WILSON, N.C. — Barton College is pleased to welcome Dr. Victor Marshall, a senior scientist at the UNC Institute on Aging, as the featured speaker for the opening session of the “Thursday Gerontology Seminar Series” scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 19. Dr. Marshall’s presentation, “Opportunities and Challenges of Increased Longevity: An Agenda for Aging, Issues, Insights, Implications, Opportunities,” will begin at 11 a.m. in the Hamlin Student Center Theater, located on the lower level of the facility. The program is open to the public at no charge, and the community is invited to attend.
At 2 p.m., Dr. Marshall will address the gerontology class in the Hamlin Student Center Theater, and his keynote will be “The Transition to Retirement: The life Course and the Life Course Perspective Evolving.” The public is also invited to attend this class lecture.
Dr. Marshall recently retired in July from his position as professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he had also been a Senior Scientist at the UNC Institute on Aging, which he directed from 1999-2009.
His research focuses on work and retirement; health behavior, health promotion and health care in relation to aging viewed in a life course perspective; public policy in relation to aging and health; and veterans’ health and well being. Dr. Marshall has also published extensively in the analysis of social theory of aging and the life course. His publications include 13 books, ranging from research monographs to edited volumes, and 160 refereed journal articles and book chapters. He plans to continue professional and scholarly involvements while in retirement.
Over the course of his career, Dr. Marshall has served as primary mentor for 26 students completing the doctoral degree, many of whom have gone on to distinguished careers in sociology, aging, and health.
His academic background includes a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Calgary and a Ph.D. in Sociology from Princeton University. Dr. Marshall’s professorial career began in 1970 at McMaster University, with subsequent professorships at The University of Toronto (where he directed its Institute of Human Development, Life Course and Aging, and CARNET: The Canadian Aging Research Network). He is a founding member of The Canadian Association on Gerontology (CAG) and served variously as its vice-president, chair of its Research Committee and its Social Science Division, and editor of “Canadian Journal on Aging.” Dr. Marshall has received CAG’s Distinguished Member Award and Evelyn Shapiro Mentoring Award, as well as a CAG selection for a Governor General Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal for his service to gerontology.
In the United States, Dr. Marshall has been a member of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging (N.C.) and served on the executive committees of the Behavioral and Social Science Section of Gerontological Society of American (GSA), the Section on Aging and the Life Course of the American Sociological Association, and the Southern Gerontological Society. He also received the Distinguished Mentor Award from the Behavioral and Social Science section of the GSA.
Dr. Marshall has served in several policy domains, including as a committee member on the Ontario Premier’s Council on Health Strategy (1988-91) and the Canada Pension Plan Advisory Board (1996-97). He chaired the Gerontological Advisory Council of Veterans Affairs Canada for 15 years and served on other veterans’ advisory committees, and he linked this to some of his research and policy interests. For his service to Canadian Veterans he received in 2012 the Governor General Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal on the recommendation of Senator, General Romeo Dallaire, as well as a Commendation in 2013 from the Canadian Minister of Veteran’s Affairs.
For additional information about this program, please contact Dr. Steven Fulks, director of the Gerontology Program, at 252-399-6570 or sfulks@barton.edu.
END