Elise Fullmer, director of the School of Social Work at West Virginia University, has been named to the Leadership Academy in Aging, an invite-only panel consisting of eight experts in the field of aging from across the country.

The academy is a yearlong program that provides leadership skills and aging care education to deans and directors of schools of social work. The academy was designed through a partnership between the Social Work Leadership Institute and the National Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work.

Fullmer will analyze work on aging being conducted in the WVU School of Social Work, and determine where there are gaps in programs and offerings.

“A focus on issues related to aging is one of two major areas of focus that the Bureau of Labor Statistics cites as ‘sought after expertise’ among social work graduates,” Fullmer said.

“Ensuring our graduates have appropriate knowledge and skill in the area of aging is critically important to our school. It helps our school focus on areas that are going to be needed and where the employment market is.”

Academy participants have been instrumental in the creation and revitalization of academic research and training centers that focus on gerontology and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Fullmer earned her doctorate in social work from the State University of New York at Albany, a master’s degree from the University of Utah and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Utah.

She served as director of the School of Social Work in the Waldron College of Health and Human Services at Radford University prior to her service at WVU, and has also served in academic leadership positions in social work programs at Spalding University, Murray State University and University of North Carolina at Charlotte and was a practicing social worker in Utah and New York.

WVU is the only fully accredited institution in the state’s higher education community offering a Master of Social Work program and is nationally recognized in the area of rural social work practice and nonprofit management.

For more information, contact Elise Fullmer at elise.fullmer@mail.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

ma/11/24/14

CONTACT: Devon Copeland, Director of Marketing and Communication, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
304-293-6867, Devon.Copeland@mail.wvu.edu

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