'Tis that time of year! Join us for our annual OLLIday Party & Open House on Tuesday, December 8, 1:30–3 PM, at OLLI HQ (1995 University Ave., Suite 365, Berkeley.) Enjoy good cheer and great company as you meet and mingle with members, faculty and the OLLI team. Please bring a nosh (sweet or savory) or beverage to share, if possible. All are welcome!
Many (but not all!) of our fall courses will have wrapped up by the first week of November, but the fun of gathering together continues! Join us for a Happy Hour mixer organized by OLLI's Member Engagement Committee on Wednesday, November 4, 3:30–5:30 PM, at Zino (2086 Allston Way, Berkeley) in the Hotel Shattuck. Just a couple of blocks from The Freight. Come solo or bring a friend. New members and longtime members who've never attended a Happy Hour are encouraged to attend. The welcome will be warm! This is a no-host, but yes-fun gathering. No need to RSVP. Hope to see you there!
On the course roster? Diving into the movies, China in the world, Toni Morrison, country music road trip, finding the LGBTQ+ past in present places, and more. Learn about all the benefits of an OLLI @Berkeley membership — access to dozens of courses, speaker events, field trips, town halls, workshops on healthy aging, socials and more — as well as our special offer for new members and our fee assistance program.
Art, Architecture, and Design: Four Great Courses, Four Great Cities (Barcelona, Berlin, Lisbon and Paris) (Best of OLLI)
Monday, October 12, 2026
Sunday, March 28, 2027
This special Best of OLLI offering brings together four courses by architectural historian and longtime OLLI faculty member Pierluigi Serraino, this year’s recipient of the OLLI @Berkeley Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award.
Travel with Pierluigi through Barcelona, Berlin, Lisbon, and Paris, exploring how political events, cultural traditions, commerce, natural disasters, and the changing currents of European history shaped each city’s architecture, art and urban landscape. Taken together, these four courses offer a fascinating new way to see some of Europe’s great cities — and the connections between them.
Faculty Bio
Pierluigi Serraino Ph.D., FAIA is a practicing architect and educator. He is the author of numerous books on architecture, including Taschen's Modernism Rediscovered and, most recently, The Modern Garden: The Outdoor Architecture of Mid-century America.
This is a Best of OLLI Special Compilation
Best of OLLI courses are popular courses recorded a previous term
Videos are available to watch the moment you sign up through March 28
This special compilation of four courses — 20 individual classes — is available for $150 to Annual Plus, Premium Plus, Best of OLLI and Fee Assistance members. Learn about membership.
Pierluigi is a wonderful instructor—I always learn something new from him, as well as something to think about. He always opens my eyes.
Course materials, organization, Pierluigi's deep knowledge of the specific area and ability to fit it into larger context of regional traditions and international design trends, and receptivity to participant questions & observations ... all great! Highly recommend!
What Is Economic Justice? The American Edition (Best of OLLI)
Monday, October 12, 2026
Sunday, March 28, 2027
America may have its own economic woes, but how does the United States compare to other countries in terms of achieving economic justice? Could the Nordic model, with its high taxes in exchange for generous public services, work in America? Or should we seriously be reconsidering democratic socialism as a solution? This course will focus on pathways to economic justice paved in other countries to ask if they really are the success stories some have claimed and if so, whether they would be feasible as solutions in the United States.
Faculty Bio
Darren Zook teaches in political science and global studies at UC Berkeley. His areas of interest include comparative politics, human rights and international law. He has received numerous teaching awards for his creativity in the classroom, and was recently named one of the “Top Ten Most Inspiring Professors at UC Berkeley” by College Magazine. He lectures all around the world, and has published six books.
This is a Best of OLLI Course
Best of OLLI courses are popular courses recorded a previous term
Videos are available to watch the moment you sign up through March 28
Available for $75 to Annual Plus, Premium Plus, Best of OLLI and Fee Assistance members. Learn about membership.
Dr. Zook is one of the best teachers I've ever had and I'm 80!
Darren Zook is an amazing teacher. He's a well-organized, extremely knowledgeable, and always engaging.
I have taken several classes with Darren Zook and will take several more. His scope and depth of knowledge is extraordinary. And he is able to communicate it effectively and effortlessly.
The best way to understand the pace of progress in artificial intelligence is to look at how far we’ve come in the past 12-18 months. In this continuing series we will look at the latest developments in AI models, tools and research to understand the shape and pace of AI progress. We'll combine hands-on demonstration and DIY experiments with a peek at the latest academic research to help you build an experiential grounding in humanity’s most consequential invention.
This course is appropriate for both newcomers to the world AI and those who've already tried their hand at it, including those who've taken Robert's classes before. To bring everyone up to speed — and to faciliate a rapid, hands-on start to the class — an "AI Primer" video with Robert Todd is posted in Member Dashboards. It provides a general overview of AI, serving as a good introduction and/or helpful refresher.
Faculty Bio
Robert Todd is an innovator and tech executive who now writes, teaches about, and builds products and companies using technology that learns.
This is a Best of OLLI Course
Best of OLLI courses are popular courses recorded a previous term
Videos are available to watch the moment you sign up through March 28
Available for $75 to Annual Plus, Premium Plus, Best of OLLI and Fee Assistance members. Learn about membership.
Robert Todd is engaging, knowledgeable and humorous (the last being important to me, maybe not to other people). I learned a lot and am using AI every day.
The class's far ranging history and knowledge of technology, knowledge transfer, and AI was terrific. Fun to see a professor so excited about their topic.
Lenny: Portrait of an American Maestro (Best of OLLI)
Monday, October 12, 2026
Sunday, March 28, 2027
Larger than life, Leonard Bernstein was the most brilliant and beloved American musician of the 20th century. Composer, conductor, pianist, teacher, writer, socialite, tennis player, concert innovator, and prodigiously talented crossword puzzler, Bernstein was an international superstar who lived a full and very public life. His multi-faceted career is the stuff of legend, from On the Town and West Side Story through three symphonies, Chichester Psalms, and Serenade. In this course we will explore his life and music with recordings, videos, and stories. Featured will be a very special appearance by Jamie Bernstein, who will share stories and insights about her father and his music.
Faculty Bio
Conductor and violist Ben Simon has performed for audiences around the world with major orchestras and chamber ensembles. From 2002 to 2023, he served as Music Director of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and is a popular lecturer on musical topics.
This is a Best of OLLI Course
Best of OLLI courses are popular courses recorded a previous term
Videos are available to watch the moment you sign up through March 28
Available for $75 to Annual Plus, Premium Plus, Best of OLLI and Fee Assistance members. Learn about membership.
The instructor's very deep, well researched knowledge of the subject (Bernstein) was impressive. His presentation of the course was well organized and insightful.
This course was amazing! The instructor’s enthusiasm was infectious. I learned so much.
The modern genre of crime fiction enjoys enormous popularity internationally, with readers thrilling to whodunits, hard-boiled detective stories, thrillers, police procedurals, and more. Though these works range from the dryly analytical to brutally violent, they tend to be formulaic: the reader knows what to expect in terms of form, and the aim is usually the solution of a crime. But there are many works of literature that are concerned with crime of various kinds that do not follow a generic formula. These, like crime fiction works, can offer glimpses into various societies, the human psyche, relationships, and more. They also present a broader range of literary strategies than generic crime fiction does.
In this course we will read works by acclaimed authors from three countries: Sweden, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Ireland. Each week we will read either a short novel or a few short stories, looking at the authors, the historical and societal context of the works, the nature of the crime(s) committed, the genre of the work and how it lends itself to the representation of crime, and more.
Faculty Bio
Linda Haverty Rugg is a professor in Berkeley’s Scandinavian Department. She has taught OLLI courses on Ingmar Bergman, crime fiction, saga literature, eco criticism, and Mark Twain. She is also a recipient of OLLI’s “Distinguished Teaching Award.” She received her undergraduate degree with departmental honors in English and German from Barnard College, and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Comparative Literature from Harvard University.
This is a Best of OLLI Course
Best of OLLI courses are popular courses recorded a previous term
Videos are available to watch the moment you sign up through March 28
Available for $75 to Annual Plus, Premium Plus, Best of OLLI and Fee Assistance members. Learn about membership.
War, Race, and the Constitution: Lessons from the WWII Japanese American Incarceration (Best of OLLI)
Monday, October 12, 2026
Sunday, March 28, 2027
The World War II incarceration of nearly 127,000 persons of Japanese ancestry is a case study in the constitutional breakdown of the separation of powers when national security is asserted over civil liberties. We’ll examine: the Asian immigrant experience that set the stage for President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s issuance of Executive Order 9066; the question of loyalty; the government’s false justifications of the incarceration to the Supreme Court and to the American public; and how this history is being repeated today.
Faculty Bio
Susan Kamei is the author of When Can We Go Back to America? Voices of Japanese American Incarceration during World War II. She is an educator and news commentator on the continuing relevance of this tragic history to contemporary issues today.
This is a Best of OLLI Course
Best of OLLI courses are popular courses recorded a previous term
Videos are available to watch the moment you sign up through March 28
Available for $75 to Annual Plus, Premium Plus, Best of OLLI and Fee Assistance members. Learn about membership.
Susan was an absolutely spectacular teacher. She was an excellent lecturer, her slides were fantastic, and she answered a ton of questions with great knowledge. I felt lucky to be able to take her class.
Professor Kamei was amazing! I cannot recommend her highly enough. She is so knowledgeable, so personable, and knows so many personal stories about Japanese incarcerees and their families. Although I already knew the basic facts about the incarceration, I learned so much about the human dimension. Just wonderful.
This was an amazing course! Susan was fantastic! So knowledgeable, an excellent teacher, and her passion for the topic and her family history really added to her lectures. I feel so much smarter after this class. I also really appreciated the recommended materials many of which I read/listened to and that also enhanced my class experience.
