CPHAR Fellows Biographical Information

Jennifer Craft Morgan

Dr. Morgan is currently Scientist at the Institute on Aging leading several major studies in the program area of workforce aging.

She is lead co-principal investigator, with Thomas R. Konrad, PhD for the Evaluation of the Jobs to Careers: Promoting Work-Based Learning for Quality Care Program. Jobs to Careers is a national initiative of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in collaboration with the Hitachi Foundation. Jobs to Careers seeks to establish systems that train, develop, reward, and advance current frontline health and health care workers to improve the quality of care and ensure the quality of services provided to patients and communities. In related work, she is working with the Health Work Force Institute at the Washington State Hospital Association on a study funded by the Hitachi Foundation to document the work of pioneer hospitals and health systems who are investing in career advancement and ‘grow your own’ strategies for frontline health care workers.

Dr. Morgan is also co-principal investigator of Workforce Issues in Library and Information Science (WILIS) 2 and WILIS 3 with Joanne Gard Marshall, PhD lead principal investigator on these library workforce projects (www.wilis.unc.edu). These projects focus on the development of a recent LIS graduate career tracking model and developing a data sharing system that all LIS programs could potentially use.

Dr. Morgan is also principal investigator of two new studies in workforce aging. The UNC Evaluating Innovations in Nursing Education (funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) study seeks to understand the role of state-based loan repayment and scholarship programs in the recruitment and retention of Nurse Faculty (an older than average profession). For the second new project, Dr. Morgan will lead the evaluation for the Personal Home Care Aide State Training program project funded by HRSA and housed at the NC Department of Health and Human Services.

Jennifer Craft Morgan completed her dissertation research in 2005 in the Department of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Morgan's research examines the economic, organizational, and individual context of nursing assistants in long-term care and the relative impact of these contexts on job satisfaction, and organizational and occupational commitment. Using data gathered under the auspices of the Workforce Improvement for Nursing Assistants: Supporting Training, Education and Payment for Upgrading Performance (WIN A STEP UP) project, Dr. Morgan completed a three-article style dissertation using qualitative analyses of semi-structured interviews and focus groups, multi-level models, and structural equation modeling.

Ms. Morgan's faculty supervisor for the training program was Victor Marshall, PhD. Thomas R. Konrad, PhD, principal investigator for the WIN A STEP UP project, and James Mitchell, PhD also served on her advisory committee for the training program.

Dr. Morgan was also involved in other workforce and evaluation studies in the Institute including the Workforce Aging in the New Economy (WANE) project, The Lifelong Libraries Evaluation, the STEP UP NOW project from the Better Jobs Better Care program and with the long-standing WIN A STEP UP program.

Download Dr. Morgan's CV