AROHE Conference Speakers 2008

Roger Anunsen is the creator of MemAerobics, a comprehensive cognitive intervention program promoting "brain wellness" through a blend of purposefully and mindfully targeted mental effort.  After a 26-year career as a lawyer, Mr. Anunsen left the legal profession and began a new career in the field of aging and memory, inspired by the residents he had met during his four years working as a full-time activity director in assisted living facilities.  As a recognized leader in the field, Mr. Anunsen was appointed a voting delegate to the 2005 White House Conference on Aging.  He was also an invited presenter at the Joint Conference of the American Society on Aging and the National Council on the Aging in 2006, 2007, and 2008.

James E. Birren is one of the founders of the field of gerontology.  A past president of the Gerontological Society of America, he was the founding dean of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.  Birren was the Associate Director of the UCLA Center on Aging until retiring in 2003.  The American Society on Aging inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2004.  He continues to teach the Guided Autobiography, a course that he developed over thirty years ago.

Gerald C. Davison, Ph.D., is Dean and Executive Director of the USC Davis School of Gerontology and Andrus Gerontology Center, and Professor of Gerontology and Psychology.  He has served as President of the Society of Clinical Psychology (Division 12 of the American Psychological Association ) and Chair of the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology.  His textbook, Abnormal Psychology, co-authored with Kring, Neale, and Johnson, appeared last year in its tenth edition and has been used at hundreds of universities here and abroad.  In 1993 he won the USC Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching, a university-wide prize, and in 2003 was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies.  His research focuses on experimental and philosophical analyses of psychopathology, assessment, and therapeutic change.

In her consulting practice, Helen Dennis has worked with more than ten thousand employees planning the non-financial aspects of their retirement.  A lecturer for over 20 years at the USC Andrus Gerontology Center, she was a delegate to the 2005 White House Conference on Aging.  In her latest book, Project Renewment: The First Retirement Model for Career Women (Scribner, 2008), Dennis and coauthor Bernice Bratter offer "renewment" as a new model for retirement emphasizing the possibility of positive change, enlightenment, and adventure.  Project Renewment is a grassroots movement of women's groups where career women meet the challenge of creating a future that is even better than their past.  Dennis writes a weekly column, "Successful Aging," for the Torrance (CA) Daily Breeze and has appeared frequently in the media, including ABC News' "Primetime" and The Wall Street Journal.

Jack Rothman (Professor Emeritus, School of Public Affairs) retired from UCLA in the mid-1990s and started doing stand-up comedy after receiving a gift certificate for a comedy class for his 75th birthday.  He has performed at such well-known comedy clubs as the Improv and the Ice House.  Turned off by the raunch that currently passes for comedy, Rothman, together with actress Carole Gordon and entrepreneur Wes Martens, now performs for public-service groups in exchange for a small fee to cover expenses.  The California Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers presented Rothman its highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award, in 2007.

Cheryl Svensson has been involved in the field of aging since the 1970s when she landed her first job out of college as a social work assistant in a convalescent hospital.  After completing her Master's degree in Gerontology at USC, she moved to Sweden and entered a doctoral program in psychology with an emphasis on research in aging.  For the past seventeen years, she has taught a class for older adults in the Continuing Learning Experience program at California State University, Fullerton.  Svensson continues to work closely with James Birren (above) and the Guided Autobiography work group.

Patricia Will is President and CEO of Belmont Village Senior Living, a fully integrated developer and operator of senior housing communities.  She has more than 27 years of experience in real estate development.  In 1994, she co-founded a company that specialized in medical and healthcare investment projects, including long-term care.  That company provided the launch pad for Belmont Village in 1997.  Ms. Will is Chairman of the American Seniors Housing Association and recently served as a Lead Instructor for the Executive Education program in the Erickson School of Aging, Management & Policy, UMBC.  She earned an M.B.A. with distinction from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts degree, Phi Beta Kappa, from Reed College in Portland, Oregon.