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The OWL Project Dr. Donna Sullivan, a Social Gerontologist in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, is the mastermind behind the Older & Wiser Letter (OWL) Project. The OWL Project solicits letters from Marshall alumni, age 50 and older, asking them to discuss how their education and life history has influenced their aging process. The idea is to begin a written correspondence between current and past Marshall students to spark a cross-generational discourse about both life and aging. Dr. Sullivan was inspired by the Legacy Letter Project at the University of Iowa. She states that, “I loved the idea and found that other schools with gerontology programs all over the US had started similar projects with much success.” From a sociological perspective, Marshall alumni have much to offer the Marshall community. As Sullivan expresses, some graduates “have some very successful and interesting stories…they lived through important events in our collective social history: World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War; space exploration, Civil Rights, Women's Rights, the plane crash, the assassinations of JFK, MLK, and RFK, and so much more.” Alumni who share their personal stories will provide a wealth of oral history to the current student population, which will help them to better understand group involvement, human struggles, and successes. As one writer wisely wrote, “We are not that much different, old or young. We all have hopes, despairs & dreams. We all live on what one person called ‘the big blue marble,’ planet Earth.” With the construction of the new Alumni Building, Dr. Sullivan believes this is an optimal time for alumni to reminisce about their experiences at Marshall. Perhaps some of the dialogue generated by these letters, along with yearbook photos, could be exhibited for Homecoming or Alumni Weekends. When asked her overall goal, Dr. Sullivan stated, “I hope to interest my students into going into the field of gerontology and to give them a more realistic picture of aging - active, and productive, even with disability - rather than the dismal image we often see, of disability, frailty, decline, and eventual death. I also hope that we can draw interests from Alumni into possibly coming back to school, maybe starting a "Learning in Retirement" Center or a Center for Research on Aging, that includes the sociological perspective instead of just the bio-medical model. The letter project is just a first step to test the waters and see what sort of support there might be for future activities.”
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