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OLLI
E-News #32-08 of August 29, 2008
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| ALERTS |
> VISION SERIES. This popular Mason lecture
series continues for 2008-2009. First lecture is "The Young and the
Restless: How Generation Y is Changing Our Workforce" on Mon, Sep 15, 7
pm, by Michelle Marks, Assoc. Prof. of Management. Free. Center
for the Arts.
>
PLEASE NOTE THIS
LOCATION.
"Supreme Court: Current Cases" will be at Woodlands
Retirement Community (map),
just a 10-min. drive to Tallwood or a 12-min. drive to Church of the
Good
Shepherd for 11:30 classes. It’s not too late to add #709 if you're
interested.
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TABLE
OF CONTENTS: FRI, AUG 29, 2008
Read
about OLLI E-News
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ARTICLES AND NOTICES
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> THANK YOU, MR. OSHER!.
From
the executive director. By Thom Clement
> BOARD HIGHLIGHTS.
Report
on last week's Board meeting. By Rod Zumbro
> PHOTO
OF THE MONTH. Selected by the OLLI Photography Club.
> HISTORY/CURRENT
EVENTS RESOURCE GROUP. All are welcome at Sep 4 meeting.
> THE CONVERSATION PROGRAM. Help
Mason international students. By Joan Crawford
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| DEPARTMENTS |
> PROFILE.
New
Board member Bob Persell. By Barbara Kyriakakis
>
EYE ON RESTON. Open House help
still needed. By
Sharon
Gilman
>
MASON
HIGHLIGHTS. Events at nearby Mason. By Barbara Kyriakakis
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COMING
ATTRACTIONS. Non-class events at OLLI for
the next two weeks.
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| OBITUARY |
| JOHN LUDDEN. OLLI
member since 1998. |
 THANK YOU, MR. OSHER!
From the executive director
By Thom Clement,
Executive Director
NUMEROUS
ARTICLES HAVE BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT BERNARD OSHER, the
philanthropist who established a foundation to provide funding for
lifelong learning institutes across the country. His generosity also
supports college scholarships for students of nontraditional age and
for local community arts programs. At the national Osher Foundation
conference in Phoenix this past April, Mr. Osher spoke briefly about
how much it means to him to read letters of testimonial from
individuals who have benefited from grants and endowments from the
Osher Foundation.
In the months since I became your Executive
Director, I have heard numerous anecdotes about how OLLI has given
meaning and purpose to your retirement years. I would like to encourage
you to take a few moments this week to jot down thoughts about what
OLLI means to you and email them to
me. If you prefer paper and pen, just put your written thoughts in
an envelope and
send them to me via the OLLI office (4210 Roberts Rd., Fairfax, VA
22032). I promise to pass them on to Mr.
Osher and share them as appropriate. I know that he will appreciate
hearing from you!
BOARD HIGHLIGHTS
Report on last week's Board meeting
 By Rod Zumbro, Board
member
THE BOARD MET ON FRI, AUG 22, FOR ITS
REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING. President Pat Carroll announced
that Tallwood Site Administrator Ann Hartmann has accepted a full-time
position elsewhere but has agreed to stay at OLLI until Fri, Sep 19.
OLLI leadership met earlier on Aug 22 with the
Mason Provost and the Chief of Staff for a semi-annual discussion about
our institute. Mason now projects that Mason's University Based
Retirement Center (where OLLI will then be located) will be in
operation by 2012.
Executive Director Thom Clement reported that we
have 768 members. With open houses scheduled for Tue, Sep 9 (Tallwood),
Wed, Sep 10 (Loudoun), and Thu, Sep 11 (Reston), OLLI members are
encouraged to hand out catalogs and business cards to potential members
and to post notices about the open houses (see the office for catalogs,
cards and notices).
Treasurer Gordon Canyock discussed the 2009
budget assumptions and the guidance recommended by the Finance
Committee for use in developing the 2009 budget. The Board approved the
guidance, including that: (1) the baseline budget will have no increase
in dues; and (2) dues increases in any optional budget scenarios must
not significantly exceed the inflation factor. The Finance Committee
was tasked with researching, assessing, and proposing any changes to
our existing dues structure prior to the October Board meeting.
The Board accepted the ad hoc committee's
recommendations concerning the naming of OLLI facilities that: (1) it
is not appropriate to name facilities; and (2) Founder Kathryn Brooks'
unique contributions should be honored by the creation of "The Kathryn
Brooks Educational Center at Tallwood" and that a sign to this effect
should be placed in the vicinity of the breezeway.
The Board discussed proposed enhancements to
the social room annex. The $6,600 proposal was not approved by the
Board but the Board did ask the executive director to work on "sprucing
up" the annex.
Loudoun.
After
considerable discussion, the Board voted to
continue the Loudoun pilot program on a revenue-neutral basis for
another four terms (through summer 2009), and the Board authorized an
ad hoc committee to develop measurable criteria
that will be used to support future decisions regarding the Loudoun
pilot program. This effectively endorsed the
executive director's plan for Loudoun participants to become OLLI
members starting in fall 2008 at a separate dues structure of $125 per
year for Loudoun courses only. The option to take Loudoun and Reston
courses for $200 per year membership was not approved by the Board.
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The next meeting of the Board will be held at
Tallwood on Fri, Sep 19, at 11:00 (delayed from the normal time because
of the New Members' Coffee at 10:00 that day). All OLLI members
are welcome to attend.
Back
to top
PHOTO OF THE
MONTH
Selected by the OLLI Photography Club
"KLM," by Ed Parker
THIS
PHOTO WAS TAKEN on one of the field
trips
during Stan
Schretter's photo course this summer. You can view many other photos
taken by OLLI Photography Club members on the club's Web site.
| Fall Exhibit in the Social Room
Annex. An exhibit of OLLI Photography Club work will be on
display in the annex during the fall term. |
HISTORY AND CURRENT EVENTS: HELP NEEDED
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THE HISTORY AND
CURRENT EVENTS RESOURCE GROUP will meet 10:00, Thu, Sep 4, at
Tallwood. All OLLI members are
welcome, and their suggestions are needed.
These meetings are held twice a year to
brainstorm ideas and suggestions on future courses, lectures, and
potential instructors and coordinators for the 300 and 700 series
offerings. Thursday's meeting is an opportunity for you to take a
direct part in planning interesting and useful courses in these subject
areas for the winter and spring 2009 terms and beyond.
If you cannot attend or would like to send in
ideas in advance, please provide your thoughts on priorities, topics
and potential speakers/instructors. You can provide your input to any
one of the four co-chairs: Bob Bohall, Emmett
Fenlon, Bob
Persell,
or Phil True, or
if you prefer, you can provide your input to Al Roe or Marilyn Hedtke
of the Reston
Resource Group ... or to Executive Director Thom Clement or Program Associate Beth Davis. |
 THE
CONVERSATION
PROGRAM
Help Mason international students
By Joan
Crawford, George Mason University
THE
ENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTITUTE AT MASON will again sponsor "The
Conversation Program," an activity for
international students who would like to practice their oral English
skills by
participating in small-group discussions led by a volunteer native
speaker of English. This is an excellent
volunteer opportunity for retired teachers and others who
enjoy meeting
internationals.
There will be an orientation/informational
meeting on the Mason campus Tue, Sep 9, at noon for all volunteer
leaders. Leaders meet weekly with a small group of students for one
hour for eight weeks from Sep 15 through Nov 5. Volunteers must be
available for the Sep 9 meeting but may arrange substitutions later in
the semester.The meetings are scheduled in the middle of the day: Mon
and Wed, 12 noon to 1:00, and Tue, 1:00 to 2:00.
If you are interested in volunteering or
in learning more about this program, you may contact the following
former or current OLLI
members who have
participated and are available to answer your questions: Vinnie
Zagurski,
Ann Wagner, Anne
Lamar, Bob Ward,
and Margaret Breen.
Please contact me via email ( jcrawfo5@gmu.edu) or phone
(703-993-3660) for further information or to sign up for a specific
time slot.
HOW TO EXPRESS YOUR VIEWS ABOUT OLLI
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PUBLICLY:
• Email
your "Letter
to the Editor" (see recent sample)
or "Letter to
Ms. Ollie Ettakit" (see recent sample)
to the editor. Anonymous
submissions are
acceptable if you provide contact information so we can verify that you
are an OLLI member. Whenever an official response to a letter to
the editor is
clearly appropriate, the editor will obtain and publish the OLLI
response in the same issue so members will have more complete
information and a balanced picture of the matter.
• Attend monthly
meetings of your
Board of Directors and make your views known during the period for
public comments.
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PRIVATELY:
• Contact any Board member,
committee or
resource group chair, or the executive
director;
• Send an email
to the entire
Board
(directors are listed on the Organization
page, and email addresses are listed in the online Membership Directory
... or you are welcome to email the editor
or the office to have your
message forwarded to all members of the Board);
• Submit a
suggestion online
or in the box in the Tallwood social room; or
• Contact the
office by email
or phone (703-503-3384). |
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PROFILE
New Board member Bob Persell
 
By
Barbara Kyriakakis, OLLI
E-News Staff Writer
"I KNEW WHAT I
WANTED TO BE,"
Bob Persell declared, "in high school."
"And
what was that?" I asked.
"A professional military officer," he replied.
As I interviewed Bob, I sensed an ambitious
man who sets high goals for himself … then achieves them. In pursuit of
his career objective, he entered the University of Virginia on a full
Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps scholarship and was commissioned
as a Navy ensign upon graduation. He subsequently earned master’s
degrees from George Washington University and the Naval Postgraduate
School and graduated from the Naval Destroyer School, the Naval War
College and the Navy Nuclear Power Program. After retiring from active
duty as a commander in 1985, Bob joined the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration’s Training and Development Office where he taught
courses, served as Deputy and then Director of Training before retiring
in 1997.
Bob, as a member of the Board of Directors
since June 2008, aims to help make the OLLI program the best it can be.
He is a co-chair of the History
and
Current
Events Resource Group and coordinates the History Club. "I enjoy the
OLLI experience and would like to
teach more courses," Bob says. "I have taken classes as well as taught
a Civil War class and a Trip
Tale about Mt. Rushmore. I will be teaching a segment of the California
History course this fall."
Bob’s many hobbies include walking,
photography, Civil War history and reading. "One of my goals," he
explains, "is to balance the number of books I have read with the
number of books in my house. I try hard to give away books as fast as I
buy them," he laughs.
Life’s biggest challenge for Bob has been
balancing his career with his family. "My major achievement in life,"
he states emphatically, "was selecting Beverley as my wife." Married 46
years, they have two sons and four grandchildren.
Photo
of Bob by Beverley Persell
  EYE ON RESTON
Open House volunteers needed
By Sharon Gilman, OLLI
E-News Staff Writer
REMINDER: THE
RESTON OPEN HOUSE is scheduled for Thu, Sep 11, from 10:00 to
noon at the Washington Plaza Baptist Church in Lake Anne. We are hoping
to have lots of new members there so we are still
in need of volunteers. If you are available and
willing to help us,
please call Amy George or email her.
KNITTING GROUP
UPDATE
– the Reston OLLI Knitting Group is now open to all women (and men!)
who are involved in needlework of any kind – knitting, crocheting,
needlepoint, etc. Our next meeting is scheduled for Mon, Sep 22, at
1:00 at the church.
MASON HIGHLIGHTS
Events at nearby Mason
By Barbara Kyriakakis, OLLI
E-News Staff Writer
•
Fall for the Book Exhibit - Photographs by Nancy Crampton, Mon,
Sep 1, through Fri, Sep 26, Concert Hall Lobby. Free.
•
"Taste of Fitness" – Aquatic and
Fitness Center, Fairfax campus, Tue, Sep 2, noon to 2:00 and 5:00
to 8:00. This event will showcase the Center's group exercise programs
and other services offered. Highlights will include free 15-minute
sample classes, raffle prizes and informational booths, discounts for
memberships, day passes and service packages. For more info see this
Mason Gazette article or call
703-993-3935.
 •
Public Choice Center Seminar – "Political Institutions and
Greenhouse Gas Controls" presented by Lee Lane, American Enterprise
Institute, Wed, Sep 3, 4:00 to 5:00, Carow Hall.
•
Cinema Series – Son of Rambow, Thu, Sep 4, 6:00
and 9:00; Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the
Crystal Skull, Fri, Sep 5, and Sat, Sep 6, 6:00 and 9:00, JC
Cinema. Free with Mason ID.
•
School of Management Research in Science Seminar – Professor
David Reeb, Temple University, presenter. Enterprise Hall conference
room 204, Fri, Sep 5, 9:30 to noon. Title of presentation not
available. For more info call 703-993- 3725.
•
33rd Annual Patriot Club Fall Golf Outing - Mon, Sep 8,
Westfields Golf Club, Clifton. Registration at noon with shotgun start
at 1:30. All are welcome. The event will feature lunch, silent auction,
cocktail hour and buffet dinner. All proceeds go directly to the Mason
Student-Athlete Scholarship Fund. Click here
for registration and event information. For questions or more info
contact Meg Sturges at 703-993-4147.
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COMING
ATTRACTIONS
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 the Forecast
of Non-Class Events to view the
actual 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).
Friday
Aug 29 Fall 08
Registration Ends (except Loudoun)
10:30am Homer, etc - Tallwood Annex
Monday Sep
1 Office Closed (Labor
Day)
Wednesday Sep
3 Loudoun Registration
Ends
10am Special Events
Resource
Group Meeting - TA-2
10am
Bridge Club - TA-3
Thursday
Sep 4 10am History and Current
Events Resource Group Meeting - Tallwood
Friday Sep 5 10am
Recorder Group - TA-2
10:30am Homer, etc - Tallwood Annex
Tuesday Sep 9
10am Tallwood Open House - Tallwood
Wednesday Sep 10
9:30am Drama Club - TA-1
10am
Loudoun Open House - Loudoun Campus
10am
Book Club at Tallwood - TA-2
10am
Bridge Club - TA-3
Thursday Sep 11
10am Reston Open House - Lake Anne
Friday Sep 12
10am Travel Group
10am
Recorder Group - TA-2
10:30am Homer, etc - Tallwood Annex
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Back to top
OBITUARY: JOHN LUDDEN
OLLI member since 1998
 Longtime
OLLI member John Ludden, 78, died on Sun, Aug 24. His wife, Edna,
said he loved his OLLI courses, especially the writing courses, and the
History Club. An obituary is expected to appear in The Washington Post today, Aug 29.
Photo at left courtesy of Barry Berkey.
OBITUARY
FROM FAIRFAX MEMORIAL PARK:
John
Franklin Ludden.
Born in Indiana on May 6, 1930. Departed on Aug. 24, 2008. Resided in
Springfield, Virginia.
Beloved husband of Edna; loving father of
Charles, Anne Marie Haak, John, and James. John is also survived by
eight grandchildren and siblings Sam P. Ludden and Jacquelyn McCormick.
A visitation will be held on Mon, Sep 1, from
11:00 am to 2:00 pm at Fairfax Memorial Funeral Home, 9902 Braddock
Road, Fairfax, Virginia 22032 (map
and driving directions). A mass of Christian Burial will be held on
Tue, Sep 2, at 11:00 am at Church of the Nativity, 6400 Nativity Lane,
Burke, Virginia 22015 (map
and driving directions). Interment to follow at Fairfax Memorial
Park.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made
to Operation Starfish. Please send donations to the Church of the
Nativity, 6400 Nativity Lane, Burke, VA 22015 Attn: Starfish Mission; starfishmission.org. |
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Rod
Zumbro
Editor
Karen
Hamilton
Deputy
Editor
|
About OLLI
E-News. OLLI
E-News, OLLI's weekly newsletter, 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; deadline
to
the editor is 7:00 PM Wed (Mon for letters to the editor for which an
OLLI response is appropriate) for that
week's issue. Please limit
articles to about 250 words. Submit material to Editor Rod Zumbro
(email rzumbro@gmu.edu, phone
703-569-2750); email strongly preferred. |
Note
about HTML graphics. If
you do NOT see
photos and
clickable links in this message, you might want to ask a teenaged
grandchild or a neighborhood teenager or college student to fix things
for you. Or you could change your
email settings yourself. Here's how to view html-formatted messages
like this newsletter in five popular email systems:
•
Microsoft Outlook
Express and Windows Mail.
Click Tools; select Options; in the Read tab, uncheck "Read all
messages in plain text."
• Mozilla Thunderbird.
Click Tools; select Options and click the Privacy icon; click the
General tab. Uncheck "Block loading of remote images" and uncheck
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... Original HTML" (not Plain Text). Also in View, select "Display
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• Yahoo Mail.
Click Mail Options/General Preferences; under Security, uncheck "Block
HTML graphics in email messages from being downloaded."
•
AOL. Upgrade,
if possible, to an AOL version above 5.0.
| Read the Latest
Issue Before Email Distribution. Eager to read the latest news
from
OLLI? The
new weekly issue of OLLI E-News
is
usually posted to the OLLI Website some time Thursday evening. So
Thursday night or first
thing Friday morning, just go to http://www.olli.gmu.edu/pubs.htm#enews,
where you will find a list of the last 12
issues, and click the issue with Friday's date. |
GMU Webmail.
If OLLI E-News is being sent
to your gmu.edu email address, we recommend against
using GMU Webmail
(i.e., iPlanet "Messenger Express") to read this newsletter unless
you are using Firefox as your browser; in Firefox, just click
the text/html
link to view the newsletter. This does not normally work with Internet
Explorer (although you may be able to make it work by clicking Open
after clicking the text/html link and then selecting Internet Explorer
as the program to use to view the link).
• You
could forward the
newsletter to your alternate Web-based email account such as Yahoo Mail
or
Hotmail and read it there ... or read it online at
the OLLI
Website each Friday.
• Perhaps
the easiest solution for those of you with gmu.edu email accounts
is to configure your desktop email system such
as Microsoft Outlook Express, Microsoft Windows Mail or Mozilla
Thunderbird to retrieve mail
sent to your gmu.edu address. To do this, see these
instructions.
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OLLI
E-News Editorial Staff
Reviewer and Backup Editor
John West
Database
Manager
Barbara Kyriakakis
Reviewer and Photo Editor
Michael Coyne |
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Updated: August 29, 2008
Copyright © 2008 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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