UCI learning center receives $1 million

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC Irvine, which provides continuing education for retired and semi-retired people, received a $1-million endowment this month from the Bernard Osher Foundation.

The institute, founded at UCI nine years ago, provides courses for senior citizens taught by UCI professors and other community volunteers. The endowment will allow for new course offerings, outreach services and fundraising to establish a home for the Osher institute at UCI. The program currently operates through UCI Extension.

The Bernard Osher Foundation, created in 1977, supports lifelong learning institutes on 73 university campuses around the United States.

“We are overjoyed to receive this large endowment from the Bernard Osher Foundation,” said Catherine Follett, president of the Osher institute, in a news release. “We are now posed to leap into the next phase of development. These improvements will give our students a richer and fuller learning experience.”