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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 will open in early August 2025.

 

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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