Welcome to the OLLI interest group page, and check out the list of our groups below. If you’re not already an OLLI member, click here to join. Your donation of $60.00 for joining OLLI also allows you to participate in any number of interest groups (check with leader of any group about space available).  

Special Interest Group Newsletter.  Click here to download a pdf.

Any questions? See below for more information, following the list, or contact the interest group coordinator, Rusty Bowman, at 831-423-1450 or ebowman@ucsc.edu. If you have any problems viewing the list, expand your window to the full size of your display and you should be able to see all of it easily. Current list version: 2023. 

** Interest Groups with this next to the title are FULL.  Contact the group leader to get on a wait list.

Interest groups are very dynamic and keep changing. Here is a list of inactive groups, that are not meeting at this time: Creative Writing, Culture Vultures, Genealogy, Play Reading, Pre-Columbia, Santa Cruz History, Still Life Drawing, Opera, Meditation, Envisioning the Future, Santa Cruz Symphony, Beliefs Acceptance, Classical Chinese Literature, Healthcare, New Yorker Covers and Cartoons, Science Fiction, Food and Health, Santa Cruz Infrastructure, Kayaking, Wooden Toys, Amateur Chamber Music, Eastern Spirituality, Discovering UCSC. An example of the range of interests, and also possible ideas for new groups in the future.

Some interest groups are large, like Art & Architecture, which visits museums, galleries, and public buildings all over the Bay Area. Others are smaller to allow members to pursue activities such as creative writing and photography, or to participate in discussions. We also encourage members to form new interest groups and new sections of existing interest groups. To form a new group you just need a proposal and approval from the OLLI Board, very simple.

Group leaders are free to structure and schedule their group as they and the participants wish. Just check with the leader if space is available within any group, and for further information. You can ask to be on a waiting list if the group is full, or consider starting another group. We have many New Yorker groups, always room for another group on any subject.

Our Interest Group Program is unusual among all the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes because most mainly offer courses (sometimes quite expensive) taught by paid instructors through university extension departments. Although our courses are wide-ranging, popular, and invaluable, the heart of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UCSC continues to be our peer-led groups, which give our members the opportunity to take part in discussions and activities of interest.

One of the goals of OLLI at UCSC is to raise scholarship money for transfer and re-entry students, including military veterans. Both interest group leaders and the volunteer instructors of our wonderful classes are motivated to help raise funds for our scholarship program. Our Osher Foundation grant can be used for our OLLI expenses, but cannot be used for student scholarships.