By Tucker Paquette
@tpaquette17
The word “excited” isn’t normally one that comes to mind for people when they think about aging, but Springfield College Professor of Health Sciences Pamela Higgins is one such person who feels that way.
Higgins’ positive outlook on aging is underscored by the fact that she is Springfield’s Distinguished Professor of Humanics for the 2024-25 academic year. Higgins, a double alum who earned her Master of Science on Alden Street in 1984 and is in her 13th year as a member of the college’s faculty, was thrilled when she found out that she was being named this year’s distinguished professor.
“I was surprised, very honored and excited for the opportunity,” Higgins said. “To know that my colleagues believe in me that deeply, to nominate me and then for the selection, it’s a wonderful feeling.”
As all Distinguished Professors of Humanics do, Higgins is working on a humanics project, one she chose to center around affirmative approaches to aging. Higgins is an expert in public health practice and public health science, and she aimed to focus her project in those realms.
“In September, I knew I wanted to do something that was public health-related, but also something that could fulfill a need for our campus community,” Higgins said.
“After some discussions with a few people, and also just thinking about the topic all summer, I decided that addressing our aging population was something that was needed, and something that we were already doing, some activities that I could maybe highlight and then add some on,” Higgins added.
One key step Higgins took upon deciding on her project was forming the Affirmative Approaches to Aging Committee. She invited faculty, staff and students to join, and currently has over 20 people on the committee. They’ve already held multiple meetings.
This group has enabled Higgins and company to gain a deeper understanding of the campus’ attention to aging, and it led to Higgins applying to make Springfield College an age-friendly university. Being an age-friendly university brings a number of benefits, not the least of which is entering into a group of institutions with similar goals.
“What this does is it connects us into this network of colleges and universities globally,” Higgins said. “Many of them are in the United States, in a way to share best practices, to get together once or twice a year, to talk about what everyone’s doing, share ideas, to address the issues that we think are needed for our population, our aging population.”
Much of Higgins’ passion for research on aging is driven by her public health background. Typically in public health, an emphasis is placed on analyzing populations and demographics.
From there, for Higgins’ purposes, she and others in her field will dive into the primary causes of disability, death, illness and other issues, and how to prevent those problems. This process of identifying issues and trying to fix them is especially important with the aging population, who are naturally at a higher risk of health issues.
However, while the aging population experiences their fair share of health difficulties, there are positive indicators that suggest people are aging better as research and medicine progress. Higgins cited data from the World Health Organization showing that the number of people ages 60 and older is expected to reach two billion by 2050, a number that was at 900 million in 2015.
“We’re seeing our populations globally age,” Higgins said. “People are living longer, they’re living healthier and they’re very active. Having said that, we do age, it’s normal to age – and we do – our abilities change.”
This is an issue that matters to Higgins and one that she believes is deserving of the time, energy and resources being put into it. In her mind, there was no way her humanics project could have been anything that wasn’t worthy of a significant investment on the part of many people.
“It’s a need,” Higgins said. “I didn’t want my project to be something that, ‘Okay, I’m just going to do what I think is only interesting to me.’ I wanted it to be something that engaged the entire campus community at all levels to help us do something that’s important to our population.”
One instance where Higgins’ goal of getting others on campus involved in her work took shape was after a presentation she did earlier this year. A pair of students, senior therapeutic recreation major Keeley Joyal and senior physical therapy major Emma Rodjenski, approached Higgins.
“I had two students come up and say, ‘Hey, we have an idea for a project,’” Higgins said. “And so really, it’s their idea.”
Joyal and Rodjenski’s idea developed into “Bridging Generations, Art in Common,” an event set to take place on April 24. The event will bring together Springfield College students and older adults. Each student will be paired up with an elder, and they’ll work on an art project and have lunch together.
This is exactly what Higgins had in mind when she said she wanted the campus community to be involved in her project, as the bond developed between students and their older counterparts highlights the good that can happen for those who are aging.
For as impressed as Higgins has been with Joyal and Rodjenski, the feeling is mutual. Rodjenski appreciates how seriously Higgins takes her work, while also noting how she’s been an invaluable leader.
“[Higgins] has been so helpful throughout this whole project,” Rodjenski said. “She has listened to Keeley and I, and let us take the lead while providing us with the utmost support and resources. She has always been someone I can easily communicate with and trust.”
For her part, Higgins is glad to be able to shine a light on the upsides of aging while working to help older people. She doesn’t want older people to be seen for what they can no longer accomplish, but rather for the joys of life that are still in front of them.
“I think sometimes when we think of the older generation, we think of limitations,” Higgins said. “We don’t think of possibilities.”
(Photo courtesy of Springfield College)