Post Doctoral Fellowships

The CAC offers post-doctoral awards to new Ph.D.s who are interested in expanding their knowledge about aging in the long term care context. The fellowships support the applied research agenda of the center.  And the program is attracting Ph.D.s of the highest caliber to UWM. Scholars from a wide range of disciplines share in the goal to develop emerging scholars in aging research in this program and collaborate with the regional aging services network.

The CAC is seeking applicants for a 2008-2010 Post Doctoral Fellowship.  Click below to view and download.

2008-2010 Post Doctoral Fellow, Jason Danely

The Center on Age and Community is pleased to welcome Jason Danely, the new 2008-2010 Post-Doctoral Fellow.

Danely comes from University of California-San Diego, where he is completing his PhD in Anthropology. A Midwestern native, Danely earned his BA in Comparative Religions at Western Michigan University.

Danely's undergraduate studies and study abroad experiences in Japan and India led him to more interdisciplinary anthropological studies. His "fascination with people in their environments" was what led to his current interests regarding memorial of the dead in Japanese culture.

Specifically, Danely is interested in connection between the spirits of the dead and older people. By peering through this small lens of how older people feel connected to those who have passed, it opens a window on the experience of aging in Japanese culture. Danely finds that in Japanese culture there is more willingness to develop personal rituals of letting go than in Western Culture, where death is taboo and therefore lacking formalized and symbolic rituals of grieving.

"I plan on continuing to look at cross-cultural work while at the center, and look at how symbolic systems of adapting to old age are different, with respect to loss and bereavement," says Danely. He hopes for his research to encourage older people to develop personal rituals to grieve positively rather than worrying how to approach death.

Cheryl Ajirotutu, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Associate Director of the Cultures and Communities Program and a former CAC fellowship recipient, will mentor Danely. For her CAC fellowship, Ajirotutu and a group of UWM students collected the oral histories of the Walnut Way community, one of Milwaukee's oldest African American neighborhoods. She illustrated her research through written analysis as well as integrating a dance choreographed by Dance professor Simone Ferro along with an installation piece created by Artist Raoul Deal and UWM students.

"I'm excited to work with the center because of its interdisciplinary approach," Danely said. "They combine performance, humanities and creative means to figuring out what it means to age."

"The arts integration is really important because it gives those [people involved in the research] a way of appreciating the work we've done," Ajirotutu said.

She and Danely share similar research focus and methodology, as they both conduct their work in a narrative and qualitative way. Together, they will facilitate writing books about their research, and explore creative media for Danely to express his research results while he is here.

2007-2008 Post Doctoral Fellow, Michelle Simpson 

Michelle Simpson graduated in August, 2007 with a PhD in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her dissertation was a study of the relationship between nurses' turnover cognitions, job satisfaction, job search behavior, nurse demographic variables and work engagement. Under the mentorship of Dr. Christine Kovach, Dr. Simpson is extending the study of nurses' work engagement to the long-term care work environment. Currently, two
studies are in progress. Their purpose is to identify the work environment predictors of work engagement and to identify the link between work engagement and nursing home resident outcomes. Dr. Simpson recently published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing.

2006-2008 Post Doctoral Fellow, Dr. Jung Kwak

Well into the second year of a two-year appointment, Dr. Jung Kwak has been hard at work under the mentorship of Dr. Rhonda Montgomery.  Dr. Kwak received her Ph.D. in Aging Studies from the University of South Florida last summer. Her primary research interest focuses on end-of-life decision-making and service utilization among culturally/ethnically diverse groups of older adults and their families.  Dr. Kwak's scholarly work has been published in journals including The Gerontologist and the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, and a number of technical reports prepared for the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. Dr. Kwak is also a recipient of AARP Scholarship, Grantmakers in Aging Fellowship, Institute on Aging Fellowship and Center for Hospice, Palliative Care, and End-of-Life Studies Pilot Grant. 

Dr. Kwak was recently presented with an award by the University of South Florida (USF) for outstanding doctoral dissertation. Her dissertation was a study of factors predicting hospice use among nursing home residents in Florida. She was specifically interested in racial/ethnic comparisons in hospice use. Jung was flown to Tampa to receive the award in a ceremony given at the USF's Contemporary Art Museum. Many congratulations to Dr. Kwak for receiving this honor!

Most recently, Dr. Kwak, who had multiple offers as a result of her job search, has decided to stay in Milwaukee. She will be Assistant Professor of Social Work at the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare. We are lucky to have her here as a post-doc, and our luck continues!

2005-2007 Fellow, Dr. Bradley Fulton

Dr. Brad Fulton completed his two-year post doctoral appointment in summer 2007 (2005-2007).  His Ph.D. is in Cognitive Psychology and he spent his fellowship working with Gerald Weisman, Professor of Architecture, guiding his research focus on environmental gerontology. Brad had this to say about his fellowship experience and future plans . . . 

My post-doctoral fellowship with the Center on Age and Community provided me the opportunity to develop my knowledge of environmental gerontology, a topic which will continue to be of increasing importance considering current trends in gerontology. The excellent mentorship provided  just the right degree of direction. I had the opportunity to develop and study the psychometric properties of my own observational tool focused on long-term care environments. I have been developing numerous manuscripts, presenting at various professional forums, and have been engaged in a variety of other professional activities. Finally, the fellowship provided me the opportunity to explore employment options. I have recently accepted a position with Press Ganey Associates, a well-respected organization that focuses on ". . . defining, assessing, and improving  the quality of service . . ." to their clients in various health care settings. My fellowship was critical in securing this position and will serve me well as I help Press Ganey Associates achieve their mission in long-term care settings. I cherish my experience as a post-doctoral fellow with the Center on Age and Community and believe the Center will have an increasingly influential presence in gerontology.

Bradley R. Fulton, Ph.D.
Senior Research Associate
Press Ganey Associates