Eight outstanding students have been chosen as the newest recipients of the prestigious Hartford Doctoral Fellowship in geriatric social work. The program is funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation, administered by The Gerontological Society of America, and directed by James Lubben, DSW, MPH.
Each of the Hartford Doctoral Fellows receives a $50,000 dissertation grant plus $20,000 in matching support from their home institutions, which enables recipients to more fully concentrate on their dissertation research projects over the next two years. Fellows also receive supplemental academic career guidance and mentoring, as well as professional development enabling them to more successfully launch an academic career in gerontology and social work.
This year's cohort consists of:
Troy Christian Andersen
University of Utah
Dissertation Topic: Proactive Dementia Care: A Pilot Study of Social Work and Health Education Interventions with Mild Dementia and Their Care Providers
Louanne Bakk
Michigan State University
Dissertation Topic: Gender and Racial Disparities in Cost-Related Medication Non-Adherence: The Effect of Medicare Part-D and Factors Impacting Compliance Among Older Women and Blacks
Melissa Brown
Boston College
Dissertation Topic: The Work-Eldercare Interface: Workplace Flexibility and Well-Being Among Family Caregivers of Older Adults
Tamara J. Cadet
Simmons College
Dissertation Topic: Exploring Psychosocial Factors and Cancer Screening: A Comparison of Older Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White Women
Ernest Gonzales
Washington University in St. Louis
Dissertation Topic: Re-Entering the Workforce After Retirement
Daniel Kaplan
Columbia University
Dissertation Topic: Home Health Care for Persons with Cognitive Impairment: The Influence of Home Health Care Agency Characteristics on the Relationship Between Consumer Cognitive Status and Service Volume and Cost
Lydia Ogden
Columbia University
Dissertation Topic: Surviving Cumulative Adversities: Understanding the Experiences of Older Adults with Schizophrenia through Life History Narrative Analysis
Tam Elisabeth Perry
University of Michigan
Dissertation Topic: Leaving Home in Late Life: Negotiating Moves Among Older Adults and Their Networks in the Mid-Western United States
The 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 and a professor emeritus at UCLA, works together with a national program committee to select the Fellows. This year's committee consists of Mercedes Bern-Klug, PhD, of the University of Iowa; Iris Chi, DSW, of the University of Southern California; Namkee Choi, PhD, of the University of Texas at Austin; Ruth Dunkle, PhD, of the University of Michigan; Grover Gilmore, PhD, of Case Western University; Jan Greenberg, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Nancy Morrow-Howell, PhD, of Washington University in St. Louis; Holly Nelson-Becker, PhD, of the University of Kansas; and Deborah Waldrop, PhD, of the State University of New York at Buffalo. Ad hoc members include Barbara Berkman, DSW, PhD, of Columbia University and the Hartford Faculty Scholars Program, and Carmen Morano, PhD, of Hunter College and the Hartford Pre-Dissertation Award Program.
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) is the nation's oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of aging. The principal mission of the Society — and its 5,200+ members — is to advance the study of aging and disseminate information among scientists, decision makers, and the general public. GSA's structure also includes a policy institute, the National Academy on an Aging Society, and an educational branch, the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education.
The John A. Hartford Foundation, founded 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 by educating health professionals and developing innovations that improve and better integrate health and supportive services.