College of Arts and Sciences Newsletter

Volume 2, Number 11, November 2014

The Revamped Aging and Health Minor

At fourteen years old, Professor Andrew Revell recognized how gentle, kind, and wise older adults seem to be. Even now, Revell, UMass Dartmouth's expert on aging adults, believes that older people are like oracles. They hold a wealth of knowledge, and their knowledge helps others. "We can learn the secrets to life from older people," Revell said. "They have the answers to life's most-asked questions."

Professor Revell, director of the Ora M. DeJesus Gerontology Center, brought his profound admiration of aging adults into the classroom. In 2014, he redesigned the Aging and Health minor (AGH), which is open to all students. The new interdisciplinary AGH minor consists of courses in Adulthood and Aging, Cognitive Health, and course electives in the subareas of Health and Biology, Society and Diversity, Ethics, and Data Analytics.

In the classroom, Revell's role is to inform his students about the normal process of aging. "My role is informing students, older adults, and others about how we age and how we can maintain cognitive processes," Revell said. "Not everyone gets dementia and it is important to know the difference." And it is equally important to cultivate interest in the aging process. Aging is a process that all humans go through, but studying that process can greatly affect our health now. Revell suggests that it is necessary to determine which behaviors contribute to longevity and vitality. "We need to change the way we see aging," Revell said.

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Economics and Biology: A Perfect Match

As a Regulatory Affairs Specialist at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Michael Donovan assists various disease center study teams in planning and developing new drug trials. The UMass Dartmouth Class of 2008 alumnus helps the study teams formally submit the trials to their Institutional Review Board and to the FDA. "The Regulatory Affairs Specialists are the experts in federal regulations," Donovan said. "We help educate and guide the teams that we support."

Donovan believes that both of his undergraduate majors - Economics and Biology - have guided him on his career path. Frankly, they've made his job easier. His economics background helps his management skills and his ability to see trends. Plus, his science background makes everything much easier to understand. "I was able to quickly move up in positions due to being able to understand the business side of biology," Donovan said. "My skills are serving me well."

And Donovan is serving others well too. As an employee of Dana Farber, he is helping some of the sickest patients - young and old - get well. He's met men, women, and children who lost their battle with cancer; he's witnessed others live beyond their expectations; he's watched children run down the halls after their last dose of chemotherapy. "There is nothing more rewarding than knowing I played a role in helping," Donovan said. "It doesn't matter how indirect or small."

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Uncovering the Forgotten Voices of Philosophy

Professor Catherine Gardner is working on a new book, and it is a struggle. The actual writing process is not difficult. But writing while trying to stop her three German Shepherd dogs from tearing up the house is almost impossible. Her newest book focuses on slavery, emancipation, and the role of marriage in the nineteenth century. "In this book, I am interested in the voices of African-Americans as well as women," Gardner said. "All their philosophical voices flourished in the nineteenth century, but remain neglected in standard modern textbooks."

In 2013, Gardner published her book, Empowerment and Interconnectivity Toward a Feminist History of Utilitarian Philosophy with the Penn State University Press. Her book examines the philosophy of three neglected women philosophers - Catherine Beecher, Frances Wright, and Anna Doyle Wheeler. Gardner centers her book on the methodological questions that need to be asked in order to recover the women's work as philosophical and categorize it as feminist.

Working for two departments, Gardner's ideas and interests reach several students. Both the Philosophy Department and the Women and Gender Studies Department are supportive and allow her to teach courses in her area of expertise. "It's important to uncover and evaluate forgotten philosophers' work," Gardner said. "It's an opportunity to bring their work into the classroom and widen canon."

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