Fall 2011 - Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences - Case ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Active Aging Symposium Draws Local, International Experts Local leaders from around Cleveland – and international experts from around the world – gathered at Case Western Reserve University on October 1 to talk about a topic that most 60-something boomers don’t care to discuss: what it means to grow old. Nearly 250 people attended the Active Aging Symposium to talk about the aging workforce, the impact of global aging, redefining retirement, and civic engagement among senior volunteers. Participants arrived for a full day on campus to attend breakout sessions and hear academics talk about their theories on why active aging is part of a growing global movement. Graduate students, faculty from MSASS and experts from around the country moderated sessions attended by students, university alumni, business consultants, social workers and professors from schools across campus. “Who, here, is over 60” asked keynote speaker, Dr. Alexander Kalache, who currently serves as Senior Advisor to the President on Global Ageing at the New York Academy of Medicine. “We were activists in the 1960s and this generation is making its transition into old age. It’s not going to be the same as when our grandparents aged. We are going to reinvent this transition and we are going to age loudly.” Kalache is part of an elite team who has been studying the aging phenomenon for the last 40 years. His research has allowed him to connect with Merl “Terry” Hokenstad, the Ralph S. and Dorothy P. Schmitt Professor at the Mandel School and a Distinguished University Professor. The two of them met at a U.N. conference in New York in 1999, and it was at that time that they first discussed the concept of active aging. Hokenstad, who celebrated his 75th birthday in July, has been a trustee of the National Council on Aging. He is a member of the United Nations’ Non-Governmental Organization Committee on Aging and served on the U.N. Technical Committee responsible for drafting the International Plan of Action on Aging. In 2002, he was named to the United States delegation to the U.N.’s World Assembly on Aging. “Health and social service policy makers and providers need to respond to the fact that baby boomers are an active part of our aging population,” said Hokenstad. “Policies and programs need to focus on this reality and that’s what we’re trying to do here today. Baby boomers are not going to be content with fading into the sunset and we need to do something about that.” One alumna in attendance, 91-year-old Belle Likover of Shaker Heights, spent decades of her life in social work and has served as a voice for seniors for many years. She calls her involvement with senior advocacy a “third” career, having worked as a research assistant, then a mother, and then an interested student who completed her master’s degree in 1969 at the age of 49. “I think my retirement years may have been my most productive ever,” she said. “The issues that affect older people are issues that affect everyone.” A Birthday Celebration On September 30, more than 100 well-wishers gathered for dinner at the Dively Center on the campus of CWRU to congratulate Merl C. (Terry) Hokenstad, Ph.D, Ralph S. and Dorothy P. Schmitt Professor and Distinguished University Professor on his 75th birthday and his career at SASS/MSASS over 38 years. “It’s great to have family, friends and colleagues gather for a celebration that recognizes active aging rather than my future retirement,” Hokenstad said. The dinner was a prelude to an all-day symposium on active aging, attended by 240 social workers, health care providers, and educators. From left, Henry & Lois Goodman, Myrtle Mientz, Terry Hokenstad, Sally and Stan Wertheim. 12 MSASS Action
MSASS Receives Legacy Gift The Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences has received a gift of $7 million from the estate of James W. Williamson to support student scholarships and programs. The majority of funds will be used for scholarships for master’s students, most of whom receive some level of tuition aid. Six million dollars of the Williamson gift will be placed in the school’s endowment to be used for scholarships. The balance will create endowments of $500,000 each for special projects of the Dean’s office and for NEOCANDO, the data warehouse developed and managed by the Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development. Williamson, an engineer by training, had a special interest in using data to solve social problems. The problems of the future are not easy ones to solve. Problems get solved, I guess, by teaching students how to solve them. MSASS Dean Cleve Gilmore said, “This extraordinary gift will have a profound effect on our ability to help students reach their goals. Our students face incredible debt when they graduate and enter a field where their income potential is limited. They make tremendous sacrifices to join the social work profession, and we want to make their choice as easy as possible.” Funding for NEO CANDO will enable the Poverty Center to upgrade and grow its database. “NEO CANDO has been an invaluable tool for community and social planners who are working in some of our most distressed neighborhoods,” said center Co-Director Claudia Coulton. “This gift will help to keep NEO CANDO accessible and encourage them to continue to use sound social and economic data in their planning and advocacy work.” The Williamson family founded many of the places and institutions that define Cleveland as a center of industry and philanthropy. James Williamson’s father Arthur was one of the founders of The Welfare Federation of Cleveland, now known as the Center for Community Solutions, and Society for Savings, now KeyBank. An early family homestead became the site of the family-developed Williamson Building, razed in 1982 to make way for the BP America Building, now known as 200 Public Square. Williamson carried on his family’s commitment to the philosophy and practice of sharing the rewards of their success with the less fortunate in the community. “The problems of the future are not easy ones to solve,” James Williamson once wrote. “It is young men and women who are supposed to ‘dream dreams.’ Problems get solved, I guess, by teaching students how to solve them.” We Remember With sadness, the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences announces the passing of our extraordinary alumni and extends heartfelt condolences to their family and friends: Nenita Hom, CLC’49, SAS’51 Virginia Martin, FSM’29, SAS’29 Sarah W. Lacy, FSM’37, SAS’38 Mary Colette Smith, FSM’38, SAS’40 Ruth G. Mellman, GRS’44, SAS’46 Michael B. Schachere, Ph.D., GRS’75, SAS’71 Mary Angela Moran, SAS’32 Eleanor Louise Hardgrove, SAS’33 Betty Colby, SAS’41 Harriet Goldstein, SAS’44 Harold I. Sadofsky, SAS’51 Mary Burke Eckert, SAS’54 Dimitri M. Kunch, SAS’61 Thomas D. Kraft, Ph.D., SASS ‘70 Serapio R. Zalba, Ph.D., SASS ’71, GRS ‘71 Janna Clemmons-Dunn, SAS’78 Karen Marie Metzler, SAS’83 That is our goal at MSASS, and the Williamson family legacy will be an important part of it. FALL 2011 13
Page 1 and 2: Newsletter of the Mandel School of
Page 3 and 4: FACULTYNEWS Kathryn Betts Adams Dav
Page 5 and 6: News from the Doctoral Program Aloe
Page 7 and 8: The Begun Center: Expanding the Kno
Page 9 and 10: Foundation Grant Continues Work of
Page 11: etween 50 to 96 percent of youths l
Page 15 and 16: Field Education Field Education has
Page 17 and 18: of her favorite memories is the lat
Page 19 and 20: New Courses for Undergraduates Seve

Fall 2011 - Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences - Case ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?