The Osher Institute at the College of William and Mary is celebrating its 30th birthday today. This organization began operating in 1991 as the Christopher Wren Association, with the purpose of providing “life-long learning” to senior adults in the Williamsburg, Virginia, area. Since then, the program has grown to offer as many as 160 courses in a semester to as many as 1,700 members each year. A planned 30-year birthday celebration for 2021 had to be postponed for a year. Today’s party, which will include lunch, a few speeches, and lots of opportunities to socialize, will be fun.
Why Christopher Wren?
Wikipedia identifies Sir Christopher Wren as one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history. In addition to the St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, he is credited for rebuilding more than 52 churches in London after the Great Fire of 1666. The first building erected on the campus of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg is called the “Wren Building,” a name it received in 724 after the Reverend Hugh Jones, a William and Mary mathematics professor, wrote in 1724 that the College Building was "modeled by Sir Christopher Wren.” However, it is unknown how Jones came to this conclusion, since there are no actual documents tying Sir Christopher Wren to the design of the building; he never even visited North America.
Nonetheless, the Wren Building anchors the college today. The bells in its cupola sound the hours throughout the day; seniors ring the Wren bells as they complete their last class prior to graduation.
After 26 years as the Christopher Wren Association, the organization decided to apply to become an Osher Lifelong Learning Institute under the auspices of the Bernard Osher Foundation. This was done for several reasons: it allows our program to connect directly with the 125 university-based Osher programs, it gives us access to a wide range of sources of information about adult learning, and it allows us to reach instructors and members who are part of other Osher programs. It didn’t hurt that joining this program was accompanied by cash: an initial grant of $100,000 in 2018 and a follow-on $1,000,000 grant in 2020. These grants are expected to provide financial stability for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at William and Mary.
Today’s event provides an opportunity for everyone associated with this program to come together, reflect on what the program has meant to them, and commit to upholding its programs and values into the future.
My Tuesday essays in this series focus on the Osher program. Take a look at them if you haven’t already done so.
30 Years Later
Crushed about the Christopher Wren history.
Crushed by the Christopher Wren story.