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Academic Education

The Center on Aging offers a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses in a variety of disciplines. Below is a description of undergraduate and graduate courses affiliated with the center.

Undergraduate Courses

Course: The Graying of America: An Interdisciplinary Survey of Aging in the United States
Contact: Stephen Sapp, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Religious Studies
Description: Demographers project that by 2040 as many as one out of five or even one out of four people in the United States will be over the age of 65. During the 20th century, life expectancy at birth for a child born in the United States increased from 49 to almost 80, a figure that may double this century. What do these numbers means for a society in which observers have noted for decades that the elderly have no meaningful role to play and in which youth and novelty are king? This course provides students with a thorough introduction to many of the challenging and troubling issues raised by the coming "age wave." The course is appropriate for all majors and career paths and for all those who simply want to understand better the society in which they will be living.

Course: Fundamentals of the Biology of Aging
Contact: David Wilson, Ph.D., professor, Department of Biology
Description: This course focuses on the biological basis of aging, or senescence. Aging in invertebrates, vertebrates, and some plants, will be covered. Aging in animals, and especially humans, will be emphasized. Genetic and environmental influences and evolutionary theories will be discussed. Molecular, cellular, and physiological aspects of senescence will be stressed. This course is designed for undergraduates who have an interest in drawing together their knowledge in a variety of areas within biology and applying it to a most interesting problem. In addition to the basic biological features of aging, topics to be discussed include both "why" and "how" theories of senescence, including evolutionary theories of aging, programmed and running-out-of-program hypotheses, and the role of cross-linkage of molecules, autoimmunity, free-radicals, and limited cell divisions in aging. We will explore the genetics of aging, as well as the disruption of homeostasis and decreasing organ system reserves that occur during senescence. Mathematical models of senescence and mortality will be studied. Aging effects will be examined in a variety of organisms, but human aging will be emphasized.