This Week at OLLI – August 1, 2022

August 1, 2022

Week of August 1

OLLI SATISFACTION SURVEY
Don’t forget to fill out our 5-minute OLLI Satisfaction Survey! This helps us create a better experience for our members and help steer the direction of OLLI. The survey is open to current, former, and mailing list members and was sent out via email last week. Click here to complete the survey: https://uri.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_82qnnaGPTAQAnZA

WINTER COURSE PROPOSALS DUE
Winter course proposals are due this Tuesday, August 2. You can fill out a course proposal by clicking here. 

CANCELED CLASSES

  • Topics in Ecology

  • Lives Less Ordinary

This Week at OLLI

Monday

  • 10:00AM In This Moment: Mindfulness Meditation
  • 10:00AM Coast Defenses in Narragansett (Bay Campus)
  • 3:00PM Purpose Driven Retirement
  • 5:00PM Contemporary Econ Policies (Zoom)

Tuesday

  • 9:30AM The Evolution of Drug Discovery
  • 10:00AM Walking Through Time
  • 1:00PM The Music of Young America
  • 1:15 Golf
  • 2:00PM Early Rhode Island History- Meets at Smiths Castle
  • 3:30PM  Vietnam War/Short Stories

Wednesday

  • 9:30AM Introductory Oceanography, Continued (Zoom)
  • 10:00AM Travel and Landscape Photography with your iPhone
  • 11:30AM Salon des Refuses
  • 12:30 Bowling
  • 1:00PM RI Lighthouse Tour
  • 1:00PM Walking Group
  • 2:00Pm Smith’s Castle: A RI Treasure

Thursday

  • 9:30AM Renewable Energy
  • 1:00PM Mah Jonng
  • 3:00PM History of Russia

Friday

  • 10AM: Photo Friday

Reminder: The office will be closed on Monday, August 8, Victory Day.

HELP OLLI GROW! You can help us grow by introducing a friend to OLLI. A special OLLI Showcase will be held on Thursday, August 11, between 9:30AM-12:30PM for non-members to sample 6 of our new Fall classes and learn about our Special Interest Programs. Shae your enthusiasm about your experience as a member of OLLI! Click here to view a flyer you can share with your friends!

OFFICE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: 

Assists with a variety of tasks to help keep the OLLI office functioning smoothly.

Primary functions include: membership registration, class registration, answering phones, greeting visitors, entering class attendance, creating spreadsheets, copying, filing, organizing and other duties.

MUST be able to use OLLI’s online registration system and have a sufficient understanding of Word and Excel as well as the internet.

We have openings for volunteers on the following days but also need floaters:

  • Tuesdays, 1:30-3:30PM
  • Thursdays, 11:30-1:30PM
  • Floater/Fill ins

Click here to fill out a volunteer application: https://forms.gle/dgtvjqjk4X52kkxWA

CLASS SPOTLIGHTS….check them out!

VEGETABLE RESEARCH AT URI- Tuesday, August 11, ay 5PM with Rebecca Brown. Ever wonder what is happening in the fields off Plains Road? Interested in learning about how URI is supporting local food production? Spend an evening touring the Gardiner Crops Research Center and learning about vegetable production research at URI. Topics will include vegetable variety trials, prevention of bird damage to sweet corn, high tunnel vegetable production, cover crops for soil health, polycultures, and crops in urban community gardens for ethnic groups. Note: This is a walking tour, and the farm roads are not paved.

Rebecca Brown is a professor of plant sciences at URI. She is the faculty leader of URI’s Vegetable Research and Extension Program and teaches vegetable production classes for URI undergraduates and for the URI Master Gardener Program.

BIOMES MARINE BIOLOGY CENTER– Special Tour for OLLI members and a unique opportunity to bring your grandchildren or a friend along to introduce them to OLLI! Wednesday, August 17, at 10AM. Space is limited to 30, so register early!

Spend some time exploring and watching feeding demonstrations at Biomes Center, New England’s only private marine education facility and the most hands-on aquarium in the region. Biomes has been providing interactive marine biology programs for schools and families since 1989, and specializes in teaching children and adults about the marine animals of Narragansett Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

Biomes now houses the largest collection of local marine life in the world, with over 120 species of animals calling it home. Boasting the original shark-petting tank in New England, providing more hands-on animal interactions than any other facility of its kind, and unique exhibits (such as our fiddler crab colony) found nowhere else, and all of their marine animals have been collected in Narragansett Bay by their staff and volunteers. No animals are purchased or imported.

C.S. LEWIS: THE FOUR LOVES (ON ZOOM) Monday, August 22, at 1PM with Teresa Testa. In this one-session class, prepare to celebrate the meaningful experience at the heart of our human relations with family, friends, partners, and the Divine, that is, to love and to be loved. Students will be introduced to an original teaching and interpretation of twentieth-century author Clive Staples Lewis’ The Four Loves while being guided to delve more deeply into the inspiration for the work which originates from classical and spiritual origin. To understand each love–familial or storge, friendship or philia, romantic or eros, and spiritual or agape–is to grasp the foundational aspects of what it means to live with humility and dignity in existence with something greater than oneself. The class objective will become both an intellectual pursuit as well as a personal promise to explore the nature of love in one’s own lived experience. To love!

Teresa M. Testa is a Ph.D. candidate at Salve Regina University, where her dissertation research explores 20th-century American cultural approaches to moral theory within the philosophy of technology and theology. Graduating from Brown University with a concentration in English and American literature, Teresa also earned the M.Sc. in organizational management from Salve Regina University with emphasis on modern business ethical standards. Her academic interests are extensive and often connect multiple disciplines within the humanities.

COFFEE DONATIONS– We would love to continue to offer coffee in the lobby. Donations of coffee, sugar or sweetener packets, cups or cash donations are all welcome and appreciated! 

RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP TODAY.  Many of you have an August renewal date and we want to make sure you are current so that you can register for our upcoming fall semester on August 23. Give us a call at 401-874-4197 and we will be happy to renew your membership over the phone. There are more than 75 courses to choose from.

OLLI TRAVEL 

OLLI Travel 2023 and 2024

  • March 2023- Costa Rica – Registration Deadline is August 1.9 Click here to view the brochure. 
  • April 2023- Holland & Belgium Springtime River Cruise – Registration Deadline is August 19.  Click here to view the brochure. 
  • August 2023-Alaska 
  • September 2023 California Dreamin: Monterey, Yosemite & Napa3
  • October 2023-France
  • March 2024-Ireland
  • April 2024-Greece
  • October 2024-Azores

AUDUBON SOCIETY TALK ON AVIAN FLU – Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) – The Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreak in North American is cause for concern, particularly for domestic poultry. As of June 27, 2022 there have been over 40 million domestic birds infected with the virus in the United States (CDC). You can read more about it here and check out the Audubon Town Hall with Dr. Charles Clarkson by clicking here: 

URI IN THE NEWS: click here to read the headlines.

FREE LECTURES: OLLI at Southern Oregon University invites you to their upcoming summer-session lecture that is free and open to all OLLI members. Pre-registration is required to receive the Zoom link. Live presentations via Zoom from 4-5 pm Pacific Time on  consecutive Tuesdays,  Aug. 2, Aug. 9

Link to video or registration: http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07eja1ktuke13f25ff&llr=n9frqxcab

  • August 2: Betsy Massie is a retired teacher of U.S. History who specializes in Constitutional history. She’ll present a lively talk about current events entitled “Are Congress Members and the President Above the Law: A Review of the January 6 Investigation Committee.”
  • August 9: Southern Oregon reputation is growing as a premier wine-growing and wine-making area. If you are a wine connoisseur who wants to learn more about S. Oregon’s wines before the prices and (un)availability for them catch up with our Napa Valley neighbors to the south, this class is for you. Presenter Dan Dawson has been studying local wines and wine-makers for years and will share his expertise with attendees.