Our organization began in 1994 as Learning in Retirement, Inc. It started with a small group of community leaders interested in expanding services for older residents of Athens-Clarke and surrounding counties. In February 2009, we became OLLI@UGA, The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at The University of Georgia. We now have over 1000 members and offer a wide array of courses and activities each year.

In November 2011, we received a million dollar endowment from The Bernard Osher Foundation. This endowment helps provide the financial resources needed to achieve our mission of meeting the intellectual, social, and cultural needs of mature adults through lifelong learning. OLLI@UGA is one of 117 Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes nationwide.

Our goal is to offer a wide array of courses: literature, history, religion, philosophy, natural sciences, social sciences, performing arts, art and architecture, economics, finance, computers and lifestyle issues. We also schedule trips to local and regional attractions. Our 14 interest groups provide another means for members to meet and socialize with other members who have similar interests. We invite you to join us!

Our curriculum committee is responsive to the requests of our members, which helps keep our offerings fresh. If you have a suggestion for a new course or activity, please use the form on our Contact page to let us know about it.

Our instructors are a mix of UGA professors, peer teachers, graduate students, independent scholars, and community and national experts. Anyone with knowledge on a particular topic is invited to suggest a course they’d like to lead. As our instructors will tell you, it’s fun to take a course, but it’s even more fun and rewarding to teach one. If you would consider teaching a course or leading an activity, please let us know via the form on the Contact page.