Million-dollar Osher Foundation endowment to enhance lifelong learning at FIU

Million-dollar Osher Foundation endowment to enhance lifelong learning at FIU

Michael Scheck minored in art while pursuing his degree in accounting and economics at ColumbiaUniversity more than 50 years ago.

Today the retired businessman from Aventura is taking art classes again — and current events, film, and music classes  — at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Florida International University (OLLI@FIU). Scheck, 72, who has an extensive memorabilia collection that includes an authentic Oscar statuette that he has brought to film classes, attends as many as three or four classes each semester. He also has encouraged his friends to attend.

“It keeps our minds going,” he said. “I tell everybody about it when I get a chance. A lot of people when they retire think they’re busy but they’re really not. To spend an hour or two or three hours a week learning – how can that be bad?”

Each year, 2,000 South Floridians like Scheck, most of them age 50 and older, take classes at OLLI@FIU.  In recognition of OLLI@FIU’s success in providing educational opportunities for mature adults, The Bernard Osher Foundation has donated $1 million to establish an endowment that will allow FIU to enhance and expand its offerings.

“This gift from the Bernard Osher Foundation will boost our efforts to engage all members of our community with opportunities for continued educational enrichment,” said FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg. “We thank the Osher Foundation for contributing to the long-term success of our Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.”

The Bernard Osher Foundation supports OLLI@FIU and 116 other Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes across the country. The $1 million endowment is eligible for 75 percent matching state funds, making its total impact close to $2 million. The Foundation also gave FIU a $50,000 grant to assist with operations as the endowment grows. The Osher Foundation’s total philanthropic support of FIU since 2006 now reaches almost $1.5 million.

Based at FIU’s Biscayne Bay Campus, OLLI@FIU offers more than 100 courses in a variety of subjects, including art, music, literature, film, languages, politics and personal growth. The endowment will enhance programs such as educational study tours, a special guest lecture series and will expand current programs.

The endowment also will help the FIU Institute with its new nighttime program, “OLLI@FIU After Five,” which began on July 11. The new offerings are meant to increase the program’s reach, giving people who work the opportunity to take classes.

“We salute the University’s leadership and staff for developing an outstanding program of great variety,” said Osher Foundation President Mary Bitterman. “The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at FIU consistently provides older adults inSouth Florida with a broad range of meaningful and enriching educational opportunities. We are delighted to provide this permanent support.”

FIU’s Senior Vice President for Advancement and President and CEO of the FIU Foundation Howard Lipman said endowed major gifts like the one from the Osher Foundation are “transformational.”

“As the FIU Foundation seeks to support and advance the University, we are honored to partner with a prestigious national foundation like the Osher Foundation and grateful to receive this transformational gift,” Lipman said.

The benefits of classes for adult learners include improved memory, increased self-confidence, and meeting people with similar interests, said OLLI@FIU Director Clara Barman.

“Our students keep coming back because the OLLI@FIU curriculum provides a stimulating, engaging learning experience that enables them to establish special bonds with their peers and educators,” Barman said. “This is about the joy of learning and improving the quality of life of our community.”

Those students include “former bullfighter” Marylin Handler. Actually, the 73-year-old Aventura retiree and Hemingway enthusiast once “caped” a bull, which means she was alone in a ring, for half an hour, with only a cape separating her from a potentially charging bull. She and the bull emerged unscathed.

Today, the perennial student remains active through volunteer work with community arts organizations and keeps “the little gray cells working” by attending classes at OLLI@FIU.

“We are so fortunate to have FIU,” Handler said. “We need these kinds of programs. We come to a university campus where we interact with each other and, to some degree, with university students. The teachers are enthusiastic. The classes are exciting. It’s a learning process that never ends.”

For more information about OLLI@FIU, please visit olli.fiu.edu or call 305-919-5910.