By Vincent Lim
As part of an effort to build a workforce of social workers trained and educated in geriatrics, and to translate new knowledge into practice and policy, the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and The John A. Hartford Foundation have selected the USC School of Social Work to establish a Hartford Academic Center of Excellence in Geriatric Social Work. Among its many activities, the new center will focus on building relationships with local health and social service professionals, and form regional consortia of social work field agencies serving older adults to support skill-building opportunities for personnel.
“The USC School of Social Work has been developing programs of research and community outreach through our Roybal Institute on Aging for the past five years,” Dean Marilyn L. Flynn said. “With the deeply welcomed opportunity to establish a Hartford Academic Center of Excellence in Geriatric Social Work, we will now be able to build a powerful curriculum in this area, add to community capacity for serving older people, and introduce innovative technologies for teaching and learning.”
Associate Professor Karen Lincoln, a scholar of minority aging, will lead the new academic center. Its mission will be to develop culturally competent practitioners and scholars in geriatric social work to serve and advocate for minority older adults at all levels of practice and policy.