Laura Katz Olson, department chair and professor of political science at Lehigh University, was recently named to the editorial board of the
Journal of Aging Studies, a publication that features scholarly papers offering new interpretations that challenge existing theory and empirical work on the topics of aging and the aging experience.
Olson, who is a frequently consulted expert on aging issues for mainstream media outlets, has published five books on the topic of aging:
The Political Economy of Aging: The State, Private Power and Social Welfare; Aging and Public Policy: The Politics of Growing Old in America; The Graying of the World: Who Will Take Care of the Frail Elderly?; Age Through Ethnic Lenses: Caring for the Elderly in a Multicultural Society; and
The Not So Golden Year: Caregiving, the Frail Elderly and the Long-Term Care Establishment.
She has published widely in the field of aging and women’s studies on such topics as pensions, Social Security, problems of older women, and long-term care. She has been a scholar at the Social Security Administration, a Gerontological Fellow and a Fulbright Scholar. Olson also lectures extensively through the Pennsylvania Humanities Council on Social Security, Medicare and long-term care eldercare policies.
--Linda Harbrecht