Alumni Directory
2010
Rebecca Dawn Taha
Dissertation Title: “Aging in Conflict Environments: A Case Study of the Occupied Palestinian Territories."
2009
Jennifer Hamrick-King
Dissertation Title: "An Interactive Approach toward Improving Memory and Cognition in Alzheimer's Disease"
Current Position: Vice President of Community Affairs, Nurses Registry and Home Health
Laura Stephenson
Dissertation Title: “Civic Engagement of Elders: Influence of Generativity and Gerotranscendence Throughout the Life Course.”
2008
Janice Kuperstein
Dissertation Title: "Tikkun Olam: A Faith-Based Approach for Assisting Older Adults in Health System Navigation"
Current Position: Associate Professor, Physical Therapy, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences Chair
Corinne Leach
Dissertation Title: "Breast Cancer Belief Development and Screening Across the Life Couse among Older Appalachian Women"
Current Position: Director, Behavioral Research at American Cancer Society
2007
Angela Redwine
Dissertation Title: “Functional Dynamics and Relocation: Change Over Time in Older Intensive Care Unit Patients.”
Dory M. Marken
Dissertation Title: “Beliefs of Grandmothers Raising Grandchildren in their Provision of Nutrition”
Debra Kleesattel
Dissertation Title: “Rural Community-Based Services: Looking Through the Eyes of Older Adults and Service Providers.”
Current Position: Works for Green River Health, 5201 W. Kennedy Blvd. Suite 205, Tampa FL 33609
Kara Bottiggi
Dissertation Title: “The Impact of Caregiver Executive Skills on Reports of Patient Functioning.”
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix Arizona
Keith Anderson
Dissertation Title: “Death in the Nursing Home: An Empirical Examination of the Grief Experiences of Certified Nursing Assistants”
Current Position: Assistant Professor in the College of Social Work at The Ohio State University
2006
Susan A. Lawrence
Dissertation Title: “I am a rock, I am an Island: Exploring Depression among Older Men”
Current Position: MSW student, University of Louisville
LaVona S. Traywick
Dissertation Title: “Explanations for Exercise among Heart Attack Survivors”
Current Position: Assistant Professor, University of Arkansas Cooperative Extention
Heidi Ewen
Dissertation Title: “Reconciling Biomedical and Psychosocial Models of Stress in Relocation among Older Women”
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Texas
Amy Hosier
Dissertation Title: “Residential and Disease Trajectories and the Evolving Meaning of Home among Persons with Alzheimer’s”
Current Position: Assistant Professor, York College of Pennsylvania
Travonia Hughes
Dissertation Title: “Examining Diagnosis-Seeking Pathways among African American Caregivers for Family Members with Alzheimer’s Disease”
Current Position: Post Doctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology, UK
D. Carol Palmer
Dissertation Title: “The Nature and Extent of Personal, Social, Environmental, and Work Influences on Physical Activity among Women”
Current Position: Assistant Professor, College of Nursing, Eastern KY University 40475
Kim Stansbury
Dissertation Title: “African American Clergy: An Exploration of Pastoral Care to Mentally Distressed Elder Congregants”
Current Position: Assistant Professor, College of Social Work, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA 99004-2442
Collette Strother
Dissertation Title: “Me, My Closet, and I: An Exploration of Clothing to Self, Sense of Community and Well-Being among Older Women in Independent-Living Apartments for Seniors”
Current Position: Project Manager Regional Deep South Export Center on Aging UAB Project Export.
Jennifer Gatz
Dissertation Title: “Weight Management in Post-Menopausal Women: A Mixed-Methods Approach”
Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Scholar University of Kentucky Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science College of Pharmacy
Lisa R. Durham
Dissertation Title: “Oral Health Status of Kentucky’s Homebound Elders”
Current Position: Assistant Professor & Director of Sponsored Projects in the Department of Orthopedics at The Ohio State University Medical Center
Scott Collier
Dissertation Title: “Smiling Behaviors in Persons with Dementia: Positive Affect and Patient Benefit”
Current Position: Research Associate, Edgewood Center for Children and Families Institute for the study of Community Based Services., 101 15th St., San Francisco, CA 94103.
2005
Pam Tyler
Dissertation Title: “The Sound of Silence: Narratives of Life Experience by Older Adults Living with HIV/AIDS”
Current Position: National Outreach Director, Grant Makers in Aging
Keith R. Knapp
Dissertation Title: “Over the River and Through the Woods: The Evolution of Involvement by Primary Family Caregivers in Nursing Facilities”
Current Position: Chief Operating Officer, Christian Care Communities
Karah Nazor-Hill
Dissertation Title: “Characterization of Neurodegeneration in Transgenic Mice Expressing Mutant Prion Proteins”
Current Position: Faculty University of California, San Francisco Institution for Neurodegenerative Diseases.
Maile R. Brown
Dissertation Title: “Brain Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Aging Rodents and the Effect of Calcium Dysregulation in Synaptic Mitochondria”
Current Position: Department of Pharmacology, Yale University
Denise C. Lewis
Dissertation Title: “The Intersection of Filial Piety and Cultural Dissonance: Intergenerational Exchanges among Khmer Families in the United States”
Current Position: Assistant Professor (tenure track), Department of Child and Family Development, College of Family and Consumer Science, UGA.
James Schwar
Dissertation Title: “Global Change, Domestic Policy, and Life Course Influences on Perceptions of Health Equity among Older Cubans”
Current Position: Program Specialist for the city of Albuquerque
Shannon Mathews
Dissertation Title: “Communication Networks and Dynamics in End-of-Life Care of Older Women: A Grounded Theory Approach”
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Gerontology Program, Department of Health Studies, Towson State University, Towson, MD
Elizabeth Hunter
Dissertation Title: “Belonging, Body and Being: Toward a Model of Legacy Transmission”
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of KY
2004
Janice Paul
Dissertation Title: “A Grounded Theory Approach Examining Nursing Home Use among Blacks: What We Know, What We Thought We Knew and Where We’re Headed”
Current Position: Director of the Care Connection Aging and Disability Resource Center, Houston Department of Health & Human Services.
Janice Plahuta
Dissertation Title: “Co-morbidity and Psychosocial Factors in the Prediction of Metabolic Control and Self-Care Behavior among Older Adults With Type 2 Diabetes”
Current Position: Senior Research Associate, Institute for the Future of Aging (AAHSA)
2003
Marian Roman
Dissertation Title: “Exploring the Process of Recovery from Stroke: Pathways and Patterns of Reconstruction”
Current Position: Associate Professor, College of Nursing, University of TN. Knoxville, TN. 37996.
Mia Rosenfeld
Dissertation Title: “Management by Nonchalance: Audiological Care-Seeking among Male Elder Veterans”
Current Position: Senior Research Associate, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232.
2002
Lisa Curch
Dissertation Title: “The Place of Dietary Practices in the Lives of Older Women”
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, State University of New York, Oneonta
Anne Harrison
Dissertation Title: " The Influence of Pathology, Pain, and Coping on Function among Older Women with Knee Osteoarthritis”
Current Position: Graduate Faculty: UK Graduate Center for Gerontology, UK Rehabilitation Sciences PhD Program. Associate Professor (tenured) Department of Physical Therapy, University of Kentucky
Kevin Lomax
Dissertation Title: “Comparative Pension Policy Outcomes in Social Democratic Nations: The Case of Finland”
Current Position: Special Agent, United States Department of State, Chicago Field Office. (123)
Aileen Wiglesworth
Dissertation Title: “Psychophysiological Stress Reactivity and Alzheimer’s Disease in Postmenopausal Women: The Role of Estrogen as a Potential Modulator”
Current Position: Assistant Clinical Professor, Family Medicine, university of California, Irvine