The Fuss Center is engaged in a variety of research and teaching activities that explore different aspects of lifespan development, with special attention to intergenerational exchange and the Age-Friendly University (AFU) principles. Internships offer students their first opportunity to conduct age-focused research and engage with our local community around aging issues.
Select Grant-Supported Projects
Taking the Pulse of Age-Friendliness in Higher Education in the US Today, in collaboration with University of Massachusetts Boston Department of Gerontology, supported by grant from Retirement Research Foundation for Aging (RRF)
Building an Age-Friendly University (AFU) Network: An AGHE Information Webinar Series and Resource Library supported by a grant from the Retirement Research Foundation, AGHE 3.0 Founders Innovation Fund
Talk of Ages Campus Conversations supported by a grant from the How to Live Forever Fund (Encore.org Gen2Gen initiative)
Ageism First Aid: Respectful, Effective, and Appropriate Communication with Older Adults supported by a grant from the Retirement Research Foundation, AGHE 3.0 Founders Innovation Fund
Bridges Together: Intergenerational Pre-K Program Development Grant, in collaboration with Lasell College Rockwell Child Study Center, Lasell Village, and the Newton Council on Aging
Talk of Ages Summit: Promoting Aging Knowledge in Higher Education supported by the APS Fund for Teaching and Public Understanding of Psychological Science
Talk of Ages: A Web Resource for Integrating Aging Content and Intergenerational Activities into Psychology Classes supported by the APS Fund for Teaching and Public Understanding of Psychological Science
Transition to Encore Careers: Building Pathways to New Opportunities, in collaboration with Discovering What’s Next (DWN) with support from the Tufts Health Plan Foundation
Transitioning to Encore Careers: A Community-based Program to Provide Guidance and Support for Older Adults Seeking New Work Opportunities, in collaboration with Discovering What’s Next (DWN) with support from the Tufts Health Plan Foundation
Students as Investigators: Increasing Academic Challenge through Undergraduate Research across the Curriculum, in collaboration with the Office of Academic Affairs with support from the Davis Educational Foundation
Examples of Student Internship Projects
- Rachel Hogan, Haley Sherman, Yancy Castro - Promoting Careers in Aging
- Hope Doyon, Abigail Hill, Kaeli Leddy - Collaborative Storytelling with Adults with Dementia
- Giuliana Panfolfi - Students' Dementia Experience and Knowledge
- Jacquelyn Pendergast - Knowledge about Alzheimer's Disease, Personal Contact, and Media Exposure
- Lauren Hill - Aging Adages:Cultural Messages in Social Media
- Christine LaBelle - Cross-age versus Same-age Problem Solving
- Sarah Torrey - Newton for All Ages Library Resources
- Taylor Walby - Using Art to Engage Older Adults with Dementia
- Meghan Conte - Fashion and the Aging Self
- Petar Petrov - Personal and Cultural Models of Development
- Jenny Swanson, Emily Cooper - Intergenerational Perspectives on Wisdom
- Aaron Paniccia - Age-friendly Community Job Bank
- Melissa Ciliento - Intergenerational Reading and Activity Program
Select Publications and Presentations on Age-Friendly Universities (AFU)
Montepare, J. M. (2019). Introduction to the Special Issue-Age-Friendly Universities (AFU): Principles, practices, and opportunities, Gerontology & Geriatrics Education, 40(2), 139-141.
Montepare, J.M., Farah, K. S., Bloom, S., Tauriac, S. (2020). Age-Friendly Universities (AFU) - Possibilities and power in campus connections. Gerontology and Geriatrics Education. Published online first.
Montepare, J.M., Farah, K.S., Doyle, A., & Dixon. J. (2019). Becoming an Age-Friendly University (AFU): Integrating a retirement community on campus. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education, 40(2), 179-193.
The Age-Friendly University (AFU) Webinar Series: 1) Becoming an Age-Friendly University (AFU) Partner (J. M. Montepare & K. S. Farah);2) One Vision, Many Paths: Making an Age-Friendly University (AFU) Work for You (C. Andreoletti & A. June); 3) A Starting Point for Looking at Age-Friendliness on My Campus: AGHE Can Help (N. M. Silverstein & M. R. Gugliucci) ALL WEBINARS ARCHIVED: https://www.geron.org/programs-services/webinars
What's Hot Higher Education and Aging: The Age-Friendly Movement Building the Case for Age-Inclusivity Newsletter of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), supported by AARP. Download your free copy: https://www.geron.org/publications/what-s-hot
Whitbourne, S. K., & Montepare, J. M. (2017). What's holding us back? Ageism in higher education. T. Nelson (Ed.) Ageism: Stereotyping and Prejudice Against Older Persons (2nd Edition, pp. 263-290). Cambridge: MIT Press.
Montepare, J. M., & Farah, K. S. (2018). Talk of Ages: Using intergenerational classroom modules to engage older and younger learners across the curriculum. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education, 39, 385-394.
Farah, K. S. & Montepare, J. M. (2019) Communities by Design: An age-friendly multidisciplinary course integrating the physical and social sciences. Journal of College Science Teaching, 48,14-19.
Montepare, J. M. & Farah, K. S. (2019). From 18 to 108: What teaching and training could look like at an Age-Friendly University (AFU). Teaching Institute, Gerontological Society of America, Austin, TX
Montepare, J. M. & Farah, K. S. (2019). Age-Friendly University (AFU) campuses: Putting principles into practice. Gerontological Society of America, Austin, TX
Select Research on Social and Personal Perceptions of Aging
Montepare, J. M. (2019). An exploration of subjective age, actual age, age awareness, and engagement in everyday behaviors. European Journal of Ageing: Special Section on Images of Ageing ‒ New Perspectives for Theory and Research in an Ageing Society.
Montepare, J. M. (2009) Subjective age: A guiding life-span framework. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 33, 42-46.
Barrett, A., & Montepare, J. M. "It's about time": Applying life span and life course perspectives into the study of subjective age (2015). Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Subjective Aging: New Developments and Future Directions, 35, 55-78.
Diehl, M., Wahl, H., Barrett, A., Brothers, A., Miche, M., Montepare, J.M., Westerhof, G., & Wurm.S. (2014) Awareness of aging: Theoretical considerations of an emerging concept, Developmental Review, 34, 93-113.
Westerhof, G. J., Miche, M., Brothers, A. F., Barrett, A. E., Diehl, M., Montepare, J. M., Wahl, H.W., & Wurm, S. (2014). The influence of subjective aging on psychophysical functioning and longevity: A meta-analysis of longitudinal data. Psychology and Aging, 29, 793-80.
Macia, E., Cheve, D., & Montepare, J.M. (2019). Demographic ageing and biopower. Journal of Aging Studies.
Montepare, J.M., & Dobish, H. (2014). Younger and older adults' beliefs about the experience and expression of emotions across the life span. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 69, 892-896.
Montepare, J.M., McLaughlin-Volpe, T. & Kempler, D. (2014). The voice of wisdom: Positive perceptions of aging voices. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 33, 241-259.
Montepare, J. M. & Zebrowitz, L. A. (2002). A social-developmental view of ageism. T. Nelson (Ed.) Ageism: Stereotyping and Prejudice Against Older Persons (pp. 77-129). Cambridge: MIT Press.
Montepare, J.M., & Zebrowitz, L. A. (1998). Person perception comes of age: The salience and significance of age in social judgments. In M. Zanna (Ed.) Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, (Vol. 30, pp. 93-161), San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Zebrowitz, L. A. & Montepare, J. M. (2000). Too old, too young: Stigmatizing adolescents and elders. In T. Heatherton, R. Kleck, & J. H. Hull (Eds.) The Social Psychology of Stigma, (pp. 334-373). New York, NY: Guilford Press.