Wesleyan lifelong learning program offers educational opportunities to Macon’s adult learners

For the five years that Vince Coughlin spent in Aiken, South Carolina, he served on the curriculum committee for the University of South Carolina’s Lifelong Learning program and as the program president for two terms. 

When Coughlin moved to senior living community Carlyle Place, he realized that Macon was missing an education program for adult learners and sought to establish one. 

Coughlin collaborated with then provost and later president of Wesleyan College, Vivia Fowler, who agreed to host the program. 

With startup funding from Carlyle Place, the Wesleyan Academy for Lifelong Learning launched in the fall of 2011, offering a variety of four-week courses for adult learners that run from September through November. 

“Wesleyan has been really privileged to be able to host it on campus,” said Director of Auxiliary Services Hannah Doan, who serves as WALL Program Coordinator. “I think that it’s a good way for Wesleyan to show the greater community all that it has to offer.”

Doan – who was program coordinator from 2012 to 2019, before leaving and returning to the role again in 2022 – reflected on the program’s immense growth over the years. 

When it began, the program had just 50 enrolled members in the first semester. Since then, it has grown to more than 650 Lifelong Learning members since its inception in 2011, with 100 active members today.

“We have a really robust retirement community here in Middle Georgia,” she said. “They are looking for something to do during the day, something to keep themselves active and keep their minds active. And they’re just looking for community as well.”

WALL also supports the greater Wesleyan community by funding two $2,000 scholarships for Wesleyan juniors and seniors.

A 12-person volunteer curriculum committee chooses what WALL courses to offer. The courses often focus on current events or local Macon history, such as “Stories of Macon Freemen after the Civil War” and Coughlin’s own course, “History and Humor: The Use and Abuse of Cats from Ancient Egypt until the Cold War.” Other courses offered include “Alchemy of the Seasons of Life: Exploring the Magic of Mixed Media Art” and “Wine and Winemaking.”

“I have gotten a great deal of pleasure out of seeing the response of the students who take the courses,” said Coughlin, who is an attorney and has a masters in physics. “They are very enthusiastic about the academy, and it fills a need, not only intellectually, but also socially.”

The Instructors

Wesleyan professors, as well as instructors from Mercer and Middle Georgia State, teach the courses at the Wesleyan College campus.

“Our WALL students are very eager,” said Doan. “They love to ask questions, and they love to pick the professor’s brains, and they always clap for them at the end of their classes.”

Wesleyan professor Brooke Bennett-Day offers WALL courses such as, “Psychology in the Legal System,” “Psychology of Good and Evil” and “Psychology of the Future.”

You get to pick your best stuff, according to Bennett-Day, and the course is condensed, so there are no exams or assignments.

“You get to just go in and have this conversation, and it really is a conversation with them too,” she said, noting that half of her hour-long class is an interactive discussion amongst the students and herself. 

Bennett-Day’s favorite part about teaching WALL courses is the students’ excitement, engagement with the material and eagerness to share their personal experiences. 

“They are absolutely teaching me some things that I didn’t know about,” she said. 

Students bring her newspaper clippings or share real-life examples from their own experiences earlier in life. 

For example, she recalled one WALL student, a former psychologist, who made a video on the famous psychotherapist Alfred Adler for Bennett-Day to share with the students in her other classes. 

Students from all different backgrounds take an interest in Bennett-Day’s classes – not just those in the psychology field. 

Some know nothing about psychology, while others know lots, said Bennett-Day, who has even taught former engineers and educators in her WALL courses. 

Join Today

The sense of community goes beyond the classroom, as WALL members have immersed themselves in all aspects of campus life. They volunteer in the library, walk to campus with Wesleyan students and even eat in the dining hall. 

“It kind of opens up a new world for them,” Doan said. “And it really gives a sense of belonging.”

Registration for fall courses is currently open. Call (478) 757-5233 or e-mail [email protected] or [email protected] for more information. To register for courses online, visit pages.wesleyancollege.edu/WALL/. WALL offers annual, semester and single course memberships. Courses are four weeks long and start at the beginning of September, October, November and mid-November.