Additional information about senior education here.
Lifelong Learning Institute(LLI)
The Lifelong Learning Institute (LLI) at Ohio State Lima began in 1991. A Road Scholar program, LLI traditionally offers classes for seniors on four Tuesdays and Thursdays in April and October.
LLI volunteers, in coordination with Ohio State Lima, run our local program. Ohio State Lima provides administrative support, classroom space, audio/visual equipment, and technical support. Volunteer officers and committee members, course participants, and many moderators come from west central Ohio counties surrounding Allen County.
Courses on six subjects are offered each session. Individual classes last one and one half hours and meet at the same time each week. You may sign up for as many or as few classes as you wish. Classes are typically held in the Public Service Building, Rooms 212/213 on the campus of The Ohio State University at Lima. Registration and other program information for April 2019 will be available soon. For questions or further information, please call Julie Klingler at 567-242-7215.
TUESDAYS – April 2, 9, 16, 23
10:00 to 11:30 am – Humor in Music: Intentional and Unintentional
We will learn when, how and why composers have incorporated humor into their music and also about incidents when unintended or embarrassing jocularity occurred in musical performances.
Moderator Robert Mix: Mix retired as the Lima City Schools choral director. He has been the conductor of the Portland Chamber Singers, The Lima Rotary Boys Choir and led seven European tours with the Ohio Honors Choral. Mix was a viola player with the Lima Symphony Orchestra and also served as president of the Ohio Choral Directors Association.
1:00 to 2:30 pm – Water, Water Everywhere: Is It Safe to Drink?
April 2: Moderator Michael Caprella, city of Lima utilities director: What Is That Big Hole? Caprella will describe the city’s construction of a 13-million gallon combined sewer overflow tank being installed 23 feet underground near South Collett Street. The EPA-mandated project will help prevent combined sewer overflows into the Ottawa River during heavy rain events.
April 9: Moderator Dr. Mike Reagon, associate professor of biology at Ohio State Lima: Harmful Algal Blooms: Causes, Consequences and Prevention. HABs are occurring with increasing frequency worldwide. Most notably in our region, seasonal HABs have been observed in Lake Erie and other smaller lakes since the mid 1990s. We will discuss the causes of HABs in Ohio and what might be done to prevent future outbreaks.
Dr. Reagon’s teaching and research focus on ecology, plant biology, genetics, and evolution, specifically on understanding the processes that influence the evolution of herbicide resistance in agricultural weeds.
April 16: Moderator Kate Anderson: Is Grand Lake St. Marys Still Grand? Anderson will provide a history of Grand Lake St. Marys (GLSM) and its current environmental challenges, including discussion of pollutants; the commonality between the pollution of GLSM, Lake Erie/Toledo; the drinking water issues associated with these two areas; the economic impact of the pollution of GLSM; and an overview of clean-up efforts.
Anderson currently serves as the organizing president of the non-profit group Guardians of Grand Lake St. Marys.
April 23: Moderator Dr. Chris Winslow: Lake Erie Algae, Research Efforts, Nutrient Loading, and Farmer Decision Making. Dr. Winslow will describe the projects currently managed by the Stone Lab and Ohio Sea Grant studying Harmful Algal Blooms, including their detection, toxin production, health impacts, treatments for contaminated drinking water, land use changes to reduce nutrient inputs, best management practices and farmer decisions.
Dr. Chris Winslow, director of Ohio State University’s Stone Laboratory and the Ohio Sea Grant College Program, received his BS from Ohio University and his MS and PhD from Bowling Green State University. Since 2004 Chris has been a fixture at Ohio State’s Stone Laboratory, first as an instructor and research supervisor, but now as the director of both the lab and the Ohio Sea Grant College Program.
2:45 to 4:15 pm – The Fascinating, Living/Breathing World Around Us
Allen County, although primarily agricultural in its land use, is full of life! Both flora and fauna abound if you know where to look and what to look for. Join a naturalist from Johnny Appleseed Metro Park District to explore some of the natural world’s most fascinating subjects.
Moderator Dan Hodges, Johnny Appleseed Metro Park District naturalist.
THURSDAYS – April 4, 11, 18, 25
10:00 to 11:30 a.m. Area Mental Health Services
April 4 – Moderators from Coleman Professional Services – Margaret Lawrence, chief officer; Lisa Ashata, director of peer services; Micah Sobota, director of crisis stabilization unit-opiate addiction services and mobile response stabilization – present information on services for opiate addiction and a new program called Mobile Response Stabilization Services.
April 11 – Moderator Lucy Flowers, director of school-based services at Prevention Awareness Support Services (PASS), will present information on mental health/suicide and alcohol/drug prevention programs for schools.
April 18 – Moderator Jessica Gogley is the prevention specialist with the PASS Wellness Initiative for Senior Education, a health and wellness program to encourage older adults to make healthy life decisions. Areas addressed include alcohol, prescription drugs and depression.
April 25 – Moderator Jodi Knouff, the clinical director at Family Resource Center, and Judy Lester, treatment director at SAFY Behavioral Health-Youth Behavioral Health Services: Knouff and Lester discuss youth behavioral health services including SAFY’s Drop-in Center, School Navigation, PAX Good Behavior Game and Adventure Therapy.
1:00 to 2:30 p.m. – Topics in American History
Dr. Thomas Ingersoll’s presentations will include: “The Election of 1800”; “The Mexican-American War”; “1860-61 Secession: Why?”; and “The Great Red Scare of 1919, Aftermath of World War I.”
Moderator Thomas N. Ingersoll, PhD: Ingersoll, associate professor of history at Ohio State Lima, specializes in the study of pre-industrial America, the American Revolution, the Early Republic and African-Americans.
2:45 to 4:15 p.m. – How Do They Do That?
April 4: Revitalizing and Reusing Historic Structures to Bring Life Back to Small Town Downtowns will include the history of the Met Block Building, home of The Met restaurant, at 300-306 North Main in Lima and also the Sealts building at 330 North Central.
Moderator Rob Nelson, PhD: Nelson is a Lima entrepreneur, local business owner and philanthropist who retired from academia and became a stay-at-home dad. In his spare time, he also serves as the head varsity softball coach at Lima Senior High School and the Director of the Lima City Softball Travel Program.
April 11: Overseeing Miles and Miles of Roadways and Waterways.
Auglaize County Engineer Douglas Reinhart, P.E., P.S., will describe his responsibilities for maintaining the 350 miles of county roadways, 323 miles of township highways, 345 bridges and 380 miles of maintenance ditches and rivers in Auglaize County.
Moderator Douglas Reinhart: Reinhart earned a BS in Civil Engineering from The Ohio State University and holds both a Professional Surveyor License and Professional Engineering License. He also serves as the Auglaize County Sanitary Engineer, Flood Plain Coordinator and GIS Administrator. He is a former chairman and member of the Ohio State Lima Board.
April 18: In Land Surveying – How and Why?, Brad J. Core, P.E., P.S., will discuss the evolution of land surveying from the time of the original surveys of Ohio to today. He will present the types of surveys and their purpose and will also discuss the weighing of physical evidence and the calculations associated with land surveying.
Moderator Brad J. Core: Core is the principal/engineer, owner of Core Consulting. He holds a BS in Agricultural Engineering from The Ohio State University. Core is a Licensed Professional Civil Engineer in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan and a Licensed Professional Land Surveyor in Ohio.
April 25: In The Majestic and Mysterious Pipe Organ, Organbuilder
Thomas Densel will provide an explanation of the inner workings of the King of Instruments, the pipe organ. Participants will learn how pipe organs are built and how they operate.
Moderator Thomas Densel: Densel began a lifelong love affair with the pipe organ at the age of eight. He has studied organ construction and design for over 45 years and has been professionally employed as an organbuilder at Lima Pipe Organ Company, Inc. for nearly 35 years.