eNews | Fall 2017
New students photo above (and their programs), back row, l-r: Valerie Kessler (MGS), Chelsea Goldstein (MGS), Leah Janssen (PhD), Jiawei "Gavin" Cao (PhD), Ashlee Cordel (MGS); front row Luyna Ducay (MGS), Bandana Shah (MGS), Usha Dhakal (MGS), Katherine Kennedy (PhD), Sara Stemen (PhD), Shamatree Shakya (MGS)
We are so pleased to welcome our incoming cohort of gerontology graduate students! Five MGS, two MGS/PhD and four PhD students make up the Fall 2017 incoming class. This year our new students hail from China, Nepal, the Philippines, and the United States. For more information about our graduate students and their interests, visit the Meet Our Students page on the Scripps Gerontology Center website. 

Suzanne Kunkel named University Distinguished Professor
Suzanne Kunkel, with President Greg Crawford and Provost Phyllis Callahan, after receiving the Distinguished Professor Award

Miami University's board of trustees conferred the title of University Distinguished Professor to Suzanne Kunkel, effective July 1, 2017.  To be selected for this award, a faculty member must demonstrate teaching excellence, be a contributor to the life and mission of Miami University, and be a distinguished scholar of national and international stature with demonstrated recognition and with a projected high-level of scholarly productivity in the future.  

Click to read more about Distinguished Professor

The 2017 P.K. Whelpton Memorial Lecture addresses long-term care in China

Dr. Bei Wu, from New York University (NYU) will be sharing her research in a lecture titled "Improving Quality of Care of Older Adults: Twenty-Year Long-Term Care System Development in China". The event is scheduled for Tuesday, November 7, at 5:00 PM in 180 Marcum Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Click to read more about the Whelpton event

Jane Straker, director of research at Scripps Gerontology Center and Paul Flaspohler, associate professor of psychology are the lead researchers on the AgeWell program evaluation.
Miami University researchers lead evaluation of AgeWell program in Cleveland

Scripps Gerontology Center is leading an evaluation of the implementation of the AgeWell Global pilot in Cleveland, Ohio. "AgeWell Global is an innovative program based on a model from South Africa that is based on the needs of chronically ill older adults and takes advantage of the skills of older adult workers," said Jane Straker, director of research at Scripps.

read the article online




Aging and Disability Business Institute Evaluation

Led by the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a), the Aging and Disability Business Institute provides tools and resources to foster formal contracting arrangements between community-based organizations (CBOs) and the health care system.

Through reduced fragmentation and improved integration, these contracts can improve health care access, coordination, quality, and outcomes for older adults and people with disabilities. Major funders for the Business Institute are the John A. Hartford Foundation, SCAN Foundation, and the Administration for Community Living. The Scripps Gerontology Center is proud to serve as the evaluator of the Business Institute. The Scripps research team (Suzanne Kunkel, Jane Straker, Erin Kelly, and Abbe Lackmeyer) has designed a data tracking tool and a pre-post survey of CBOs and health care partners. 

Link to Aging and Disability Business Institute website

Miami's Master of Gerontological Studies (MGS) students gain hands-on experience during summer practicum.

MGS Students starting their second year in fall of 2017. Back row: Keren Mabisi, Anjali B. K., Amanda Horne, Morgan Liddic; front row: Na Sun, Wendy DeLeon, Meghan Young, Pallavi Timilsina.

Each summer, first year gerontology masters students go out into the field for a practicum. And each fall they return with experiences that shape their studies and careers. These transformative experiences are shared in a formal presentation to faculty and students a few days before classes start in August.  


Opening Minds through Art (OMA)

In the last 4 years, 318 people have attended facilitator training sessions to learn to implement their own Opening Minds through Art (OMA) program. This resulted in over 50 OMA sites throughout North America with more being launched all the time, serving more people living with dementia and volunteers paired with them.

Thanks to the Ohio Department of Medicaid, nursing homes within Ohio can apply for funding to replicate this award-winning, evidence-based program and simultaneously meet the Quality Improvement Project (QIP) mandated by the state. The next application deadline for this funding is October 31, 2017. (CEUs are available from NCCAP, NCCDP, and BELTSS).

Click here for QIP funding information and online application. 


Miami's Social Entrepreneurship & Aging
Online Graduate Certificate Program

CLASSES START MARCH 2018  

The program leverages the university's combined expertise in aging studies, gerontological research and business practice to offer four integrative courses that prepare graduates to create innovative solutions within a sustainable business framework, targeting emerging opportunities due to population aging.  

Learn more at MiamiOH.edu/SEA-Certificate

Upcoming Alumni Gathering 
Photo of Alumni gathering at IAGG 2017 in San Francisco. Courtesy of Abby Schwartz via LinkedIn.
The Gerontology Alumni Advisory Group is planning an alumni gathering in New Orleans during the LeadingAge meetings, October 29-November 1. 

Please contact Julie Kaminski ([email protected] or 402-990-2346 ) if you live in the area or will be in NOLA for the conference and would like more information.

Stay in contact!

We invite alumni to update their contact information using this online form.
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The mission of the Scripps Gerontology Center is to do work that makes a positive difference in the lives of aging individuals, their families and communities, and to meet the needs of aging societies. This mission is accomplished through excellence in research, education, and service.

Founded at Miami University in 1922, the Center is one of the nation's top centers for research in aging. Scripps conducts the core of its research on a state and national level in the areas of demography, long-term care, program evaluation, and arts and dementia programming.