Professor receives Task Force on Minority Issues in Gerontology Outstanding Mentorship Award

The Gerontological Society of America - the nation's largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging - has chosen William E. Haley, PhD, of the University of South Florida as the 2013 recipient of the Task Force on Minority Issues in Gerontology Outstanding Mentorship Award.

This distinguished honor is given annually to an individual who has exemplified outstanding commitment and dedication to mentoring minority researchers in the field of aging.

The award presentation will take place at GSA's 66th Annual Scientific Meeting, which will be held from November 20 to 24 in New Orleans. This conference is organized to foster interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers, educators, and practitioners who specialize in the study of the aging process. 

Haley currently is a professor in the School of Aging Studies at the University of South Florida. His research focuses on stress, coping, and adaptation in older adults and their family members. He is particularly interested in research that can be used to develop evidence-based interventions that will improve the lives of older adults and their families. Most of these studies have examined the experiences of family caregivers who often face potentially overwhelming chronic strain.

He has worked with several research teams that have developed and/or evaluated research-based caregiver interventions for diverse groups, including white, African-American, and Latino family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease; and family caregivers of hospice patients with terminal cancer and heart failure.

Haley's career has long been devoted to the mentorship of minority students. While at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, he began a major longitudinal study of white and African American caregivers in 1990. He worked with and mentored a number of minority students who were involved with the project.

Following his move to the University of South Florida in 1995, he continued his research on diversity and family caregiving, and made minority student recruitment and mentorship a high priority. During his tenure there, he has been the primary mentor for a number of minority students who successfully completed their PhDs and went on to take research positions related to gerontology.

He has previously received two prestigious mentoring awards from the Division of Adult Development and Aging of the American Psychological Association. Haley is a GSA fellow, which represents the Society's highest class of membership, and previously served as chair of GSA's Behavioral and Social Sciences Section.