Becoming an Age-Friendly University (AFU): Integrating a retirement community on campus

As populations age at record rates, institutions must ready themselves to be more age-friendly. Institutions with an affiliated university-based retirement community (UBRC) are particularly poised to adopt the Age-Friendly University (AFU) campus concept. The partnership of Lasell College and Lasell Village is used to illustrate how AFU principles can be implemented to extend older adults' access to various educational opportunities. Specially-designed efforts such as the Talk of Ages program provide intergenerational exchange to facilitate the reciprocal sharing of expertise between different-aged learners and mitigate negative age attitudes. Programs such as Faculty Fellows build capacity to support greater attention to aging education and extend intergenerational connections across the curriculum. Challenges inherent in leadership, awareness, classroom dynamics, and ageism are also explored alongside opportunities that an AFU approach brings in light of such challenges.