Community · August 12, 2026
Porter Lifelong Learning Institute Posts a Fall Catalog of 46 Courses for Adults 50 and Over
Registration opens August 24 for courses from river birding to beginning welding; membership stays at $70 a year.
The Porter Lifelong Learning Institute has released its fall 2026 catalog: 46 non-credit courses for adults 50 and older, taught by Porter faculty, retired faculty, and community members with something worth teaching. Courses run September 14 through November 20, with no tests, no grades and, the catalog notes, “no group projects unless you want one.”
The institute had 634 members last year, up from about 400 in 2022. Membership costs $70 a year (August through July) and includes as many courses as a member wants to take, plus a Porter Card for library borrowing and free entry to regular-season home athletic events.
New this fall
- Running Water: a four-week course with Dr. Martin Ekdahl on his new history of the Millrace
- Beginning Welding: two sections of eight in the welding lab, which will fill in minutes and has been capped at one section per member
- Birds of the Porter River: four Saturday-morning walks on the Riverfront Trail
- Your Phone, Explained: a five-week course taught by student volunteers from the computing college
- Using AI Tools Without Getting Fooled: what chatbots are good at, what they make up, and how to tell
- Reading the Farm Bill: a policy course with a retired county extension agent
Returning favorites include Great Decisions, the watercolor studio, and the Wednesday lecture series, which is open to the public and held at the Porter Falls Public Library.
“Our members have run farms, factories, classrooms and households. Half of them could teach the course they signed up for. That is why we keep asking them to.”
— Bev Hartung, coordinator, Porter Lifelong Learning Institute
Most courses meet in Commerce Hall, where parking in the adjacent lot is free for members with a permit hangtag. Registration opens at 9 a.m. on August 24 online or by phone at (715) 555–0214. Other ways for neighbors to use the campus — the public library partnership, lectures and volunteering — are collected on the for the community page and the distinguished lecture series page.
Contact: Office of University Communications, news@uwporterfalls.edu
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. The institute, its catalog, members and coordinator are invented; there is nothing to register for and no welding lab will be holding your seat.