Elon’s new lifelong education program began fall sessions Sept. 6 with a capacity enrollment of 200.
The inaugural orientation sessions included greetings by Alison Morrison-Shetlar, dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences, and an introduction to the program by John G. Sullivan, Powell Professor of Philosophy emeritus. Sullivan stressed that Life@Elon should be viewed as a learning community with a great deal of interaction among participants, rather than a series of lecture classes led by professors.
Life@Elon is designed to offer learning opportunities to people aged 50 and older. When the program was announced in July, it quickly enrolled 100 students. A second session was added to the program, and that also filled to capacity, with a waiting list created.
The weekly Life@Elon weekly presentations are led by current and retired Elon faculty and staff members and other area educators.
The non-credit sessions are held on Tuesdays in Johnston Hall Alumni Center on Elon’s South Campus. There will be 12 sessions during Fall semester and 12 sessions in Spring semester, which begins in February 2012. Participants pay a yearlong membership fee of $100, which covers enrollment in all 24 sessions, along with membership in the Friends of the University Library group, which includes borrowing privileges at Elon’s Belk Library.
First semester Life@Elon courses will include several topics, including the following:
- health and wellness over age 50
- social media
- aging in the 21st century
- brain aging
- musical theatre
- the compassionate life
- post-Civil War history
- cathedrals of Europe