Hartford Doctoral Fellows in Geriatric Social Work Program Expansion and Renewal

Grant Summary

With Foundation support, the Gerontological Society of America will continue to recruit and prepare talented doctoral students for academic careers in geriatric social work. This grant will support the high quality dissertation research and career development of up to 102 doctoral students. In addition to providing stipends, research training and mentorship to the doctoral fellows, the grant will establish a pre-dissertation program to attract more social work doctoral students to gerontology. Finally, an alumni assembly for participants in Hartford"s geriatric social work initiative will be funded in 2008.Recognizing the need to adequately train social workers to care for older adults and their families, since 1998 the Foundation has authorized $30.6 million for programs to nurture faculty and researchers, develop appropriate curricula, train instructors, and create field training models that prepare social work students for the aging population. Since September 2000, 25 doctoral fellows have been competitively selected for awards to support research and training in geriatric social work. The program has seeded social work research in aging and health and launched its graduates to faculty appointments at major universities.