Dr. Victor Marshall appointed director of UNC Institute
on Aging
July 14, 1999
CHAPEL HILL -- Dr. Victor W. Marshall has been appointed
director of the Institute on Aging at the University of North Carolina.
He also has been appointed professor in the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill sociology department and as adjunct professor in the UNC-CH
School of Public Health's department of health education and health behavior.
The appointments were effective July 1.
"We are most fortunate to have recruited a scholar and administrator
of Dr. Marshall's experience and credentials," said Dr. Edward F.
Brooks, associate provost for health affairs at UNC-CH. "Under his
leadership, the Institute on Aging will succeed in fulfilling its mission
of improving the health and well-being of older North Carolinians through
its first program of education, research and public service."
Marshall's academic achievements over the past 30 years have earned
him a reputation as one of the world's most respected sociologists in
gerontology. His funded research and publications cover a broad range
of socioeconomic issues, including changes in the structure of work and
the life course; aging and the family; migration and aging; and social
policy related to career progression and retirement planning.
"It is real privilege to undertake leadership of the Institute
on Aging," Marshall said. "The state of North Carolina has many
of North America's leading gerontologists in both academic and service
sectors. It is also the third most-rapidly aging state in the union, so
the many challenges facing service providers and policy-makers are enormous.
"Partnerships among researchers, practitioners, policy and governmental
agencies and citizens will best address these challenges for the well-being
of older North Carolinians," he added. "That is the mandate
of the Institute on Aging."
Marshall also has conducted research in health-related issues pertaining
to older patients in acute-care settings and home- and community-based
models of care for the aged, as well as research on the health effects
of different retirement patterns.
He taught the first sociology of aging course in a Canadian university,
and developed a Collaborative Graduate Program in Aging and the Life Course
linking 13 academic units for gerontology training at the master's and
doctoral degree levels.
Marshall spent eight years as director of the Institute for Human Development,
Life Course and Aging (formerly the Centre for Studies of Aging) at the
University of Toronto. While there, he also was professor of public-health
sciences and held adjunct faculty appointments in the departments of sociology,
nursing, social work and physical therapy.
Over the past decade, as network director of the Canadian Aging Research
Network, a nationwide research network, Marshall developed an extensive
research program on the aging of the labor force, including its consequences
for human-resources management, individual retirement experiences and
their impact on family relations and health.
Currently, he is principal investigator on a grant from the National
Health Research Development Program of Health Canada, investigating the
health consequences of disrupted labor force participation as older workers
leave career jobs and make the transition to retirement.
A member of the Policy Committee of the Canadian Association on Gerontology,
Marshall is chairman of the Gerontology Advisory Council of Veterans Affairs
Canada. He serves on numerous editorial boards, including The Journal
of Aging and Health, Ageing and Society, and the Handbook of Aging and
the Social Sciences. He was editor-in-chief of the Canadian Journal on
Aging for seven years.
He has been an active leader in gerontology organizations and recently
served as vice president of the Canadian Association on Gerontology. Currently,
he is the chair-designate of the Gerontological Society of America's Fellows
Committee and is conference coordinator for the Southern Gerontological
Society, which will hold its annual conference in Raleigh next spring.
The Institute on Aging is a multidisciplinary program serving all 16
campuses of the University of North Carolina. The institute is housed
on the UNC-CH campus. The institute's World Wide Web site is www.aging.unc.edu.
Marshall earned his doctorate in sociology at Princeton University and
has received numerous awards and honors for his teaching and research,
including a Distinguished Teacher Award from the Association for Gerontology
and Higher Education, and the Distinguished Member Award of the Canadian
Association on Gerontology.
