Former Gerontology Director Receives National Service Award
The Association for Gerontology in Higher Education is the educational branch of the Gerontological Society of America, the nation’s oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education and practice in the field of aging. The Seltzer Distinguished Service Recognition “honors colleagues who are near retirement or recently retired. Recipients are individuals who have been actively involved in AGHE through service on committees, as elected officers and/or have provided leadership in one of AGHE’s grant-funded projects.”
Seltzer, for whom the award is named, is the former assistant director of the Scripps Gerontology Center. She taught and published in the field of gerontology when she was a professor at Miami University in Ohio from the 1960s until she died in 1995.
Shenk actively participated through the years on numerous AGHE committees, as well as contributing to the discipline while a faculty member at UNC Charlotte. Previously Shenk was the recipient of the 2014 Evelyn Berger Educator and Advocate Award presented annually by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Aging Coalition (CMAC). The award is named for Evelyn Berger, a dedicated advocate on behalf of seniors.
She earned her Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Massachusetts. She was elected a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and a chapter fellow of the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education.
Her research interests include anthropology of aging, ethical issues in working with older adults, diversity in the aging experience, social networks, formal and informal supports for aging and communicating with people with dementia.