Center on Aging and the Life Course to sponsor symposium and art exhibition

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Center on Aging and the Life Course at Purdue University will sponsor an art reception and symposium titled “Time Horizons and Optimal Aging” on Sept. 15 and 16.

The art reception, titled the “Art of Aging,” is in honor of the 20th anniversary of gerontology studies at Purdue. The event will feature 25 selected artworks from artists over the age of 55 or whose work best exhibits the theme “Time Horizons and Optimal Aging.” These works reflect different methods of painting and photography. The reception, free and open to the public, will take place on Sept. 15 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. in the Sagamore Room of Purdue Memorial Union.

The annual symposium will take place Sept. 16, from 9 a.m. to noon in Stewart Center’s Fowler Hall. It is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

The symposium will feature presentations from scholars Laura L. Carstensen and David J. Ekerdt.

Carstensen is a professor of psychology at Stanford University, the Fairleigh S. Dickinson Jr. Professor in Public Policy, and the founding director of the Stanford Center on Longevity. She has won numerous awards and has published more than 150 articles on life-span development. Her research has been supported by the National Institute on Aging for more than 20 years. She will present “Taking Time Seriously in Life-Span Development.”

Ekerdt is a professor of sociology and the director of the Gerontology Center at the University of Kansas. He has worked in both medical and academic settings, and his research, which focuses on the transitions of later life, is supported by the National Institute on Aging. He will present “Gerontology in Five Images, Plus Two More.”

The events are sponsored by the colleges of Liberal Arts and Health and Human Sciences, Purdue University Retirement Association and Westminster Village West Lafayette.

Purdue’s Center on Aging and the Life Course works to promote aging-related research and education at Purdue that uses a life-course perspective to enhance the length and quality of life. The center has faculty associates from more than 20 departments, and its focus is advancing research related to the aging experience of diverse populations and educating graduate students for the field of gerontology.

Writer: Kelsey Schnieders, 574-933-4413, kschnied@purdue.edu

News Service Contact: Amy Patterson Neubert, apatter@purdue.edu

Source: Traci Robison, assistant director of Center on Aging and the Life Course, 765-494-9692, robisot@purdue.edu