Member Spotlight

Q&A with Anne Basting, PhD from Milwaukee, WI.

Q: Why did you become a member and how does GSA assist with your professional development?
A: I first joined GSA after I received a Brookdale Fellowship (1998) and learned of this interdisciplinary community. Before then, I mainly attended the Association for Theatre in Higher Education - but there weren't a lot of folks there with interests in aging.

Q: How did you get interested in the field of aging?
A: I was one of those kids who got along better with older people than people my own age.  That, and I was told NOT to study aging by my dissertation advisor - which of course just made me want to do it more.  His reasoning was right though - if I wanted a job in a Theatre Dept., there were no jobs that asked for a specialty in aging.  There still aren't.  Humanities scholars with an interest in aging have had to invent a field, or twist their interest into another one, like Gender Studies, History of Science, Disability Studies, or Performance Studies. 

Q: What are your key responsibilities at your job and/or school?
A: I direct the interdisciplinary Center on Age & Community at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.  We offer education, programming, and consulting to ignite innovative collaborations between the university and community partners in aging services. I'm also an Associate Professor of Theatre at the Peck School of the Arts, where I teach applied arts - using creativity to transform long term care and the lives of older adults.  I have the privilege of hosting the Next Step Think Tanks, which are thrilling.  I am the primary liaison to our Leadership Council, which is half community members and half UWM faculty with specialties in applied research in long term care.  I also get to help foster translations of research into innovative teaching tools that CAC makes available on our website. 

Q: What has been your most memorable experience in gerontology and aging  research?
A: Every time I facilitate creative engagement in long term care settings it feels like a miracle.  I'm also a playwright, and right now, I'm working with a whole team of people to create an original play to be staged inside a long term care facility with a blend of residents, staff, students, and professional actors.  It is based on the story of Penelope from Homer's Odyssey.  Every minute of this project has been a thrill - watching the students gain strength and awareness; watching the staff take hold of the idea and race off with it; watching the residents flourish when invited to respond to a question like "what do you think Penelope said to Odysseus when he returned home after 20 years at war?" 

Q: How do you feel GSA serves the field of gerontology and aging research?
A: I learn so much about the field of aging from the rich range of disciplinary languages spoken here.  All the most exciting things in life (and research!) happen between things - between fields, between languages, between cultures, between people.  Sometimes I get lonely for other Humanities folks, but we're working on that.

Q: Do you have any tips for emerging gerontologists?
A: Collaborate.  All the best things happen between fields (see above). And learn how to talk to the press.  

Q: Tell us a little about your most recent activities/accomplishments?
A: The Penelope Project is a multi-year endeavor that aims to improves the quality of life in a long term care facility by engaging the entire facility (admin, staff, volunteers, residents in all levels of care) in a common, sustained, and creative project.  It's an astounding experience. It's built on the base of the TimeSlips project, which I founded way back in 1998.  It's a way to build community in long term care so that people can begin to feel what a changed culture might be like.  I'm going on sabbatical next year to process what we learned and to create teaching tools so others can learn from our experiences.  I'm also redesigning the TimeSlips website (www.timeslips.org) to enable people to read, create, and share stories with friends and family.  We need to reach people with dementia living isolated at home. 

Q: Have you had an important mentor in your career? If so, how did it make a difference?
A: I miss Bob Butler.  He inspired me to dream and to question.  He assumed (and convinced me) that a person with a PhD in Theatre Studies had just as much stake in improving the lives of older adults as an MD.  And my mom taught me never to be intimidated by anyone - which is very important when you give a keynote address on dementia to an audience of 500 MD researchers.  Or 500 people with dementia.