Mini College was created by the University in 2009 as an educational event held each June for KU alumni, their spouses and other inquisitive adults.
Prior to the COVID pandemic, Mini College allowed attendees to come to the Lawrence campus to listen to lectures by excellent professors and participate in tours and discussions. No Mini College was held in 2020 because of the virus. In 2021, Mini College went virtual. Some of KU’s best educators presented two thought-provoking lectures per week online for the first four Tuesdays in June. The talks were given live, with opportunities for questions and answers. The presentations also were recorded for later viewing by those who missed the original lectures. Mini College resumed in-person sessions in 2022.
Mini College’s creator was Jessica Proctor Beeson, c’05, who then worked in the dean’s office of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. In 2016, the University was forced to stop sponsoring Mini College due to budget cuts. Since then, it has been a volunteer effort by a small group of dedicated alumni in cooperation with the Osher Institute and the University.
The lecturers, too, volunteer their time and knowledge, appreciative of the attentiveness of a mature and inquiring audience.
