Lifelong Learning

Read more at Rutgers Today.

At Rutgers, we truly believe in lifelong learning, which is why we offer programs and courses for individuals throughout their lifespan. After reaching 50, you may want to explore interests and topics you didn’t have the opportunity for earlier in your life. We invite you to participate in our programs and expand your interests, make new connections, and perhaps even find a second career!

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Rutgers University (OLLI-RU) is for individual sover 50 who are looking for an opportunity to expand their horizons, learn in an engaging environment, and meet new friends. OLLI-RU offers noncredit education that is stimulating, friendly, and informal - there are no tests and no grades! You will be part of a learning community that is full of diversity, insight, wisdom, intellectual and cultural stimulation, and friendship.

By Padraig Ryan

John Bruno chuckles looking back at the dismal outcome of his first computer course more than 40 years ago.

“It was the only course I ever failed,” Bruno said. “I remember my professor telling me never to go near a computer in my career.”

Luckily, Bruno, 63, didn’t listen. In fact, he aced his subsequent computer tech classes. That opened a 40-year career in information technology, where he helped revolutionize data management on Wall Street. He even taught coding courses at night.

After retiring, Bruno took on a new challenge, to create a regulatory and compliance application and build it himself. Feeling a bit rusty in his coding skills, he enrolled in the Rutgers Coding Bootcamp, a six-month intensive program offered by the Division of Continuing Studies.

At Rutgers, math teachers are looking at problem solving from entirely new angles, and having exponentially more fun in the process. Rutgers Math Teachers' Circle formed as a collaboration between the Rutgers Center for Mathematics, Science, and Computer Education and the Rutgers Math Department. Learn more about Math Teachers' Circle and other educator workshops at cmsce.rutgers.edu.

By Padraig Ryan

Cristal King—who left her job as a programmer and analyst more than a decade ago to take care of her young family—knew she needed to sharpen her skills and learn new computer language in order to get back into the rapidly changing technology job market.

“Before I left, web development wasn’t nearly as advanced and robust as it is now,” said Cristal. “I know how quickly technology changes and I knew that I needed to have the skill-set that goes along with it.”

According to the Harvard Business Review, 90 percent of women who leave their jobs to take care of their family, like Cristal, said they want to reboot their careers and get back into the workforce.

Cristal wasn’t sure exactly where to go to get the training she needed to make this happen. When she first decided that she wanted a job in technology, after working as a sales representative for U.S. Healthcare, she enrolled and graduated from The Chubb Institute. At the time, web development was still in its infancy.

By Padraig Ryan

They may vary in age and have different personal and professional backgrounds but a team of women who recently completed an intensive six-month computer coding program at Rutgers believes that women need to stick together to move forward in the high-tech industry. 

“Women represent more than half of our population,” said Nancy Lukas, a former teacher who graduated from Rutgers Coding Bootcamp after working for more than 20 years as a teacher. “We use technology as much as men and it is crucial for women to be part of the design and implementation of this technology.”

That’s why Nancy and four other women who met at Rutgers Coding Bootcamp decided to create a social networking application called The Loop that they say will offer help and support women in the high-tech industry who want to break into what has traditionally been a male-dominated field.

By Padraig Ryan

At 61, after a decade away from computer programming, Tom Keel thought his computer coding days were well behind him.

That was until Tom decided to jump back in and follow his son, Seth, to Bootcamp. After reading about the exciting new coding opportunities of the bootcamp-style class his son would be taking, Tom felt a renewed sense of interest in the field and decided to join him. It’s not often that two generations get to experience the same educational opportunity, and it proved to be an exciting challenge for the father and son duo. 

Now both father and son are newly minted graduates of the Rutgers Coding Bootcamp after working side-by-side for 24 highly intensive weeks to develop skills as “full stack” software coders.

The Keels' story is unusual. They are the only father and son duo out of 375 bootcampers who have gone through the program since it began last fall. 

Rutgers Division of Continuing Studies was featured in an advertising section in NJBIZ magazine, a premier publication for businesses and government organizations in New Jersey, in the September 20, 2016 issue.

The section:

-- Includes a welcome from Dr. Richard Novak, Vice President for Continuing Studies and Distance Education.

-- Gives an overview of continuing education at Rutgers University in areas such as degree programs, workforce development, and certificates and degree completion.

-- Highlights four stories about how continuing ed is making a difference in manufacturing, healthcare, technology and marketing.

Learn more about the many continuing education opportunities available at Rutgers in this special education section published in NJBIZ magazine. 

Of the 145 students in Rutgers’ summer scholar classes in New Brunswick, the majority are high school juniors and seniors. Ennyn Chiu, along with her 11-year-old sister Enna, are both enrolled in the same class, making them youthful standouts among the teenagers in the room.

Read the Rutgers Today article here.