The ALL Office at Cape Cod Community College is open from 9am - 3pm Monday through Friday.

Feel free to contact us:

E-mail: lifelonglearning@capecod.edu

Telephone 774-330-4400 (please leave a message)

Happy May!

It’s a time of colorful rebirth and renewal. A time to move forward and enjoy all that Mother Nature showers on us this time of year.

In keeping with moving forward, we have three new candidates

who will be joining the Board of Directors starting in July. 1^st.

Since we have five open spots, and only three candidates, an election is not necessary. The new members are Henry Tamzarian, Maggie French, and Roger Shoemaker. Please take the time to read their bios which are in this issue. I’m sure that they will bring fresh ideas and energy to our board.

Speaking of our Board of Directors, I want to thank Miriam Kronish, Kirk Young, Diane Hoover, and Marilyn Nouri for all the work they have done to make ALL a successful organization. Their time on the Board is over, but their impact will not be forgotten. I have served with these four directors for seven years and admire their dedication to ALL. They truly went above and beyond to help ALL survive the COVID era and introduce new ways of learning via Zoom and Hybrid.

Although May is a time for renewal, this time of year marks the end of our current ALL season. Please plan to attend our annual meeting on May 16^th at 10:30 in the atrium which is in the Lorusso building.

The officers and board of directors will report on the past year and take any questions or suggestions at the end of the presentation. We would also like to invite our coordinators to attend so we could meet with them after the Annual Meeting to review their year and hear any questions or suggestions that they may have. Light refreshments will be served, and we hope you will attend.

This is also my last year on the board. I will be making my exit in June with Marilyn, Kirk, Diane, and Miriam. Little did I know when Mary Joyce and Sandra Piver recruited me to serve on the board that I would serve for seven years and be president for the last two. I have enjoyed the experience as hospitality chair, vice president, and president.

I believe in ALL, and hope I helped to make a difference and create a welcoming environment. Paul, Kirk, Joan, Pat, Jean, Diane, Joan, Marilyn, Miriam, Marianne, Rita, Alice, Denise, and Henry, our meeting guest, it’s been a pleasure to work with you and get to know you. I appreciate your skills, insights, creativity, and knowledge as well as what you have done for ALL. It’s been a great ride with a few bumps along the way, but nothing this team couldn’t handle. Thank you.

Also, thanks to all the ALL coordinators whose exciting and interesting courses are the backbone of our organization, and to the members who continue to support our organization as lifelong learners.

Lastly, thanks, Cynthia Jayne, for being the best administrative assistant during my tenure as president. You go above and beyond to help make things run smoothly in the office and the classrooms. You are smart, kind, knowledgeable and dedicated. Thanks for all you’ve done for me and for ALL.

Dianne Tattersall

ALL President

Today is a beautiful Spring Day on the cape, yet elsewhere in the world there is seething turmoil.

The grinding war in Ukraine, and the attacks and counter-attacks between Hamas and Israel, have caused many of us countless hours of anguish, outrage, heartache, and concern. Until at least a temporary peace is found, the killing ended and the healing started, we can expect, and have indeed witnessed, deep discussion on this emotional topic within our own community and even in our classes.

Debating and discussing war and its reasons, its ethics, and its impacts, are expected and healthy, for we are a questioning and thoughtful community. But we must take pains to recognize that we do not all come from the same place.

Our religious beliefs, our heritage, and our life experiences differentiate us. We ask you to temper emotions and discussions lest we bring the fight within our own community, and focus instead on doing what we can personally to help bring this conflict to an end. 

Thank you!

Dianne Tattersall, ALL President

Paul Coteus, ALL Vice President

THE FALL 2024 COURSE PORTAL IS STILL OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS

We are seeking exciting new course proposals for the future!

We invite you to submit your course proposal for the Fall.

The Curriculum committee is looking forward to your course proposals for Fall 2024.

There are still time slots available in the fall 2024 schedule, particularly for Zoom classes on Fridays and some afternoons in the first and second 6 week sessions.

For classroom spaces, we have Friday mornings available as well as some afternoons, particularly in the second 6-week session.

Veteran Coordinators:

Veteran coordinators are invited to submit courses in the ALL portal now.

First Time Coordinators:

If you're interested in offering an ALL course, the first step is to discuss your course ideas with a member of the Curriculum Committee. 

Please contact lifelonglearning@capecod.edu. (774-330-4400).

The earlier you submit your course, the better for you to receive the time slot you prefer for your class. The deadline is 15 May 2024

Miriam Kronish

Chair, Curriculum Committee

From The Registration Committee

ALL Fall 2024 courses will be published by category and by day and time on our website in mid July.

The 2024 Fall Course Catalog and registration form will be published online and distributed to local libraries and senior centers in early August. 

See you in September!

Jean DeVincentis

Chair, Registration Committee

You are invited to attend the

Academy for Lifelong Learning

Annual Meeting

May 16th at 10:30 AM

The Atrium (Building 9)

located in the

Lorusso Technology Building

This is an in-person only meeting

There will be light refreshments

Please join us!

There is still time to purchase Reflections 2024...

Consider purchasing a copy of Reflections 2024 for your friends and family.

This year in addition to the traditional anthology 8×11 size, there is also a paperback, 6 x9, version available. 

Either size is a lovely addition to your library.

The publication contains the work of 35 contributors whose submissions include 16 pieces of prose, 32 poems, 27 photographs and works of art.

Click the following link to purchase Reflections 2024

or

contact lifelonglearning@capecod.edu for more information.

Meanwhile, please enjoy the FREE digital version by clicking the following button. 

Feel free to share the link with others who might enjoy it.

Our Board of Directors is a working board, not only overseeing but doing much of the work of ALL. We thank those who are willing to contribute their time, effort and talent to our organization.

The following individuals will join the ALL Board on July 1st.

Maggie French

In previous chapters of Maggie’s life, she was a financial executive in manufacturing and health care for over 25 years, followed by a second career as a certified life coach in personal and professional development.

As she begins her current chapter, she continues her coaching while exploring what elderhood means for her and our community. She lives in Harwich with her husband of 26 years, Jerry Beltis. When home gardening, cooking, reading, and writing blissfully fill the hours. Maggie is an ALL coordinator, a member of the ALL Communications Committee and the Editor of "Reflections 2024".

Roger Shoemaker

Roger's rofessional life is in education through the arts. He spent ten years teaching and directing theater at Trinity College, Hartford; 25 years as Dean for the Arts and Associate Head of School at Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick.

Roger followed this with a wonderful, if surprising, post-retirement job as Director of Drama at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School. He has served on several non-profit Boards, including two membership organizations: the International NETWORK of Visual and Performing Arts Schools, and The New England Theater Conference, of which He is a past President and presently Co-Chair of the Dennis Arts and Culture Council. Roger is also an ALL coordinator and a member of the ALL Curriculum Committee. He looks forward to a continued involvement with all things ALL.

Henry Tamzarian

Henry grew up in Lebanon in an Armenian family. He immigrated to the U.S. as a young man spending two years at Nauset Regional High School on Cape Cod followed by a brief stint in the US Army in Europe.

Henry returned to complete his education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst after which he spent over ten years working at the Academic Programs Office at UMass in the Residential College. After graduate school, He moved to Northampton to work at Smith College for more than 30 years serving in various positions and retiring in 2014 as the Dean for International Students and Scholars. Henry moved to the Cape the same year and now lives with his partner Linda in Centerville. Henry discovered ALL through a friend and enrolled in courses before joining the Curriculum Committee the following semester.

In April, Eiling Yee and Greg Altmann presented a fascinating talk "Babies, Words And Statistics - How Infants Learn About Words"

The link to that recorded talk follows for those of you who missed it or would like to view their presentation a second time.

Greg Altmann is a professor at the University of Connecticut.

Previously he was at the Universiity of York, U.K. where he wrote "The Ascent of Babel", an award winning book on the psychology of language. His research over the past 40 years has focused on how words translate into meaning. He obtained his PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Edinburgh in 1986.

Eiling Yee is a professor at the University of Connecticut.

Previously she was at the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (Donostia, Spain) where she had been a research professor Her research concerns the brain basis of conceptual knowledge, using diverse methods from neuroscience and psychology. She received her PhD in Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences from Brown University in 2005. Her family have been long-time supporters of ALL.

After a lot of scrutiny and discussion this ALL year, the ALL Board has voted to increase our membership dues from $105.00 to $125.00 per semester.

This increase will go into effect this fall. This is the first time we have had an increase since 2016, so it’s not something the board of directors rushed to do.

The ALL Board has a duty to cover our budgeted expenses and to maintain a reserve fund. Our essential problem is that the membership has not recovered to pre-COVID levels. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2019, our membership fee revenue was $120, 278. which represented a paid membership of 1,146 for the entire year.

The same was true for the year ending June 20, 2020; we had the same number of paid memberships, and the revenue was $120,330.00. In each of those years, our operating results were slightly on the plus side.

Contrast this to the year ended June 30, 2023. Membership revenue was $70, 708, representing a paid membership of just 647. For the year ending June 30, 2024, memberships revenue is up, but only to $78. 330. or 746 paid members.

As you can see, our membership growth is slowly increasing but is not keeping pace with our expenses, which are up due to price increases and inflation. Our net loss is $14, 641.

This year the projected loss is roughly $18,500. The increase in the membership fee of $20.00 will help to reduce our loss but we are hoping for a continued increase in the number of paid memberships to help bring us closer to breaking even next year.

As you know, the membership fees not only admit our membership to 24 weeks of classes but also allows members to social events, lectures, and other special events.

We hope you understand our current situation and maintain your confidence in our decision. Our all-volunteer Board members, committee members, and coordinators are committed to providing you with quality and unique experiences for the life long learner.

Dianne Tattersall

ALL President

Is there a friend who would like to know more about ALL?

We now have a 2 minute video that provides an overview of who we are and what we offer. A link to that video follows. It is also on our website. Feel free to share this newsletter and tell your friends to take a look.

The ALL Art Gallery exhibits change regularly.

The ALL Art Gallery walls are outside classrooms 106 and 115.

Please contact the ALL office if you are interested in exhibiting your art.