Home

Calendar

Courses

Photos & Videos

Newsletters

About Us

Membership

Donate

Study Leaders

Volunteers

Campus maps

About Us: Our History

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Carnegie Mellon, formerly the Academy for Lifelong Learning at Carnegie Mellon (A.L.L.), is a gathering of people eager to extend their mature years by attending non-credit, peer led classes in the dynamic, creative atmosphere of an outstanding university.

A.L.L. was founded in 1992 by Gretchen Lankford, a 1943 graduate of Margaret Morrison Carnegie College and a 1990 graduate of the master’s program at the School of Urban and Public Affairs at Carnegie Mellon (SUPA). Gretchen was an active alumna and a lifelong learner. She and Steve Calvert, the former Assistant Vice President and Director of Alumni Relations, met and explored the idea of launching an institute for learning in retirement program at Carnegie Mellon. Gretchen, Steve and Ted Fenton (a Carnegie Mellon village elder whose teaching career spanned four decades) and a core of volunteers drove the early organization forward quickly. During the summer of 1992, the group worked diligently and solved most of the administrative issues. The business plan allowed for a $35 annual membership fee and a $40/semester course fee. On September 9, 1992, A.L.L. held its first convocation in the university center. The charter was signed by Vice-Provost Erwin Steinberg for the University and Gretchen Lankford. In its first fully operational year, 1993-94, membership grew to 300 people. A.L.L. grew almost entirely because passionate A.L.L. members recruited their friends and word spread about the program with no direct advertising.¹

By 2007, the A.L.L. membership had grown to over 1,200 members. Based upon the recommendation of its Board of Directors, and after receiving an initial grant of $100,000, A.L.L. affiliated with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes. This group of lifelong learning programs is funded by the Bernard Osher Foundation. Maine native Bernard Osher is a successful businessman and community leader, a patron of the arts and education, whose philanthropy has affected countless organizations over the past 25 years. The Osher Foundation began to encourage the development of learning communities of older adults. After funding initial programs in Maine and California, and then funding programs across the country, a national movement was born. At the time of its second grant application, A.L.L. changed it name to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Carnegie Mellon and joined a network of over 120 Osher programs in 48 states plus the District of Columbia.

1. A Decade of Excellence, The History of the Academy for Lifelong Learning at Carnegie Mellon, 1992 – 2002, Edited by Edwin Fenton.