Story and photo by Lisa Carolin
Beginning in September, the Adult Learners Institute will be offering more than 20 fall classes. Registration is required, it costs $10 a semester, and is going on now.
ALI, as it is referred to, was started in 2004, and one of the founders was Maurine Nelson.
“It’s a model of lifelong learning and one of the few stand-alone institutes that is not part of a university,” says Nelson. “There were many people who helped start ALI along with the wide open arms of Chelsea. It’s a senior program run by seniors.”
Washtenaw Community College provides and pays five instructors for ALI each semester.
“The whole concept was started by Elderhostel, which is now called Road Scholar Institute Network,” says Nelson. “It’s a program to enrich life primarily for people who are retired. It meets a need.”
Classes are college level and require no homework and have no tests. The cost per class ranges from $10-$30.
“It’s my favorite teaching gig,” says Nancy Nilsson, who has been a teacher for 40 years, including teaching at the University of Michigan and in the Ann Arbor Public School District. “I teach art history and humanities through the history of art, and there’s nothing that you have to cover. I can vary examples so that students are always getting fresh material.”
This fall, Nilsson will be focusing on the Roman culture and empire in her course Journeys through Western Civilizations, which she has moved through chronologically,
“The ALI students are a wonderful group of people who are interested in the world and like taking intellectual journeys,” says Nilsson.
Grace Shackman teaches architecture and history at ALI.
“Adults are so enthusiastic,” says Shackman. “They’re doing this because they want to. They spur me on to research new areas they’re curious about. It’s been a very positive experience.”
ALI partners with the Chelsea Senior Center and the Chelsea District Library, which are among the locations where catalogues are available. There are two semesters – September to November, and February to May.
There might be as many as eight sessions of a class and as few as one. Classes are typically two hours long and include a lecture, class discussion and interaction.
Nilsson says, “When you have an entire class of people who have life experience and are very much interested in the subject, and are enthusiastic and have great curiosity, it’s an ideal class to teach.”
ALI is looking for volunteers. For more information, click here or call 734-433-1000, ext. 7358.
