Aging Studies Institute established at SU

Interdisciplinary research institute will consolidate research, training on age-related issues

Syracuse University has announced the formation of the Aging Studies Institute (ASI), a collaborative initiative of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. The all-University Gerontology Center, a prominent aging studies research and training ground for nearly 40 years, will provide the foundation for the new institute.

“From its beginning, the Gerontology Center’s interdisciplinary faculty members have been dedicated to community practice, research and teaching focused on aging-related issues and collaborative partnerships locally, nationally and internationally,” says Diane Lyden Murphy, dean of the Falk College. The center also has provided a means for students from any college at SU to pursue a concentration in aging, and it still does today.

ASI will build on the center’s existing strengths to coordinate and promote aging-related research, training and engagement at Syracuse University. Its thematic areas will include age-based public policy and well-being; population aging; health and functioning; family dynamics, care work and intergenerational support; and aging design, engineering and technology.

According to Maxwell Dean James Steinberg, “The social, economic, political and human challenges posed by aging will have enormous consequences not just for the elderly, but for society as a whole in America and around the world. The new Aging Studies Institute will put Syracuse University at the forefront of scholarship and policy development on these critical issues by bringing together scholars and practitioners from a broad range of disciplines at Maxwell, Falk and across the SU community to conduct cutting edge research, professional training and innovative partnerships with governments, NGOs and the private sector.”

The new institute will be home to the Center for Aging and Policy Studies, one of 14 centers funded through the National Institute on Aging’s Demography and Economics of Aging Centers. Sociology Professor Janet Wilmoth, a leading expert on issues related to aging, health and demographic trends, has been named ASI’s first director; for the past three years, she has served as director of the all-University Gerontology Center.

“The Aging Studies Institute will be a signature community of experts for Syracuse University,” says SU Chancellor and President Nancy Cantor. “By broadening and deepening SU’s already widely recognized efforts to catalyze collaboration across the spectrum of issues related to our rapidly aging population, the ASI will stand as a superb example of how we can leverage our strengths to share expertise across disciplines and sectors, and make a difference in tackling some of the most pressing issues of our time.”

ASI will be housed in Lyman Hall on the SU campus beginning in fall 2012.