Assembly LIX: The Tercentennial of Yale University
Thursday, October 4  through Friday, October 5, 2001
Executive Summary
Reception and Dinner at the Omni New Haven Hotel

On Thursday evening, delegates and guests gathered in the Grand Ballroom of the Omni-New Haven Hotel for a reception and dinner. Herbert Allison, Jr. '65, CEO of the Alliance for Lifelong Learning delivered the keynote speech in which he introduced the Alliance for Lifelong Learning, a program that will provide alumni with ongoing access to the best professors and fellow learners whenever and wherever they want to participate. Yale has been a leader in founding the Alliance, which is a joint venture of Oxford, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale. Besides courses, the Alliance will offer a variety of other educational resources. For example, faculty of the four universities are working to assemble the most comprehensive compilation of free, online, authenticated information within all major academic disciplines.

Although the Alliance will not be granting academic credits or degrees, the courses will be of the highest quality, offering intellectual enrichment, developed and delivered by the finest professors and teachers from the four universities. Only alumni, their families, and friends of the universities will be eligible for the initial offerings. Later, if tests are successful, AP courses for alumni children of high school age will be offered. Eventually, students at other four-year and junior colleges in the U.S. and adult learners around the world will be able to take Alliance courses.

The universities hope to strengthen lifelong relationships with alumni, enable alumni to update their education, and explore potential new technologies for teaching on campus. As a not-for-profit organization and with generous funding from the universities, the Alliance will be free from pressures from financial investors so it can focus on its primary mission of education. There are risks involved in such a venture, but distance learning is growing exponentially, with almost every university offering e-learning in some form. Yale needs to be at the forefront.

There are many reasons for participating in lifelong learning: to keep up with the world, our friends, and our children, to pursue our personal interests, and to prepare ourselves for new opportunities. The alliance enables you to join a community of 500,000 alumni of four great universities. Within that talented, diverse, and accomplished group, you are bound to find and connect with people who share your interests and build a richer intellectual life than you could before.

The Alliance is currently online with initial courses beginning mid-October to early November. Visit the site at: http://www.allianceforlifelonglearning.org/

Executive Summary Contents
I. Home
II. Opening Plenary
III. Class Breakout
IV. Club Breakout
V. G/P Breakout
VI. SIG Breakout
VII. Ed. Breakout
VIII. Reception