One Day University Offers Adults College in a Day

Discounted for Tufts' Alums!

April 28, 2018

Pingree School, 537 Highland Street, South Hamilton, MA, South Hamilton, MA

Remember those special Tufts professors whose lectures kept you wide awake and wanting to hear more? The ones you wished could be cloned? Steven Schragis, a Tufts alum, came up with a solution almost as good. He founded One Day University for adults in 2006. By canvassing campuses and talking to students, he finds the most popular educator then works closely with them to develop engaging talks that inform and inspire their adult students-for-a-day.

Schagris, who grew up in Westchester, New York, hatched the idea when he took his daughter to college ten years ago in upstate NY. “The school had arranged for about  a dozen professors to give short interesting lectures about what they teach,” he recalls. “The parents (like my wife and I) LOVED IT - and I thought, I wish I was the one going to college. I miss it! I wish I didn't have to drive home and go back to an office.” And One Day University was born.

ODU now hosts 80-100 live events across the country each year. “ODU puts an emphasis on the concept that learning for the sake of learning is always a good thing - throughout your entire life,” he says. At the same time that ODU is interesting, it is also fun. “That is the dual purpose. People attend for the same reasons they go to a Broadway show or visit a museum.” And instead of watching a webinar or DVD, “the electricity and excitement of seeing professors live - with a room full of other people - is entirely different,” says Schagris. “It is ten times more fun! Anyone who has been to live theater, a live symphony, a live opera, or a live concert knows what I mean!”

Most events are on college campuses. Thanks to our classmate, Judy Klein J'69, Pingree School in South Hamilton, Massachusetts (about 25 miles north of Boston), will host a One Day University on Saturday, April 28, 2018. Schragis is enthusiastic about the partnership between ODU and Pingree. "In the ten years since One Day University started, we've grown to present events in 61 different cities with partners ranging from newspapers and magazines to temples, churches, and even Symphony Orchestras,” he said. “But Pingree is our first secondary school partner, and we couldn't be more excited. It seems like a perfect fit!”

The program at Pingree will include Catherine Sanderson, chair of the Psychology Department at Amherst College, who will discuss Positive Psychology and the Science of Happiness; Edward T. O’Donnell, professor of history at Holy Cross College, who will present Three Turning Points that Changed American History; and Dr. Thomas Burke, professor at Harvard Medical School, who will discuss Medical Innovations: Can America Save the World? “Psychology and History are our two most popular subjects,” says Schagris, “ and the two professors teaching these subjects are two of our best - absolute superstars - I promise! The medical professor is new...and we've heard great things about him!”

Janet B.W. Williams J'69, attended a recent ODU event. “I’ve been to a lot of classes in my many years of schooling and teaching,” she says, “and I didn’t know what to expect at ODU. I was more than pleasantly surprised to spend a day in the company of so many bright and interesting people engaged in learning from such fascinating professors. I’m eager for the next ODU to return to my area.”

All adults are invited to attend the April 28 event. Tufts alums can receive a reduced rate of $99 (others pay $149) by using the code Pingree when they register at onedayu.com/events/detail/637 or call 800-300-3438.