Long Beach State University Affirms Dedication to Inclusion for Older Adults
LONG BEACH, Calif. (Jan. 2, 2019) – A decades-long commitment at Long Beach State University, which helps older adults to learn and live healthier lives, will continue with the campus as a new member of the Age-Friendly University Global Network.
The Long Beach campus’ membership signifies global recognition of its age-friendly policies and programs, such as its Gerontology Program, Center for Successful Aging and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.
The Center for Successful Aging researches issues related to aging in partnership with Long Beach-area service providers. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute provides classes on variety subjects to adults who are at least 50 years old.
The Age-Friendly University Taskforce, composed of faculty, students and community members, has catalogued additional campus strengths, and will now continue working to identify opportunities and implement steps to further improve services for older adults on campus and within the neighboring community.
“We discovered several ways in which the university already offers services that help older students,” Gerontology Program Director Maria Claver said. “At this time, members of the Age-Friendly University Network are working on assessment instruments that members can use to more formally measure the success of existing services in meeting older students’ needs and the needs of the older adult community.”
The campus also endorses the 10 Principles for an Age-Friendly University, which emphasize core areas where the university can enhance the lives of older adults in their communities.
“Long Beach State’s Center for Successful Aging and collaborative partnerships with SCAN Health Plan and the Archstone Foundation, whose mission is to meet the needs of an aging population, strongly resonate with Age-Friendly University members and will bring an added richness to the AFU Global Network,” said Brian MacCraith, president of the Age-Friendly University network.
SCAN Health Plan is a Long Beach-based nonprofit provider of Medicare Advantage plans and other services. Archstone Foundation is a Long Beach-based nonprofit focused on the needs of older adults. The organizations are among the Center for Successful Aging's supporters. American Gold Star Manor, the nonprofit operator of a Long Beach housing complex for the parents of fallen service members and other seniors, also supports the Center.
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About the campus:
Long Beach State University is a teaching-intensive, research-driven university committed to providing highly valued undergraduate and graduate degrees critical for success in the globally minded 21st century. Annually ranked among the best universities in the West and among the best values in the entire nation, the university’s eight colleges serve more than 37,500 students. The campus values and is recognized for rich educational opportunities provided by excellent faculty and staff, exceptional degree programs, diversity of its student body, fiduciary and administrative responsibility and the positive contributions faculty, staff, students and more than 300,000 alumni make on society.
