Mayor, Journalists to Lecture This Summer

Stockton Mayor Ann Johnston and area journalists David Siders and Tara Cuslidge will give lectures this summer for the University of the Pacific’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI@Pacific). 

Mayor Johnston will give an update on the “State of the City,” and discuss the challenges facing her at city hall.  Time will be set aside at the end to take questions from the audience.  Siders will discuss his perspective on some of the more controversial stories he has found at city hall.  Cuslidge will discuss the news cycle and how the switch from print to the Internet has changed news reporting.

Mayor Johnston will speak 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. July 8 at the University of the Pacific Theatre, located in McCaffrey Center. David Siders will speak at O'Connor Woods Retirement Community Main Clubhouse from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, June 15, and at hte Pacific Theatre from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Wed., June 17. Tara Cuslidge is speaking from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at O'Connor Woods, Monday, June 22, 2009. The lectures are part of the OLLI@Pacific members' summer program. In conjunction with the Neighborhood Renaissance Program, the public can attend and of these lectures for a $10 fee at the door.

“A well-rounded education doesn’t stop with the completion of formal education but continues throughout life,” said Linda Thomas, program developer for Pacific’s Center for Professional and Continuing Education, which runs OLLI@Pacific.  “By bringing in community leaders and working experts, OLLI@Pacific participants continue to broaden their understanding of the world around them.”

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute is a membership program for adults at least 50 years old that offers university level lectures and course series on a wide variety of topics, field trips and excursions.  Other lectures and trips offered this year to members of the institute include a look at life in the army of King George III, a lecture on restless leg syndrome, an intensive 12-day drawing class and a trip to see “Damn Yankees” performed at the Fallon House Theatre in Columbia.

It costs $10.00 per year to belong to OLLI@Pacific and an additional $50.00 per semester to attend all the lectures offered by the program at any of the five locations.  Some classes also charge an addition fee to pay for supplies.  For more information about OLLI@Pacific, call 209.946.7658 or visit http://web.pacific.edu/x7758.xml.