WELCOME • WELCOME • WELCOME • WELCOME • WELCOME • WELCOME • WELCOME • WELCOME • WELCOME • WELCOME • WELCOME

The Mission

All Are Welcome …
But You Gotta Be at least 50 To Vote!

Not every (almost-soon-not-to-be-any-longer-middle-aged – I can’t believe it!) person is particularly interested in any sort of classes. In fact, many resist the idea of associating with people of their own age. But some are interested (the numbers around 3%, so you’re definitely unique!), and at the University of Maine Senior College, our mission is to make sure the opportunity is there for those who want it. We’re grown up and generally competent. As we say to entice prospective instructors, “We already know how to learn and have well developed, easy going, social skills. You’ll like teaching here.”

Augusta Senior College provides many activities and academic classes in language, history, current affairs, and other subjects. A typical semester has 25 or 30 classes. 

What don’t we have? We don’t have classes that are primarily intended as job training or career advancement. That’s “adult education,” and for a brief explanation and history of the difference between Senior College and adult education, though the age brackets overlap, see at right, The World of Lifelong Learning.  Suffice it to note that the UMA campus that is famous for it’s productive and convenient distance learning programs which support many of those who are advancing their education while working or taking care of kids, is also the campus which sponsors one of the most successful Lifelong Learning programs in the state of Maine. So if you did stumble here looking for a degree program or classes to improve your career, go to  UMA’s website or read a great US News review. 

General Information for
Potential Students and Instructors

  • UMA Senior College activities are focused on people 50 years old and up.
  • There are two semesters – Spring (begins mid-March) and Fall (begins mid-September) – about 25 to 30 classes per semester.
  • Classes are typically 1.5 – 2 hours long and run 8 weeks.
  • Not including our Concert series, we produce about 25 lecture and forum events per year, in addition to classes. Lectures are one or two-part presentations on a wide variety of subjects.  This is often how volunteer instructors get started.
  • Our long-running Concerts at Jewett series, sponsored by local businesses and private contributions, featured talented Maine performers representing a variety of musical forms. The concert series has been temporarily suspended.
  • During the winter months of January, February and March, Zoom Winter Lectures are held Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. This replaces the Brown Bag Lectures that were formerly held at noon.
  • The Granite Hill Lecture Series is a regular course lasting for 8 weeks that is taught each semester by 8 different instructors. (Suspended and replaced with Zoom lectures due to Covid precautions at the Granite Hill Estates facility.)
  • Classroom facilities include white boards, overhead projectors, computers, etc. You can usually set up a video or PowerPoint presentation on your laptop or thumbdrive, and project it. Some classrooms are Zoom friendly.
 

The World of
Lifelong Learning

The Osher Foundation, a catalyst in the formation of the Maine Senior College Network where UMASC is one of 17 participating colleges, says about the need for Lifelong Learning:

“In the fall of 2000, the Foundation began to consider programs targeted toward more mature students not necessarily well served by standard continuing education curricula. These courses often attract students of all ages eager to accumulate units to complete degrees or to acquire specific job skills. By contrast, the interest of many older adults, especially those who have retired, is in learning for the joy of learning – without examinations or grades – and keeping in touch with a larger world.”

If you’d like to be part of this world wide movement, sign up for a class. After a few sessions, you might be walking back to your car, notice some classmates and join them for a cup of coffee. There are studies that show we make our lifelong friends in college. But who needs studies?

General Information for
Potential Students and Instructors

  • UMA Senior College activities are focused on people 50 years old and up.
  • There are two semesters – Spring (begins mid-March) and Fall (begins mid-September) – about 25 to 30 classes per semester.
  • Classes are typically 1.5 – 2 hours long and run 8 weeks.
  • During the winter months of January, February and March, Zoom Winter Lectures are held Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. This is often how volunteer instructors get started.
  • Classroom facilities include white boards, overhead projectors, computers, etc. You can usually set up a video or PowerPoint presentation on your laptop or thumbdrive, and project it. Some classrooms are Zoom friendly.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.