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Cal Poly's Continuing Education Program Offers Lifelong Learning

Posted on: Saturday, 24 September 2005, 00:00 CDT

Sep. 23--One rapidly expanding program at Cal Poly has a median age estimated at 65, much older than the young undergraduates who average just 21.

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, operating under the university's continuing education department, has been in operation for just three years, but it has had at least 700 people over age 50 take its courses.

The program is designed to serve a growing population of retired and semi-retired men and women in San Luis Obispo County, said Cal Poly Continuing Education Dean Dennis "Skip" Parks.

"They want to learn for what we call personal enrichment," he said. "There are things they always wanted to take in college and never got to take."

Classes are set to start Monday, and events set for this fall include a Halloween lecture on ghosts of the Central Coast, a Port San Luis Lighthouse hike and lectures on money management and civil liberties. There are at least 42 short courses set for fall quarter and registration is still under way for specific classes.

The program is funded in part by the Bernard Osher Foundation, which recently awarded the program a $100,000 grant for the third straight year. The foundation provides routine funding for stimulating programs for retirees nationwide.

The rest of the funding for the lectures and classes is provided by members who pay $50 per quarter for the right to take five classes, with a $10 charge for additional classes.

In San Luis Obispo County, the median age reached 37 in the year 2000, and it's expected to reach 40 by the year 2025, according to the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments.

Jim Ragan is president of the advisory board at the Osher Center and has been teaching and taking courses in the program since its inception with the first Osher Foundation grant three years ago.

The 68-year-old Cambria resident's experience is in negotiations between developers and community groups, so he has conducted courses on positive and negative experiences in dealing with planning issues.

"One of the early popular courses was called 'Sex After 60.' If that didn't sell out, it was very close to selling out," Ragan said.

There were 260 members taking courses in the spring, Ragan said, with roughly that same number expected to return this fall.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif.

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Source: The Tribune (San Luis Obispo, Calif.)

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