Erickson School Change Agents featured in The Wall Street Journal

February 25 - 2008

BALTIMORE -- The Wall Street Journal on Feb. 16 featured 12 innovators and entrepreneurs in the field of aging services who are having “the biggest impact on the future of retirement” in . One-third of those “change agents” singled-out for their contributions to improving later life are affiliated with The Erickson School at UMBC, including School founder John Erickson, faculty member Dr. Bill Thomas, Masters in the Management of Aging Services student John P. Stewart, and Master’s program guest-lecturer Katherine Freund. (Select Bios below)

The Wall Street Journal article, "12 People Who Are Changing Your Retirement: These pioneers are shaping the way Americans will live, work and play later in life" (2/16/08) can be viewed online here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120283234025062481.html.

“Our chief aspiration at The Erickson School is to benefit society by learning about, and improving the quality, of life for older adults,” said Erickson School Dean J. Kevin Eckert.

For more information on The Erickson School, please contact erickson@umbc.edu or visit our Web site: http://erickson.umbc.edu/

John Erickson
Erickson Retirement Communities Founder and Chairman John Erickson was featured for his pioneering work to shape the way Americans age. Erickson has launched several enterprises intended to establish a new standard in retirement living, including Retirement Living TV and The Erickson School at UMBC.

Erickson helped launch The Erickson School of aging, management and policy in 2004 with a visionary gift and matching state of Maryland funds. With an explicit focus on preparing leaders for the 21st century, the School provides professional education, public policy leadership and applied research. The School offers a B.A. and M.A. in the Management of Aging Services (MAgS).

Bill Thomas
An internationally-recognized authority on aging, Bill Thomas is a professor at the Erickson School and a leader in the culture change movement to promote elderhood as an honorable and valuable position in our society. Thomas is founder of the Eden Alternative, a philosophy and program that de-institutionalized nursing homes world-wide over the past 20 years. Most recently he developed the Green House, a radically new approach to long term care where nursing homes are torn down and replaced with small, home-like environments where people can live a full and interactive life. Read more about Thomas' unique views on aging at his blog, www.changingaging.org.

John P. Stewart
As Executive Director of the Baltimore City Commission on Aging and Retirement Education, John P. Stewart is responsible for advocating, designing, funding and delivering services to the City’s 105,000 older adults. In the fall of 2007, Stewart enrolled in the first class of graduate students in the Erickson School’s MAgS program, a 15-month professional masters program designed to develop leadership capabilities and advance careers in the public, private and non-profit aging arena. Stewart is working on a blueprint to make city services such as health care, transportation and employment more receptive to the needs of older adults.

Katherine Freund
Katherine Freund, founder of the Independent Transportation Network and Executive Director of ITNAmerica, is one of many national experts the Erickson School has tapped to give presentations and lecture in our Master’s and professional Executive Education programs.

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