Eleven outstanding social work students have been chosen as the newest recipients of the prestigious Hartford Doctoral Fellowship, a program funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation, administered by The Gerontological Society of America, and directed by Dr. James Lubben.
The following individuals will each receive a $50,000 dissertation grant plus $20,000 in matching support from their home institutions that will enable them to more fully concentrate on their dissertation research projects over the next two years:
Sharon Bowland, MSW
Washington University in St. Louis
Dissertation Chair: Tonya Edmond, PhD
Dissertation topic: "Evaluating a psycho-social-spiritual Intervention with older women who are survivors of interpersonal trauma"
Jeungkun Kim, MA, MSW
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Dissertation chair: Karen Holden, PhD
Dissertation topic: Gender differences in labor force participation of older persons: An international perspective study."
Jewell Brazelton, MSW
The University of Chicago
Dissertation Chair: Gina Samuels, PhD
Dissertation topic: "African American women looking back: Making meaning of the disclosure process of incest survivors across the life course."
Marie McCormick, LCSW
Fordham University
Dissertation chair: Raymond Fox, PhD
Dissertation topic: "My body, my self: The meaning of the food-body-eating-self phenomenon in the lifeworld of the older woman."
John Cagle, MSW
Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation chair: Pamela Kovacs, PhD
Dissertation topic: "Long distance caregivers of terminally ill cancer patients: Sources of support and bereavement adjustment."
Rajean Moon, MS
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Dissertation chair: Elizabeth Lightfoot, PhD
Dissertation topic: "National policy diffusion of cost sharing in the 2000 reauthorization of the Older Americans Act."
Michele Day, MSW
University of Missouri-Columbia
Dissertation chair: Debra Parker-Oliver, PhD
Dissertation topic: "Exploring the hospice interdisciplinary team collaboration focused on pain management."
Kyaien O'Quinn Conner, MSW
University of Pittsburgh
Dissertation chair: Nancy Grote, PhD
Dissertation topic: Treatment seeking among older adults with depression: The impact of stigma and race."
Brooke Funderburk, MSW
University of California, Los Angeles
Dissertation chair: Lene Levy-Storms, PhD
Dissertation topic: "Regret and advice: Elder-defined pathways to successful aging."
Barbara Thomas, MA, MSW
University of Michigan
Dissertation co-chairs: Ruth Dunkle, PhD, and Renee Anspach, PhD
Dissertation topic: "The childhood shows the main as the morning shows the day: Three essays on childhood maltreatment, current social relationships, and physical health."
Lauren Hersch Nicholas, MPP
Columbia University
Dissertation chair: Irwin Garfinkel, PhD
Dissertation topic: "Medicare advantage? Effects of Medicare Managed Care on quality, enrollment, and cost of health care for the elderly."
This fellowship program is a component of the nationwide Geriatric Social Work Initiative, which seeks to expand the training of social workers in order to improve the health and well being of older persons and their families. It was created to help social work doctoral students overcome their greatest obstacles, such as limited teacher training and career guidance. These fellowships cultivate the next generation of geriatric social work faculty as teachers, role models and mentors for future generations of geriatric social workers.
Lubben, the Louise McMahon Ahearn University Chair at Boston College, works together with a national program committee, which plays a role in selecting the Fellows. This board consists of Barbara Berkman of the Hartford Faculty Scholars Program, Iris Chi of the University of Southern California, Namkee Choi of the University of Texas at Austin, Ruth Dunkle of the University of Michigan, Jan Greenberg of the University of Wisconsin, Carmen Morano of the Hartford Pre-Dissertation Award Program, Nancy Morrow-Howell of Washington University in St. Louis, Terry Singer of the University of Louisville, and Deborah Waldrop of the State University of New York at Buffalo.
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA), founded in 1945, is the oldest and largest national multidisciplinary scientific organization devoted to the advancement of gerontological research. Its membership includes some 5,000+ researchers, educators, practitioners, and other professionals in the field of aging. The Society's principal missions are to promote research and education in aging and to encourage the dissemination of research results to other scientists, decision makers, and practitioners.
The John A. Hartford Foundation, established in 1929, is a committed champion of training, research, and service system innovations that promote the health and independence of America's older adults. Through its grantmaking, the Foundation seeks to strengthen the nation's capacity to provide effective, affordable care to this rapidly increasing older population.