There's an old idea, easy to forget: attention is a resource. Not infinite, not free, and — like most resources worth having — increasingly the object of other people's ambitions and exploitations.
What makes AI useful — or not — for older adults? And what can we learn from their experiences to build technology that better supports all of us as we age?
Join us for a presentation by Leyi (Joy) Zhou, a Berkeley PhD candidate in Social Welfare, who will share findings from her community-engaged research on what drives older adults' use of artificial intelligence. Drawing on interviews with 25 age-tech professionals and focus groups with more than 40 Chinese- and English-speaking older adults, the study brings together perspectives from technology developers, community organizations, and older adults themselves.
Zhou will explore how these different groups understand AI and envision its role in aging services and everyday life, and how their insights might help create more equitable, inclusive, and genuinely useful technology. She'll also invite your questions and experiences to help shape her ongoing research and the broader conversation about AI and aging.
OLLI at UC Berkeley is a member-driven community dedicated to connection and intellectual engagement. We offer 100+ courses per year, speaker events, field trips, socials and more. Learn more.
We are delighted to announce that Pierluigi Serraino is this year’s recipient of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute's Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award. Please join us in honoring this extraordinary educator, architect and scholar on Wednesday, September 30, from 12:10–12:40 PM, at The Freight (2020 Addison St, Berkeley.)
“We instituted this award as a way to formally recognize the faculty who make the OLLI at Berkeley learning experience such an enriching one for our members,” explains OLLI Director Susan Hoffman.
Pierluigi has taught an extraordinary 36 courses with us, exploring modernist architecture, individual architects and designers, the built environment, and the evolution of cities around the world — from Lisbon and Berlin to São Paulo and Istanbul. This fall, he turns his attention to modern industrial design in the United States and Europe. His courses are distinguished by deep scholarship, a distinctive historical perspective, and the insights he brings as a practicing architect.
Over the years, members have praised his rigorous, interdisciplinary approach and his ability to reveal the cultural, historical, environmental and architectural forces and figures that shape the places where we live.
Pierluigi is the author of numerous books on modern architecture, including Modernism Rediscovered, NorCalMod, The Creative Architect, Ezra Stoller, and his most recent book, The Modern Garden: The Outdoor Architecture of Mid-Century America. His remarkable breadth of knowledge — and his gift for sharing it — has made him a beloved and sought-after member of the OLLI faculty.
Stephanie Wells, Beverly Crawford, Bruce Elliott, Linda Rugg, Darren Zook, Alex Saragoza and Daniel Kammen are past award recipients.
Light refreshments and sparkling beverages will be served as we celebrate Pierluigi and his extraordinary contribution to OLLI.
No RSVP required.
Just days after the midterm elections, join Amelia Barili for an experiential hour focused on calming an overstressed nervous system. Drawing on ancient wisdom and neuroscience, we’ll practice simple embodied tools to reset stress, restore clarity, and rebuild resilience — one person, one breath, one relationship at a time. Because democracy has a nervous system, too — one shaped by how we show up for each other. Leave steadier, calmer, and ready for the long run.
This gathering is part of our Vital Aging program.
Amelia Barili, former journalist (BBC, La Prensa) and UC Berkeley educator, integrates ancient wisdom and neuroscience to help people reset their nervous systems and build resilience. Her community-based teaching earned the Chancellor's Award for Public Service. She leads Embodying Safety, now in its seventh cohort at the Polyvagal Institute.
Join us for a guided tour of Julia Morgan’s stunning Berkeley City Club. Learn about this trailblazing architect, the first woman certified by the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, as we explore the vaulted halls, arcades, courtyards and plunge pool of this 1930 architectural gem — affectionately known as the “Little Castle.”
After the tour, you're invited to stay for complementary tea/coffee, tea sandwiches, sweet treats, scones, and conversation with Club members — many of whom have been part of the OLLI community for years. A lovely Friday afternoon. Organized by OLLI's Member Engagement Committee.
Join us for a guided tour of San Francisco's Salesforce Transit Center and its stunning 5.4-acre rooftop park with botanical gardens galore — hundreds of trees and thousands of plants arranged into themed ecosystems from Mediterranean Europe to Western Australia. Also on the itinerary? A redwood grove, a gondola, a soaring Grand Hall, and a 1,200-foot "Bus Fountain," one of the longest water features in the world. Organized by OLLI's Member Engagement Committee in collaboration with San Francisco City Guides.
[For members only]
Fire has shaped the East Bay's hills for thousands of years. Decades of suppression, flammable non-native trees, and a warming, drying climate have combined to raise wildfire risk in this landscape where wildland and neighborhoods meet. Join Berkeley biologist Alan Shabel for a look at fire's historical and ongoing role in local ecosystems.
Alan Shabel received his B.A. in Biology at Dartmouth College and Ph.D. from Berkeley where he currently teaches in the Department of Integrative Biology. He also serves as the Director and General Manager of UC's Point Reyes Field Station.
OLLI at UC Berkeley is a member-driven community dedicated to connection and intellectual engagement. We offer 100+ courses per year, speaker events, field trips, socials and more. Learn more.
Digital technologies are rapidly transforming how people live their lives, including their access to information. Social media and smartphones are affecting both the creation and consumption of news — trapping consumers in information "silos" that obscure alternate points of view — while deep fakes are threatening the quality of information found online. All of this raises significant risks for the functioning of our democracy. Dr. Alexa Koenig will discuss this new information environment, some of the challenges it poses for democracy — including our sense of cognitive security — and opportunities for uncovering the truth in this digital age.
Dr. Alexa Koenig is faculty director of Berkeley’s MacArthur-Award Winning Human Rights Center; co-founder of U.C. Berkeley’s Investigations Lab; and a research professor at Berkeley Law, where she focuses on the role of new and emerging technologies in human rights research and investigation.
OLLI at UC Berkeley is a member-driven community dedicated to connection and intellectual engagement. We offer 100+ courses per year, speaker events, field trips, socials and more. Learn more.