Posted on December 22, 2012

University of Massachusetts Boston Receives $1 Million From Osher Foundation

The University of Massachusetts Boston has announced a $1 million grant from the Bernard Osher Foundation in support of the university's lifelong learning institute for adults age 50 or older.

The grant will continue funding for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), which provides an array of educational opportunities for older adults residing in and around Boston. Those opportunities include non-credit university courses, special lectures, social events, theater outings, and field trips in the United States and abroad. Since its launch in 1999, the institute's membership base has grown from ninety to more than a thousand, representing eighty cities and towns in the region. The institute currently offers more than one hundred courses and over eighty lecture series.

"We recognize that the institute's success represents the collective achievement of its excellent staff and dynamic community of intellectually vigorous members," said Osher Foundation president Mary G.F. Bitterman in a letter to the university. "[We commend UMass Boston] for embracing the notion that — at its best — education is a lifelong pursuit that has the power to elevate, delight, and forge connection to each other and to a larger world."