About Lifelong Learning Mississauga
Lifelong Learning Mississauga is a non-profit organization formed in 2012 to engage older adults in continuous learning. We offer informative and affordable lecture series and workshops on a wide range of themes and topics, including academic and general interest. Lectures are led by recognized leaders in their field of study in a relaxed social atmosphere during daytime hours.
Our lectures are ideal for older adults who love learning and want to keep their minds active – with no concerns about essays or exams.
Come out and meet your neighbours!
Lifelong Learning Mississauga gratefully acknowledges a founding grant from the federal government’s New Horizons Program as well as startup and ongoing support from the City of Mississauga and Learning Unlimited Etobicoke.
About LLM’s Lectures
Are you curious about broader issues beyond your formal education, past experience or working career? Lifelong Learning Mississauga offers educational and lively lectures on a wide variety of topics. The lectures challenge your mind and provide an opportunity to ask questions.
Starting in the fall of 2020 and during the coronavirus pandemic, LLM’s lecture series were all delivered virtually as Zoom webinars. Participants from Mississauga and farther afield were able to enjoy these stimulating lectures from the comfort of their homes, and audience numbers grew.
In the spring of 2024, LLM was finally able to offer an in-person lecture series with its social component again, back in the newly renovated Burnhamthorpe Community Centre. This series was very well received, with about 100 participants getting together for eight weeks to enjoy the lecture, one another’s company – and the coffee and cookies!
The virtual lecture series on Thursdays was also a great success with participants from Mississauga and beyond tuning in from the comfort of home.
Fall 2024 will again feature an in-person series in the Burnhamthorpe Community Centre and a virtual series via Zoom webinar.
The in-person series, The Inspiring Universe Experience, will be presented by Tom Vassos and Ian Tripp on Tuesdays from October 15 to December 3, 2024.
The virtual series, Getting Away from it All: The History of Tourism, will be presented by Kevin James on Thursdays from October 17 to December 5, 2024.
Board of Directors and Committees
Chair: Naz Husain
Vice Chair: Bob Murphy and Sandro Del Re
Past Chair: Sandy Leppan
Secretary: Donna Del Re
Treasurer: Henney Bryant
Chair, Governance Committee: Nora McAuliffe
Chair, Event Organizing Committee: Chris Hobson
Chair, Program Committee: Anne Murphy
Chair, Technology Committee: Sandro Del Re
Director: Colman Klein
Director: Joyce Dalrymple
Director: Barry Everatt
Brief History of Lifelong Learning Mississauga
2021
- January – for the first time, LLM offers two lecture series in the winter, which, because they are virtual, attract record numbers of participants
- Spring – two well-attended lecture series are presented using Zoom webinars
- Fall – two virtual lecture series run from October to December with large audiences
2020
- January – LLM is certified as a Not-for-Profit Corporation
- COVID-19 forces the cancellation of three spring lecture series
- Fall – LLM delivers two virtual lecture series to 250 participants
2019
- LLM expands to offer lecture series in two locations, East and West Mississauga, but continues to operate as a single organization
- Spring – both spring lecture series sell out within two days
- Fall – all three lecture series, two in the East and one in West Mississauga, sell out quickly
2018
- Plans begin for expansion to West Mississauga
- Peer-Led Learning runs two sessions, winter and summer
- All four lecture series sell out in a couple of days
2017
- A new LLM program, Peer-Led Learning, runs two sessions – 12 weeks in the winter and six weeks in the summer
- All four spring and fall lecture series sell out
- The fall lecture series move to St. John’s Dixie Anglican Church during renovations to the Burnhamthorpe Community Centre
2016
- The Board begins the process of formal affiliation with the City of Mississauga
- Two successful lecture series run in both spring and fall
- Both fall lecture series sell out with 200 participants each
2015
- A marketing plan is developed and the website is redesigned
- Two eight-week lecture series run in both spring and fall
- December – a lecture series sells out for the first time with 200 enthusiastic participants
2014
- Spring – both lecture series move to a larger venue to accommodate the increasing numbers of participants
- June – LLM holds its first AGM and approves the Constitution
- All four lecture series (spring and fall) break even
2013
- LLM receives a startup grant from the federal New Horizons for Seniors to cover essential audiovisual equipment and the cost of operations for the first year
- April – the first two eight-week lecture series are launched for small but appreciative audiences (33 and 51 participants respectively)
- October – two more lecture series are delivered to larger audiences and one “breaks even” with 110 participants
2012
- Spring – a handful of Mississauga residents and the Older Adult Coordinator, City of Mississauga, convene to create an organization (LLM) that will offer lecture series to older residents of Mississauga
- LLM joins the Third Age Network to contribute and receive ideas about delivering stimulating lectures
- LLM begins to craft a Constitution and develop an organizational structure