William "Bill" Sullivan shared information about Osher at Dartmouth Lifelong Learning institute and the plans to expand our program more broadly throughout the Upper Valley. Mr. Sullivan is currently president of Osher@Dartmouth Lifelong Learning Institute. He has taught courses at Osher on The Road to Iraq; Understanding the Middle East: Culture and Conflict; and U.S. Intelligence: Past, Present, and Future. He has been a member of Osher at Dartmouth since 2004.
Osher Lifelong Institute for Learning at Dartmouth – non-credit continuing education program open to anyone with a curious mind. “Never Stop Learning” – motto. Dues, fees, earnings from an endowment and services provided by Dartmouth provide the resources.
Stated 1990 at Dartmouth. Founded by 38 Upper Valley volunteers – Institute for Lifelong Education at Dartmouth – ILIAD. 2014 Bernard Osher Foundation invited ILIAD to join the Osher network as its first Ivy League member, accepting an endowment to help support approximately 25% of their operations cost. Had to change name.
ILIAD’s 20-year lease at the Dartmouth Outing Club on Occom Pond ran out in 2018. Now leasing space at 1 Court Street in Lebanon. We have 4 classrooms – we can seat about 1,300 people per week. Also using lecture hall at River Valley College (50 capacity) from time to time. Our offices also are at 1 Court Street. Lisa King is our chief officer. Sarah Chamberlain is one of our key staff officers.
Osher has grown to 1,572 members as of June this year (started at 38),. In the beginning Osher offered 5 courses; last June, 217 for that fiscal year. All courses are developed and taught by individuals, either retired experts, or those with a passion to learn something new. Courses in humanities, sciences, sports, gardening, international issues…. etc. From Curling to Quantum Mechanics.
We pivoted to Zoom: now offering 61 courses; Osher will add another 48 courses during winter. Osher staff provides instruction to study leaders and class members on how to use the Zoom platform. Even when we return to in-person classes (maybe by fall, 2021?), we will still use Zoom. Zoom enables one to stay in class even when traveling or quarantining or living some distance away. California, Colorado, France, and Abu Dhabi!!
Osher's summer lecture series is held at Spaulding Auditorium, Hopkins Center. The series features nationally and internationally-known speakers. Osher receives sponsorships from Hanover/Lebanon businesses to helpo put on this special series.
Please consider joining Osher at Dartmouth. We also offer social events, luncheon meetings and old time movies at the Nugget. Dues are $75 and course are from $50-85, depending.
QUESTIONS and COMMENTS
Hank comments: If you can’t find something that interests you in the course catalogue, then you aren’t interested in anything. In my first course (Bill Secord the instructor), one guy said he loves Osher because there are NO TESTS. But, I miss the in-person contact.
Bill Secord: Visit osher.dartmouth.edu and click on the catalogue to see the variety of courses and what’s going on.
John Yacavone: Valley News had a great insert on Osher a month or so ago.
Steve Whitman: For 3-4 years or more , I’ve made a commitment to attend the summer session. 8 sessions at one per week and it’s amazing. One of the best was a presentation by Matthew Slaughter, Dean of the Tuck School, on economics.
Bill Sullivan: A wide variety of subjects – key domestic issues, politics, legal issues, international issues, Iran, Middle East, China. This year would have been a variety of domestic issues.
Marilyn: Is there someone at Osher who could help Rotary learn how to be more effective with Zoom? Marilyn seeks help around the middle of January.
Bill Sullivan: Yes, but Sarah is tied up now in teaching and organization for the next 4-6 weeks. I will talk with her after that.
Bio for William P. Sullivan
Mr. Sullivan is currently president of Osher at Dartmouth Lifelong Learning Institute. He has taught courses at Osher on The Road to Iraq; Understanding the Middle East: Culture and Conflict; and U.S. Intelligence: Past, Present, and Future. He has been a member of Osher at Dartmouth since 2004.
Mr. Sullivan was born in Massachusetts, grew up in Millers Falls in western Mass. and in Windsor, Connecticut. He attended the Loomis School and graduated from Tufts University with a major in German Language and Literature and a minor in European History. He spent three years in the US Army Security Agency in Frankfurt, Germany.
In 1961, he joined the National Security Agency, retiring as a senior executive in 1994. His duties at NSA included intelligence analysis and production, information security assessments, and major staff and management assignments. He was also served detached duty with the office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy and as chairman of the Director of Central Intelligence’s National Signals Intelligence Committee. He was also selected as a student at the National War College, graduating in 1981.
In 1995, Mr. Sullivan was asked to serve on the professional staff of the U.S. Commission on the Roles and Capabilities of the U.S. Intelligence Community (Aspin/Brown Commission), which was mandated to review the efficacy and appropriateness of the activities of the U.S. Intelligence Community in the post-Cold War global environment and to make such recommendations as the Commission considered advisable. The Commission’s final report Preparing for the 21st Century: An Appraisal of U.S. Intelligence made specific recommendations for action by the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. Government.
In 1997, Mr. Sullivan established a consulting service, Strategies for Intelligence, and served on advisory boards of AT&T Government Special Accounts Division, the Battelle Institute, SAIC, Raytheon Corp., and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
In 2003, Mr. Sullivan, finally got smart, gave up all these tasks and moved to Woodstock, VT, where he lives with his wife, Lois Lorimer.
He has four adult children (6 grandchildren) by his first wife, Barbara, who died in 1983.
Mr. Sullivan’s favorite activities have been skiing, flying, and sailing. Whenever possible, Mr. Sullivan spent most summers sailing in the Chesapeake Bay or undertaking sailing trips north to the Maine Coast and Nova Scotia. His favorite trip was helping a friend sail his new boat from England to Gibraltar.
Book going to the Kilton Library in Honor of our Speake Bill Sullivan will be:
Music for Mister Moon
Written by Philip C. Stead
Illustrated by Erin E. Stead
A shy musician makes an unexpected friend in this beautiful picture book from an award-winning duo.
A girl named Harriet longs to play her cello alone in her room. But when a noisy owl disrupts her solitude, Harriet throws her teacup out the window in frustration, and accidentally knocks the moon out of the sky.
Over the course of an evening, Harriet and the moon become fast friends. Worried that he'll catch a chill, Harriet buys the moon a soft woolen hat, then takes him on a boat ride across a glistening lake, something he's only dreamed of. But can she work up the courage to play her music for the moon?
In this delicate bedtime story about a shy young cello player who learns to share her music with the moon, the award-winning Philip and Erin Stead deliver another whimsical, visually oriented picture book in their signature style.
