GERONTOLOGY NEWS FROM UMASS BOSTON
January 2023
Ellen Birchander, director of our Management of Aging Services master's degree, with students. Birchander is leading an innovative workforce training program in partnership with four Boston-area aging services agencies.
State awards UMB Gerontology with $410K grant for pilot workforce training program
The Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services has awarded UMass Boston Gerontology a $410,000 grant to pilot a program aimed at strengthening the aging services workforce. The innovative program, a collaboration with four Boston-area aging services agencies, is designed to offer training and paid internships for undergraduate students along with leadership development for promising professionals in the field.

"The PhD program is designed to prepare students for leadership roles as educators, researchers, planners, and policy-makers. The program has deep emphasis on policy development, analysis, and impact, an attribute that goes back to the public service roots of the Gerontology enterprise at UMass Boston in the early 1980s."

—"At the Nexus of Public Policy and Aging: Doctoral Studies in Gerontology at the University of Massachusetts Boston," Public Policy & Aging Report, December 2022
Journal article spotlights UMB gerontology PhD
UMass Boston gerontology faculty members, including the current and former directors of the doctoral program, have published an article on the program's strengths and history at the request of the editor of Public Policy & Aging Report. The issue focusing on degree granting gerontology programs that train students, conduct research, and engage directly with public policy.

AGHE names gerontology doctoral students as junior leaders
UMass Boston gerontology PhD students Shan Qu and Yan-Jhu Su are serving as junior leaders of the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE), a program of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA).

Su (top left) and Qu aim to connect fellow members of GSA’s Emerging Scholar and Professional Organization community with opportunities through AGHE, which aims to support emerging and experienced scholars and educators. The students serve in two work groups, communication and academic program development, which produce annual workshops. At the GSA Annual Scientific Meeting in November 2022, Su and Qu co-chaired the AGHE symposium, “Teaching Strategies for Integrating Diversity in Aging.”
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Free film series, virtual walking tours, more offered during OLLI's winter session
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) team at UMass Boston chose the theme “Truth Be Told: True Stories of Resilience” for its upcoming winter film series, part of OLLI's online Winter Programs session for January and February 2023. The programs (including virtual walking tours of local sights such as Boston's theater district, above) are free to OLLI members and prospective members on a first-come, first-served basis.
'Lifelong learning at its finest': WBUR looks at OLLI's pandemic transition
Reporter Max Larkin talked with OLLI board member and student John Cheney, along with OLLI Director James Hermelbracht, about the program's journey and growth these last few years during the COVID-19 pandemic.
UMASS BOSTON GERONTOLOGY IN THE NEWS

"What happens when you lose your home at 72?" WBUR talks with Gerontology Institute Director Jan Mutchler for installment on older unhoused women in its "Priced Out" series, January 9, 2023.

"Senior apartments going up in North Austin with help of affordable housing bond," KVUE cites Elder Index in news story about housing options for older Austin residents, January 3, 2023.

"When should seniors put the brakes on their own driving?" NBC10 talks with Beth Dugan, gerontology professor, about the challenge of getting older family members to give up driving, December 23, 2022.

"Assisted living too often fails older, sicker residents, report says," Washington Post talks with LeadingAge LTSS Center Co-Director Robyn Stone, December 3, 2022.

"Making good financial decisions at every age: Security in retirement," Falmouth Community TV presented a panel discussion hosted by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and including Pension Action Center Director Ana-Marie Tabor, October 27, 2022.