July 27, 2009

Headline

Training Scholars to Study Aging

West Lafayette, Ind.—Three Purdue University graduate students have been named trainees for a new program to stimulate research on aging. 

The appointments are part of a new grant from the National Institute on Aging entitled Interdisciplinary Research on Aging and the Life Course. 

“Although Purdue has a rich history of graduate-student training in gerontology, this award puts us at the cutting edge of interdisciplinary training for advanced students,“ said Ken Ferraro, Director of the Center on Aging and the Life Course at Purdue University.  “We are appointing three students from three departments, and each trainee will work with an interdisciplinary team of scholars.”

Read more in the full press release below.

Full Press Release

July 6, 2009

News Release

How to Optimize Aging

West Lafayette, Ind.—There are ways to optimize the aging process, and Purdue University is launching three studies at a local retirement community to discover how to improve the quality of life for older adults.

“Gerontologists have long recognized the goal is not to add years to life but life to years,” said Ken Ferraro, Director of the Center on Aging and the Life Course at Purdue University. “These studies are specifically designed to add life to years—to optimize the aging experience.”

Purdue University has conducted dozens of studies with residents of retirement communities, but this is the first time that a set of intervention studies will occur within such a community. University Place opened in 2003 as a continuing-care retirement community in West Lafayette. It operates under the auspices of the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago Service Corporation.

Read more in the full press release below.

Full Press Release

June 19, 2009

Karen S. Yehle, an assistant professor in the School of Nursing, will present an oral research abstract at the annual meeting of the American Association of Heart Failure Nurses. The meeting is scheduled for June 25-27 in Minneapolis. Her abstract, titled "Baccalaureate Student's Knowledge of Heart Failure Education Concepts," was chosen as one of the top abstracts in the oral presentation session. Karen Chang, also an assistant professor in the School of Nursing, was the co-principal investigator on the research study.

Excerpt from Purdue News Service.

Full Article

April 23, 2009

Two faculty associates were recently promoted:

• Kevin M. Sowinski, from Associate to Professor of Pharmacy Practice
• Kimberly S. Plake, from Assistant to Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice

And several Purdue teaching awards were recently announced:

• Mari Plikuhn, Sociology: Graduate School Excellence in Teaching Award
• Kevin M. Sowinski, Pharmacy Practice: Dr. Aziz Outstanding Teaching Award
• Lori Ward, Pharmacy Practice: Albert & Anna Kienly Award for Excellence in Teaching

These are notable achievements for extraordinary people: Congratulations.

April 21, 2009

People who interact regularly with pets receive benefits beyond just companionship.  For example, cat owners are less likely to die from heart attacks than non-cat owners.

But . . . are fish tanks beneficial to the health of older people?

Yes, according to Dr. Alan Beck, who heads the Center for the Human-Animal Bond at Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine.  Fish tanks can help Alzheimer’s patients.

Many of the latest findings do not surprise Dr. Alan Beck, a pioneering researcher who now heads the Center for the Human-Animal Bond at Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine. For more than two decades, Beck has scrutinized the relationships between people and their pets and has found, more often than not, measurable benefits.

"Our relationship with animals often changes our behavior in a positive way," he said.

Recently, Beck has found that the presence of a fish tank helps focus the attention of Alzheimer's patients who tended to pace and wander at mealtime; having the fish tank in the dining area makes it more likely malnourished patients will sit and eat, he said. The fish tank was a less invasive, and certainly cheaper approach, he concluded, than other methods previously used.

Excerpt from the Boston Globe

Read the complete Boston Globe article on animal attraction:  http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2009/04/20/animal_attraction/

Dr. Beck is a faculty associate of the Center on Aging and the Life Course at Purdue University.

April 16, 2009

Purdue faculty and staff received a number of awards Sunday, April 19, during the university’s annual Honors Convocation in Elliott Hall of Music.

The excellence in teaching award for the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences – Dr. Aziz Outstanding Teaching Award - went to Kevin M. Sowinski, associate professor of clinical practice.  Dr. Sowinski is a faculty associate of the Center on Aging and the Life Course.

Recipients of awards for excellence in teaching receive commemorative plaques and cash awards from their college or school.