University of Kansas student John Shreve named Boomer Futures Fellow

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John Shreve

LAWRENCE, KS (10/25/2011)(readMedia)-- Nine University of Kansas students have been challenged to continue their participation in an interdisciplinary education process on aging and the built environment and have been named Boomer Futures Fellows, including John Shreve, Kansas City. The fellowships for the students - eight graduate and one undergraduate - carry a scholarship of $1,000 for the 2011-2012 academic year.

The Boomer Futures Fellowship program is part of the New Cities Longlife Communities Initiative, which has been underway at KU since April 2010. The initiative, funded by the Commons Development Corporation (CDC), is a component of the strategic initiative theme "Promoting Well-Being, Finding Cures," one of four themes addressed in KU's "Bold Aspirations" Strategic Plan for the University of Kansas, 2012-2017.

CDC has challenged KU to reconceive the residential environment in which aging occurs: the buildings, neighborhoods, communities and culture.

The student fellows are: Julia Bernard, Department of History; Brenna Buchanan, School of Architecture; Avery Dame, Department of American Studies; Sharmin Kadir, School of Architecture; Ellen Rozek, Deparment of Psychology; Shreve, Department of American Studies; Erin Smith, Gerontology Center; Jordan Wade, Department of American Studies; Qiang Zhao, Department of American Studies.

All of the students were members of the first interdisciplinary colloquium on aging and the built environment at KU during the spring 2011 semester. The colloquium brought together faculty and students from American studies, architecture, gerontology, sociology, psychology, social welfare, law, political science, the Institute of Policy and Social Research, English and environmental studies to address issues facing the Baby Boomer generation, especially issues related to housing, community, finance, real estate, law, health care, the environment, social justice and the social, political, and cultural dimensions of aging.