets on “My Three Sons,” “Room 222,” “Lou Grant” and his hit TV show “M*A*S*H.”
• Retired United States Marine Corps General Joseph Hoar gave a blistering critique of the Bush Administration’s policies in Iraq and warned of potential disaster if the U.S. conducts military operations against neighboring Iran.

UC San Diego Extension was an early pioneer in the national movement of learning in retirement.  Originally named the Institute for Continued Learning, the program began in 1974 in response to ideas offered by a group of retirees from New York who wished to replicate the learning in retirement program they had participated in at the New School for Social Research.

California businessman Bernard Osher created The Bernard Osher Foundation in 1977. The Foundation supports university programs nationwide that offer intellectually stimulating learning for seasoned adults.

Through yearly grants totaling $300,000 from the Bernard Osher Foundation beginning in 2004, the program was renamed the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC San Diego.

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute offers a broad range of education opportunities offered year round which includes over 120 academic courses, tours and social events. There are no educational requirements – just the desire to learn for the sake of learning.

For more information please call (858) 534-3409 or e-mail olli@ucsd.edu  or visit the Web site at www.olli.ucsd.edu. 

Media Contact: Henry DeVries, 858-534-9955 or 619-540-3031 (after hours)