This September, Elon University will begin a new lifelong education program designed for people aged 50 and older. The learning institute, called LIFE@ELON, will feature weekly presentations conducted in interactive format. The learning community will be led by current and retired Elon faculty and staff members and other area educators.
“We are excited about providing people in our area with new opportunities to benefit from Elon’s rich intellectual community,” says Alison Morrison-Shetlar, dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences. “We know there is a strong demand for engaging academic experiences by adults in our area who want to continue learning and expanding their horizons. Elon is a natural place for that to happen, a tremendous educational resource for our community.”
According to John Sullivan, Elon’s Powell professor of philosophy emeritus and chair of the LIFE@ELON executive board, the purpose of the institute is to help Elon community members, alumni and friends remain vital in mind and heart.
“We intend to chose a variety of topics for the courses, moving between ‘big issues’ and personal enrichment, between modeling civil discourse on national and global issues and revisiting the true, the good and the beautiful in art, literature and the wisdom traditions,” Sullivan says.
Elon’s Chaplain emeritus, Richard McBride, is chair of the curriculum committee, which will work with participants in the topic selection process.
The non-credit sessions will be held from 10 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. 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 will pay a yearlong membership fee of $100, which will cover 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.
A welcome and orientation session is scheduled for 10 a.m., Tuesday, Sept. 6, in Johnston Hall Alumni Center. The first LIFE@ELON session led by John Sullivan, titled “Welcoming the Gifts of Later Life: Lessons from Autumn and Winter,” will begin at 10 a.m. on Sept. 13. Membership is required for attendance at the sessions.
Other fall semester sessions will include topics such as health and wellness over age 50, social media, aging in the 21st century, brain aging, musical theatre, the compassionate life, post-Civil War history, and the cathedrals of Europe.
For more information and a membership application form, go to www.elon.edu/lifeatelon
Or contact Kathryn Bennett, program assistant in the Office of University Advancement, at life@elon.edu or call 336.278.7431.