Mercedes Bern-Klug, PhD, MSW, MA

Favorite Quote:
Old age is like climbing a mountain. You climb from ledge to ledge. The higher you get the more tired and breathless you become, but your views become more extensive. (Ingrid Bergman)

Classes taught in the ASP:
Mercedes Bern-Klug is a faculty member at the UI School of Social Work and Director of the UI Aging Studies Program. She teaches two classes in the Aging Studies Program:
1. Introduction to Nursing Homes (click here for outline)
2. Global Aging: Cultural Comparisons (click here for outline)

Biography:
Her areas of scholarship include the overlap between: older adulthood, advanced chronic illness, and psychosocial (emotional) issues in long-term care settings. Her research focuses on how health professionals can support family members of older adults with advanced chronic illness. Mercedes earned a PhD in Social Welfare from the University of Kansas in 2003 and prior to that a masters degree in Applied Demography from Georgetown University, and a masters degree in Social Work (MSW) (with a Certificate in Aging Studies) from the University of Iowa.

She has served as a volunteer Alzheimer Disease support group leader for 12 years and also was on the board of the Kansas City Funeral Consumers Alliance for 10 years. She is past president of the Greater Kansas City Older Women's League. Mercedes currently serves as a board member to "Up Town Bills" a coffee shop/book store that provides entrepreneurial skills to people with disabilities. In 2009, she was honored to receive the City of Hope's Shirley Otis-Green Award of Excellence in Palliative Care Social Work. This national award is conferred to one social worker a year.

Lorraine T. Dorfman, PhD.

Favorite Quote:
"I'm old; what's good for that?" (from The New Yorker)

Classes taught in the ASP:
- Individual and Family Development: Life Span
- Aging and the Family
- Programs and Services for Aging Adults


Biography:
I teach three aging studies courses. Individual and Family Development: Life Span focuses on individual development over the life course within the family context. The course is topical as well as chronological, and is taught in seminar format. Aging and the Family deals with topics relevant to the family in later life, including marital and non-marital relationships, intergenerational and same-generational relationships, widowhood and bereavement, family caregiving, and families and formal services. It is also taught in seminar format. Programs and Services for Aging Adults covers a broad ranges of services designed for elders including services for well elders such as education, legal services, and senior centers, as well as a variety of home and community based services for frail elders ranging from in-home care to institutional care. Speakers representing various community services are brought in describe their work each week.

My major interests are work and retirement (especially reasons for continuing to work in later life and adjustment to retirement), rural aging, aging and family issues, and gerontology education including curricular change. I conduct both quantitative and qualitative research studies.

David L. Gould

Biography:
David Gould is a Lecturer in the Leisure Studies Program, and the Academic Coordinator for the Interdepartmental Studies Program, at the University of Iowa. His courses explore the cultural importance of leisure and play, with a particular emphasis on the role of each in later life. In 2007 he won an award for outstanding teaching at the University. He was also a nominee for the 2008 President and Provost Award for Teaching Excellence, and the 2009-2010 Lola Lopes Award for Undergraduate Student Advocacy. As a filmmaker, Mr. Gould's credits include Freestyle: The Victories of Dan Gable and The Checker King. These films premiered on HBO Signature and HBO2 respectively and enjoyed favorable reviews from the L.A. Times and Newsweek, among others. Among his awards, Mr. Gould has received a CINE Golden Eagle and a Regional Emmy for Outstanding Achievement. He is currently producing the feature film Diane's Room, based on the life of legendary wrestler Dan Gable and directing the documentary Two Sides of the Moon: The Tragic Death of Hatun Aynur Sürücü about honor crimes.

Mark Holbrook, Lecturer UI Biology Department

Classes taught in the ASP:
Biology of Aging (click four outline)

Biology of Aging
The course is designed to introduce students to the field of biogerontology. Topics include the definitions of aging and senescence, (biological) theories of aging, demographics, model systems of aging, premature aging syndromes, aging of human organ systems and special topics (Alzheimer's, elderly nutrition, exercise and aging, osteoporosis, hormone replacement, incontinence and HIV in the elderly). Some of the experiments that provided the data presented in class will be discussed and analyzed. Background material in cellular biology, evolution, biochemistry and math required to understand the concepts of this course will be provided by the instructor. Grades will be determined from class participation, an oral presentation, 2 exams, assignments, and an 8-10 page paper.

Richard MacNeil, PhD

Favorite Quote:
"My goal for later adulthood is to remain interesting and interested."

Classes taught in the ASP:
Basic Aspects of Aging (click for outline)



Biography:
Professor Richard MacNeil has been on the faculty at The University of Iowa since 1975. His research and teaching interests are focused on leisure and older adults. He has co-authored three books; Therapeutic Recreation: The Nature of Disabilities (2002), Aging and Leisure: Vitality in Later Life (1984 and 1992), and Perspectives on Leisure and Aging in a Changing Society (1982) and published over 40 papers. He has presented numerous workshops and educational seminars for personnel who work with older adults. When time permits, MacNeil and his wife love spending time at their cabin near the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore on Lake Superior.

Susan Murty, PhD

Favorite Quote:
Grow old with me! The best is yet to be.
~Robert Browning

Old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.
~Quoted by Francis Bacon, Deipnosophists (XIII, 46)

You can only perceive real beauty in a person as they get older.
~Aimee, Anouk

Classes taught in the ASP:
I teach the Introductory Seminar in End-Of-Life Care in Rural Communities

This course provides an overview of issues important to dying individuals and to their families, presents the principles of hospice and palliative care, introduces culturally sensitive end-of-life care, and applies strategies of rural service delivery to end-of-life and palliative care in rural communities.

Biography:
I am interested in rural delivery of aging services and end-of-life care services. I am Coordinator of the End-of-Life Care Specialization in the MSW Program of the School of Social Work. I am doing research on oral histories and life review among elders including Latino elders in Mexico and in Iowa. I have been involved in research on curriculum and teaching content on aging in the social work curriculum.

Sara Sanders, Ph.D, MSW

Favorite Quote:
"Savor every minute of the day because you will never get it back"
(Gladys Gunderson, my grandmother)

Classes taught in the ASP:
Death and Dying (click for outline)


Biography:
Sara Sanders, Ph.D, MSW is an assistant professor at the School of Social Work at the University of Iowa. Dr. Sanders earned her BSW from St. Olaf College and her MSW from Washington University in St. Louis. Her Ph.D was obtained from the University of Maryland in 2002. Clinically, Dr. Sanders has worked with caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's disease and in end-of-life care. She has worked for several hospice agencies as a social worker and bereavement coordinator, as well as with the South Central PA Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association as the Family Services Director. Dr. Sanders' research focus is primarily on the needs of caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's disease, specifically focusing on grief and loss issues, the role of hospice care for individuals with dementia, and issues specific to male caregivers. She has published in a range of journals and has also presented at multiple national conferences. Currently, Sara teaches Death and Dying for the Aging Studies program. This course, through experiential learning opportunities, provides students with information about death and dying andgrief and loss, as well as about the end-of-life system, including hospice care, organ donation, and the medical examiner's office.

Dr. Sanders serves on the Aging Studies Program Advisory Board.

Stacia Rath Wissink

Classes taught in the ASP:
Colloquium in Aging (click for outline)

Biography:
I am a graduate student and teach the "service learning" component of Dr. Rich MacNeil's Basic Aspects of Aging class. I also the Aging Studies Colloquium in the spring.