KU News Release

LAWRENCE — The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Kansas and Seward County Community College/Area Technical School in Liberal have formed a partnership to offer classes to adults 50 and older in Grant, Gray, Haskell, Meade, Morton, Seward, Stanton and Stevens counties.

The Osher Institute, part of KU Continuing Education, offers more than 30 noncredit university-quality courses each semester in Lawrence, Topeka and greater Kansas City. The courses are primarily aimed at those 50 and older but are open to anyone.

The number of people age 65 and older is expected to jump from 12 percent of the U.S. population to 20 percent by 2030. To keep pace, the Osher Institute has extended its reach to Hutchinson Community College, Labette Community College in Parsons and now Seward County Community College/Area Technical School.

“This partnership with Seward County Community College provides a new learning opportunity to older citizens in southwest Kansas,” said Fred Pawlicki, executive director of Continuing Education. “It is another example of our ongoing outreach initiative to extend the resources of KU to all parts of our state.”

Seward County Community College will offer two courses next month via video conferencing from its state-of-the-art facility. The first course, “The Dust Bowl Revisited,” begins Nov. 5.

The course will be available to people at Hutchinson Community College, Labette Community College in Parsons and the Continuing Education classroom in Lawrence. Students in all four classrooms will be able to see each other, ask questions and view the same things, including “The Plow That Broke the Plains,” a 25-minute documentary film produced by the government in 1936 that was controversial at the time.

Elizabeth Black, instructor for the Dust Bowl course, grew up in southwest Kansas and notes that Liberal was the virtual ground zero in the Dust Bowl. “I fully expect a number of Dust Bowl survivors will be in the class, and their stories will make it come alive for everyone else.”

The second class in Seward County, “Understanding Your Rights: The Supreme Court in American History,” begins Nov. 17 and will be taught by John Mack, professor of political history at Labette Community College, by video conferencing to Liberal.

In its five years, the Osher Institute has grown from six to more than 30 courses a semester, from two locations to 15 and from a few dozen participants to more than 800. The institute expects to add several new partners around the state in 2010.

“Our courses are taught for the sheer joy of learning by instructors who are passionate about their topics,” said David Wilson, Osher Institute director.

Detailed information and course descriptions for all locations can be found at www.osher.ku.edu. Registration for classes is also online, or participants may call toll free (877) 404-5823.