RESEARCH AGENDA

Kendal at Ithaca has a strong commitment to advance the art and the science of the care and services for older people.

Before it was even built, Kendal residents became the subjects for the Pathways to Life Quality Project. This research was a joint effort between the Ithaca College Gerontology Institute and the Bronfenbrenner Life Course Institute at Cornell University. It was a five-year longitudinal study, which evaluated the effect on the quality of older people's lives of decisions they make about where they live.

Another research project, conducted by the Ithaca College Gerontology Institute and the Ithaca City School District, pairs Kendal residents with fourth grade students for a semester of doing writing projects together. The purpose is to measure the attitudes of children about aging before and after they have had meaningful contact with older adults.

A large number of smaller research projects have involved mobility, swallowing, herbicide use, and elder friendly interior design.