Anthropology & Aging Quarterly 2010: 31 (3-4) 44 AAGE Member News Member News Column Margaret A. Perkinson, PhD Saint Louis University Two AAGE members, one well-established in the field, the other an up-and-coming scholar, recently received national recognition. This issue’s column showcases their work and awards: Congratulations to Dena Shenk, PhD, director of the University of North Carolina Charlotte’s Gerontology Program and past president of AAGE, who recently received national recognition for her many contributions to gerontology and anthropology. The Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE)—the educational branch of The Gerontological Society of America—has chosen her as the recipient of the 2011 Hiram J. Friedsam Mentorship Award. This distinguished honor, named for a former AGHE president and an outstanding mentor in gerontology, is given to an individual who has made significant contributions to gerontological education on a national level through excellence in mentorship to students, faculty, and administrators. Dena is thefirst anthropologist to receive this award. The award presentation and lecture will take place at AGHE’s 37th Annual Meeting and Educational Leadership Conference, which will be held from March 17 to 20, 2011, in Cincinnati, OH. Visit www.aghe.org for further details. Dena is a fellow of AGHE and The Gerontological Society of America and has conducted research and program development and evaluation in Denmark, Costa Rica, Peru, Turkey and the United States. Her past and current research interests include rural older women, direct care workers, communicating with and caring for people with dementia, and use of narrative approaches and photography. (dshenk@uncc.edu) Kudos to Tam Perry, University of Michigan Anthropology doctoral candidate (teperry@umich.edu)!! She is one of four distinguished doctoral students to be accepted this year into the national Hartford Doctoral Fellows Program. Each Hartford Doctoral Fellow receives a $50,000 dissertation grant plus $20,000 in matching support from their home institutions, which enables awardees to concentrate fully on their dissertation research projects over the next two years. Fellows also receive supplemental academic career guidance and mentoring, as well as professional development to help them successfully launch an academic career in gerontology and social work. Tam’s research interests include: Discursive practices in nursing homes between residents and caregivers, financial well-being of older persons, and housing transitions faced by older persons. Her dissertation topic is: Leaving home in late life: Negotiating moves among older adults and their networks in the Mid-western United States and her dissertation chair is Ruth Dunkle. Anthropology & Aging Quarterly 2010: 31 (3-4) 45 AAGE Member News Keep in Mind Upcoming Awards and a Book Publishing Opportunity Sponsored by AAGE! AAGE SPONSORED STUDENT AWARDS The Jacob Climo Award: This fund honors the memory of Jacob (Jay) Climo by supporting student participation at meetings in which AAGE is active. Jay was a long time member and former president of AAGE. He was Professor of Anthropology at Michigan State University, where he taught social and medical anthropology and served as a dynamic mentor to generations of students. Jay did fieldwork in Ethiopia, Israel, Mexico and Michigan. His research focused on intergenerational relationships, the ethnography of memory, aging and elder care around the world, grandparents parenting grandchildren, and narratives about aging parents in the U.S. and their adult children in Israel. Jay had several books to his credit: Distant Parents (1992), The Labyrinth of Memory (1995), and Social Memory and History (2002). How to contribute: Write your check to AAGE, write “Climo support fund” in the memo line, and mail to Maria Cattell, 486 Walnut Hill Rd., Millersville, PA 17551. The Margaret Clark Award: AAGE sponsors an annual Margaret Clark essay award. Cash prizes of $500 and $250 will be awarded to the most outstanding graduate and undergraduate essay respectively. The competition aims to support the continued pursuit of the insights and practice ideals demonstrated by Margaret Clark, a pioneer in the multidisciplinary study of socio-cultural gerontology and medical anthropology. An extended summary of the winning manuscript will be published in AAQ. The jurors may select papers for Honorable Mention; these authors receive one year’s free membership in AAGE. Please consult the AAGE website for more information. AAGE SPONSORED PUBLICATIONS New Book Series: Life Course, Culture and Aging: Global Transformation. The book series is being published by Berghahn Publishers in collaboration with AAGE and the AAA Interest Group on Aging and the Life Course. Mission of the series: Late Life and Adult Maturity set in the context of the Life Course, Culture and Community. This focus will be set within the powerful global transformations now taking place. The series will consist of both ethnographies and edited books with a goal of 2 books a year. Manuscript ideas/manuscripts can be submitted to either the editor, Jay Sokolovsky (jsoko@earthlink.net) or the publisher, Marion Berghahn, Marion.berghahn@berghahnbooks.com Anthropology & Aging Quarterly 2010: 31 (3-4) 46 AAGE Member News A Warm Welcome to the Newly Elected Secretary-Elect of AAGE, Dr. Eric Miller! Introducing Eric... Eric Miller (Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA, 2004), Study Abroad Coordinator & Instructor, Center for Experiential Learning, Loras College, Dubuque, Iowa. Current and Recent Research: “Compromises of old age: Power and independence in rural north China,” funded by Wenner-Gren Foundation, 1998-9. My research area is support for the aged and intergenerational relationships in rural north China. I also previously worked with the Hospital Elder Life Program and the Yale School of Medicine’s Program on Aging. That work focused on training M.D.-Ph.D. students to conduct research in geriatrics and on hospital quality of care issues dealing with aged patients, and on delirium. Recent Publications: Village Life in Rural Zouping. In Change in Rural China: American Scholars Research in Zouping County, Shandong. [Chinese]. Jinan, Shandong, China: Shandong People’s Press, 2008. ‘Living Independently Is Good’: Residence Patterns in rural north China reconsidered. Journal of Long Term Home Health Care. 2007. Filial Daughters, Filial Sons, Comparisons from Rural North China. In Filial Piety: Practice and Discourse in Contemporary East Asia. Charlotte Ikels, ed. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004. Professional Activities: Reviewer, Journal of Cross-Cultural Anthropology, 2001-present Board Member, China Health Network, Yale School of Medicine 2004-5 Statement: I have found AAGE to be a supportive place where those interested in anthropology and aging can find a supportive network at all stages of their career. I hope that AAGE continues to be a welcoming organization that is international, intergenerational and incorporates all subfields of anthropology. AAGE can also motivate us to come together around common interests in anthropology and aging studies so that we can continue to share ideas, present papers and publish in these fields. It is important that we continue to keep anthropology in aging studies and aging studies in anthropology. Given my current work with international education and experiential learning, I also hope that in my role as secretary I can also help us think about connections between anthropology and aging in study abroad and service learning.