Six 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:
Christina Matz-Costa
Boston College
Dissertation Topic: Productive Aging in the Workplace: Understanding Factors that Promote or Impede Engagement in Work Roles
Mary Kate Dennis
University of Michigan
Dissertation Topic: Health Insights of Native American Older Adults: From Wellness to Illness
Scott Easton
University of Iowa
Dissertation Topic: Men Who Were Sexually Abused as Children: An Examination of Factors that Influence Long-Term Mental Health
Kimberly J. Johnson
University of Massachusetts at Boston
Dissertation Topic: Volunteering Among Surviving Spouses: The Impact of Volunteer Activity on the Health of the Recently Widowed
Dennis Kao
University of Southern California
Dissertation Topic: State Variations in Linguistic Competency Policies and the Effects on Access to Health Services Among Older Immigrant Populations
Kristin Scherrer
University of Michigan
Dissertation Topic: The Intergenerational Relationships of Grandparents and their GLBQ Grandchildren
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 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 of 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.