Mission
The mission of the Life Course Center is to address critical challenges of our times through interdisciplinary scholarship and public engagement that promote social participation, equity, health and well-being at all ages and life stages.
Research Snapshot
New research looks at the assets and unmet needs of diverse, older adults
The United States is rapidly diversifying and aging. Understanding the existing assets as well as the challenges and unmet needs of this demographic will become increasingly important to policy makers and service providers.
Why a Life Course Center?
A life course approach is about time, age, biography, and history—the dynamics and inequalities of women’s and men’s pathways, perspectives, health, and well-being as they play out in work, family, educational, health, community, policy, and comparative locational contexts. Transformational demographic, technological, socioeconomic, and cultural changes are upending existing institutions undergirding the conventional life course, while simultaneously exacerbating multiple dimensions of disadvantage. Interdisciplinary life course scholars can address the human meaning of these dislocations and disadvantages, as well as necessary policy innovations to promote social engagement, social welfare, health and well-being.
GOALS
- Provide a learning community around life course scholarship and training
- Foster intergenerational educational experiences
- Understand lives, contexts, and social change through interdisciplinary longitudinal research
Upcoming Events
Events are canceled for spring 2020 due to COVID-19. We look forward to seeing you all in the fall.
In the News
Listen to LCC Director Phyllis Moen talk with MPR's Kerri Miller about the generational divide at work.
"Fallout from the pandemic has Minnesota baby boomers rethinking retirement"
Star Tribune, June 20, 2020
"10 books to read if you want to learn about the future of work"
Business Insider, June 17, 2020
"Could the Pandemic Wind Up Fixing What’s Broken About Work in America?"
New York Times, April 10, 2020
"COVID-19 Is Redefining Our Concept of Work"
Dialogue Minnesota, April 6, 2020
"The Generational Divide at Work"
MPR News, November 27, 2019
"Microsoft Proved a Four-Day Workweek Improved Productivity in Japan. Can Its Results Translate to the U.S.?"
Fortune, November 24, 2019