Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Delaware in Lewes
Council Minutes
Frederick Thomas Building
November 18, 2014

In attendance were council members Donna Beecher, Jack Boettger, Mary Folan, Lynn Kroesen, Sabatino Maglione, Rob Morgan; Bill Sharkey (chair); librarian archivist Ruth Barnett; committee chairs Bernie Fiegel and Joan Sciorra; program coordinator Anna Moshier; Bill Ashmore, instructional support for Ocean View; Ed Chamberlain, instructional support for Lewes; and University representative Linda Osoinach.

Chair Bill Sharkey called the meeting to order at 12:25 p.m.

The agenda, as amended, and the minutes of the Council meeting of October 21, 2014, as amended, were approved.

Staff:
Anna Moshier reported that under our lease from the Town of Ocean View we owe them a total of $225 for three extra days and she will have the University send them a check.  

Jack and Bill need to get together with Anna for a budget meeting in early January.

Anna will re-evaluate our cash management process and update its documentation.

Apparel with OLLI’s logo is now available online through Land’s End via a link on our website.  OLLI receives no royalty but the publicity is good.  There is a discount of 30% off for orders before November 30th.  Lynn will publicize the offer through the newsletter.

Anna is working on identifying other websites with calendar pages onto which we can post our events. The University pays $1,200 for two four-week Osher ad campaigns on public radio twice a year.  We are already posting events on the Bethany Chamber of Commerce and Delmarva Public Radio websites.  Ruth suggested WBOC also.

Anna is working on the new membership handbook; it will steer new members to our website.  Anna will work on an overhaul of the site too.

We are thinking about a community open house in Ocean View to promote our classes.  We would have to pay rent for the day at $75.  Donna suggested talking to Carol about it, since Carol lives in Ocean View.

Chair
Bill thanked Anna for the informative email she sent out earlier this month, which Bill and others found useful.

University
Anna reported that the University will give us $1,000 for marketing that we will use to help host the Alzheimer’s 5k in Bethany on August 2nd.  We will get a booth and other marketing opportunities and can even put together our own team if we want.  

Committee reports (*indicates report on file)

Scholarships (Sabatino Maglione)
Sabatino is trying to engage instructors to publicize the availability of partial scholarships.  Anna included the request in her e-blast but opted not to ask volunteer instructors to announce it to their classes because she believes that some instructors would be reluctant to do so.  She will try to identify others like Sabatino who are willing to announce the availability of scholarships.  Sabatino feels that our members themselves may not need them, but they can reach out to others who may.  

Anna is adding information on partial scholarships to the catalogue.

Bernie emphasized the value of Sabatino’s suggestion of conveying the information by personal contact.

Financial * (Jack Boettger)
We haven’t yet seen the rent bill from the Cape Henlopen School District for the Fred Thomas Building.  The bill should have come in October; its lateness may be due to turnover at the facilities office at the University.  

Everything else in the financial statements is within a reasonable margin of our cash budget.  We are $10,000 better than budget on our bottom line, although this margin will decrease when we pay the rent.

Academic Affairs (Mary Folan/Carol West)
Anna reported that we have somewhere around 74 classes for the spring semester including those at Ocean View.  This includes a number of five-week classes.

Communication (Lynn Kroesen)
The deadline for the next Tides is December 8th.  Lynn asked us to send material right after the luncheon on December 3rd.

Long-Range Planning (Bo French)
Lynn noted that several people have asked about activities in January, and she suggested that we include that idea in our long-range planning.  Presumably such activities would be for an additional charge.

Travel:  (Mary Folan/Joan Sciorra)
Mary reported that tomorrow (November 19th) is the art trip to Baltimore and the next day (November 20th) is the Civil War trip to DC.

On November 23rd is the trip to the U.D. Theater trip for Macbeth.  The theater program will run for 6 performances this year, including The Millionairess on February 8th, Juno And The Paycock on March 15th, The Thirty-Nine Steps on April 23rd, and All In The Timing on May 7th.

The theater is out of weekend tickets for The Thirty-Nine Steps and All In The Timing, so Mary took Thursday night tickets for them.  

Mary and Joan are trying to learn whether including an optional dinner is a good idea, so on April 23rd the bus will leave here at 5:00 p.m. with no dinner planned, whereas on May 7th the bus will leave here at 3:00 and go to the student-run restaurant for an optional $28 dinner.  The restaurant will hold 30 seats for us and is giving us a parking pass so the bus can drop us off at restaurant and stay there so the less mobile of us can ride the bus two blocks to the theater after dinner.

Community Relations * (Donna Beecher)
Bill gave a “Brava” to Donna for the event at the Ocean View CHEER Center.  Donna noted that there was much interest in our program at the Ocean View event and that the CHEER crowd was different from that at the Rehoboth Convention Center.

Donna is also making a presentation with Anna tomorrow (November 19th) at the Brandywine Senior Living in Selbyville.

We will have a display at the South Coastal Library on December 23rd.  Carol will take it down afterward because Donna will be away.

Social * (Bernie Fiegel/Joan Sciorra)
Bernie is a little concerned about responses for the luncheon on December 3rd.  Bill reported that 100 have signed up for it with more acceptances coming in.  Bernie is unsure that electronic reminders work as well as mailings.  Anna feels that email does work well, as shown by picnic, although personal contact and word of mouth help too.  Bill agreed that there is a difference between mail and email.

Library (Ruth Barnett)  
Ruth is asking Dean to make another shelf for instructor resources.

Old Business  
Bill attended the CHSD’s Facilities Task Group last night, filling in for Bob.  The District’s schools are filling fast.

New Business:  None

Next meeting:   January 20, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. at the Frederick Thomas Building.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:02 p.m.

Rob Morgan, Secretary