Birren institute of autobiographical studies weekly newspaper
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the Birren Center Substack
A warm welcome to all of our subscribers! If you’re a new subscriber, we’re delighted to welcome you to the GAB Gazette, a highlight reel from the world of Guided Autobiography for October 2024.
(l to r) Yvonne Chua (Singapore), Ellie Freedman Levin (Laguna Woods, CA), and Georgina Martinez (Los Angeles) “met” in 2023 in Leigh Morrow’s online GAB instructor training. They developed a bond despite their diverse ages and backgrounds, and when Yvonne visited the US in August 2024, they met for lunch in Southern California. One of the gifts of GAB. 😊
Message from Cheryl Svensson, Director: The Birren Center Community Hub Now Open for GAB Instructors!
Announcements/Birren Center News: GAB Summit Update; The 2025 Birren Collection
Featured GABBERs: Alicia Borisonik and Camila Reimers
Books, Blogs, and Podcasts: Brevity; Women’s Voices
Article Roundup: Will AI Kill Creativity?
Collaboration: Birren Center Now a Member of
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the Birren Center Substack
A warm welcome to all of our subscribers! If you’re a new subscriber, we’re delighted to welcome you to the GAB Gazette, a highlight reel from the world of Guided Autobiography for February 2025.
Independence at Home (IAH), a community service department of SCAN Health Plan, is dedicated to helping older adults and their caregivers. In the fall of 2024, The Piedmont – EngAGE in North Hollywood, joined IAH’s guided autobiography series, exploring different writing themes, sharing memories, and creating new friendships. The Birren Center has trained more than a dozen SCAN health care professionals to be Guided Autobiography instructors since 2014.
Message from Cheryl Svensson, Director, the Birren Center for Autobiographical Studies
Featured GABBER: Carolyn V. Young
New Birren Center Course Offering: Legacy Letter Writing
2025 Birren Anthology Update
Books, Blogs, and Podcasts: Wait! Don’t Leave Before We Get to Know Yo
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James Birren
American gerontologist
James E. Birren (April 4, 1918[1] – January 15, 2016) was one of the founders of the organized field of gerontology. He was a past president of The Gerontological Society of America, and author of over 250 publications.
Personal life
[edit]Birren was born on April 4, 1918, in Chicago. With the original intent to study engineering, Birren enrolled in Wright Junior College to study technical subjects. Birren changed his mind due to the Great nedstämdhet in America and decided to transfer to Chicago Teachers College to pursue what he thought to be a more practical career. It was there he took his first course in psychology, and he was encouraged by his professors to attend graduate school at Northwestern University.
Birren was strongly influenced bygd his time as a graduate student studying experimental psychology at Northwestern University. Birren married his wife, Betty, in 1942.
Birren died on January 15, 2016, at the age of