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OLLI
E-News #13-09 of April 3, 2009
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SURVEY RESULTS
From the executive
director
ON THU, MAR 26, I SENT OUT A SURVEY
entitled,
"OLLI at George Mason University Survey Test" via email to
approximately 800 OLLI members. The survey consisted of three questions
related to how OLLI members would respond to future surveys. Since we
have had mixed results from previous surveys, I am trying to gain
information to help us make intelligent decisions as we attempt to
gather information from our members. The volunteer leaders of OLLI,
including your Board of Directors and chairpersons of the Program
Committee and Membership Committee, are continually seeking information
about such things as member satisfaction, course preferences, and
interests in various activities.
As of this writing, 400 OLLI members have
responded to
the survey. Here is the breakdown of the responses:
Question 1: If you received a survey like
this from OLLI, which of
the following choices most accurately reflects how you would respond?
• 59% said they would "definitely
respond."
• 39.7% said they "might respond."
• 1.3% said they "would not respond at
all."
• 12 people skipped the question. |
Question 2: OLLI included a paper "Member
Survey" in the mailing with
confirmation letters for the spring 2009 term. Please indicate which
statement most accurately reflects your response to that survey.
• 28.8% said that they "had not yet
completed the survey, but they planned on doing so."
• 24.8% said that they "completed the
survey and turned it in to an OLLI staff member."
• 22.5% said that they "completed the
survey and mailed it to the OLLI office."
• 24.2% said that they "do not plan on
completing the survey."
• 94 people skipped the question. |
Question 3: Which type of survey do you
prefer?
• 57.7% said they are more likely to
complete a survey that they receive via email (such as this one).
• 38.5% said they would be equally
likely to complete a paper survey as an email survey.
• 4.3% said they would be more likely
to complete a paper survey.
• 8 people skipped the question. |
By the way, we are still analyzing the results
of the paper "Member Survey" that was mailed with the confirmation
letters on Mar 12. As of this date, we have received 208 responses.
NOTICE TO THE
MEMBERSHIP
Annual Membership Meeting – May 8;
Closing date for elections to the Board – May 15
 By Kathleen Meyer, Secretary
THE OLLI ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING WILL
BE HELD ON FRI, MAY 8, 2009, at 10:00 at Tallwood, with the
following agenda:
- Reports from
the OLLI president and executive director on the state of the
institute; and
- Brief
speeches by the candidates for election to the Board with an
opportunity to ask questions of the candidates, moderated by the
Nominating Committee Chair.
 ELECTION FOR THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Each OLLI member will receive by mail a ballot
and an addressed envelope marked BALLOT ENCLOSED. Use this ballot to
vote for up to six candidates; you may mail the ballot to OLLI or drop
it in a ballot box at Tallwood, Reston, or Loudoun. Since you do not
sign the ballot or return envelope, your vote remains completely
anonymous. To be counted, all ballots must be received by noon on May 15, 2009.
Do not lose your ballot: No member having lost, damaged or
destroyed his/her mailed ballot may receive a second ballot.
Making more than six choices will invalidate your ballot. Similarly,
more than one ballot per envelope, or any ballot not in the furnished
BALLOT ENCLOSED envelope or not received by May 15, will be invalid. If
you have questions about the election process, contact any Nominating
Committee member: Susanne Zumbro, John West, Rosemary McDonald, Ted
Parker, Bob Lawshe or Gordon Canyock.
The OLLI bylaws require that the secretary
notify members of the date, time, place and agenda of the Annual
Membership Meeting from 25 to 60 days in advance, and notify members of
the closing date of elections at least 25 days in advance. The bylaws
allow for electronic transmission. This notice has been emailed to the
OLLI membership, mailed to those without email, included in this issue
of OLLI E-News, and provided
as a handout in classrooms to comply with the bylaws.
OLLI BOOK CLUB
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 THE
OLLI BOOK CLUB will meet at 1:30 on Wed, Apr 8, at
Tallwood. The book for discussion is Big
Cherry Holler by Adriana Trigiani. Set in Big Stone Gap,
Virginia, it is the second book in her Big Stone Gap trilogy.
(Read
Google Book info.)
All OLLI members are welcome.
Submitted by OLLI Book Club
Co-Coordinator Ceda McGrew. |
FAKE NEWS A BIG HIT
Read sample member comments
WITH
ALL THE SERIOUS LEARNING GOING ON AT OLLI,
we thought some levity was needed. We're happy that most of you enjoyed
our April Fools' Day issue (available online at www.olligmu.org/enews1apr2009.htm
for those who missed Wednesday's email newsletter). By the way, credit
for the brilliant idea of using high-school photos in the bylines of
the writers goes to Deputy Editor John West.
A minority of the membership complained, but the
large majority of members who emailed us liked the issue. All of us who
worked on the special issue thank you for your kudos; we are most
grateful. Here is a sampling of member comments--
- Congratulations! You have outdone
yourselves. The Apr
1 edition of the
E-News is hilarious ... the articles are clever and witty ... the high
school pictures, ingenious. Thanks for the entertainment. AN AWESOME
ISSUE!
- BZ! [That means "Well done!" for
you non-Navy folks
-Ed.]. Great job! It was hilarious.
- Good job! I love it.
- Ha Ha! Cute. Loved the photos!
(Notice I didn't say
OLD photos!)
- Thou Foolish Ones: Thanks to you
and the others, for
another April Fools' edition. Yearbook pictures especially enjoyed.
Well done.
- Great OLLI-E-News!
Particularly the "current" photos of the contributors! The April Fools'
Day OLLI E-News is always one
of the most anticipated and appreciated issues of the year! Keep up the
great work!
- Congrats on another highly creative
April Fools' Day
edition of the E-News!
- What fun!
- I LOVED it! Especially parking
garage and the Coming
Attractions! What a hoot! Keep it up! I actually DID LOL [laugh out
loud]!
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- Such fun! I am gullible
– and it took me a while to remember that it was April Fools' Day!
Thanks for some good laughs!
- Congratulations on your imaginative
special issue!
- I'm glad to see you chose to ignore
the bah,
humbuggers from last year and to turn out a fun publication. Thanks to
all of you.
- A great April Fools' edition! Great
ideas and great
graphics! Thanks for all the hard work you put into it.
- Loved the newsletter! I think we
should go for the
Tesla; that will surely help our image!
- Brilliant! You had me for the first
two or three items – then I got
it!
- You had me for at least 30 seconds!
- I just finished reading the April
Fools' newsletter
and can't stop laughing. What a great job you and the other
contributors did. I especially liked the women's driving tips. Thanks
for all the work you do on the newsletter.
- Please give my compliments to the
entire E-News
"staff." This is really funny stuff! You all are very creative!
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OLLI "SPIRIT WEAR"
New items available: polo shirts, jacket,
visor
See order form (pdf)
for description and pricing of each item.
DUE
TO THE POSITIVE RESPONSE WE'VE RECEIVED from
OLLI members for "Spirit Wear" items, we have arranged for some new
items: polo shirts and a lightweight jackets are now available in a
variety of colors, and a sun visor is also available.
The order form (pdf)
describes the items in detail and the pricing; order forms are
available in each classroom. Orders are due to the OLLI office by Mon,
Apr 20. Prices include a small amount that will go as a donation to the
Friends of OLLI.
Submitted by Executive Director Thom Clement.
OLLI TRAVEL CLUB
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IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN TRAVEL
– and who isn’t?
– plan on coming to the next meeting of the OLLI Travel Club at 10:00
on Fri, Apr 10, at Tallwood. We’ll be discussing--
- A
possible OLLI trip to the Galapagos next February,
- Places
people have visited in Italy and Spain, and
- A
variety of other topics attendees bring up.
If you can’t attend but would like to be on
distribution for
minutes and other travel tidbits, send your name and email address to
Shelly Gersten.
Also, please send to Shelly any suggested topics for discussion or
trips you might be interested in organizing. |
TALLWOOD
WALKING GROUP
Goal is camaraderie as well as exercise
Tallwood
Walking Group about to
hit the W&OD Trail in Jan 2009;
left to right, Shelly Gersten, Vivien Witheford, Al Sanders, Joanne
Becker, Andre Pugin, Sherry Hart, and Don Allen. Photo by Doris Bloch.
DURING
OLLI TERMS, THE TALLWOOD WALKING
GROUP meets
one
morning
a week, an hour before the first class of the morning begins.
The group gathers together in the pool parking lot, walks in the
Tallwood neighborhood for about 45 minutes, and arrives back at
Tallwood
for the
start of classes.
All
levels of walking ability and speed are
accommodated
– our goal is camaraderie as well as exercise. We also walk weekly when
OLLI is out of session, but then we often plan later starting times,
longer walks and more varied locations.
This term we are meeting on Monday mornings at
8:30. We will wait five minutes for stragglers, then set off. If you
are interested in joining us, contact Sherry Hart or Doris
Bloch
for more information or to be added to the group's weekly email list.
Back
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ISTANBUL AND EPHESUS
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TRIP TALES ATTENDEES THIS PAST WEDNESDAY
WERE TREATED to a masterful presentation with superb
photographs by OLLI
travelers Ann and Lorrin Garson on their cruise in the Adriatic and
Black Seas. Their Trip Tale included visits to Istanbul
and ancient Ephesus, both in Turkey.
For members interested in either of these
cities, OLLI
Video News offers newly available one-click videos of Istanbul and
Ephesus that play instantly. To watch these short videos, visit the
following parts of the OLLI Video News page.
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KEY CONTACT
INFORMATION
How to contact OLLI
HERE
IS A READY REFERENCE on how to contact OLLI. For email
addresses and phone numbers not listed below, please consult the online
Membership Directory (log in to Member
Portal).
- President:
Pat Carroll (email)
- Executive
Director: Thom
Clement, phone 703-503-7866
- OLLI Office, phone
703-503-3384
- Tallwood
Administrator/OLLI Registrar: Maria
Buczek, phone 703-503-3384
- Board
members: See Organization page
(to send an email to the entire Board, send it to the office or the OLLI
E-News editor, and your
message will be forwarded to all members of the Board)
- Committee
chairs, resource-group chairs: See Organization
page
- Suggestions: Online
suggestion box
- Letters to
the editor or letters to Ms. Ollie Ettakit
(etiquette
matters): OLLI
E-News Editor Rod Zumbro,
phone
703-569-2750
MASON ARTS AND
MUSIC
Upcoming Mason performances, Apr 3-12
By Jan Bohall, OLLI
E-News Staff Writer
FOR
TICKETS, call
1-888-945-2468 (phone orders are handled by tickets.com)
or visit the Center for the Arts Box Office, Tue-Sat, 10:00-6:00. More
info on tickets at the CFA tickets page.
Faculty Artist Series
Anna
Balakerskaia and
Friends
Fri, Apr 3, 8:00
Part of the Keyboard Studies faculty of the George Mason Department of
Music, Dr. Balakerskaia specializes in piano and chamber music.
Concertgoers will hear music by Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Schnitke and
Shostakovich.
Admission: Free, no tickets required
Harris Theater
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Virginia Opera
The Barber of Seville
Fri, Apr 3, 8:00 & Sun, Apr 5, 2:00
Rossini’s spirited music sweeps us along with the outrageous
intricacies in this story of a singing barber whose meddling may help,
or not, the handsome Count Almaviva to marry lovely Rosina. Her
guardian has other plans. Sung in Italian with English supertitles.
Admission Fri: $86, $72, $44
Admission Sun: $98, $80, $48
Concert Hall
Come 45 minutes early for each performance for a free artistic
discussion on Grand Tier III.
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Cherryholmes
Sat, Apr 4, 8:00
Each member of this family band has a distinct style and plays
bluegrass with enthusiasm. The band has won the International Bluegrass
Music Association’s Entertainer of
the Year award.
Admission: $44, $36, $22
Family Friendly: Children 12 and under, half price with an adult
Concert Hall
Come at 7:15 for a free artistic discussion on Grand Tier III.
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Thomas Brawley Memorial Chamber Concert
Featuring
GMU Music
Department Faculty
This
annual concert honors
Prof. Thomas Brawley who was part of the George Mason Department of
Music.
Sun, Apr 5, 3:00
Admission: Free, no tickets required
Harris Theater
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GMU Symphony Orchestra
Music
for Medicine Concert
In
partnership with the
Medical Society of Northern Virginia
Tue, Apr 7, 8:00
Prof. Anthony Maiello will conduct the orchestra in their annual
concert to benefit the Medical Society of Northern Virginia Foundation.
Featured will be faculty artists Jim Carroll on alto sax, Dennis
Edelbrock on trumpet, mezzo-soprano Patricia Miller, tenor Rick Novak,
and Harold Summey and Harry Watters on trombone.
Admission: $10 seniors/students, $15 other adults
Concert Hall
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GMU Players
Studio
Series #4
Rosencrantz
&
Guildenstern are Dead
By Tom
Stoppard
Thu, Fri, Sat, Apr 9, 10, 11, 8:00
Sat, Sun, Apr 11, 12, 2:00
The
play is an absurdist, existentialist tragicomedy that expands upon the
misadventures of two minor characters from Hamlet. They are shown as clowns or
fools in a world beyond their understanding. They stumble through
philosophical arguments, not realizing the implications to themselves.
Admission: $3 seniors/students, $6 other adults
Black Box Theater (Lower level of
Performing Arts Bldg, adjacent to Concert Hall. From Level 2 of Parking
Deck take the bridge. Enter first door on the left and follow hallway;
go through gray doors and downstairs.)
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Complexions Contemporary Ballet
Sat, Apr 11, 8:00
This innovative ensemble explores powerful social, political and
emotional issues through its creative choreography, grounded in
classical dance, original music and unusual multi-media effects. The
group’s intensity, passion and technical skill delights its audiences.
Admission: $42, $34, $21
Concert Hall
Come at 7:15 for a free artistic discussion on Grand Tier III.
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Other Mason events
 By Barbara Kyriakakis, OLLI
E-News Staff Writer
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• 2009 Virginia State Science &
Engineering Fair – Exhibits open to public on Sat, Apr 4, 2:00
to 4:00, Patriot Center.
• Cinema Series – The Spirit. Sat, Apr 4, 6:00
and 9:00; Sun, Apr 5, 3:00 and 6:00, JC Cinema. $1.00 with Mason ID.
• International Week Activities (see Web site
for more):
- Cultural Dance
Showcase – Sat, Apr 4, 7:00 to 10:00, Harris Theater, featuring
Hawaiian, Asian Indian, Chinese Taiji, Mongolian, Vietnamese, Bolivian,
Guzheng and Korean dance performances.
- Bazaar & Mid-Day
Performances - Food sales, cultural exhibits, demonstrations,
documentaries, vendors, music and dance performances. Mon, Apr 6, 12:00
to 3:00; Tue, Apr 7 through Fri Apr 10, 11:00 to 3:00. North Plaza,
Johnson Center.
- Polyglot Performances
– A showcase of student performances, including Kolobok (Gingerbread
man), a Russian play; German pop songs; French vignettes; a Japanese
play about a magic fan that falls to the earth; and classic Italian
folk songs. Mon, Apr 6, 5:00 to 8:00, Harris Theater.
- Speaker – "Friends of Congo,"
presented by Kamblae Musavuli, speaking on the
current humanitarian situation in the Congo. Mon, Apr 6, 7:30, Sub II,
Rms 5-7.
• Middle East Studies Lecture –
"America's Kingdom: Myth Making on the Saudi Frontier," presented by
Robert Vitalis, Wed, Apr 8, 7:30, JC Bistro.
• Visiting Writers Series –
Kristin Prevallet, poet, essayist, and translator. Reading, Thu, Apr 9,
7:30, 163 Research I. Reception prior to reading in
lobby.
• Visual Voices – "Iron Graphics:
Designing For Totalitarian States," presented by Steve Heller, Thu, Apr
9, 7:30 to 9:00, Harris Theater.
• Zimbabwean Film Series – Neria, Thu, Apr 9, 7:00; House of Hunger (short story
collection), Tue, Apr 14, 7:00, both in Eisenhower Media Room,
President's Park. Discussion after films.
• Post-Socialist Films from China, Eastern
Europe & Russia - Gate
of Heavenly Peace, an
award-winning and critically acclaimed documentary on the 1989
Tiananmen protests in China. Tue, Apr 14, 7:00, JC Cinema.
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Non-class events at OLLI for the next two
weeks
THE
FOLLOWING LIST covering the
next two weeks is extracted for your
convenience from the master calendar maintained by the office (see Upcoming
Non-Class Events to view the real-time OLLI online calendar used by
the office). Note: Board,
committee, resource-group and 'membership-type' meetings/events below
are highlighted
in bold. OLLI members are
welcome at all Board, committee and resource-group meetings (except
during executive sessions).
Fri Apr
3 8am Special Event 954
- Richmond: Capitol Square - Bus Trip
9:30am Tom
Swift Training - TA-1
10am Recorder Club - TA-2
10am Drama Club - TA-3
11am Homer Group - Social Room Annex
Tue Apr 7 11am
Fiction Writers Club - Kings Park Library
Wed Apr 8 1:30pm
Bridge Club - TA-3
1:30pm OLLI Book Club
- Tallwood
2pm Special Event 956
- The Coptic Church - TA-1
Fri Apr 10
10am Recorder Club - TA-2
10am Drama Club - TA-3
10am Travel Club - TA-1
11am Homer Group - Social
Room Annex
Wed Apr 15 1:30pm Bridge Club
- TA-3
2pm Special Event 957 - On
the Trail with Bluebirds - TA 1
Thu Apr 16 11am Fiction
Writers' Club - OL-TBA
Fri Apr 17 10am Recorder Club
- TA-2
10am Drama Club - TA-3
10am
Board of Directors Meeting - TA-1
11am Homer Group - Social
Room Annex
3:30pm Teacher Appreciation
Reception - GMU Center for the Arts
Sat Apr 18 12:30pm OLLI
Personal Computer User Group - TA-1
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Rod
Zumbro
Editor
John West
Deputy Editor
Karen
Hamilton
Associate
Editor |
About this newsletter. OLLI's weekly newsletter, OLLI E-News, is emailed to OLLI
members with email addresses on Fridays. When classes are in
session, printed copies of this newsletter are distributed in
classrooms, primarily for members without email. Comments,
suggestions or complaints? Please contact Editor Rod
Zumbro or Communications Committee Chair Gordon
Canyock.
• Submissions. We
encourage members
to submit news items, articles and photos for this newsletter. The deadline
to
the editor is 7:00 pm Wed (7:00 pm Mon for letters to the editor
for which an
OLLI response is appropriate) for that
week's issue; earlier submissions are greatly appreciated. Please limit
articles to about 250 words. Submit material via email to Editor Rod
Zumbro
(email rzumbro@gmu.edu).
• Read the Latest
Issue Early. The
new weekly issue of OLLI E-News
is posted to the OLLI Web site Thursday evening. Read it by visiting http://www.olli.gmu.edu/pubs.htm#enews,
where you will find a list of the last 12
issues, and clicking the latest issue listed.
• Viewing or searching past
issues. Your options for finding items in past issues of OLLI E-News include viewing the last 12
issues; searching
the content of ALL issues for any word or words; and searching our
archive of all past issues by date or issue number.
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Editorial
Staff
Database
Manager
Barbara Kyriakakis
Photo Editor
Michael Coyne |
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Updated: April 3, 2009
Copyright © 2009 Osher
Lifelong Learning Institute at
George Mason University. Materials in this publication subject to
OLLI-Mason copyright may be reproduced for noncommercial educational
purposes as long as credit is given to OLLI-Mason.
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George
Mason University, 4210 Roberts Rd., Fairfax, VA 22032-1028
Phone: (703) 503-3384; Email: olli@gmu.edu;
Fax: (703) 503-2832
Original site design and construction by OLLI-Mason member Rod Zumbro. |
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