Episode 1: What is Osher and Why Am I a Member? with Natalie Lecher
Forever Curious: An Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Podcast
Release Date: 02/21/2023
Episode 16: Understanding AI with George Liu
Forever Curious: An Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Podcast
The idea of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around for quite a while, but lately, AI seems to be all anyone can talk about. And not all the talk is positive: is it taking jobs, endangering privacy, and stealing creative work? Or is it a faithful and diligent servant, able to take the drudgery out of life and allow us to enjoy life more fully? AI is already so deeply woven into our modern lives, and it became part of the daily fabric of life without most of us really understanding how it was happening. This has left many people nervous and reluctant to embrace what might become a very...
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Episode 15: Exploring Untold Histories with Ross Coen
Forever Curious: An Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Podcast
Ready for a fascinating journey through time and place? In this episode of Forever Curious, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) welcomes a history instructor who’s mastered the art of making history come alive. From intriguing tales of the Pacific Northwest to unraveling the rich past of Alaska, Ross Coen brings history into focus in ways that are anything but boring. Ross Coen’s path to becoming a beloved history instructor is as compelling as the subjects he teaches. Growing up in a small farming community in North Dakota, his early experiences shaped a lifelong curiosity and...
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Episode 14: Discovering Brain Health and Lifelong Learning with OLLI-UW
Forever Curious: An Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Podcast
In this episode of Forever Curious, Natalie Lecher and Charlene Joy join Murray Urquhart for a conversation on brain health. Together our panel explore how OLLI is making brain health education and lifelong learning accessible to everyone, no matter their age or background. Natalie shares the behind-the-scenes story of OLLI’s popular Brain Health series, inspired by Dr. Eric Chudler’s engaging lectures on how the brain works. Charlene offers a personal perspective, recounting her experiences attending these lectures and how they’ve sparked her curiosity and passion for learning....
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Episode 13: Unlocking Brain Health: Neuroscience, Education, AI, & Lifelong Learning with Dr. Eric Chudler
Forever Curious: An Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Podcast
Welcome back for another season of Forever Curious! At the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), it is our goal to keep you forever curious (and forever neuroelastic!) by offering free resources on brain health. These are accessible to the public and supported by a partnership with the UW Department of Bioengineering and the Dana Foundation. Thanks for joining us! In this episode, we’re joined by the brilliant Dr. Eric Chudler, Executive Director at UW's Center for Neurotechnology. In this fascinating chat with host Murray Urquhart, we hear about neuroscience education and its impact on...
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Episode 12: Equity, Justice, & Climate Change with Heather Price
Forever Curious: An Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Podcast
In the first half of this episode, our host Charlene and Dr. Heather Price, Chemistry Faculty and Climate Scientist at North Seattle College and co-PI of a National Science Foundation Climate Justice in Undergraduate STEM Incorporating Civic Engagement (C-JUSTICE), discuss the arc of climate justice as a focus of climate activism and why people who are retired or heading into retirement should care about climate change. Dr. Price explains that climate justice is both intra and inter-generational. Elders now, as part of the intra-generational equation, have significant power to alter the...
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Episode 11: Tikkun Olam
Forever Curious: An Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Podcast
The Hebrew phrase “tikkun olam” translates to “repairing the world” and is a fundamental value to Bernard Osher, leader of the Osher Foundation. In the first half of this episode, Kelly Jane Rosenblatt, Program Director at the Bernard Osher Foundation, and Steve Thaxton, Executive Director at the National Resource Center for Osher Institutes, talk with our host and OLLI-UW Director, Natalie Lecher, about the foundation at the center of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) network. There 125 OLLI programs all over the United States, with at least one in each of the 50 states....
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Episode 10: A Taste of OLLI
Forever Curious: An Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Podcast
In this very special episode of Forever Curious, we’re giving you a “taste” of OLLI! The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute truly is for the forever curious, and that’s on both sides of the teacher’s desk. What curiosity drives our instructors to gain the knowledge and life experience they share with their students? Hosts Charlene and Murray are chatting with several instructors in this “flight,” so get ready to swirl ideas around in your head, sniff the rich bouquet of knowledge, and choose which flavors you might want to experience more deeply! David Fenner is the...
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Episode 9: Telescope Technology––Learn about the Webb
Forever Curious: An Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Podcast
Dr. Bruce Balick’s long and distinguished history at the UW doesn’t go back quite as far as the Big Bang, but his impact on the University’s astronomy program is nearly as significant! In this episode of Forever Curious, we have the enormous pleasure to present Bruce Balick, Professor Emeritus in Astronomy at the University of Washington. In the first part of the episode, he chats with host Charlene about his path to a career that meant spending his life with his head in the stars. In the second part of the episode, we hear Dr. Balick’s lecture on the James Webb telescope and how our...
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Episode 8: To Hell & Back with Jordan Ray Claytor
Forever Curious: An Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Podcast
What do you do with a kid who tries to capture every tiny animal that crosses his path? You take him to the Natural History Museum. A LOT. Fortunately for the critters, graduate student and OLLI instructor Jordan Ray Claytor quickly discovered that paleontology was more his passion, so he switched to fossils. As a paleontologist, Jordan studies at the intersection of a bunch of different sciences, he says, including biology, geology, and ecology. They’re trying to answer questions about life in “deep time.” What can fossils tell us about Earth’s organic past, and how can we apply...
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Episode 7: Our Extraordinary Bird Lady––Constance Sidles
Forever Curious: An Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Podcast
Master birder and nature author Constance Sidles has (no exaggeration) an encyclopedic knowledge of birds. She’s written for 65 different publications and is the CEO and Founder of Constancy Press, and she can answer questions about the ascending or descending call of the Swainson’s thrush at a moment’s notice and off the top of her head. Connie has taught many classes for the University of Washington’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), and she shares that expertise with students and with us, in this fascinating conversation. Oddly enough, Connie initially disliked birds...
info_outlineWelcome to Forever Curious, the podcast of OLLI-UW!
In this episode of Forever Curious, we ask members of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at the University of Washington why they joined and why they stay. And, as Natalie Lecher, Director of OLLI-UW asks, why listen to this podcast?
As one member described it, OLLI is a “buffet” of learning, with all sorts of educational opportunities for folks over 50. And this podcast is a continuation of that learning, open to everyone around the globe who wants to listen.
With OLLI, you can listen to lectures on a number of subjects, sign up for courses to take a deeper dive into various topics, and have amazing conversations with other lifelong learners. Want to learn how dinosaurs evolved into birds? Or understand the socio-political underpinnings of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein? Eager to know the fascinating lecturers and experts behind the stories? OLLI is the place!
We know that continuing to learn throughout our lives is extremely good for our brains, as is joining in social events, and OLLI offers both. Find more information about OLLI on our website https://www.osher.uw.edu/, and listen to the Forever Curious podcast here or on your favorite podcast app.
Forever Curious is produced by Audiotocracy Podcast Production.