Lifelong learning SSU institute caters to students over 50 with a desire to know
Press-Democrat 1/22/07
It was a class on British Revolutions, one of the offerings at Sonoma State University's Lifelong Learning Institute, where learning for just the fun of it is alive and well.
"I love to learn, love to be challenged, love to read," said Jean Brandt, 80, of Cotati, a retired speech pathologist.
"It's just so much fun," said Pat LaBerge, 72, of Santa Rosa, a retired pharmacist. "The people are interesting, the teachers are great and they really like teaching to this age group - we understand their jokes."
The institute, catering to people over 50, this month received its second $1 million endowment from San Francisco's Bernard Osher Foundation, making it one of only five of 93 institutes at universities nationwide to receive a second round of funding.
Sonoma State's program is expanding the number of classes it offers and students it serves, and adding its first off-campus classes at Oakmont.
"We are going to be growing, Sonoma County is one of the ideal sites for a program like this, people are moving here to retire or partially retire," said Les Adler, SSU's dean of the school of extended education.
The SSU institute was started in 2001, received a $1 million Osher endowment in 2003, and was used as a model for similar institutes in California. Today, all of the UC campuses and 23 CSU campuses have the institutes.
A self-supporting program at SSU, it has a $400,000 annual budget, with $80,000 raised by the two endowments, $80,000 in donations from students and $240,000 in student fees.
There are 400 students who pay $210 in fees to take up to four courses, offered in three eight-week sessions.
It differs from other extended education programs, such as at Santa Rosa Junior College, in that it is targeted specifically at those over 50. There are no tests, no grades and no credit towards degrees and homework is discretionary.
"It is learning for the sheer joy and stimulation of being intellectually challenged," said Lou Miller, the institute's executive director.
Classes are offered in The Cooperage, an auditorium with cushioned chairs and provisions for the hard of hearing.
Courses cover a spectrum of arts, social sciences and humanities, from issues about lying to British history to Islam.
"They are not watered down, they are complex courses, they are quite weighty," Adler said. "They tackle current issues, there are cutting edge science courses.
Adler said that the level of sophistication is dictated by the students themselves.
Of the 389 students who took classes in the fall, 290 already had college degrees. It included 110 who had master's degrees, 18 physicians, eight lawyers and 22 with doctorates.
The average age is 68, with six of the students over 90 and 53 between 80 and 89 years old.
"The level we try to teach matches the needs of the students, who are already knowledgeable about the world and world events," Adler said.
The program has included a trip to China and three to Cuba and one is planned for Vietnam.
The teachers themselves are senior faculty or retired faculty and administrators, and many are teaching courses for which they have particular expertise or passion.
SSU President Ruben Armiñana taught a course on his homeland, Cuba. Former SSU Provost Bernie Goldstein, a biologist, is teaching a course on opera.
Bruce Elliott, a UC Berkeley history professor, has been teaching the British Revolutions class at the institute for five years.
His costume, which he will change as the course progresses from 1485 to 1750, is meant to contribute to the low-key nature of the courses.
"I'm talking about historical periods and this is the dress that goes with those periods," Elliott said. "In these classes, there is a fun element, they are taking them for interest."