This article is part of State of Health, a series about how Michigan communities are rising to address health challenges. It is made possible with funding from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund.

As Michigan prepares for rapid growth in its population of older adults, three Michigan universities have joined a global movement to make higher education institutions more "age-friendly."

Wayne State University (WSU), Eastern Michigan University (EMU), and Michigan State University (MSU) have joined nearly 80 U.S. universities in becoming members of the Age-Friendly University Global Network. The network arose from the work of Dublin City University, where a working group developed Ten Principles of an Age-Friendly University in 2012 to complement the existing World Health Organization Age-Friendly Cities Program. The principles support positive aging and the lives of older adults through educational programs, research agendas, curriculum development, online education, health and wellness activities, and arts, cultural, and civic engagement opportunities. 

Arizona State University and the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow soon joined Dublin City University to form the Age-Friendly University Global Network. Universities that demonstrate activities or plans supporting at least four of the 10 principles can join the network for free and receive a five-year age-friendly university designation.
Dr. Thomas JankowskiDr. Thomas Jankowski.
"Obviously, we had an interest in being age-friendly here at the [WSU] Institute of Gerontology because that's what we do. But we actually had a very easy case to make to the upper levels of the administration that the entire university ought to become age-friendly," says Dr. Thomas B. Jankowski, interim director of the WSU Institute of Gerontology. "The number of older adults is growing at the same time as the number of people of traditional undergraduate age, 18 to 22, is beginning a long slide — and that group will continue to shrink for several years."

A university-wide steering committee is working to make WSU more accessible and supportive for older students. A 75% tuition discount for those aged 60 and older makes going back to school more affordable. Within the advising department, the Adult Learner Success Team makes more supportive resources available to older students. Instructional departments are considering more evening classes and flexible requirements to make programs more accessible for older students. And the Warrior Way Back Program targets past students who dropped out before graduating.

"We have a lot of people who had attended Wayne for a couple of years, then dropped out and didn't come back. Many of those people were prevented from coming back by unpaid tuition or fees, fines, or charges that they couldn't afford to pay and that wouldn't let them enroll until they paid," Jankowski says. "The university will forgive a certain amount of debt, a limited amount. They will forgive that to allow you to readmit at Wayne and finish your degree. I think that’s terrific." 

Other age-friendly efforts include flexible programs and transportation options for non-traditional students. Jankowski says that WSU already has a larger percentage of non-traditional students — students over the age of 25 — than most other universities.

"People are tending to stay in the workforce a little longer, and we ought to encourage that," Jankowski says. "So helping prepare a better-educated workforce is going to, by necessity, include older people. And there's an awful lot of personal growth that you get from broadening your mental horizons, learning about the ways other people live, how things work, and how the world is organized. An older student with the right personality can educate a lot of their younger peers. They bring a wealth of experience and perspective that the younger folks don't have." 

EMU: Disrupting ageism

With 30% of its student body made up of non-traditional students, EMU became the first university in Michigan to receive its Age-Friendly University endorsement in 2018. As part of its work to address the unique needs of non-traditional students, EMU has hosted workshops that help faculty infuse age-friendly content into existing courses and introduced programs like Disrupt Aging, a multi-year global initiative developed by AARP to change misconceptions around aging.

"It looks specifically at the stereotypes of aging," says Dr. Cassandra Barragan, Disrupt Aging facilitator and assistant professor in EMU’s Aging Studies Program. "It's a fun program, and we always have really, really good attendance. I think the most interesting part is a piece about caregiving. Many students don't think of themselves as caregivers, but they are. And there's a part that talks about ageism. Ageism also applies sometimes to younger students who are not perceived as being capable."

Barragan says this last point builds one of the best bridges for intergenerational conversations.

"When younger people say, ‘I've been discounted because I'm too young,’ and then somebody else says, ‘I've been discounted because I've been perceived as too old,’ they can have these really wonderful, dynamic conversations," she says. "Ageism is the one 'ism' that is so pervasive in our society in every single place."

Barragan’s goal is to infuse age-friendly content throughout the university so that all students consider the life continuum within the context of their majors. The workshops for faculty on working with older learners and non-traditional students are helping faculty recognize that non-traditional students usually have different obligations than younger students coming straight out of high school. 

"There will be somebody in their class that has a family and a job and kids and all of these other obligations," Barragan says.

MSU: AgeAlive

MSU was designated as an Age-Friendly University in 2019. Its age-friendly work has revolved around both research and outreach to older adults. Within the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine, the AgeAlive program is developing an aging hub that connects aging-related research and education with community outreach and intergenerational activities. For example, the Generations Connect program matches MSU undergraduate students with elders in the community. An international student assigned to an elder before the COVID-19 pandemic maintained the relationship virtually from India during the pandemic and recently celebrated the elder’s 100th birthday with him in person. 
Roxanne FrithA gathering for Michigan State University's Generations Connect program, which matches MSU undergraduate students with elders in the community, at the East Lansing Public Library.
MSU's Arts Within Reach program gives older adults the opportunity to enjoy arts and cultural events. Another program, Town and Gown, invites older adults in the community to hear MSU faculty present on various topics in person at The People's Church near campus or via Zoom.

"They have talked about the erosion of the Lake Michigan sand dunes, about politics, about music," says Lori Strom, an MSU retiree and AgeAlive consultant. "You might have 50 people who can ask questions of the professor and have nice dialogue."
Roxanne FrithA gathering for Michigan State University's Generations Connect program, which matches MSU undergraduate students with elders in the community, at the East Lansing Public Library.
AgeAlive also collaborates with the MSU Extension and local senior centers to organize wellness activities and technology trainings. And it creates connections among MSU researchers who are addressing facets of aging within different disciplines.

"Research is important," Strom says. "We've identified the researchers on campus who might be in the social sciences and looking at relationships and caregiving, in the medical world looking at dementia and brain health, in engineering looking at assistive devices, or in urban planning looking at how housing, transportation, and green space affects an older person. There are a lot of pockets of really important research on campus. By gathering them together, we create this network." 

In alignment with the Age-Friendly University Global Network’s aim "to shape how we live and work by increasing educational opportunities across the life span," WSU, EMU, and MSU have each found their own niche for promoting age-friendly initiatives on their campuses and within their communities.
Roxanne FrithA gathering for Michigan State University's Generations Connect program, which matches MSU undergraduate students with elders in the community, at the East Lansing Public Library.
"It's not something that happens by checking a box. It has to become part of the culture," Barragan says. "There's a lot of research that supports that the younger you're exposed to working with older adults or being around older adults, the less ageist you are as an adult."

"When we think of diversity, we often think of race or gender or religion," Jankowski says. "Diversity is a source of strength, and age diversity is just as important as other kinds of diversity."

Estelle Slootmaker spends most workdays as a journalist and book editor. She also writes poetry and will be publishing a new children’s book, “Places Where the Sun Don’t Shine.” You can contact her at Estelle.Slootmaker@gmail.com or www.constellations.biz. 

Generations Connect program photos by Roxanne Frith. Thomas Jankowski photo courtesy of Thomas Jankowski.