Osher at RIT Celebrates Grand Opening at Rivers Run

Home at last! Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at RIT is celebrating a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony at its new custom designed classroom facility in the Riparian Independent Living Complex at Rivers Run, 50 Fairwood Drive. Osher is an academic-based and membership-led organization that stimulates minds and forges friendships among people ages 50 and older who live in Greater Rochester.

The Osher-Rivers Run ribbon-cutting celebration will be held from noon to 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 17. Honored guests include RIT President Emeritus Albert Simone, RIT President Bill Destler and former RIT Provost Stanley McKenzie.

Osher was founded in 1987 as The Athenaeum, an affiliate of RIT. The Athenaeum name was in honor of RIT’s own history—the university was founded in the early 1800s when the Rochester Athenaeum (focused on liberal arts) merged with the Rochester Mechanics Institute (focused on engineering).

As the organization celebrated its 20^th anniversary in 2006-2007, it launched into a new phase of growth and development through an affiliation with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes—joining a growing national network of more than 100 university-based centers for older learners.

Located 1.5 miles from campus, Rivers Run is an active adult community with spacious cottages for sale and apartments for lease—now “home” to many RIT alumni, retirees, faculty and staff who are 55 and older.

The public is welcome to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony, enjoy refreshments and tour Osher’s new Rivers Run facility.

For more information about the event, call Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at (585) 292-8989.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at RIT is a membership-led organization that stimulates minds and forges friendships among people ages 50 and older who live in Greater Rochester. Members participate in classes, discussions, lectures, social events and travel, while engaging in a range of courses to include the arts, literature, sciences, history and government. The organization was founded in 1987 as The Athenaeum, an affiliate of Rochester Institute of Technology. In 2006, it became an Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, joining a growing national network of more than 100 university-based centers.