Jennifer (Jenny) Sasser, PhD is an educational gerontologist, transdisciplinary scholar, and social activist. She serves as Teaching & Learning Specialist in the Center for Teaching & Learning Excellence and part-time faculty in the Gerontology Program at Portland Community College.
Jenny has been working in the field of aging for more than half her life, beginning as a nursing assistant and advocate before specializing in educational gerontology, and adult development and learning. She has centered her multifaceted practice in the areas of creativity in later life; aging and embodiment; transdisciplinary curriculum design; critical gerontological theory; transformational and radical pedagogy; intersectional and anti-ageist approaches to equity, inclusion, and justice; and cross-generational collaborative inquiry.
From 1999 to 2015, Jenny served as Chair of the Department of Human Sciences and Founding Director of Gerontology at Marylhurst University. She has been an adjunct faculty member of the Pacifica Graduate Institute Depth Psychology program since 2007, and from 2018 to 2020 designed and taught an adult-learner focused, hybrid Human Development and Family Sciences program in downtown Portland for Oregon State University. Jenny joined the Portland Community College Gerontology Program in 2016 as a part-time faculty member and in August 2023 completed a two-year position as co-Faculty Department Chair.
Jenny co-authors, with Janet Lee, Blood Stories: Menarche and the Politics of the Female Body in Contemporary US Society; Aging: Concepts and Controversies with Harry R. Moody (now in its 10th edition); and is first author (also with Moody) of Gerontology: The basics, recently published in Chinese and Spanish. She co-authors several book chapters and is an essayist. Her ongoing commitments include convening the Gero-Punk Project (www.geropunkproject.org); serving as a conversation facilitator and trainer for Oregon Humanities (www.oregonhumanities.org); and offering consulting, workshops and presentations throughout North America. An award-winning educator, Jenny’s citations include the 2012 Association for Gerontology in Higher Education Distinguished Teacher award, and a Willamette University Distinguished Alumni award in 2014. In 2022, Jenny was inducted into the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education as a Fellow.
Jenny Sasser, Ph.D.
The Gero-Punk Project 
A colleague turned me onto this page. I love it! I promise to continue to take the anarchy to the streets. BTW, I read –Blood Stories: Menarche and the Politics of the Female Body in Contemporary US Society when I was an undergrad and Women’s Studies Minor (Sociology Major.) I would love to contribute to this website. .
Thank you Jenny! My wise friend (former professor, 95 years young, recently said to me as I approached my 64th birthday with dread, “Aging is mandatory, growing old is optional.” I feel fabulous for 64, ready to live all my dreams fully and with gusto…your term “gero-punk” fits me to a T…. thank you, thank you. Just because I teach gerontology doesn’t mean I embrace growing old!!!
It was *wonderful* meeting you on the plane last week, Jenny! Your work, background, energy and attitude are *incredibly* inspiring! I look forward to connecting again soon! You mentioned some innovative solutions and people with whom to connect. I could see right away that you’re a major change agent in the best way!!