Since 1970, the OLLI at UK's Donovan Forum Series has offered educational and entertaining presentations on Thursdays every Fall and Spring. These forums are free and open to the public, although registration prior to each forum is required.
Fall 2025 Donovan Forums
Donovan Forums next semester will be held at the Lexington Senior Center. The limit is 80 attendees in-person. Please be sure to register in advance to reserve an in-person spot. You can also register to attend remotely via Zoom. Zoom links will be sent to the Zoom roster the Wednesday afternoon before the Forum each week. You can also contact the office if you are registered but did not receive/lost the link.
OLLI Membership not required to attend Donovan Forums, but you must have an account created on our registration website. You can refer to these guides on how to create an account and register for courses, Forums, and events: https://bit.ly/olliatuk-guides
Registration for Fall 2025 Forums is now open. Register using the button above.
September 11
Innovative Responses to Food Insecurity in Central and Eastern Kentucky
Michael Halligan, CEO
God's Pantry Food Bank
September 18
Blue Zones: Lessons for Life
Amy Kostelic, PhD Associate Professor; Nichole Huff, PhD, Assistant Professor; Emily DeWitt, MS, RDN, LD
University of Kentucky
September 25
Discussing Tom Hammond's Memoir "Races, Games and Olympic Dreams"
Mark Story, Sports Columnist
Lexington Herald-Leader
October 2*
KET’s History and Its Importance to Kentucky
Todd Piccirilli, Senior Director of Marketing
KET
October 9
Building Trust: The Work of a Museum Curator
Rachel Hooper, Ph.D. / Curator
University of Kentucky Art Museum
October 16
Revolutionary Girl Dreaming and Bethel
Judy Owens, Regent
NSDAR, Lexington Chapter
October 23
Healthy Brain Aging & Reducing Dementia Risk
Dr. Frederick Schmitt, Professor
Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, UK Neurology
October 30*
Transylvania: “First in the West”: Intellectual Expansion in the Bluegrass
Susan Brown, Library Director & Archivist, and Natalie Warren, Archivist
Transylvania University
November 6*
The Historic Lexington Opera House - The Jewel in the Crown of Lexington
Edd MacKey, National & Local Arts Manager
Lexington Opera House, Oak View Group
November 13
Coal and Mining in Kentucky - Past, Present & Future
Steve Gardner, Senior Consultant,
Pitman Green, LLC
November 20
Smiley Pete, The Magnificient Moocher
Margaret C. Price, Author & Attorney
November 27
Thanksgiving Day
No Forum Presentation
December 4
Holiday Concert
George Ely, President
Young at Heart Big Band
(In-Person Only)
Donovan Forum Recordings
We will record Donovan Forum Series presentations that have approval from the presenter. Recordings will be sent to all registrants the day after the presentation for the week.
For all dates marked with an asterisk *, please note that these Forums will not be recorded.
Please note: Some Forum presenters may provide print materials only available to in-person attendees (such as magazines, brochures, business cards, etc.) The OLLI office is not responsible for distribution of these materials to online attendees. If the Forum presenter has digital materials to share however, we will share these materials with registered in-person and online attendees over email following the presentation.
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