GREEN VALLEY, Ariz. (KGUN) — The University of Arizona’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) in Green Valley is at risk of closing within the next month due to a severe shortage of volunteers.
Signs posted on classroom doors warn that without additional support, the long-standing adult education program may be forced to shut down.
OLLI, which has provided lifelong learning opportunities for adults 50 and older, has been a staple in the community since it expanded to Green Valley 18 years ago.
The program, begun in partnership with the University of Arizona, offers low-cost, non-credit courses designed to keep retirees engaged mentally and socially.
However, volunteer participation has dwindled since the COVID-19 pandemic and has not recovered.
“Our big plea right now is essentially that we’ve got this amazing community resource,” said Scott Aldridge, program director of OLLI. “The program wants to continue, and it needs people to stand up and volunteer for it. We need people to help teach and build up our curriculum.”
OLLI seeks volunteer instructors and for management tasks such as opening/closing classrooms, greeting guests and managing audio/visual equipment.
For members like Lois Connell, who has been attending classes for 14 years, OLLI is more than just an education program—it’s a way to stay mentally sharp and socially connected.
“Not only being able to get caught up on things you have some experience with, but learning new things—that’s really important at our age,” Connell said. “It keeps our brains engaged.”
The program serves as a social and intellectual hub for retirees, helping prevent isolation among seniors while fostering a sense of belonging.
Byron Bissell, a former UA professor and current educator at OLLI, says the program fills a fundamental human need to belong.
“We seek out ways to fulfill that need to belong,” he said. “OLLI can provide a social environment in which you feel like to belong to this organization.
Bissell teaches a class based on narrative libraries, which are the collections of stories, memories, experiences, and beliefs that each person holds within their mind.
“Part of what they can do in their aging is refine your narrative library through taking classes at OLLI,” Bissell said. “You can learn new stuff and you can see how things work differently and how if can apply to our lives, we can achieve the quality of life that we require.
Aldridge emphasized the urgency of finding at least 90 volunteers within the next month to keep the Green Valley campus operational. If forced to close, OLLI will continue its Tucson campus and online offerings, but the Green Valley community would lose a valuable resource.
“We’d just like to see it grow back and would hate for that resource to go away, frankly, because it serves the community extremely well,” Aldridge added.
Those interested in becoming volunteer instructors can find more information at OLLI-Green Valley’s website.
OLLI memberships can be purchased yearly or by semester, starting at $155 for a semester pass at the Green Valley campus. The spring semester is underway and closed to new memberships, but the fall semester will open up for registration during the summer.
You can find more information about class offerings at OLLI-Green Valley at the organization’s website.
——
Joel Foster is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9 who previously worked as an English teacher in both Boston and the Tucson area. Joel has experience working with web, print and video in the tech, finance, nonprofit and the public sectors. In his off-time, you might catch Joel taking part in Tucson's local comedy scene. Share your story ideas with Joel at joel.foster@kgun9.com, or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram or X.
