Joann Montepare, Ph.D.

Biography:

Joann M. Montepare is former Professor of Psychology and former Director of the Rosemary B. Fuss Center for Research on Aging and Intergenerational Studies at Lasell University. Her research explores life-span issues with attention to age-related social perceptions and self-experiences of aging.

Her work on social perception has examined how age-related facial, vocal, and body cues fuel impressions of people across the life span and across cultures. Her work on self-perceptions of age – in particular, subjective age identification (i.e., the age you experience yourself to be) – has shown that age identity is a dynamic construct tied to internal, personal models of development along with being shaped by age-variant social and physical experiences. This work has also taken a life-span approach and explored variations in age identification from childhood to old age -- and, across diverse cultures, most recently in sub-Saharan societies.

She is an advocate of intergenerational teaching and learning, and developed the "Talk of Ages" program at Lasell for integrating aging content and intergenerational activities into college classes (supported by a grant from the APS Fund for Teaching and Public Understanding of Psychological Science). Also, with support from APS, she convened the "Talk of Ages" Summit, which brought together educators and community partners across Massachusetts to discuss issues around aging education and age-friendly campuses. As a result of her advocacy, Lasell became the first institution of higher education in Massachusetts (and second in the U.S.) to join the Age-Friendly University (AFU) Initiative launched by Dublin City University (DCU). In 2016 GSA's Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE), endorsed the AFU principles and over 55 institutions globally have joined the network.