explorers & ADVENTURES
DavidsonLearns Creates a Common Ground BY » Jean Spangler PHOTOGRAPHY BY » Ken Noblezada
Nonprofit fosters a lifelong love of learning ’ve always enjoyed learning something new since I was very young. A career in marketing also continued to fuel my interest in learning as it was part of my job to learn as much about a client’s business – whether it was real estate, aerospace or new product manufacturing. When retirement came around, I missed the expanding knowledge that came with working in a variety of different industries. After moving to Davidson, my neighbors and friends talked enthusiastically about DavidsonLearns, a lifelong learning program open to people of all ages. After reviewing the impressive roster of courses, I was hooked. At last count, I’ve taken several
courses including: US Trade Policy, Jazz Essentials, Freakanomics, and others.
The desire to learn
The genesis of DavidsonLearns began with some well-known Davidson residents who wanted to create lifelong learning opportunities. This founding group included Andrea Caughey, Margo Williams and Bill Tiemann who brainstormed the idea and knew the need was great and the talent and determination to create a program existed. The initial task force included Deb Cameron, Cecil Clifton, Jennie Clifton, Megan Pillow Davis, Amy Diamond, Lisa Gray, Sherill Holland, Natasha Marcus, Tom Rynne, Connie Wessner, Margo
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Williams and John Woods. DavidsonLearns held its first meeting March 22, 2012. In its first season, the program offered three courses. By the winter of 2020, 39 courses were offered – a growth of more than 600 percent. Long-time Davidson resident Amy Diamond became the organization’s first executive director in 2012, followed by Jake Jacobs who assumed the position in 2017 and continues in that role today. “DavdisonLearns is committed to the delivery of academically relevant courses with more than 70 percent of the courses taught by active and retired college professors,” says Jacobs. “In 2019, we renamed our
International Affairs course to The Rynne Lectures In International Affairs in honor of Tom Rynne, who launched our international affairs courses through his personal contacts with leading experts in the field. Since DavidsonLearns was founded, we have had 33 highly professional experts share their knowledge and expertise in international affairs.” Membership in DavidsonLearns is $30 a year and individual courses range from $44 to $66 on average. Classes are held in Fall and Winter/ Spring. DavidsonLearns has become so popular that classes often are filled within a few minutes after registration opens.
