Gerontology Center

Pam Herd graduated from the Maxwell School with a Ph.D. in Sociology and a Gerontology Certificate in 2002. Her dissertation, titled “Crediting Care, Citizenship, or Marriage: Gender, Race, Class and Social Security Reform,” earned the Outstanding Dissertation Prize in the Maxwell School for 2002 and an Honorable Mention for the John Heinz Dissertation Prize, awarded by the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI). Madonna Harrington Meyer was her faculty advisor. During her studies at Syracuse University she was named an AARP/Andrus Foundation Scholar (1999) and she received a fellowship from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College (2001-2002). In the summer of 2000, she worked as a research assistant with Marilyn Moon at the Urban Institute, and in 2002 Sociology of Aging in the Maxwell School. Following graduation Herd was named a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in Health and Health Policy at the University of Michigan (2002-2004). She is currently an associate professor at Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Some of Dr. Herd’s other published works are “Crediting Care: Gender, Race, Class and Social Security Reform?” The Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences (2006); “Do Health Inequalities Diminish in Old Age? Functional Decline in the 1931-1941 Birth Cohort,” Research on Aging (2006) “Targeting without the Universalism: Privatizing the Old Age Welfare State,” The Gerontologist (2005); “Reforming a Breadwinner Welfare State: Gender, Race, Class and Social Security Reform,” Social Forces (2005); “Ensuring a Minimum: Social Security Reform and Women,” The Gerontologist (2005); Marilyn Moon, with Pamela Herd (2003) Medicare Reform and Women; New York: The Century Fund; and “Reforming Social Security Family Benefits: Balancing Equity and Adequacy,” in Strengthening Community: Social Insurance in a Diverse America, edited by K. Buto, M. Patterson, W. Spriggs, and M. Rockeymoore (2004, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press).

Of her experience at Syracuse University, Herd says, “I had a wonderful experience as a graduate student in Sociology at the Maxwell School. The Gerontology Center, within the Center for Policy Research, has numerous nationally recognized scholars in the field of Aging from such disciplines as Sociology, Social Work and Economics, among others. Being trained by and working with these individuals had an incredibly positive impact on my work and academic career. The Gerontology Center also provided me with resources that allowed me to travel and present aging related research at national conferences like the Gerontological Society of America annual meetings. These kinds of experiences made for a very positive experience in graduate school!”

“The most valuable aspect of the gerontology program is its emphasis on teaching, research, and service—because of this I am a more well-rounded academic.” Christine Caffrey, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Gerontology, Miami University at Ohio