Human Sciences sets O’Toole International Speaker Series for March 26
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Dr. Patricia Moore, president of MooreDesign Associates LLC, will speak on “AGEing: The Challenge of the Lifespan” during the Dean Lela O’Toole International Speaker Series at Oklahoma State University. Moore’s presentation will be held in the Wes Watkins Center Auditorium at 2:30 p.m. on Thurs., March 26. The talk is open to the public and free of charge. The OSU College of Human Sciences and the Division of International Studies and Outreach are sponsoring the event as part of Human Sciences Week 2015.
Moore is an internationally renowned gerontologist and designer, serving as a leading authority on consumer lifespan behaviors and requirements. Beginning at the age of 26, for a period of three years, in an exceptional and daring sociological experiment, Moore traveled throughout the United States and Canada disguised as women more than eighty years of age of varying socio-economic status. With her body altered to simulate the normal sensory changes associated with aging, she was able to respond to people, products and environments as an elder.
Since 1990, Moore has designed more than 200 Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Environments for acute and sub-acute healthcare facilities throughout North America, Europe and Japan. She is a frequent lecturer, media guest, author of a number of articles and three books. She is the co-author of the American National Standards Committee on Anthropometry and is considered a pioneer of universal design.
Moore holds undergraduate degrees in industrial and environmental and communication design from the Rochester Institute of Technology, graduate degrees in psychology and counseling and in human development from Columbia University and has completed advanced studies in biomechanics at New York University’s medical school and Rusk Institute.
She has received numerous awards for her achievements including being named by ID Magazine as one of The 40 Most Socially Conscious Designers in the world. In 2000, a consortium of news editors and organizations named her as one of The 100 Most Important Women in America.
Established in 1995, The Dean Lela O’Toole International Speaker Series in the College of Human Sciences focuses on timely and relevant topics related to public policy, ethics, and international issues in the scholastic areas of the college. Lela O’Toole served as dean of the College of Human Sciences from 1951-1975. She believed universities have an important role in the conduct of international and world affairs. Dean O’Toole’s interest in the world community led the college and Oklahoma State University to a position of international leadership during the mid-twentieth century.