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On an especially fine day in June, the new Life Enrichment Transition Studies program (LETs) held an open house in Snowden Auditorium for over 200 people. Sponsored by the Gerontology Institute, this institute for learning in retirement program will offer peer-taught, non-credit seminars to anyone over the age of 50, whether retired, semi-retired, or still working, starting in September. The enthusiastic participants, drawn from all over Greater Boston and the South Shore, heard an introductory presentation by Frank Caro, director of the Gerontology Institute, met many of the facilitators who will teach the first set of courses, and took home course schedules for the fall. Within a few weeks, over 186 people had signed up, and all the courses were filled. For an annual feel of $75 the first year, LETS members can take up to three seminars per semester, taught mostly by retired faculty from UMass Boston. Among them are Robert Spaethling, Myron Segelman, Frances Portnoy, Roger Prouty, and Lawrence Amara. Harry Gloss, a graduate of the Manning Certificate Program in Gerontology, will teach a course in genealogy, leading the way for other members who will have the opportunity to teach, since under the learning-in-retirement concept every member has the opportunity to teach others. All one needs to do is come up with a proposal for a course acceptable to the LETs Curriculum Committee, one of several committees composed of members who run the program. LETs members are also invited to brown bag lunches on a given topic&emdash;one will be presented this fall by Jim Allen, director of the greenhouse, another, by Joel Grossman, who coordinates the health promotion program. More than 60,000 older learners participate in nearly 300 similar programs nationwide. They are looking for a connection to academic life at a time when most of their working years are behind them. The LETs program is an effort by UMass Boston to meet this need in the community and to reconnect older UMass alumni and retired faculty and staff to campus. One full-time Gerontology staff member, Wichian Rojanawon, with one part-time volunteer, is directing the program during its initial phase. - Jill Norton and Wichian Rojanawon |
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