Celebrating OLLI’s 45th Anniversary

Celebrating 45 Years of OLLI

Beth Anderson, Howard Koslow and Ginny Knight

Past president Jan Tuchinsky, former IRC chair Mike Bahnaman, former OLLI director Sara Craven, past president Jack Gartner, Bill Wright Award winner Richard Ellman and current president Marion Jervay organize the OLLI archives before sending them to Duke Archives. A s we continue to celebrate OLLI at Duke’s 45th anniversary, we wanted to give a shout-out to our amazing A volunteers who make the magic happen.

Members of the Curriculum Committee (CC) and the Instructor Relations Committee (IRC) work tirelessly behind the scenes to bring you the outstanding courses and instructors you’ve come to expect. We invited them to look back over the years and share their insights on what it takes to lead these efforts.

Director Chris McLeod (right) presents the OLLI board president Marion Jervay with the 2022 Bill Wright Award.

Beth Anderson

Beth is the longest serving chair of the Curriculum Committee.

What is the contribution you are most proud of making? What do you find most enjoyable about serving as chair?

Without question, being the chair of the CC is my passion! It has been a full, rich, incredible journey. Early on, I recognized our course descriptions should be more precise to meet our

members’ expectations. Throughout my tenure, gently and relentlessly, I strove to improve the quality, consistency and clarity of the course descriptions. The task is not done, but I feel proud of what I’ve achieved, and I will be honored if this is my legacy.

Mike Bahnaman

Mike was the founder of the Instructor Relations Committee and its chair from 2009 to 2018.

Linda Hubbard Curtis, Beth Anderson, Diane Hundley, Lu Howard and Eloise Jordan

OLLI staff member Annette Gooch (right) meets online instructor Terri Strug in person for the first time.

What inspired you to create the IRC? What is your favorite memory of being IRC chair?

In 2009, the board recognized that we needed to “up our game” in supporting our talented instructors, who are the key to OLLI’s success. Specifically, we needed to do a better job in five key areas: recognition, communication, networking, training and advocacy. To address this challenge, we formed a dedicated committee to focus on these issues, and the Instructor Relations Committee was born. My favorite memories are of participating in instructor lunches. Sharing a casual meal each month with several dozen talented and passionat individuals who willingly shared their knowledge with OLLI was humbling and enlightening — and fun!

Ginny Knight

Ginny has worn many hats since she joined OLLI in 2016, serving as Curriculum Committee chair, president of the OLLI Board of Advisors and Instructor Relations Committee chair.

What OLLI role did you find most enjoyable? What contribution are you most proud of making?

The OLLI volunteer job I found the most enjoyable was serving as chair of the Curriculum Committee. The OLLI subject area chairs comprising the Curriculum Committee were, and still are, a most dedicated group of volunteers.

OLLI director Chris McLeod with OLLI founders Jean O’Barr and Judith Ruderman; current OLLI board president Marion Jervay; and past OLLI director Sara Craven

Jean O’Barr and Ruth Caccavale take a selfie together at the Fall Social.

Howard Koslow

Howard was chair of the Information Technology (IT) committee from 2018 to 2021. In spring 2021, he took up the torch to lead the Instructor Relations Committee when OLLI began hosting courses online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

What was the most meaningful aspect of serving as chair of the IRC during the pandemic?

One of the most rewarding aspects of serving as IRC chair was getting to recognize milestones for instructors who have taught 25 or more courses. I had the pleasure of honoring three such instructors while they were teaching online classes. The appreciation expressed by the director and students and the gratification the instructors found in teaching made me especially proud to be part of the OLLI community.

I was very proud of their accomplishments in recruiting outstanding instructors and in developing and enhancing, with their instructors, a curriculum of in-depth courses in a wide variety of subjects from literature and history to astronomy and number theory to hands-on art and music. It was a joy to work with such a committed group of members who loved contributing their enthusiasm and knowledge to curating classes for our OLLI students. I am most proud of the volunteers I recruited to OLLI, to teach and to serve on committees. Of course, the resource-rich environment we live in made it easy.