GERONTOLOGY NEWS FROM UMASS BOSTON
December 2022
Keeping Massachusetts's growing population of older adults engaged in learning opportunities promotes cognitive health and social connections. Above: Members of UMass Boston's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute tour the lightship Nantucket in Boston Harbor.
Seven things Governor-elect Healey should know about growing older in Massachusetts
As Governor-elect Maura Healey prepares to take office in January, leaders at UMass Boston’s Gerontology Institute urge her to prioritize the needs and challenges of the state's growing population of older adults. We offer the following suggestions, some of them at low or no cost to the Commonwealth, informed by years of research and community engagement in aging equity, age-friendly communities, education, financial security, long-term services and supports, and social determinants of health.
Click image to view a video carousel of our top 10 most-read stories of 2022.
Year in review: Top 10 most-read stories
We looked back at the most-read stories in each issue of this newsletter, which we launched in January 2022. The monthly top hits offer a snapshot of the range of work undertaken by the Department of Gerontology and Gerontology Institute at UMass Boston, from helping local Councils on Aging and senior centers transform their services to conducting national studies of Medicaid reimbursements and the impact of person-centered care. We introduced you to some of our researchers and our newest doctoral students, and we remembered Bing Chen, professor emeritus.
Meet a researcher: Edward Miller
Edward Alan Miller, PhD, wears multiple hats these days. The UMass Boston gerontology professor became department chair in 2021 after serving many years as graduate program director. He guides the continuing growth of the Journal of Aging & Social Policy as its editor in chief. And he conducts research focused on assessing the determinants and effects of local, state, and federal policy for older adults and other vulnerable populations.
ALUMNI PROFILE
Kirsten Corazzini, PhD ’00: Changing the aging narrative, nurturing new scholars
In March 2022, the University of New Hampshire named Kirsten Corazzini, PhD ’00, dean of its College of Health and Human Services. She is thrilled that this latest career move brings her back to New England and to a public university, where she can mentor the next generation of scholars and gerontologists. She finds herself channeling the late Frank Caro, her dissertation adviser at UMass Boston, in her new role.
UMass Boston graduate students teaching non-credit courses as OLLI Scholars (from left) Brendan Hogan, Alice Wynn, and Leena Maqsood.
OLLI Scholars offer fresh energy, timely topics while gaining teaching experience
From any angle you consider it, the OLLI Scholars program offered by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at UMass Boston is a win. Graduate students gain teaching experience (along with a stipend) by designing and presenting six-week non-credit courses for friendly, engaged audiences of older learners, ages 50 and up. Those learners enjoy gaining new knowledge while interacting with a younger generation of UMass Boston students. And OLLI is able to offer more diverse and timely course offerings each semester.