Wipe the virtual blackboard clean, polish your digital apple! The Olmsted Network is offering an online class.
This fall, we launched our first course with Osher Online for older adults. Five Olmsted experts conducted individual sessions, discussing the many facets of Frederick Law Olmsted as America’s premier 19th-century landscape architect.
Osher Online is part of the Osher National Resource Center at Northwestern University in Chicago; they support 125 centers across the country. In addition to providing a wide selection of courses for older adult learners, Northwestern students are available to facilitate with technology and questions, providing a multi-generational experience.
Frederick Law Olmsted, the famed landscape architect, has been called the “most important American historical figure that the average person knows least about” by scholar Justin Martin. This course aimed to change that by introducing the life, career and legacy of the man who was not only a landscape architect but also a journalist, conservationist, farmer and public servant.
From Olmsted’s birth in 1822 to his death in 1903, the course explored his life and career as he “gathered experiences” and finally settled down as a landscape architect at the age of 43. The series presenters included:
- Dede Petri, President and CEO, Olmsted Network, with an overview of Olmsted’ s career and a look at Olmsted’s design principles.
- Lauren Meier, ASLA, landscape architect, historian and Friends of Fairsted board member, on “Olmsted and America’s National Parks.”
- Julia Bachrach, landscape historian and former Chicago Parks District historian, on “Olmsted and the White City: A Look at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.”
- David Zuckermann, a recently retired Interpretive & Recreation Services Manager for the East Bay Regional Park District, on “Tracking the Olmsteds in the Golden State.”
- Laurence Cotton, landscape historian from Portland, on “Olmsted in the Pacific Northwest.”
The atmosphere of these sessions is relaxed and congenial. Afterward, the speaker typically answers questions from the chat and encourages more discussion.
The resource center is part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), which offers noncredit continuing education programs for older adults. OLLI offers four eight-week terms each year and generally has 12-16 classes offered each term. Both Petri and Olmsted Network board member Steve Livengood have presented to OLLI programs in the past.
You can learn more about all their programs here: https://sps.northwestern.edu/osher-lifelong-learning/
