Brief History

In 1972, the Administration on Aging, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, established a grant program to fund gerontology programs in colleges and universities. This was the first program of federal funding ever targeted specifically at education and training about aging. That same year, SU School of Social Work established the All-University Gerontology Center with Walter M. Beattie, Dean of Social Work since 1966, as Director. From the first, the Gerontology Center provided a means for students from any college at SU to pursue a concentration in aging. It still does today. The Center also developed a critical mass of faculty members with the expertise to conduct research on aging, and hosted professional training programs for social service providers who worked with elderly persons.

Walter Beattie was succeeded as Director of the Gerontology Center by Neal S. Bellos, Professor of Social Work and a well-known community organizer. A stream of grants from the Administration on Aging funded publication of books and training manuals by James Pirkl, Anna Babic, Darryl Slover, and other well-known faculty affiliates of the Gerontology Center. At some point the Gerontology Center became an autonomous entity attached to the Office of the Vice Chancellor.

In the late 1980s the Center relocated to the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, under the leadership of Vernon L. Greene, Professor of Public Administration, and its focus shifted toward social science research. Other Directors of the Gerontology Center include Richard V. Burkhauser, former Professor of Economics at SU, Christine L. Himes, Professor of Sociology, and Madonna Harrington Meyer. In 2007, the Center celebrated its 35th year of excellence in research, education, and policy on aging. In July 2008 Janet Wilmoth assumed directorship of the SU Gerontology Center.

In 2011, the Gerontology Center became the Syracuse University Aging Studies Institute (ASI). ASI will build on the Gerontology Center's existing strength and coordinate and promote aging-related research, training, and engagement at Syracuse University. Its thematic areas will include: age-based public policy and well-being; population aging; health and functioning; family dynamics, care work, and intergenerational support; and aging design, engineering, and technology.

Janet Wilmoth, Director

 

 

 

 

 

University Gerontology Center
426 Eggers Hall, Syracuse University
Syracuse, New York 13244-1020
315.443.2703 | Fax 315.443.1081
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