Our Mission
To build an alliance of leaders in higher education fostering the development and sustainability of midlife transition programs on college campuses around the world, by providing networking opportunities, resources, advice and support.
Testimonials from in-class participants
The Nexel Collaborative is a not-for-profit network of academic thought leaders promoting college-based midlife transition programs focused on helping adults thrive by renewing their purpose, building new social networks, incorporating wellness practices, and fostering intergenerational and community engagement.
Members are dedicated to this initiative, not to franchise any particular program, but to carry out a mission to transform higher education to serve a longer, healthier lifespan.
The collaborative holds meetings, events and focus groups to help postsecondary schools (from public and private universities, to liberal arts and community colleges) successfully launch a like-minded program designed to fit within their institutional culture and to help programs thrive. Sparked by the interests of the member participants, discussions cover topics such as program models and formats, practical strategies, budgeting, startup challenges and best practices. The Collaborative intends to incorporate shared resources and advisors, offer grant opportunities, and explore cross-institutional research studies to assess the effectiveness of these programs for participants as well as for institutions.
“As we looked to develop a program at Northwestern, I met colleagues who had already traveled the road that I was about to embark on. They were extremely generous in sharing what they had learned, which accelerated our launch by a year or more.”
Background:
In just over a century, life expectancy has increased by over 30 years in the US. Yet the standard career span is still expected to end when individuals are in their 60’s. College graduates may be prepared for careers running 20-30 years, but loss of interest, commitment, burnout, or forced early exit from the workforce may occur during midlife. Those who jumped into jobs without finishing their education are in a similar stage at midlife+, seeking new opportunities to find “something more” as their circumstances and priorities shift. The prospect of facing a long retirement without a purpose or an income is not only undesirable but unhealthy. At this critical juncture in the life journey, higher education can play an important role in contributing to the health and wellness of an aging society.
To tackle the issue of longevity and increased morbidity in older adults, Dr. Philip Pizzo approached the issue from a scientific, medical and academic perspective, after stepping down from his post as Dean of the Stanford University School of Medicine. In 2015, under his guidance and direction, Stanford launched the Distinguished Careers Institute (DCI), a year-long transformational immersion experience for a cohort of individuals seeking a renewal of purpose in midlife. The program was designed as an experiment to test the theory that mid-to-late career adults can pivot, discover and design their next chapter by going back to school and cultivating a student mindset again.
Inspired by the success of the DCI program, several other institutions (including the University of Notre Dame, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Minnesota), and many others, have started similar midlife transition programs on their campuses. From the outset, the DCI had received a large number of inquiries from other institutions. In 2018, the program received a grant from the Hewlett Foundation to create an outreach program allowing the DCI to reach a wider audience. From there, The Nexel Collaborative, a nonprofit organization under the aegis of fiscal sponsor Community Initiatives, was born. Advisory Board members have given talks at national academic conferences (AASCU, AAC&U, Achieving the Dream, and SXSW EDU) and continue to run an ongoing series of focus group meetings and public forums co-hosted by member institutions.