Monday, May 9, 2016

Steve: Retirement Becomes More Real


Lake Vättern  2011


This week I had a couple of milestones that moved me closer to full retirement .  My research lab held its last full meeting.  Three of my remaining students graduated, Erin McDermott, a talented undergraduate honors student, and two terrific doctoral students, Yin Liu and Courtney Polenick. There was a moment when I felt that retiring was like diving into a pool and not knowing if there was water in it or not. But that passed as I thought of all the plans Judy and I have for the next several months.

Another ending is that for the last time I am taking a class to Sweden. Beginning in 1995 I have taken classes there 8 previous times to learn about care of older people in Sweden as well as about other social and family policies. The class has been an eye-opening experience for everyone. They see that care does not have to be mediocre or worse, but instead people can live their lives with dignity, respect and good quality of care.   If you are interested, I thought I would provide updates during the next 2 weeks of the highlights of the class.

Although this is the last time I will be teaching the class, there are plans to continue it. Lesley Ross, a colleague of mine at Penn State, is co-teaching with me this time so she can offer it in the future. And we will be joined in Sweden by Beth Fauth, who is bringing a class from Utah State, where she teaches. She took the class from me in 2001 and subsequently did her dissertation using Swedish data. This is the second time we have done the class together and she also plans to continue it.


To see where we will be, look up Jönköping, Sweden. We travel to Stockholm next week.

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