Gerontology at UMass Boston

The friendship between former gerontology prof Bing Chen and General Samuel Wu led to a unique endowed fund that supports our doctoral students who research issues pertaining to older Asian Americans.

Doctoral student Cindy Bui is conducting research this summer among older Vietnamese immigrants with support from the Samuel Sung-Ching Wu Fund for Research in Gerontology.

Doctoral candidate wins grant from family fund dedicated to studying aging in Asian-Americans – Gerontology Institute Blog General Samuel Sung-Ching Wu. Photo courtesy of his son, Sing-Yung Wu, professor emeritus of the University of California-Irvine School of Medicine.

A surge of student interest led us to create a new minor in Aging Studies, open to undergrads in all majors.

https://blogs.umb.edu/gerontologyinstitute/2023/06/22/new-aging-studies-minor-offers-grounding-in-challenges-and-opportunities-of-population-aging/

We are proud to have our Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging partner on an Activating Boston grant to create more accessible, age-inclusive spaces that strengthen community connection, health, and well-being.

Here, doctoral students Janelle Fassi (center) and Adriana Hernandez (right) and Tyler Carmody (left), an undergraduate intern with CSDRA, attend the final presentation of the project at The Guild Works' community space.

City of Boston AARP Massachusetts Healthy Places by Design John W. Hancock Foundation

Last week at this time we were honoring our latest doctoral and master's graduates. We're proud of the UMB gerontology Class of '23 and can't wait to see all the impact they'll make in the world!

Photo album: May 2023 ceremony for graduate students – Gerontology Institute Blog We celebrated five new gerontology PhDs and our newest Management of Aging Service master’s degree holders at the UMass Boston graduate commencement ceremony on May 24, 2023. (Not pictured: Ngai Kwan, PhD ’23.)

One last celebration of our favorite older adults as we reach the end of . Thanks to Jim Hermelbracht, director of our Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UMass Boston, for this contribution.

Congratulations to Nina Silverstein on her retirement after nearly three decades at UMass Boston gerontology. Legions of students, colleagues, partners and more have benefited from her innovative thinking, her dedication to the field, and her thoughtful friendship.

Mentor, researcher, friend: Gerontology professor Nina Silverstein retires – Gerontology Institute Blog Nina M. Silverstein, PhD, professor of gerontology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, will retire on May 31, 2023. Highlights of Silverstein’s three decades at UMass Boston include mentoring hundreds of students, co-authoring three books, and spearheading research on aging and transportati...

Meet Gary Siperstein, our first "favorite older adult," thanks to Jeffrey Stokes.

A team of our gerontologists has been compiling healthy aging data reports for individual states for more than a decade, expanding the scope of the data and the geographic footprint with each new report.

“Everyone is hungry for local data,” says Nina Silverstein, PhD, professor of gerontology and research team member. “It’s an incredibly rewarding project because it’s so hands-on. We learn something from every state, and each state has different challenges.”

Agrees Beth Dugan, PhD, gerontology professor and the research team leader, “We don’t just offer one product that we roll out. Local stakeholders really own the product. Some want more data on housing, others may focus on access. Each report gets better with feedback from stakeholders.”

https://blogs.umb.edu/gerontologyinstitute/2023/05/03/healthy-aging-data-reports-expand-scope-footprint/

"Compared to non-volunteers, volunteers have less depression, less anxiety, higher self-esteem, higher life satisfaction, greater happiness and greater sense of meaning in life," says
UMass Boston gerontologist Jeffrey Burr--not to mention healthier hearts.

Help others, help yourself? Why volunteering can be good for you Researchers are learning that volunteering helps not just the organization or people being helped but those doing the helping.

Assisted living nurses can continue skilled nursing care under new law The controversial practice of allowing nurses in assisted living communities in Massachusetts to provide skilled nursing care has received another extension with the adoption of a new law.

"People are coming to Eastham to age, and people want to stay in Eastham as they age. But there are some significant concerns that people have about being able to do that successfully.”

Caitlin Coyle, director of our Center for Social and Demographic Research on Age, shares preliminary findings from a community study on Cape Cod.

What It’s Like to Get Old Here - The Provincetown Independent EASTHAM — Nearly half of Eastham’s residents are at least 60 years old, and a recent study shows the trend toward an expanding older population is expected to continue because […]

Long-term care insurance is “out of the reach of most middle-income Americans,” says Marc Cohen, gerontology professor and researcher, tells the Boston Globe. “Many people don’t understand their full exposure to the [financial] risk.”

As population ages, new efforts to boost long-term care insurance are surfacing - The Boston Globe Attempts to offset surging long-term care costs — which can range from $20,000 a year for in-home care to more than $100,000 for a high-end dementia care center — have been stalled for decades.