A Collaborative Approach to Improving Eldercare

Fri, 01 Mar 2002 05:00:00 -0500
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Kevin Eckert, professor of sociology and anthropology, is a prominent scholar in the field of gerontology.

“A Collaborative Approach to Improving Eldercare”

Kevin Eckert, professor of sociology and anthropology, and co-director (with Jay Magaziner) of the new interdisciplinary Gerontology Doctoral Program with University of Maryland Baltimore, frequently works with other prominent scholars to advance the field of gerontology. Most recently, he has co-authored a new book, Assisted Living: Needs, Practices, and Policies in Residential Care for the Elderly (with S. Zimmerman and P.D. Sloane of UNC Chapel Hill), published by Johns Hopkins University Press.

Additionally, he is embarking on a new four-year, $1.7 million study � with UMBC sociology professors Robert Rubinstein and Leslie Morgan and UNC Chapel Hill�s Cheryl Zimmerman � titled �Transitions from Assisted Living: Sociocultural Aspects� and funded by the National Institute on Aging. Combined funding for the sociology department�s new Center for Aging Studies now exceeds $3 million.

In 1999, Eckert�s numerous collaborative projects led the University System of Maryland Board of Regents to honor him with a Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Collaboration. Through his partnerships with the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Eckert has illuminated the medical and functional outcomes of long-term care for the elderly in assisted-living facilities.

In addition to the new doctoral program in gerontology, he also was instrumental in developing the interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in language, literacy and culture, which involves five departments at UMBC and faculty from four other University System of Maryland (USM) campuses. His contribution included the course �Cyberspace, Culture and Society,� developed out of his interest in the effects of electronic technologies on culture and society.