Park, a doctoral student in the School of Social Work at the University of Maryland, Baltimore will receive a $40,000 grant plus $20,000 in matching support from her home institution to support her dissertation research project. Park's dissertation topic examines Korean elderly in America and their everyday life experiences and subjective well-being.
As a Hartford Doctoral Fellow, Park will attend the GSA Annual Meetings and the Council of Social Work Education where special pre-conference institutes are offered. Park, along with the 10 current Hartford Doctoral Fellows, will meet at these meetings and institutes, which are designed to cultivate the next generation of geriatric social work faculty.
It is estimated that there are over 600,000 practicing social workers in the United States. While most social workers report that geriatric knowledge is needed in their professional work, less than 5% of all masters level students in social work, and approximately 7% of doctoral level students specialize in aging. The Hartford Doctoral Fellows Program is a $2.45 million dollar program to ensure that the country will have the necessary pool of trained and skilled geriatric social workers by recruiting, sustaining, and training a cadre of talented doctoral students who will become tomorrow's social work faculty.
The GSA administers the Hartford Doctoral Fellows program. James Lubben, Professor of Social Welfare and Urban Planning in the UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research is Principal Investigator and National Director. Doctoral Fellows were selected by a National Program Committee comprised of Dr. Katharine Briar-Lawson, University of Albany; Dr. Denise Burnette, Columbia University; Dr. Namkee Choi, University of Texas, Austin; Dr. Ruth Dunkle, University of Michigan; Dr. Nancy Hooyman, University of Washington; Dr. Nancy Kropf, University of Georgia; Dr. Nancy Morrow-Howell, Washington University in St. Louis.
The John A. Hartford Foundation, Inc., of New York City is a private philanthropy established in 1929 by John A. Hartford, who was a chief executive of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company. The Doctoral Fellows program is one of five programs funded under the Hartford Strengthening Geriatric Social Work Initiative, which collaborates with social work education programs to prepare needed, aging-savvy social workers and improve the care and well-being of older adults and their families.
The Gerontological Society of America, the national organization of professionals in the field of aging, is dedicated to the promotion of the scientific study of aging, to encourage exchanges among researchers and practitioners and to foster the use of gerontological research in forming public policy.
For on-going information about the Hartford Doctoral Fellows Program and the other Hartford funded programs under this initiative, see the GSA web page at http://www.geron.org (click on social work under the tab "Programs").