Nanette Shaw
Assistant Vice President for Public Affairs

PRESS CONTACT:
David Manning
212. 817.7177 or 7170
dmanning@gc.cuny.edu


June 12, 2001

for IMMEDIATE release

Aarp And Cuny Graduate Center Form Learning Partnership

The City University of New York Graduate Center and AARP have announced a new partnership that greatly enhances lifelong learning opportunities for the New York City's growing senior population. Combining the intellectual and cultural resources of The Graduate Center with AARP's powerful membership base, the partnership will offer AARP members discounts to selected Continuing Education and Public Programs presented by The Graduate Center and co-sponsored by AARP. All programs will take place in the complex of cultural facilities in The Graduate Center's new campus in the former B. Altman department store building at 365 Fifth Avenue. The partnership will get underway this fall with a series of eight programs, encompassing history, literature, theatre, politics, writing, art, investing, health and fitness. A complete schedule is attached.
A special event at The Graduate Center on June 12 launched the new partnership. The event featured a lecture by The Graduate Center's Pulitzer-Prize winning author Mike Wallace, a reception, tours of The Graduate Center's new campus, a gallery exhibition, and opportunities for advance discount registration for the fall programs.
"As the City's only public doctoral studies institution, and one of the country's leading graduate schools, The Graduate Center is in a unique position to draw on exciting scholarly resources for public programming," said David Levine, Director of Continuing Education and Public Programs at The Graduate Center. "It's particularly significant to be initiating such programming in cooperation with AARP at a time when members of the baby boom generation begin approaching their senior years."
"AARP is delighted to be in a partnership with the CUNY Graduate Center, by providing older Americans with stimulating yet affordable classes," said Lois Aronstein, AARP New York State Director. "The courses offered are not only diverse and distinctive in their subject matter, but fulfill AARP's commitment to support lifelong learning as a means to enhance the new longevity of New Yorkers. As Aristotle said, 'Education is the best provision for old age.' "
AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization for people 50 and over, with 2.5 million members in New York State. It provides information and resources; advocates on legislative, consumer, and legal issues; assists members to serve their communities; and offers a wide range of unique benefits, special products, and services for its members. These benefits include AARP Webplace at www.aarp.org, Modern Maturity and My Generation magazines, and the monthly AARP Bulletin. Active in every U.S. state and territory, AARP celebrates the attitude that age isn't just a number -- it's about how you live your life.
The Graduate Center is the doctorate-granting institution of The City University of New York, the largest urban university in the U.S. The only consortium of its kind in the nation, The Graduate Center draws its faculty of more than 1,600 members mainly from the CUNY senior colleges and cultural and scientific institutions throughout New York City.
Established in 1961, The Graduate Center has grown to an enrollment of about 3,500 students in 32 doctoral programs and seven master's degree programs in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. The Graduate Center also houses 30 research centers and institutes and administers the CUNY Baccalaureate Program.
According to a recent National Research Council report, more than a third of The Graduate Center's rated programs rank among the nation's top 20 at public and private institutions, nearly a quarter are among the top ten when compared to publicly supported institutions alone, and more than half are among the top five programs at publicly supported institutions in the northeast.
Further information on The Graduate Center's programs and activities can be found on its Web site at: www.gc.cuny.edu.
# # #