The 10 AFU principles, as suggested by AFU Global Network and Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE), provide a guiding framework for distinguishing and evaluating how UMass Lowell can shape age-friendly programs and practices, as well as identify gaps and opportunities for growth. 

Examples of current and proposed activities, events and initiatives are described under each principle below: 

The UMass Lowell Career and Co-op Center supports students and alumni in developing job search skills and informed career choices

UMass Lowell's Division of Graduate, Online and Professional Studies (GPS) offers tuition-free credit programs to some Massachusetts residents 60 and older.

Faculty are developing intergenerational learning programs at the university.

Graduate, Online and Professional Studies provides online courses.

Currently, aging courses where students learn the value of longevity dividend and debunk myths of aging and understand the realities of aging, are offered in the College Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, as well as UMass Lowell’s Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences, health care programs. For example, the Solomont School of Nursing offers a graduate degree preparing Adult-Gerontological Primary Care Nurse Practitioners. In addressing this AFU principle, we recognize the need for additional aging programming.

UMass Lowell has established partnerships with representative organizations