Member Events   

The OLLI Celebration of Excellence celebrates our members, and their commitment to learn, grow and explore. We will reflect on the wonderful connections, events and classes that we have had this year. We thank our sponsors, community partners and our OLLI instructors for the special classes and programs they provide us. We recognize the university and Watts College for all their support. We honor our OLLI at ASU donors for their financial support. This combined support ensures the long-term sustainability of our enriching educational and social programming that touches so many lives.

This special event will also feature a presentation by Tina Miller, 'Catalysts of Creativity: ASU’s Human + AI Collaboration' exploring the intersection of technology, imagination, and human connection.

Event Schedule

12:30 p.m.         OLLI Showcase 2026

1:00 - 2:00 p.m. Catalysts of Creativity: ASU’s Human + AI Collaboration |

Panel:

• Tina Miller, Executive Director - Creative x Communications, Enterprise Technology

• Lindsay Kinkade, Managing Director, Creative Strategy, Enterprise Brand Strategy and Management

• Kelly DeVos, Communications Specialist, School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence

• Carrie Peterson, Associate Director, EdPlus Voice Strategist, EDPLUS Strategic Communications

Artificial intelligence is redefining what’s possible. Rather than viewing AI as a challenge to education or creativity, ASU embraces it as a catalyst for innovation. This panel explores how university teams are using AI to expand imagination, design, and storytelling. Through collaboration, storytelling, and experimentation, these teams are redefining creation in the age of intelligent technology—where imagination and AI unite to shape the future of possibility.

2:00 - 2:30 p.m. OLLI at ASU Recognition & Year in Review Presentation

2:30 - 3:30 p.m. Reception

Sat., Feb. 21, 9am to 1pm | Understanding Reproductive Health Disparities
ASU Downtown Phoenix campus, breakfast & lunch included!
FREE Registration: tinyurl.com/SOSS0221

Sat., Mar. 07, 9am to 2pm | Combatting Human Trafficking and Supporting Survivors
ASU Downtown Phoenix campus, breakfast & lunch included!
FREE Registration: tinyurl.com/SOSS0307

Sat., Mar. 28, 9am to 2pm | Improving K12 Education Outcomes and School Choice in Arizona
ASU Tempe campus, breakfast & lunch included!
FREE Registration: tinyurl.com/SOSS0328 

Sat., Apr. 11, 9am to 1pm | Existing is Exhausting: Mental Health, Identity, and Community Care
ASU Downtown Phoenix campus, breakfast & lunch included!
FREE Registration: tinyurl.com/SOSS0411

Do not miss this opportunity to learn directly from a seasoned U.S. Ambassador in a live, discussion-based masterclass designed to strengthen leadership, risk assessment, and strategic decision-making skills across sectors.

Global Challenges That Shape Our Daily Lives explores how major global issues directly affect American communities, the national interest, and international leadership. Taught by Ambassador Michael C. Polt, this synchronous course examines climate change, global health, and emerging technologies, while assessing America’s role and responsibility in addressing these challenges.

Through diplomacy-led discussion, scenario-based analysis, and real-world case studies, participants will:

• Understand how global forces shape daily life and careers
• Analyze climate, health, and technology challenges with strategic depth
• Evaluate the United States role in global leadership and cooperation
• Strengthen critical thinking and global problem-solving skills
• Apply insights to careers in diplomacy, business, education, public service, and beyond

By way of illustration, participants will examine how climate, health, and advanced technology challenges directly affect their lives and professional paths. This live, interactive course equips learners with the clarity, analytical skills, and civic awareness necessary to lead in a globally interconnected world.

Offered through ASU’s Leadership, Diplomacy and National Security (LDNS) Lab, this masterclass provides practical frameworks and tools for sound judgment in uncertain and rapidly evolving environments.

This masterclass also counts toward the Global Literacy and Impact Certificate—a credential you can proudly add to your LinkedIn profile, resume, or CV.

Click here to register! 

Unlock the frozen rivers of the imagination! Release fresh insights and sparkling metaphors using a proven method for tapping into creative powers through art. In this series of workshops you will learn a wondrous and simple technique for generating new poems as you learn to sketch and draw from life. This course will help you establish a practice of using a sketchbook to focus the mind and observe the natural world.
All skill levels are welcome and no artistic skill or previous art experience is required! The aim is to learn a method for making important, surprising connections.

What to expect at a glance:

• Techniques for observation in your writing
• Several poem "seeds" to get new projects started
• At least one new finished poem per week

OLLI Members receive a 25% off discount on summer classes at the Piper Writers Studio. Click here for more information on summer classes and workshops. Simply select 'OLLI Member' when registering. 

In this exploratory 4-week generative workshop series, we will use music, art, visual objects, and environments to generate poetry. Each week will take a different approach to engaging the senses and prompting the imagination. Writers of all skill levels and genres are invited to participate!

What to expect at a glance:

• Gain new inspiration and insight for your writing
• Learn techniques for incorporating auditory and visual media in written works
• Find your authorial voice by exploring your relationship with the physical and metaphysical world

OLLI Members receive a 25% off discount on summer classes at the Piper Writers Studio. Click here for more information on summer classes and workshops. Simply select 'OLLI Member' when registering. 

In an encouraging and insightful presentation, Patricia L. Brooks will help you capture the essence of your untold story. She will share with you how to produce a memoir to your own satisfaction, face your fears, and conquer your story's emotional beats. With techniques and tips from her three daring memoirs, and her new release on writing memoir, she will help you to understand the journey to writing yours.

What to expect at a glance:

• How to outline, 'mind map', research, and plan a writing project
• Writing activities to illustrate class concepts
• Insight on what it takes to write a successful memoir

OLLI Members receive a 25% off discount on summer classes at the Piper Writers Studio. Click here for more information on summer classes and workshops. Simply select 'OLLI Member' when registering. 

In this generative workshop, participants will explore what it means to write from and about Arizona: the land, people, and myths, both large and small. Through guided prompts and discussions, writers will develop new work that draws on the aesthetics of Arizona literary regionalism, blending place, voice, and history rooted in the natural, political, and imagined borders that shape our state. While this is a fiction workshop, writers of all genres and experience are welcome.

What to expect at a glance:

• A deeper understanding of how place, landscape, and language shape literary regionalism
• A new appreciation for Arizona’s own literary identity and the writers defining it
• A new piece of writing (either a complete flash story or two (or three!) or the start of something larger) rooted in your own sense of Arizona

Click here to regsiter! 

Do you find yourself mired in cycles of doomscrolling, knee-jerk disengagement, and anxious reconnection with the world at large? Is it possible to make art when culture grabs our attention with so many worthwhile foci and superficial distractions? How can poets push back against the nonstop stream of information while embracing the contemporary rush of life? We will explore topics of inundation, boundaries, and abundance through brief reading selections, generative writing prompts, and shared discussion. In this course, participants will conduct warm-up freewriting to center themselves, discuss sample poems (including “Ocean Obelisk” by Edwin Torres and “10:30 AM, Sunday Aug 28, 2005” by Patricia Smith), and draft poetry in response to writing prompts that confront themes of saturation, surfeit and other synonyms for "overwhelm."

What to expect at a glance:

• Freewriting techniques for kick-starting writing sessions
• Inspiration for tackling the feeling of "overwhelm" in your writing
• Drafts of multiple poems

Click here to register! 

You Ought to Write a Book is aimed at the first-time author who has a story to tell but doesn’t know where to begin. Workshop participants will learn the difference between traditional publishing and self-publishing and the advantages of each. They’ll explore what’s behind their desire to write, refine their story idea, and learn about the importance of a story arc. They’ll become conversant in the basics of outlining their story and the importance of keeping a writing deadline. They’ll also learn writing tricks, like how to bust through “writer’s block,” as well as the importance of writers’ groups and early readers. Participants can expect to learn how to sell their book once it’s done: How to write a book proposal; how to shop for a literary agent or a traditional publisher, or whether to self-publish their book instead.

What to expect at a glance:

• A better understanding of the elements of a writing practice
• Basic techniques to start writing and keep writing
• Insight into the different types of publishing available to you today as an author

Click here to regsiter!