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OLLI Kickoff Convocation Celebrates Lifelong Curiosity

Provost Sally Kornbluth addresses program students on her Duke priorities

olli-kornbluth

OLLI members Richard Ellman and Saul Boyarsky chat with Provost Sally Kornbluth following her talk.  Photo by Stuart Wells

Duke can learn from the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) as it seeks to imbue undergraduate students with a love of learning that stretches beyond their career focus, Provost Sally Kornbluth told more than 200 OLLI members at the institute’s opening convocation Sunday at Judea Reform Congregation.

“I knew about OLLI as the place where my mother Myra and my late father George, took courses, learned new things, made friends and truly began to feel at home in North Carolina,” she said.

Wanting to know more about what made the institute successful, Kornbluth said she found OLLI’s mission statement acknowledging that the motivation for many older adults, in contrast to degree- and job-seekers, “is in learning for the joy of learning -- without examinations or grades -- and keeping in touch with a larger world.”

Recalling her own learning trajectory, Kornbluth said she enrolled in a pass/fail Winter Study course at Williams on neurological diseases that proved transformative and led her toward earning a Ph.D. in molecular biology. She says OLLI's no-grades approach is a useful model as she works with a faculty committee to design a pilot spring break study program for students.

Since becoming  the university’s chief academic officer last year, Kornbluth says she has been “struck by how careerist undergraduate students can be, and how focused they are on the grades they’ll get or on what they’re going to do next.  Now, of course there has to be some of that in the mix, but too much of that prevent them from gaining maximum benefit from their education.”

Kornbluth pulled out several courses from the fall OLLI catalog to highlight, noting the instructors' world-class credentials.  “Where do great minds go to retire?" she asked. "Apparently Durham, North Carolina."

The provost says she wants more faculty and PhD students to become aware of OLLI. Faculty may want to participate and students may appreciate the teaching opportunities, she said.

Kornbluth says OLLI members also could offer Duke students additional opportunities for engagement with adults. She spoke of the possibility of creating an advisory corps made up of OLLI members who have expertise to share.

Kornbluth at OLLI

In his remarks, OLLI Director Garry Crites ticked off several new discoveries in the realm of cosmology, religion, medicine and art and then noted the OLLI instructors "who can teach these things."

"There's no greater time to be a member of OLLI," he said.

Saul Boyarksky, an OLLI member and 1945 Duke graduate, was among the OLLI members who posed questions of Kornbluth after her talk. "This is a hotbed of enthusiasm for learning and this lecture tried to make learning practical,” he said.

Jan Tuchinsky says OLLI serves an important educational purpose but also enhances members' social lives. She says it allows newcomers to the Triangle to connect with others who want to be always learning.  "It's heartwarming to see the significant difference OLLI makes to people as we age,” Tuchinksy said.