Happy Thanksgiving Break!

Here is the Osher office schedule for Thanksgiving week:

Monday, November 21 - Staff in Office: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. 
Tuesday, November 22 - Staff in Office: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. 
Wednesday, November 23 - Staff Working Remotely: 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Thursday, November 25 - Closed
Friday, November 26 - Closed

Spring 2023 Course Registration

Get ready! Spring registration will open on our online registration site on Wednesday, November 30, 2022. We can't say the exact time it will open, but it will not be before 9 a.m. 

Phone and in-person registration will open the following week, on Monday, December 5, 2022.

Spring 2023 Sneak Peak

We know many of you are eager to see our Spring 2023 course catalog, and we are working as quickly as we can to publish it. In the meantime, we want to make sure you all have as much time as possible to review the course listings ahead of course registration. So here is additional information about the ways you can look over our upcoming courses ahead of the catalog: 

The Spring Schedule At-A-Glance can be accessed on our homepage.

Detailed course descriptions can be found by navigating through our Registration Portal, and clicking on the tiles for  Session 1, Session 2 or Course by Topic.

And of course, if you have any questions, cannot find the course description that you are looking for or need any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us during our normal business hours.

Normally, when not a holiday week, the Osher Office is staffed in person Monday, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Phones and emails are answered Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
412-624-7308 or by emailing osher@pitt.edu.

Online course registration will open on Wednesday, November 30, 2022.  We can't say the exact time it will open, but it will not be before 9 a.m. 

Phone and in-person registration will open the following week, on Monday, December 5, 2022.

Why does the schedule say tentative?

The Schedule At-A-Glance that you see now is almost complete. When we say tentative, that doesn't mean that the final schedule will be vastly different. It just means that we do not have many of the classrooms confirmed. So if a class says a.m. time TBA, it means that we have a good idea that the course will be held in the morning, but since we don't have a confirmed room, it may be 10 a.m. or 11 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. The same would go for a p.m. TBA class. We will fill in the permanent times when the rooms are assigned. Other than that, the courses are as firm as we know.

Preapproved Audit Courses 

You can take an advanced look at the Spring 2023 preapproved list of university courses that you can audit as an Osher member. 

If you are new to Osher or never audited before, find out more at our All About Course Auditing: Expectations and Member Responsibilities page.

We will inform you in the weekly update and on the OLLI website when registration for Spring 2023 audit courses is open. 

OLLI Volunteers Needed

Zoom Monitors

We need a few more people to help us by monitoring Zoom classes in Spring 2023. It is easy to do. The only responsibilities you have are:

-Alert the Osher office if the instructor does not log in, or if there seems to be an issue in the class that the instructor cannot address. For instance if the instructor cannot be heard, you don’t have to know how to fix it, just call the office.
-Let the instructor know if they are not being heard or seen.
-Help instructor to mute people.
-Remind instructor to turn on live transcript (closed captioning).

You don’t have to be a Zoom expert, and we will have a little training to show you what to do. You do not have to monitor questions for the instructor, or know everything about Zoom. That is the instructor’s responsibility. While some monitors do that on their own, we really only need and expect monitors to let us know if something is wrong. It is easy but so important and helpful. If you can help us, or have questions, please email Pat Szczepanski at pjs27@pitt.edu.

In-Person Class Aides

In-Person Class Aides

We are need of people to help with in-person classes. No technical knowledge required. What does an in person class monitor do?

-Takes a class count each week and reports it to the Osher office. This is so helpful when planning for future classes and finding rooms.
-You may also be asked to pick up a microphone for the instructor before class or return a cable to the Osher office.
-If an instructor is late, or doesn’t show, you would notify the office and relay messages to other members who are in the classroom.

While the tasks are simple, they are so helpful.