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Wednesday, March 16, 2005

TEACHING TODAY

A University Diaries Series


AT 86, A PROFESSOR WHO IS STILL GOING STRONG

The Globe and Mail

As the University of Toronto moves to end mandatory retirement at 65 for its professors and librarians, Brenda Milner says it's about time.

"If you are attached to university life and the whole academic tradition, it's a little hurtful to be forced out of it just because of age," says the 86-year-old, full-time professor at Montreal's McGill University.

"I know that people suffer a lot when they have to [retire] when they are still doing good work."

Prof. Milner speaks from experience. A renowned professor of neuro-psychology at McGill's faculty of medicine and at the Montreal Neurological Institute, Prof. Milner says she was able to stay at work past 65 through a special concession granted by the university.

And about a year later, Quebec abolished its mandatory retirement law, which let her continue to stay on.

"It would have been terrible" if she had had to retire, Prof. Milner says.
Even now, she works a typical day that stretches from about 9 a.m. and ends at 6 p.m., although her hours are flexible.

Her work consists of a combination of lectures, research and writing.

And she says she'll keep going as long as her work is "scientifically credible" and can continue to get her grants to do her research.

In fact, she believes, such credibility is key to anyone's decision to continue working.

"If my work had suddenly deteriorated or if I had failed to get my grants and it was suddenly obvious that I was going to the dogs, then I would have to retire," she says. "There was a quality-control understanding."

Prof. Milner says age is no factor in how she's treated by her peers.

She also says her students enjoy the fact that she can provide personal perspective on her discipline from her own long life.

"I lecture about memory and the brain," she says. "People want to know about what it was like when you were making some discoveries 50 years ago. You are getting it from the horse's mouth."

That's not to say age doesn't take its toll. She has slowed down and had cataract surgery.
And she acknowledges that memory doesn't get better as one ages and "an older brain is not good at learning new tricks."

But what is encouraging is that "things that we have learned well and that we are very familiar with seem to hold up well to normal aging," she says.

Prof. Milner, one of the world's eminent neuro-psychologists, doesn't believe there is any recipe for a lengthy career.

She credits her own ability to work well into her 80s to her "genes." Her mother lived to be 95 and taught music in a university setting until age 88.

"I have a role model," she says. "But I have my fingers and toes crossed.. . . I am 86, and anything could happen to me."

But she's doing everything she can to prevent it.’




[Yes, yes, well and good. But here’s where she really gets going.]




She walks 10 minutes to work every day. "I don't drive a car. I walk and do all my grocery shopping up and down Montreal hills."

"I eat healthily," she adds. "I'm an enthusiastic eater of meat, and I like a glass of red wine with most of my evening meals."

To keep her mind active, she is an avid reader but avoids watching TV. In fact, she doesn't even have a television. "It's too passive," she says.

Prof. Milner says people should only continue working only if you like what you're doing.

"I think people in the academic world are fortunate because they are doing something they love usually," she says.

Even so, she acknowledges that working past age 65 is not for everyone, and suggests that some academics might want to pursue a second career instead. "They might want to get out of the rat race of grant applications because it is fiercely competitive and may get to you."

Why has she worked so long? Simply because she loves it. "I never wanted children," says the British-born academic. "I knew I wanted a career."

Prof. Milner says she began to "slow down" only about 10 years ago and moved to a five-day work week from six days, giving up Sundays. "Now, I find that I am quite glad to have a weekend," she says.’