April 14, 2023

McGovern Center hosts festschrift in honor of Thomas Cole

From April 12 – 14, 2023, the McGovern Center hosted a small conference in honor of Thomas R. Cole, PhD, founding director of the Center. The conference consisted of a dozen scholars who presented and workshopped papers touching on key…


March 14, 2022

McGovern Center to host conference honoring Dr. Thomas Cole

From April 12-14, 2023, the McGovern Center will host a small conference in Houston, TX, in honor of Thomas R. Cole, PhD, our Founding Director. Current Center director, Rev. Nathan Carlin, PhD, announced a call for proposals, detailed below. The…


October 28, 2020

Thomas Cole, Old Man Country featured in podcast

Journalist Susan Flory created The Big Middle, a podcast featuring “spirited conversations about living healthy longer, aging differently.” In the October 22 episode, Flory spoke with Thomas Cole, PhD, about aging, the fourth age, and his book Old Man Country.


June 4, 2020

Thomas Cole interviewed for New Tricks for Old Dogs podcast

In late May, Thomas Cole, PhD, appeared in “The Lockdown Frees the Mind,” an episode of New Tricks for Old Dogs. The podcast is hosted by Paul Menzel and Jim Conlan and addresses topics for Boomers. In the episode, Cole…


January 30, 2020

The Page 99 Test features “Old Man Country,” plus Shelf Awareness review

Old Man Country: My Search for Meaning Among the Elders is the latest book written by Thomas Cole, PhD.  The book, released in December 2019 by Oxford University Press, has received much attention from media outlets including The New York…


January 30, 2020

Thomas Cole discusses latest book on Psychology Today

“My Journey Into Old Man Country,” appeared on the Psychology Today website this week. In the piece, Thomas Cole, PhD, discusses the journey he experienced while writing his latest book, Old Man Country: My Search for Meaning Among the Elders….


January 14, 2020

Thomas Cole interviewed by Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal’s Clare Ansberry recently interviewed Thomas Cole, PhD, about his latest book, Old Man Country. In the interview, Ansberry and Cole discuss what can be learned from men in their 80s, following Cole’s conversations with the subjects…


January 6, 2020

Houston Chronicle reviews “Old Man Country”

Thomas Cole, PhD, saw his latest book Old Man Country: My Search for Meaning Among the Elders released in late 2019.  The book was positively reviewed by the Houston Chronicle’s Mark B. Ryan in a piece released this month.


December 10, 2019

“Old Man Country” by Thomas Cole is released

“Old Man Country” is the second book from author Thomas Cole, PhD, director of the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics. The book is an eyewitness account of the challenges of dealing with old age from some of the most successful people…


October 29, 2019

Current and former McGovern Center members presented at national meeting

The American Society for Bioethics and Humanities hosted its 21st annual conference recently in Pittsburgh. The conference theme was “Remembrance and Resilience: How Bioethics and Humanities Can Move Us Forward.” Center director Thomas Cole, PhD, presented as part of a…