A San Francisco-based foundation that gives money to colleges and universities for continuing education programs and post-secondary scholarships has awarded $1 million to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The Bernard Osher Foundation’s money will be used to support UWM’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, a program in the School of Continuing Education with 1,400 members who are 50 and older.
The institute offers more than 250 courses and programs in areas such as foreign language, literature and travel excursions that expose people to areas and ideas that weren’t apart of their careers or daily lives.
“We are grateful to the foundation for their longtime support that has allowed us to offer this valuable program to the community,” Chancellor Mark Mone said. “The institute at UWM has seen tremendous growth since receiving its initial funding in 2008, both in terms of doubling its membership and tripling its program offerings in recent years.”
The Bernard Osher Foundation has given $3.7 million to the university over the years, and most of that money has gone toward launching and supporting the Lifelong Learning Institute.
“We are grateful to Bernard Osher and the foundation for helping this program grow and meet a need in the community,” said Kim Beck, executive director of the institute. “The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UWM is a true gem in Milwaukee.”
The foundation supports a total of 119 Lifelong Learning Institutes at colleges and universities around the country. UWM’s program is the only one in Wisconsin.
“We salute the university’s leadership and staff as well as the institute’s remarkable volunteers for developing an outstanding program of great variety,” Osher Foundation president Mary Bitterman said in a statement released Monday.
