The first Aging is an Asset forum was held on October 11, a brainstorming session that brought together higher education leaders and retirees to discuss a future where one of every 4 people will be over 60. The Intergenerational Initiative, which is based at SIU Carbondale, developed the session that met at Heartland Community College in Normal. A group of presidents, vice presidents, deans, lifelong-learning coordinators, aging experts, and retirees put their heads together about how higher education and older Illinoisans can benefit. Clearly there are needs that retirees could address.

President Jon Astroth greeted the group. Elmer Washington, the meeting chair and a member of the Illinois Board of Higher Education, emphasized the importance of communication when bringing generations together. Communication is also needed to inform educators, retirees, and policy makers, and to obtain public support, he said. Washington challenged the group to communicate their ideas, get the message out about what we are doing––in short, to ­­improve the information flow.

Charles Johnson, director of the Illinois Department on Aging, said that the media are beginning to ask questions about the impact of a growing retiree population. And according to Maturing in America, a National Association of Area Agencies on Aging report, communities are not prepared.

Johnson spoke about caregiving as a challenge, not only for frail elders,

Marilyn Hennessy, president, Retirement Research Foundation spoke about the image of aging as changing from one of deficit to one of productivity. She said the numbers are scary when looking at the future. “We will need to redefine what aging is about because the boomers are changing everything.” Hennessy described the Purpose Prize that was awarded to people 60 and older for their social initiatives with the goal to change the perception and potential of retirees.

The discussion included ideas about how retirees can return to campus as tutors, mentors, guest lecturers as well as how they can be the foundation for an infrastructure of retiree involvement. In addition to the speakers, the facilitators included Tom Schmidt, president Carl Sandburg College; John Dunn, interim chancellor, SIUC; Mary Bates, Dean of Community Education, Waubonsee Community College; and Terry Ludwig, interim vice president, Morraine Valley College.

Jane Angelis, director, Intergenerational Initiative summarized the meeting by showing the aging statistics from the United States and around the world. She paired the needs and resources of education with the needs and resources of retirees. “People talk about the educational needs, and yet we have a population that can help and we aren’t inviting them to get involved,” she said.