MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — In the February edition of Middle Tennessee State University’s “Out of the Blue” television magazine program, the spotlight shines on the age-friendly ecosystem on campus. Earlier this year, MTSU was named as the first higher-education institution in the state to earn membership in the internationally recognized Age-Friendly University Global Network, or AFUGN.
Show host Andrew Oppmann, MTSU vice president of marketing, talked with NHC Chair of Excellence in Nursing holder Deborah Lee and Dr. Ralph Alvarado, Tennessee Department of Health commissioner, about what the age-friendly designation means for the campus and beyond.
Watch the segment:
“We are now part of a network of over 110 universities around the globe, including five continents, and we are now the 34th of the 50 states that have received this designation,” said Lee, MTSU professor of nursing.
The designation has put MTSU at the forefront of an important movement focused on healthy aging. And Alvarado said he hopes MTSU’s pioneering efforts will be contagious and other universities will follow suit.
“To get this age-friendly designation,” Alvarado continued, “it kind of establishes that we’re welcoming for people that as they get older, for the concerns that they have, whether it be health issues, transportation issues, lots of things, to welcome them into the area.”
MTSU’s push for healthy aging practices prompted the establishment of the Positive Aging Consortium on campus, which Lee cofounded with associate professor of exercise physiology Brandon Grubbs.
“I’m really proud of what we do educationally here to really support older adults, and that, I think, makes us unique and wonderful in trying to be part and supporting an age-friendly ecosystem,” Lee explained.
The age-friendly ecosystem also falls in line with the initiatives of the Tennessee Department of Health’s Office of Healthy Aging, which was established by Alvarado in 2024.
“Dr. Alvarado wrote us a letter of support for our application,” Lee said. “So I’m appreciative of the leadership that Dr. Alvarado and his Office of Healthy Aging really are bringing to the table for the state.”
The programs already in place made MTSU “a strong contender,” Lee said, to receive the designation and Alvarado said the leadership on campus is “doing the work” it takes to receive the accolades.
“Public health has been the convener of trying to bring parties together to really develop the age-friendly ecosystem, and they do see universities as being a part of that,” Lee said.
Learn more about the Positive Aging Consortium by visiting mtsu.edu/pac.
“Out of the Blue” is available anytime on the university’s YouTube channel, the True Blue TV channel, Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV. It also airs on Murfreesboro cable Channel 9 daily at 6 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; NewsChannel5+ at 6:30 p.m. Sundays; and streamed on the MTSU Jazz Network through WMOT.org at 7 a.m. on the first Sunday of each month; and on other cable outlets in Middle Tennessee, so check local listings.
It is also available as a podcast on iTunes and Google Play and as individual interview segments on Spotify at https://spoti.fi/453hxg3.
Watch previous episodes of “Out of the Blue” at https://mtsunews.com/out-of-the-blue.
— Nancy DeGennaro (Nancy.DeGennaro@mtsu.edu
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