INSIDE OLLI -
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Editor’s Note: Kathy Bruin was appointed as Interim Director of the OLLI program in April 2019 and was appointed as Director in July 2019. Here is an interview with Kathy, where she discusses her background and the changes she has made in our program. The interview was conducted by Mike Lambert, a member of the OLLI community since 2015. He is a member of the OLLI Council which gives advice and assistance to the OLLI Director.
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Mike: I’m a senior citizen, Kathy, with quite a few miles on my chassis and many experiences in my mind, most of which I can remember. It seems just like yesterday that you joined our program. What’s it been like for you?
Kathy: April 10th was my one-year anniversary with OLLI. The first few months were crazy busy as I tried to get the hang of everything, and because it had been such a tumultuous time for OLLI with the fee increases and then Gwen leaving. From the beginning though, I have felt so much support from the membership. I really want this to be my last job—in other words, I want to be here for a long while.
You made a big impression on me during my first week, Mike. I had been going into each class to introduce myself and every class had a different tenor—in some cases people were all smiles. In other cases, I met a room with people with their arms crossed! I remember introducing myself to a large class—it was Nicholas Jones’ class last Spring—Shakespeare on Film, and I was using the microphone and I know my voice was quavering a bit. All of a sudden you stood up and came to the front of the room. You took the microphone from me, introduced yourself to me and to the class and said in essence “we’ve been through changes before and we’re going to get through this, and we are going to support Kathy.” It was really wonderful.
Kathy: April 10th was my one-year anniversary with OLLI. The first few months were crazy busy as I tried to get the hang of everything, and because it had been such a tumultuous time for OLLI with the fee increases and then Gwen leaving. From the beginning though, I have felt so much support from the membership. I really want this to be my last job—in other words, I want to be here for a long while.
You made a big impression on me during my first week, Mike. I had been going into each class to introduce myself and every class had a different tenor—in some cases people were all smiles. In other cases, I met a room with people with their arms crossed! I remember introducing myself to a large class—it was Nicholas Jones’ class last Spring—Shakespeare on Film, and I was using the microphone and I know my voice was quavering a bit. All of a sudden you stood up and came to the front of the room. You took the microphone from me, introduced yourself to me and to the class and said in essence “we’ve been through changes before and we’re going to get through this, and we are going to support Kathy.” It was really wonderful.
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Mike: Tell us a little about your background. Where did you grow up and where did you go to school?
Kathy: I grew up in Walnut Creek from first grade through high school with the exception of the 14 months my family lived in Iran. We were supposed to be there for two years but came home early because of the 1978-79 revolution. I was midway through my junior year and went right back to my same high school. For college, I went to Chico State, with one semester on exchange at the University of Delaware and got my degree in International Relations, focusing on Latin America, with minors in English and Women’s Studies.
Mike: What kind of work have you done prior to your jobs at SF State?
Kathy: I’ve done a lot of interesting things, both for pay and not. My first big job out of college was at a San Francisco-based magazine publishing company called Miller Freeman, where I worked for 12 years in their production department. Specifically, I was in the advertising traffic department, which meant I was interacting with all the stakeholders to produce technical magazines—advertisers, publishers, editors, printers, the Accounting Department. I supervised a group of ad traffic coordinators and really enjoyed it. Ultimately, the company was merged and our “service departments” were folded into the other company’s and we were all laid off (but with excellent severance!).
This year is the 25th anniversary of a non-profit organization I founded called About-Face that educates about the way the media influences female body image. During my tenure as Executive Director, I had some wonderful opportunities and adventures. I was invited to speak at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, a museum built at the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. I also led culture jamming workshops at Syracuse University and New York University. One of the craziest things I experienced was being “punked” on a spoof debate show called Crossballs on Comedy Central.
I completely stepped away from About-Face in 2004, but it continues to this day and I am very proud of how it has grown from something that began as a personal rebellion on my part into a significant organization.
Mike: So, you’ve been around the block a few times. Is there any other work you have done that helps you with this OLLI Director stuff?
Kathy: Since you ask, yes. Particularly with fundraising and internal communications. While my son, Miles, was little, I worked part-time for many years as Conference Manager for a small media company with people I had worked with at Miller Freeman. When Miles started elementary school, I was very involved with the PTA at a high poverty neighborhood elementary school that Miles attended, and for three years I was the fundraising chairperson which was very gratifying.
Most of my jobs have had to do with organizing things and connecting people—conferences, and operations, but I have a creative side too. Before I came to SF State, I was producing quarterly online publications for the Port of San Francisco and for HOPE SF, a project of the San Francisco Foundation. Those jobs allowed me to interview, write, choose photos and graphics, and interface with the graphic designer to produce the final product. For years, I produced greeting cards and a game called Fox Box which is listed on Etsy.com which, at this point, just sits there!
Kathy: I grew up in Walnut Creek from first grade through high school with the exception of the 14 months my family lived in Iran. We were supposed to be there for two years but came home early because of the 1978-79 revolution. I was midway through my junior year and went right back to my same high school. For college, I went to Chico State, with one semester on exchange at the University of Delaware and got my degree in International Relations, focusing on Latin America, with minors in English and Women’s Studies.
Mike: What kind of work have you done prior to your jobs at SF State?
Kathy: I’ve done a lot of interesting things, both for pay and not. My first big job out of college was at a San Francisco-based magazine publishing company called Miller Freeman, where I worked for 12 years in their production department. Specifically, I was in the advertising traffic department, which meant I was interacting with all the stakeholders to produce technical magazines—advertisers, publishers, editors, printers, the Accounting Department. I supervised a group of ad traffic coordinators and really enjoyed it. Ultimately, the company was merged and our “service departments” were folded into the other company’s and we were all laid off (but with excellent severance!).
This year is the 25th anniversary of a non-profit organization I founded called About-Face that educates about the way the media influences female body image. During my tenure as Executive Director, I had some wonderful opportunities and adventures. I was invited to speak at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, a museum built at the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. I also led culture jamming workshops at Syracuse University and New York University. One of the craziest things I experienced was being “punked” on a spoof debate show called Crossballs on Comedy Central.
I completely stepped away from About-Face in 2004, but it continues to this day and I am very proud of how it has grown from something that began as a personal rebellion on my part into a significant organization.
Mike: So, you’ve been around the block a few times. Is there any other work you have done that helps you with this OLLI Director stuff?
Kathy: Since you ask, yes. Particularly with fundraising and internal communications. While my son, Miles, was little, I worked part-time for many years as Conference Manager for a small media company with people I had worked with at Miller Freeman. When Miles started elementary school, I was very involved with the PTA at a high poverty neighborhood elementary school that Miles attended, and for three years I was the fundraising chairperson which was very gratifying.
Most of my jobs have had to do with organizing things and connecting people—conferences, and operations, but I have a creative side too. Before I came to SF State, I was producing quarterly online publications for the Port of San Francisco and for HOPE SF, a project of the San Francisco Foundation. Those jobs allowed me to interview, write, choose photos and graphics, and interface with the graphic designer to produce the final product. For years, I produced greeting cards and a game called Fox Box which is listed on Etsy.com which, at this point, just sits there!
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Mike: You may have noticed that OLLI members are senior citizens. Have you ever worked with a group like us before?
Kathy: I have not worked with an older demographic like this before but I am so inspired by the people. OLLI members are such excellent role models for me personally for how to stay engaged and connected as I get older, especially the members in their mid to late 80s. It’s incredible.
I’ll tell you something funny. I am 58 years old and over the last decade, in each place I’ve worked, I have been the oldest or among the oldest. But in this position with OLLI, I feel like a young chickie! It’s an unexpected and wonderful thing!
Mike: I noticed that the weekly e-newsletter you publish each Friday has changed in format and content—for the better. How did that happen?
Kathy: One of the first things I heard when I started at OLLI was that the Friday member email was very important. I think it used to be sent directly from the registration system which is limited in what you can do. At the Center for Iranian Diaspora at SFSU, I was producing the monthly newsletter on Mailchimp so it was an easy transition to use it for OLLI. I learned pretty quickly that the newsletter is a great tool to keep people informed, to promote classes and outings, and to foster community. I started putting in photos and incorporating links as I know a missive is always more compelling with pictures. Our new logo that was produced by the University Communications Team in coordination with our OLLI Marketing Committee has been a wonderful addition. The Friday e-newsletter looks much more official, I think. The newsletter takes a lot of time to produce each week but I think it is quite valuable. And I am getting some good feedback from our members on its new look.
Mike: What are some of the other changes that you were able to make to our program in your first year?
Kathy: I spent the first couple months mostly listening, assessing the status of things and keeping things going as best as I could. Something I learned very early was that we had a dearth of classes ready to schedule. When I went to schedule the Summer Session last year, there were only 10 classes ready to go, and our two scheduled art classes ended up being canceled when the instructor had to bow out, and we wound up with only eight classes. A priority for me has been to get as many classes in the pipeline as possible. The Course Development Committee, headed by Jane Hudson, has been instrumental to this effort. The Curriculum Committee has also been great at assessing proposals that come between our monthly committee meetings and being patient with the sometimes-last-minute requests I make to schedule classes.
An important change we were able to make last year was to increase the compensation for our instructors from $75/class hour to $100/class hour. At that level, we are still paying less to our instructors than most of the other OLLIs in the area and the Fromm Institute. Our Dean in the College of Cultural and Liberal Arts gave us a little push back, but in the end he agreed. I think it’s been a very positive factor in more effectively compensating our longtime instructors and attracting new ones.
Hiring an OLLI office assistant was also a very high priority for me, and I had one in place by Day 1 of the Summer Session last June. Our main contact at the Osher Foundation told me that our OLLI has always been understaffed for an institute of our size. As we grow, I hope to increase staffing even more.
Our OLLI at SF State program has been in financial deficit since we received our endowment from the Osher Foundation in 2007. One of my main goals is to get us into the black. After the tremendous success of our fundraising effort last fall, led by Rosemary Cameron, and with growing enrollment in our program, we were on track to end this fiscal year in the black for the first time. Maybe even to be ahead by $15,000-$20,000. Sadly, everything has changed with the coronavirus pandemic and the mandate to shelter in place. Hopefully, our new online course offerings will help stem the financial loss for this fiscal year which ends on June 30.
Mike: You may have noticed that OLLI members are senior citizens. Have you ever worked with a group like us before?
Kathy: I have not worked with an older demographic like this before but I am so inspired by the people. OLLI members are such excellent role models for me personally for how to stay engaged and connected as I get older, especially the members in their mid to late 80s. It’s incredible.
I’ll tell you something funny. I am 58 years old and over the last decade, in each place I’ve worked, I have been the oldest or among the oldest. But in this position with OLLI, I feel like a young chickie! It’s an unexpected and wonderful thing!
Mike: I noticed that the weekly e-newsletter you publish each Friday has changed in format and content—for the better. How did that happen?
Kathy: One of the first things I heard when I started at OLLI was that the Friday member email was very important. I think it used to be sent directly from the registration system which is limited in what you can do. At the Center for Iranian Diaspora at SFSU, I was producing the monthly newsletter on Mailchimp so it was an easy transition to use it for OLLI. I learned pretty quickly that the newsletter is a great tool to keep people informed, to promote classes and outings, and to foster community. I started putting in photos and incorporating links as I know a missive is always more compelling with pictures. Our new logo that was produced by the University Communications Team in coordination with our OLLI Marketing Committee has been a wonderful addition. The Friday e-newsletter looks much more official, I think. The newsletter takes a lot of time to produce each week but I think it is quite valuable. And I am getting some good feedback from our members on its new look.
Mike: What are some of the other changes that you were able to make to our program in your first year?
Kathy: I spent the first couple months mostly listening, assessing the status of things and keeping things going as best as I could. Something I learned very early was that we had a dearth of classes ready to schedule. When I went to schedule the Summer Session last year, there were only 10 classes ready to go, and our two scheduled art classes ended up being canceled when the instructor had to bow out, and we wound up with only eight classes. A priority for me has been to get as many classes in the pipeline as possible. The Course Development Committee, headed by Jane Hudson, has been instrumental to this effort. The Curriculum Committee has also been great at assessing proposals that come between our monthly committee meetings and being patient with the sometimes-last-minute requests I make to schedule classes.
An important change we were able to make last year was to increase the compensation for our instructors from $75/class hour to $100/class hour. At that level, we are still paying less to our instructors than most of the other OLLIs in the area and the Fromm Institute. Our Dean in the College of Cultural and Liberal Arts gave us a little push back, but in the end he agreed. I think it’s been a very positive factor in more effectively compensating our longtime instructors and attracting new ones.
Hiring an OLLI office assistant was also a very high priority for me, and I had one in place by Day 1 of the Summer Session last June. Our main contact at the Osher Foundation told me that our OLLI has always been understaffed for an institute of our size. As we grow, I hope to increase staffing even more.
Our OLLI at SF State program has been in financial deficit since we received our endowment from the Osher Foundation in 2007. One of my main goals is to get us into the black. After the tremendous success of our fundraising effort last fall, led by Rosemary Cameron, and with growing enrollment in our program, we were on track to end this fiscal year in the black for the first time. Maybe even to be ahead by $15,000-$20,000. Sadly, everything has changed with the coronavirus pandemic and the mandate to shelter in place. Hopefully, our new online course offerings will help stem the financial loss for this fiscal year which ends on June 30.
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Mike: I worked in education for a few years—as a Lecturer in the College of Business at San Francisco State from 1989 to 2006. I have been very impressed with the variety of courses that we offer in our OLLI program. How does that happen?
Kathy: We have been actively looking for new classes and instructors. Initially, the Course Development Committee started with one person, Jane Hudson, but we put the call out for more help and gained Graziella Danieli, Susan Karp, and Paul Signorelli. They have been working for several months identifying possible classes, topics, and instructors, hunting down email addresses, and reaching out. Recently, two new people have joined the Committee, Dina Martin and Susan Weisberg, so we’ll be in really great shape to identify more classes and instructors as soon as we get back to normal!
Additionally, the Curriculum Committee, led by David Perper, has been identifying possible classes we can pursue. Overall, we’ve been more active in trying to fill the pipeline with courses so we aren’t short of options when I schedule a new session.
In October last year, we added a new format for talks called OLLI in Dialogue which are now included in each mini-course session. I think this format has great potential. We are bringing in well-known Bay Area people like Doug McConnell, Tom Ammiano, Leah Garchik, and Jan Wahl. By the way, if any of our OLLI members has a connection with anyone who would be a good candidate for this Dialog format, let me know!
Mike: What are some of the problems you are facing as you look ahead to your second year here?
Kathy: Oh man! Everything is up in the air right now with the virus thing and Shelter in Place. I am aware of the many ways the crisis we are living through will negatively affect OLLI. Not just that our members are at high risk for the virus, which is terrifying, but also the hit to the economy and the decrease in the stock market which may affect what people can spend at OLLI.
My focus right now is to make sure we are offering ways to keep members engaged and connected, with the use of new online short courses, and to keep us from losing too much money or too many members.
Kathy: We have been actively looking for new classes and instructors. Initially, the Course Development Committee started with one person, Jane Hudson, but we put the call out for more help and gained Graziella Danieli, Susan Karp, and Paul Signorelli. They have been working for several months identifying possible classes, topics, and instructors, hunting down email addresses, and reaching out. Recently, two new people have joined the Committee, Dina Martin and Susan Weisberg, so we’ll be in really great shape to identify more classes and instructors as soon as we get back to normal!
Additionally, the Curriculum Committee, led by David Perper, has been identifying possible classes we can pursue. Overall, we’ve been more active in trying to fill the pipeline with courses so we aren’t short of options when I schedule a new session.
In October last year, we added a new format for talks called OLLI in Dialogue which are now included in each mini-course session. I think this format has great potential. We are bringing in well-known Bay Area people like Doug McConnell, Tom Ammiano, Leah Garchik, and Jan Wahl. By the way, if any of our OLLI members has a connection with anyone who would be a good candidate for this Dialog format, let me know!
Mike: What are some of the problems you are facing as you look ahead to your second year here?
Kathy: Oh man! Everything is up in the air right now with the virus thing and Shelter in Place. I am aware of the many ways the crisis we are living through will negatively affect OLLI. Not just that our members are at high risk for the virus, which is terrifying, but also the hit to the economy and the decrease in the stock market which may affect what people can spend at OLLI.
My focus right now is to make sure we are offering ways to keep members engaged and connected, with the use of new online short courses, and to keep us from losing too much money or too many members.
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Mike: Do you have anyone at home to help you cope with these stressful times?
Kathy: Not really. I have my son half the week but he’s very much a teenager, so it’s not like he’s making us dinner or watching movies with me. I’m feeling a lot of responsibility for both work and home, trying to do things that are fortifying for myself. Not always successfully. My mom, Paula, lives locally too so I meet her on the sidewalk outside her condo to pass her supplies and so we can see each other in person for a few minutes. Last year in my early weeks on the job, she put in about 18 hours at OLLI helping sort through the mountain of paper that I inherited. She was incredibly helpful recycling things that dated back years. I bought her an OLLI membership for Mother’s Day last year and she’s been enjoying her classes. |
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Mike: I noticed that you do some creative writing. You sent in 2 nonfiction pieces to our online Vistas & Byways Literary Review which were published in the Fall 2019 issue and in this Spring 2020 issue. What kind of writing interests you the most?
Kathy: I like writing memoir and personal essays because I have a million stories! I also have a performative side so sharing stories has been something I’ve enjoyed doing since I was a girl.
Mike: Is there anything else you would like to tell our OLLI members?
Kathy: I want to thank all the people who supported my efforts at OLLI over the last year. Lena Chiu is our new assistant and she’s been great. Caitlin Neilson and Kari Gray, who also assisted me over the year, helped put systems in place to more efficiently run OLLI. Rufus Browning, who was the OLLI Council Chair until January, remains a touchstone for me. All of the Council members, you, Rufus, our new Chair and Vice Chair, Doris Bloch and Kaaren Strauch Brown, Bob Calhoun, Barbara Barer, Charlie Moser, Carol Langbort and the committee chairs, Judy Dauphinais on Marketing, Ginny Jaquith on Membership, David Perper on the Curriculum Committee, have been pitching in. Rosemary Cameron was instrumental in guiding our fundraising efforts.
I also appreciate our many instructors and their good work and commitment to us. Then, there are the people that run the interest groups, and all of our classroom hosts. Special thanks to some other members who have supported me a lot: Fred Goldman, Larry Stites, Deborah Sohr, Elaine Porter, Judy Reynolds, Elsa Fernandez. And lots of gratitude for the OLLI members themselves. I have felt so much support and encouragement it’s been extraordinary. How wonderful is it to go to work and multiple times a week have people tell you, “You are doing a good job!”? We really are a Community!
I hope everyone stays well. I look forward to seeing you all soon in the halls and classrooms at 835 Market Street.
Kathy: I like writing memoir and personal essays because I have a million stories! I also have a performative side so sharing stories has been something I’ve enjoyed doing since I was a girl.
Mike: Is there anything else you would like to tell our OLLI members?
Kathy: I want to thank all the people who supported my efforts at OLLI over the last year. Lena Chiu is our new assistant and she’s been great. Caitlin Neilson and Kari Gray, who also assisted me over the year, helped put systems in place to more efficiently run OLLI. Rufus Browning, who was the OLLI Council Chair until January, remains a touchstone for me. All of the Council members, you, Rufus, our new Chair and Vice Chair, Doris Bloch and Kaaren Strauch Brown, Bob Calhoun, Barbara Barer, Charlie Moser, Carol Langbort and the committee chairs, Judy Dauphinais on Marketing, Ginny Jaquith on Membership, David Perper on the Curriculum Committee, have been pitching in. Rosemary Cameron was instrumental in guiding our fundraising efforts.
I also appreciate our many instructors and their good work and commitment to us. Then, there are the people that run the interest groups, and all of our classroom hosts. Special thanks to some other members who have supported me a lot: Fred Goldman, Larry Stites, Deborah Sohr, Elaine Porter, Judy Reynolds, Elsa Fernandez. And lots of gratitude for the OLLI members themselves. I have felt so much support and encouragement it’s been extraordinary. How wonderful is it to go to work and multiple times a week have people tell you, “You are doing a good job!”? We really are a Community!
I hope everyone stays well. I look forward to seeing you all soon in the halls and classrooms at 835 Market Street.
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