Always a Student
No worries, no term papers—just a lifetime of exploration and discovery
| From Alumni Notes | By Kelly Cunningham
Alumni and faculty exchange ideas at recent Alumni Weekend educational sessions, Eating Your Way to Longevity and The Swinging Pendulum of U.S. Politics. Photos by BU Photography
Remember your worldview opening up in the hands of your favorite professor? Such experiences of clarity and discovery are the Holy Grail for those pursuing education, and for many BU alumni, that pursuit has continued well beyond Commencement.
Why Alumni Education?
“We are all made better, smarter, and more informed by the continual growth of a vibrant learning community,” says Virginia Sapiro, dean of Arts & Sciences. “Whether they want to keep up with skills and knowledge they need for their jobs or be better-informed members of society—or simply love to challenge themselves and explore—we hope that all members of the BU community, including alumni, will take advantage of the great opportunities we’re offering.”
A Range of Opportunities
Each year, thousands of alumni attend lectures, seminars, panel discussions, and educational tours.
Thousands of alumni are doing just that each year, whether engaging with faculty experts who travel around the world for BU on the Road events, attending CAS Discoveries lectures (which remind alumni from all BU schools and colleges, “It’s your world—take a closer look”), or taking advantage of the lectures, seminars, panel discussions, and educational tours offered at flagship events like Alumni Weekend and Winterfest.
“Many of the Discoveries I’ve gone to are about topics I’ve read or heard about in the media,” says Olive Lesueur (CAS’66, MET’85), who has attended several of the lectures. “I like to hear the academic end of it. That’s what’s important—to hear different perspectives on the same topic. The series provides intellectual stimulation that you may or may not get on the job or if you’re retired.”
Alumni College: An Emerging, Immersive Experience
Alumni College will become a stand-alone program designed to empower alumni through immersive, weekend-long educational experiences.
Countless studies demonstrate the remarkable social, psychological, and even physical benefits of continuing the pursuit of knowledge. With that in mind, the BU Alumni Association and the College of Arts & Sciences have developed the latest addition to a comprehensive catalog of alumni learning opportunities: Alumni College. From its roots as a vital component of Alumni Weekend, Alumni College will emerge this summer as a robust stand-alone program designed to empower alumni through immersive, weekend-long educational experiences—including the opportunity to stay in the Student Village high-rise residence hall.
“Up to now, most of the learning opportunities we’ve offered have been what I think of as the browse-and-dip-in variety—go to selected lectures, read good articles from Bostonia, follow a webcast on BUniverse,” says Sapiro. “But certain kinds of learning are best done in a sustained manner. That’s what Alumni College offers our alumni.”
The inaugural Alumni College weekend—Sustainability in the City—takes place June 10 to 12, 2011, on the Charles River Campus.
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