About

About the Robert N. Butler-Jack Rosenthal Age Boom Academy
Led by Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH; and Bruce Shapiro, the Robert N. Butler–Jack Rosenthal Age Boom Academy was conceived by pioneering geriatrician Robert N. Butler and renowned journalist, editor and New York Times executive Jack Rosenthal and is now in its third decade. Caitlin Hawke, Associate Director, Programming at the Columbia Aging Center, is the senior project lead for the Age Boom Academy.

Age Boom was launched at the International Longevity Center USA  in 2000 under the leadership of Malvin Schechter, ILC's Associate Director at the time. Envisioned as an intensive training for journalists, editors, and producers in all media — print, on air and online, this signature program of the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center continues today and is still run in partnership with the Columbia Journalism School, Age Boom is a forum in which to train journalists about the complex health, social, and economic issues facing our aging population. Nearly 200 journalists have participated in one or more of the annual Age Boom Academies since its inception.

Bringing together the resources of a top-tier research university, the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center routinely incorporates a range of disciplines from the medical sciences to urban planning to architecture in order to study and better understand the aging process and its societal implications.

The 2021 Academy, "Combatting Loneliness in Aging: Toward a 21st Century Blueprint for Societal Connectedness," was held online in May and June 2021.

The 2022 Academy "Caregiving and Our Longer Lives – The $500 Billion Question" is now open. Selection is competitive and applications are due by June 30, 2022. The 2022 Academy will be held virtually over four two-hour sessions on October 13, 14, 20 & 21. 

Purpose
​The concept behind this groundbreaking series of workshops for journalists is to provide an intensive seminar to deepen understanding of the health, economic, and social issues around aging.
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Age Boom Academy Fellows participate in high-impact courses on targeted topics to make reporting easier.  Led by leading experts in the field, the courses are a resource for journalists who are covering a complex and interconnected field.  After the Academy, leaders often continue to serve as resources for Academy alumni in their aging-related reporting.  Fellows have the opportunity to brainstorm story ideas with colleagues from print, radio, video, and online media.  Alumni continue to collaborate with and support one another after the Academy, sharing story ideas and resources.
History and Mission
For the last 20 years, the Age Boom Academy has served as a forum to educate journalists about the complex health, social, and economic issues that our society of longer lives faces.  Some 220 journalists have participated in one or more of the annual Academies since its inception.  The Academy was founded by Jack Rosenthal, then-president of The New York Times Company Foundation, and the late Dr. Robert N. Butler, president of the International Longevity Center (ILC) and a globally recognized geriatric authority.  From two distinct perspectives, the founders shared concern about the superficiality of reporting on older adults, particularly as America’s Baby Boom generation approached retirement age.

In 2011, the International Longevity Center joined the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center.  Based at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, the Columbia Aging Center is an interdisciplinary hub for research, policy, and education on healthy aging.

​Alumni of the Age Boom Academy are a sophisticated press corps, covering the multifaceted topic of aging from the full range of journalistic platforms.  Following the program each year, Age Boom alumni typically exchange information about sources and compare notes about how to frame the importance of the topic from the field for their editors and news directors.