OSA Faculty Contacts

The following faculty on the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville campus have expressed interest in gerontology issues. Contact individual faculty members using the email addresses given below.

William Bailey, Human Environmental Sciences
wbailey@uark.edu
Dr. Bailey is currently studying the impact of debt on older adults, specifically focusing on family relationships, health, depression and work. His data is primarily from individuals who are in Debt Managment Program with credit counseling agencies. About 9 million people contacted debt counseling agencies through the U.S. last year, but little is known about who these people are and the impact that debt, especially credit care debt, is having on their lives and relationships.

Willian Brescia, Educational Technology
brescia@uark.edu
The research questions that Dr. Brescia is investigating are centered around computer use among nursing home residents. he is examining the impact of computer use on self-efficacy, the creation of a community of learning and gender differences in computer usage. He is also interested in the state of computer among the elderly in general, which instructional models are most effective, and accessibility issues for elderly users.

Barry Brown, Kinesiology
bbrown@uark.edu

Vaughn DeCoster, School of Social Work
vdecost@uark.edu
As a gerontological social worker, Dr. DeCoster's researchinvestigates the psychosocial aspects of diabetes and methods for addressing these factors among elders and their family members. His scholarly interests also include the social construction of emotion and social work practice in health care settings. For information on his research please visit his website, http://drdecoster.tripod.com/.
Dr. DeCoster recently received a grant from the Hartford Faculty Scholar Program in Geriatric Social Work to fund his research.

Ro Di Brezzo, Kinesiology
rdibrezz@uark.edu
In addition to serving as Co-Director of the Office for Studies on Aging, Dr. Di Brezzo is also the director of the Human Performance Laboratory. Currently, she is conducting a longitudinal study to examine the changes in bone density that occur around menopause in women. This study is also examining the impact of exercise and other interventions on menopause and symptoms associated with menopause.

Jeannine Durdik, Biological Sciences
jdurdik@uark.edu
Dr. Durdick is involved in two aging-related research projects. First, she is looking at the link between a immune system declines and DNA damage. She is also involved in discovering why it is more difficult to vaccinate the elderly in order to protect them from infectious disease and seeking ways to make immunization of the elderly successful.

William Etges, Biological Sciences
wetges@uark.edu
Dr. Etges is primarily interested in the causes for life history evolution in natural populations of organisms with emphasis on the causal mechanisms responsible for alternate life histories. The genetic bases of these differences are being studied using quanititative genetic approaches as well as genomic analysis of gene expression differences.

Robert Ferguson, Kinesology
ferg@uark.edu
Dr. Ferguson's interest in is the relationship between exerise and exercise training on fitness, balance and locomotion.

Marjorie E. Fitch-Hilgenberg, Human Environmental Sciences
mfitch@uark.edu
Currently, Dr. Fitch-Hilgenberg is investigating the relationships between antioxidant enzyme activities, nutrient intake, and smoking in adults of the young, middle and elder years.

Inza L. Fort, Kinesiology
ifort@uark.edu
Dr. Fort's research focusing on strength training in the elderly to maintain independent living and quality of life.

Joel S. Freund, Psychology
jsfreund@uark.edu
Dr. Fruend's research is in the area of cognitive aging. Specifically, what are the changes in memory and higher cognitive functioning associated with increasing age in healthy adults.

Marie Gentry, Human Environmental Sciences
gmgentry@uark.edu
Currently, Dr. Gentry is interested in the behavioral and performance implications of lighting and other interior-related variables on the living environement of older adults.

Fran Hagstrom, Communication Disorders
fhagstr@uark.edu
Dr. Hagstrom's interest is in cognitive-communicative change across the lifespan. This includes research on identity construction and sociocultural aspects of mediated mental functioning.

Ches Jones, Health Science
ches@uark.edu
Dr. Jones' research involves injuries as a consequence of physical activity and recreational sports.

Timothy S. Killian, Human Environmental Sciences
tkillian@uark.edu
Dr. Killian's reseach has focused on the demography of aging with attention to intergenerational monetary and non-monetary transfers (e.g. caregiving). He is particularly interested in transfers between stepparents and their adult stepchildren. Most, but not all, of his research has been based on secondary national data sets such as NSFH and HRS.

Stephen Langsner, Recreation
langsne@uark.edu

Angela M. La Porte, Art
alaporte@uark.edu
Dr. La Porte has reseach interest in teaching art to older adults and intergenerational art education.

Glenda Lawson, Eleanor Mann School of Nursing
glawson@uark.edu
Dr. Lawson's interest and research endeavors in gerontology focus on self-care and peripheral artery disease (PAD). She recently received a grant to conduct PAD screenings among older adults and to develop a vascular rehabiliation program aimed at improving the health of older adults with PAD.

Susan Mayes
Health Science, Kinesiology, Recreation & Dance Department
smayes@uark.edu

Charles Riggs, Kinesiology
criggs@uark.edu

Barbara B. Shadden, Communication Disorders
bshadde@uark.edu
As Co-Director of the Office for Studies on Aging, Dr. Shadden is involved in interdisciplinary research on many topics in collaboration with other faculty on campus. Her individual research focus is communcation by/with older adults, discourse characteristics of communciation and the psychosocial consequences of stroke/aphasia.

Mary Ann Toner, Communcation Disorders
matoner@uark.edu

Lori W. Turner, Health Science
lori@uark.edu
The primary focus of Dr. Turner's research is osteoporosis prevention.

M. Jean Turner, Human Environmental Sciences
jturner@uark.edu
Dr. Turner's area of gerontology interest relates primarily to the changing nature of family relationships as individuals age. She is currently involved in research focusing on the quality of in-law relationships across generations and their relationship to quality of life issues. She is conducting focus groups of mothers-in-laws and daughters-in-laws to examine the complex dynamics of that relationship. Further details of her research was published in the Fall 2004 issue of Across the Ages.

Douglas Watson, Rehabiliation
dwatson@uark.edu
As Director of the National Rehabiliation Research & Training Center for Persons who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, Dr. Watson is devoted to study of the life and career adjustments of persons with hearing loss in the United States. An estimated 26 million Americans have a hearing loss; a vast majority - approximately 20 million - experience adult-onset hearing loss, mostly after age 50 and compose a significant proportion of the research Dr. Watson and his colleagues are funded to study. An increasingly larger proporation of the aging polulation experiences loss of hearing as they age: in fact, over 45% of Americans with hearing loss are over 65 years of age. The research center is devoted to finding ways and means to assist these individuals, their families, their co-workers, and the larger community to deal with the issues and challenges brought on by hearing loss. You can learn more about the National Training Center by visiting their website at http://www.uark.edu/depts/rehabres/

Jennifer Webb, Human Environmental Sciences
jwebb@uark.edu
Dr. Webb's reseach interests are in the interaction between the built environment and human behaviors. Recent projects have included factors influencing the personal space preferences of older adults, privacy mechanisms employed in independent/assisted living environments, and living arrangement plans for older Arkansans.

Lynne M. Webb, Communications
LynneWebb320@cs.com
Dr. Webb's major lines of research examine marital communciation and communcation between parents and their adults children. Dr. Webb was a founding member of the National Communication Association's Commision on Communication and Aging, serving as its first Chair. She has published and presented extensively about gerontology issues in communciation.