Of the more than 311 million people currently living in the United States, nearly 40 million people are age 65 and older, with members of the first year of the Baby Boom (1946 – 1964) turning 65 this year. Conducting research that addresses issues facing this large segment of the population is critical. To showcase aging-related work taking place at the University of Vermont and in the community, the Center on Aging at the University of Vermont held its Second Annual Research Day on April 7, 2011.

Poster sessions by faculty, researchers, students and practitioners took place in the Health Science Research Facility Hoehl Gallery at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. Carol D. Ryff, Ph.D., professor of psychology and director of the Institute on Aging at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, delivered a keynote address on “Psychosocial Influences on Healthy Aging” at 5:30 p.m. in Davis Auditorium at Fletcher Allen Health Care.

Ryff’s research focuses on the study of psychological well-being, an area in which she has generated a theory-driven, empirically-based approach to assessment of multiple dimensions of positive psychological functioning. Now translated into 18 different languages, these assessment procedures are used in diverse studies in fields of psychology, sociology, demography, epidemiology, and health. A member of the MacArthur Research Network for Successful Midlife Development and Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Division 20 - Adult Development and Aging) and the Gerontological Society of America, Ryff also serves as a consulting editor for two major American Psychological Association journals – the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Psychology and Aging. Her work has been supported by the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the MacArthur Foundation. In the past 15 years, she has edited four books: The Parental Experience in Midlife (University of Chicago Press, 1997), The Self and Society in Aging Processes (Springer Publishing Company, 1999), Emotion, Social Relationships and Health (Oxford University Press, 2001), and How Healthy Are We? A National Study of Wellbeing at Midlife (University of Chicago Press, 2005).

These events were free and open to the public. For more information, contact Deborah Worthley at Deborah.Worthley@uvm.edu or 802-656-4220.

About the Center on Aging at the University of Vermont
Established by a generous gift from Burlington, Vt. philanthropist Lois McClure in 2008, the Center on Aging at the University of Vermont has a mission to forge an ongoing collaboration among faculty, students, staff and programs within the University of Vermont, Fletcher Allen Health Care, and the Vermont community to promote a sense of well being and a high quality of life for older adults. The Center seeks to engage interested parties who wish to partner in the development and execution of programs that facilitate the health and welfare of older adults. The cornerstones of the Center are:

• To coordinate and support collaborative gerontological and geriatric research on the campus of the University of Vermont;
• To provide educational opportunities in gerontology and geriatrics to students, staff, faculty, the lay community, and health care and human service providers throughout the state and region;
• To translate research outcomes and educational activities into policy and excellent practice across the medical and human service landscape of the community that we serve.