#40111

                         RECORDS OF THE
                        PROGRAM ON AGING

                             in the
             University Archives and Records Service
           University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
                    Wilson Library, CB# 3926
                   Chapel Hill, North Carolina
                           27514-8890

                            July 1993

     Initiatives in the study of aging at the School of Public
Health began in March of 1978, when an interdepartmental
Gerontology Committee was established with Dr. Dorothy Talbot as
chair.  This committee provided a mechanism for the exchange of
ideas and mutual support until it was replaced by the new
Advisory Committee of the Program on Aging in September of 1981. 

     Meanwhile, in 1979 the federal government awarded the School
of Public Health a two-year grant for geriatric curriculum
development with Harry Phillips as project director and Leonard
Rosenfeld as associate director.  With the assistance of this
grant, Drs. Phillips and Rosenfeld and the newly formed Geriatric
Curriculum Development Advisory Committee furthered the teaching
of geriatrics in the various departments of the School by
designing instructional materials and instituting new courses on
aging.

     When federal funding for the Curriculum Development Project
ended in early 1982, the North Carolina General Assembly
responded favorably to a request for continuing support, and an
ongoing Program on Aging was established.  In 1983 the School of
Public Health hired William Weissert, former senior research
associate at the U.S. National Center for Health Service
Research, as Director of the Program on Aging and Professor of
Health Policy and Administration.  Dr. Weissert served as
Director of the Program until 1989.

     During Weissert's tenure, the Program on Aging won multiple
training and research grants and, consistent with its mission of
improving the health and well-being of the aged, provided
consultation to private and governmental agencies in the U.S. and
Canada.  In 1985 it secured funding to develop a Geriatric
Education Center in collaboration with the Schools of Dentistry,
Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Social Work and the North Carolina
Area Health Education Centers.  Between 1985 and 1988, the
Geriatric Education Center provided, among other things, a core
course in geriatric health care, three-week summer institutes for
practicing health-care professionals and teaching faculty,
training for nursing home administrators-in-training, and
part-time geriatric fellowships in the School of Medicine.

     In 1989 the promotion of geriatric education and research
was turned over to the various departments of the School of
Public Health, and the Program on Aging ceased to function as a
centralized agency.

(Portions adapted from The Body Politic, UNC-CH School of Public
Health, vol. 9:2, Feb. 1982, and vol. 11:1, March 1984).

     The records in this group contain information on the
objectives, activities, staff, and finances of the Program on
Aging from its pre-history in the Geriatric Curriculum
Development Project to its decentralization in 1989.  The bulk of
the file consists of memoranda, brochures, grant applications,
progress reports, and the minutes of meetings of advisory
committees within the School of Public Health.  These materials
illustrate the circumstances under which the Program on Aging
came into being and provide detailed lists of its accomplishments
in research, training, and consultation.  Other files, in
particular those relating to the Governor's Advisory Council on
Aging and the State Health Promotion Coalition for Older Adults,
document the participation of POA staff in activities of the
Division of Aging of the North Carolina Department of Human
Resources.

     For more archival material on the Program on Aging and
related initiatives at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, see the Records of the Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs:
Subgroup 1, Series 1; Subgroup 2, Series 9; Subgroup 7, Series 1;
and Subgroup 7, Series 6.

     Records of the Program on Aging in the University Archives
are arranged as follows:

Box 1:
     POA History, 1982-1987 (clippings and brochures)
     Geriatric Curriculum Development Project, Apr. 1979-June
          1982
     POA Advisory Committee, Sept. 1981-Mar. 1986
     Activities of the POA, 1984; 1987-1989
     Annual Faculty Activities Report, 1985-1989
     POA Organizational Charts, 1986; 1989
     Budget Jusification, 1986-1988
     Governor's Advisory Council on Aging, Mar. 1983-Mar. 1989
     "Hospital and Nursing Home Reimbursement Interactions" (HS 
          ratification), 1985
     State Health Promotion Coalition for Older Adults, Oct. 
          1986-July 1988
     Geriatric Education Center: PHS Grant, Year 1 (1985-1986):
          Training Grant Application: Proposal; Notice of Award
     Geriatric Education Center: PHS Grant, Budget Revision, 
          Aug.-Sept. 1985
     Geriatric Education Center: PHS Grant, Year 2 (1986-1987):
          Application for Renewal: Appendices to Application; 
          Notice of Award
     Geriatric Education Center: PHS Grant, Year 3 (1987-1988)
     Geriatric Education Center: PHS Grant: Continuation
          Application, 1988
     Geriatric Education Center: Summer Institute, 1986-1987: 
          Core Curriculum Content, 1986-1987
     Geriatric Education Center Steering Committee Meetings, 
          1985-1986