Mindful Matters
Supporting Faculty Transitions to Retirement: Moving beyond the Basics, Acknowledging Their Legacy, and Fostering Their Well-being
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Amy Strage, Diane Jonte-Pace
Since the elimination of mandatory faculty retirement in 1994, it has become more difficult for universities to anticipate when faculty will retire, and to support them through the process. Studies demonstrate the impact of many factors, including whether they feel financially secure, have a sense of agency and control, have identities that are inextricably tied to their faculty roles, and have plans for their post-retirement years. This work draws upon the frameworks in seminal (e.g., Dorfman, 1997) and recent work (e.g., TIAA-CREF, 2015; Van Ummersen, McLaughlin and Duranleau, 2014). In an effort to identify best practices, the authors surveyed administrators at four-year universities throughout California. Respondents report that support for faculty is uneven across areas of need. All campuses offer opportunities to understand their financial situation and to customize their trajectory (e.g., phased retirement). However, few offer resources to support the psycho-social aspects, and most reported little systematic coordination among relevant offices and units. Next steps include communicating findings to leaders in higher education, sparking improvements in structures and practices that will smooth transitions to retirement, and enhancing well-being for retired and retiring faculty entering the non-work environment.
Aging Bodies: A Literature Review of "L’Étranger"
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Baichun (Yvonne) Hou
I discuss three layers of aging in this paper, aging of characters in the novel "L’Étranger," aging of institutions including marriage and healthcare system, and lastly, aging of the text itself with respects to how it became a classic reading, how decolonization of Algeria affects the reading of the novel, and how readers' own aging can impose new meanings on the text during the process of reading and re-reading. The primary goal of this paper is to evoke new interpretations of aging from a theoretical approach. With the help of a revolutionized mindset, new solutions to accommodate the booming aging population will be more likely to emerge.
A Cultural Analysis of Japanese Learning Society: Historical Perspectives and Future Challenges of Elderly Education
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Javier Perez Jara
Combining modern approaches in cultural sociology and social philosophy, this paper aims to analyze the main sociohistorical characteristics and future challenges of the so-called Japanese “Learning Society”, specifically focusing on elderly education. Since Japan is the country with the highest life expectancy in the world, its elderly population has become increasingly more visible in the last decades. These social and demographic changes, along with the Japanese values of social integration and harmony, have made learning for an aging population to become an important afterthought in Japanese educational fields. Numerous elementary schools, high schools, universities, and other Japanese educational institutions, both public and private, have allocated increasing resources to teach senior citizens, so they can adapt to modern times and continue feeling useful in society. As a consequence, Plato’s old and powerful ideal of learning through life for both sexes, along with Confucius’ ideal of “never too late to learn”, have increasingly become realities in Japan. Nevertheless, elderly education often continues to be socially perceived mainly as an add-on, outside the traditional Japanese learning establishment. Focusing on the Japanese ideal of not only pursuing socioeconomic sustainability, but also strong ethical and social values, this study explores the role of elderly education in the enhancement of Japanese senior citizens’ personal development, active citizenship and social inclusion, along with the challenges that this growing population faces today and in Japan’s technology-driven future.
