Guest Presenters

Gene Cohen, MD, PhD
Thursday 7-9pm

The Mature Mind: Creative Potential and Psychological Growth in the Second Half of Life

This years speaker, Gene D. Cohen, MD, PhD is the first Director of the Center on Aging, Health & Humanities(established 1994) at George Washington University (GW), where he also holds the positions of Professor of Health Care Sciences and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He has launched a new public education program on aging targeting the young, referred to as SEAChange—an acronym for Societal Education about Aging for Change. He is a cofounder of the Creativity Discovery Corps whose mission is to identify and preserve the creative accomplishments and rich histories of under-recognized talented older adults. In addition, he is the founding Director of a think tank on aging-the Washington, DC Center On Aging (established 1994) and Past-President (1996-1997) of the Gerontological Society of America. Dr. Cohen is the author of more than 150 publications in the field of aging, including his new book, The Mature Mind: The Positive Power of the Aging Brain.

Dr. Cohen will speak on how research on aging has identified a number of positive brain and behavioral changes in the second half of life that set the stage for psychological growth and creative expression. As a result, we now recognize positive developments among middle age and older adults that occur not despite aging, but because of aging. These positive changes will be delineated and the underlying mechanisms that enable them to happen will be elaborated. The New Senior Moment—a creative one—will be described, and aging will be discussed as perhaps the best example of a phenomenon where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Be prepared to witness the dismantling of a number of long held negative myths and stereotypes about aging.

Film Screening
Eyewitness to Valkyrie
Wed 5 – 6:30pm

"Eyewitness to Valkyrie" is a feature-length documentary on the Stauffenberg Circle, the group of conspirators in the German Wehrmacht who executed the attempt on Hitler's life on July 20, 1944. The aim of the film is to provide a painstakingly researched reconstruction of the psychological forces that motivated the conspirators, and the factors that caused their attempt to fail.

The film is based on a number of exclusive interviews with survivors of the Stauffenberg Kreis and their immediate family members, as well as noted German, British and American scholars including Prof. Ian Kershaw, Prof. James Koch, Dr. Johannes Tuchel and author Roger Moorhouse. It features extensive dramatizations and CG animation, as well as rare color and black & white archival footage.

The film is partly based on research conducted by Media Psychology students under supervision of the film's director, Dr. Jean-Pierre Isbouts. "