On April 16, 2015, Dr. Frank J. Whittington, Professor of Gerontology and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Health & Human Services at GMU, received an award from the Southern Gerontological Society. The GRITS Hall of Fame award (“Gerontologists Rooted In The South”) recognizes those who have contributed to the field through teaching, research, advocacy, administration, or applied practice. Those who are recognized serve as role models for the future members of the field.
Dr. Whittington has had a far-reaching contribution to the field of aging. He has published 11 books and over 65 articles and chapters on health behavior, long-term care, and global aging. Drawing on his over 40 years of research and scholarship, Dr. Whittington is still an active lecturer in classes, at conferences, and at forums for the general public. He is a renowned expert on the social dimensions of health and the health care of older persons, especially African Americans. His earlier research focused on how the type and quality of long-term care affects their overall social and physical functioning as well as quality of life. But his work over the last 10 years on the global aging phenomenon culminated in the publication last year of a textbook (co-authored with Suzanne Kunkel and Scott Brown of Miami University), entitled Global Aging: Comparative Perspectives on Aging and the Life Course.
Prior to coming to George Mason in 2008, Dr. Whittington was Professor of Sociology at Georgia State University for 35 years and served as Director of the Gerontology Institute from 1995-2008.
When asked “Why gerontology?” Whittington replied, “Gerontology has allowed me to concentrate my attention on two of the central questions of life: why do humans age and what good are older people? And I have been able to advocate for values and social policies that I believe in deeply. What better life’s work could I have chosen?”