UMASS BOSTON GERONTOLOGY

Our team

We are proud of our work and its focus on improving the aging experience for all.

Jan Mutchler, director of the Gerontology Institute, and Edward Alan Miller, professor and chair of the Department of Gerontology, lead a committed team of faculty and staff who teach, mentor, research, partner, advise, and disseminate findings and best practices in the increasingly relevant and timely field of aging studies.

WHO WE ARE

The Gerontology Institute serves as the research, policy, and public service component of the gerontology program at UMass Boston. Our research concentrations include age-friendly communities, aging equity and disparity, financial security, long-term supports and services, and social health.

Our history as a research institute embedded in an urban, minority-serving research university aligns with our continued aim to promote equity in aging—in health, in access to services and supports, and in life conditions such as financial security and social connections.”

Jan Mutchler, PhD
Director, Gerontology Institute

In establishing the Gerontology Institute in 1984, the Massachusetts legislature envisioned a central resource that would help legislators, state agencies, and the general public understand and plan for a coming surge in the Commonwealth’s older adult population. This year we are proud to mark forty years of exceeding the ambitious goals laid out at our inception: producing innovative and impactful scholarship; partnering with older adults, communities, and organizations to enrich the lives of older people; and addressing the workforce issues that emerge in older populations.

Across four decades, the scale and impact of our work has expanded and deepened. Our research contributions have grown exponentially, propelling broader scientific knowledge about aging populations and processes. Our history as a research institute embedded in an urban, minority-serving research university aligns with our continued aim to promote equity in aging—in health, in access to services and supports, and in life conditions such as financial security and social connections. Our continued emphasis on building strong and meaningful partnerships on and off campus reflects our commitment to the Commonwealth and beyond, and ensures that our work will be known by and useful to the people and organizations that we serve.

The Gerontology Institute’s path was set in motion by founding director Scott Bass and was skillfully guided by subsequent directors Frank Caro, Maximiliane Szinovacz, Ellen Bruce, and Len Fishman, each of whom offered unique visions and talents bringing us to this point in our history. I’m honored to have followed in their footsteps. In coming decades the central issues, opportunities, and challenges resulting from and shaping aging populations will continue to evolve. Our shared commitments, spanning back these forty years, ensure that our work will continue to positively contribute to the understanding of aging, the improvement of aging environments, and the creation of meaningful, impactful policy.

It is my pleasure and privilege to share this impact report with you.

Jan Mutchler, Director, Gerontology Institute, University of Massachusetts Boston

We continue to establish UMass Boston as a leader in navigating the opportunities and challenges posed by population aging.”

Edward Alan Miller, PhD
Chair, Department of Gerontology

As we began the 2023-2024 school year, UMass Boston Gerontology was welcomed into the Donna M. and Robert J. Manning of College of Nursing & Health Sciences. The Manning College is an ideal location for us to continue to establish UMass Boston as a leader in navigating the opportunities and challenges posed by population aging.

Apprenticeship is a hallmark of our program, as is our work to advance equity in aging. We provide students at all levels with impactful service learning and research opportunities funded by grants, contracts, and community partnerships. Our Frank Caro Scholarship for Social Justice in Aging—with a $575,000 endowment thanks to donations in honor of our former department leader—is supporting its first scholar, doctoral student Adriana Hernandez, whose research focuses on underrepresented communities. Our Equity in Aging Research Fellowship, funded by the National Council on Aging, enables doctoral student Maryssa Pallis to conduct research around financial and health security and equity in the aging population. This year we established the Justice in Aging Data for Equity Fellowship, which gives doctoral student Andrew Alberth the opportunity to produce actionable data to inform policies targeting resources to older adults who face structural discrimination.

Through the Pathways to Building an Aging Services Workforce internship program, we are preparing UMass Boston undergraduates for careers and helping aging services professionals advance their educations. Complementing our undergraduate major and certificate programs, our new Aging Studies minor enables students in any academic program on campus to earn a valuable credential by taking any four classes in the curriculum.

UMass Boston Gerontology’s presence at the fall 2023 annual meeting of the Gerontological Society reflected our productivity. Our faculty and students presented more than 60 talks and posters. Four doctoral students won travel awards. Professor Marc Cohen was named a fellow of the Social Research, Policy and Practice section; Professor Emerita Nina Silverstein was honored for her distinguished service by the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education; Bei Wu, MS ‘97, PhD ‘00, was honored with the prestigious Maxwell Pollack Award for Productive Aging; and Taylor Jansen, PhD ’23, received an award for her poster in the Emerging Scholar and Professional Organization section.

Last fall we welcomed Sung Park, PhD, to campus as our newest faculty member. A sociologist and demographer, Park studies how social relationships contribute to population-level inequality, manifested in economic and health differences in later life, with a focus on African Americans and immigrants. She held postdoctoral positions at Harvard and Princeton Universities and earned a sociology doctorate from UCLA.

2023-2024 was a year of transition and accomplishment. I look forward with excitement to this forthcoming year.

Edward Alan Miller, Chair, Department of Gerontology, University of Massachusetts Boston