A Good Beginning Makes A Good End (- Louis L’Amour)

Bennet Omalu, M.D.

This is the time of year we spend reflecting on the previous year’s accomplishments and looking forward to and setting goals for the new academic year that will start in October.

We accomplished a great deal at FAU Lifelong Learning Society in Jupiter during the 2015-2016 year. There is no doubt that this was a pinnacle year for us – especially the winter semester. More members took our courses than at any time in the 19-year history of the program with historic enrollments of more than 30,000 registrations by 8,000 members. We began new partnerships with FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and hosted a one-time lecture by Dr. Bennet Omalu, the first doctor to discover and diagnose a new disease that he named chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.

To honor our former executive director, René Friedman, who retired this past January, we have established the René Friedman Distinguished Lecture Series Endowment.  With the establishment of this endowment, we hope to continue to bring in distinguished speakers for our program each year by the donations that are given to the endowment.  It was only with the generous support and donations of our LLS students in the past that we were able to host such nationally known speakers as Dr. Omalu, Secretary Madeleine Albright, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, and author David McCullough. A strong endowment allows LLS to pursue critical initiatives that enhance our ability to be a leader in lifelong learning education. In addition to providing stability for the future, endowment gifts help LLS attract students and distinguished faculty.

It is no secret that FAU’s Lifelong Learning Society seeks to develop a community of older learners who are an integral part of the FAU Jupiter campus experience. We share knowledge, spark ideas, inspire new thinking, and forge friendships. In developing our community, we understand the need to always bring new and innovative ways to connect our faculty to staff, our staff to our students, and our students to fellow students. Last fall, “The Lifelong Exchange,” our blog, was created to provide another outlet for this connection. Every week since the beginning of the 2015 fall semester, we have featured posts from LLS faculty, staff and volunteers. The year is not even over yet and we have had more than 1,000 clicks on our blog each week!  From June through September, we will continue to post new content on the second Tuesday of each month. Once our fall semester starts in October, we will revert back to posting on each Tuesday of the month. We look forward to new stories, articles and interviews from our faculty, staff and volunteers.

In addition, we are so excited about our upcoming summer semester and encourage our year-round residents to register for courses. This summer, we will have several long-time LLS faculty members teach for us, and they include:

“Men of Passion: Where Does Inspiration Come From?” taught by Terryl Lawrence, Ph.D. This six-week course will review famous male artists, such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Amedeo Modigliani and Balanchine and the ballet. Lawrence earned her doctoral degree in art and education from Columbia University and has taught photography and art at C.W. Post College and SUNY Empire State College.

“Belly Laughs and Heartfelt Tears: The Magic of Movies,” taught by Kurt Stone, D.D.  During this six-week course, the audience will view three movies which provoke laughter and three which tug mightily at the heartstrings. “The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek,” “Four Lions” and “The Notebook” are a few of the movies that will be shown.

“A Festival of English, French and American Films: Five Comedies and One Erotic Thriller,” taught by Benito Rakower, Ed.D. This six-week film course will cover a wide array of international acting and film-making talent featuring films such as “The Closet,” “The Return of the Pink Panther” and “The Spanish Apartment”.

If you have already signed up for our summer semester, we look forward to having you back. If you have never registered for FAU’s Lifelong Learning Society summer semester, then we encourage you to join us. This is the time to get out of the heat of the summer and enjoy a class.  You will not be disappointed!

Director of the FAU Lifelong Learning Society in Jupiter

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