Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

History of UD OLLI program

The University of Delaware’s lifelong learning program is one of the country’s earliest and largest cooperative learning programs for retirement-age adults. Founded in 1980 as the Academy of Lifelong Learning (ALL) and 1989 as the Southern Delaware Academy of Lifelong Learning (SDALL), in 2010 the UD programs officially received Osher Foundation endowment and renamed as the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Delaware.

A partial timeline follows UD OLLI’s rich history:

• 1980-89 – Founding of UD’s lifelong learning program
  • Academy of Lifelong Learning, 1980 [Click here to read article]
  • Southern Delaware Academy of Lifelong Learning, 1988 [Click here to read article]
  • Dover Lifelong Learning, 2009 [Click here to read article]
• 2010 – Osher Foundation Endowment – UD’s lifelong learning programs officially receive Osher Foundation endowment and rename their programs as Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Delaware [Click here to read article]
• 2014 – OLLI classes started in Ocean View, affiliated with OLLI Lewes
• 2021 – OLLI Dover & OLLI Lewes/Ocean View officially merge to form OLLI Kent & Sussex Counties [Click here to read article]