Welcome
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Graduate Study in Gerontology |
Appalachian State University |
Boone, NC 28608 |
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I'm Ed Rosenberg, director of the Gerontology Graduate Program at Appalachian State University. I'd like to invite you to join us in a revised and growing program.
Gerontology is the study of aging and the elderly. Why should you consider a graduate study and careers that include Gerontology? Let me give you a few reasons:
1. The population is aging rapidly.
The explosive growth of the older population will affect, directly or indirectly, nearly every career. This includes the North Carolina population. The national and North Carolina populations are now only about 13% age 65+, but by 2030, when your career is peaking, the number of elderly will nearly double, to almost 70 million!
In less than 20 years 17.5% of North Carolinians will be 65+, and nearly every county will have over 16%, about 1 in 6, of its population age 65+.
Graduate study in Gerontology positions you professionally.
2. Families are changing in three important ways .
First, they're living longer, which means more elderly persons will need some support from their families.
Second, families are having fewer children, meaning there are fewer family members to provide eldercare support.
Third, more women are working part or full-time. The result: either fewer caregivers for elderly family members or more strain on family members who have to juggle work and caregiving.
Graduate study in Gerontology prepares you to anticipate and assist in resolving issues of aging in your own family.
3. An aging population means more good and services targeted at older consumers.
There's hardly any career that will not be affected by our aging population. No matter what you do, if you have formal education and training in aging and working with or for older persons, you will have a competitive advantage in being hired in nearly any profession.
Graduate study in Gerontology makes you a more valuable employee, and thus more marketable.
No one has ever grown up in a society with such a large proportion of elderly, nor has it ever been more important to confront our ideas, stereotypes and beliefs about growing old and the older population.
Graduate study in Gerontology empowers you in dealing realistically, pragmatically and effectively with your own aging and the aging of those close to you.
Our Masters Degree in Gerontology is a 2 year program. We provide financial support for qualified applicants. Our Graduate Certificate in Gerontology can be completed in one year.
Appalachian State University Gerontology Program graduates have found employment ranging from social services to the private, for-profit sector. No matter what your undergraduate major or career goals, the elderly will be more prominent than ever before. For people with a solid foundation in Gerontology, there is a bright and expanding future!
We are looking for good students who are interested in careers that directly or indirectly provide goods or services for the older population. If that sounds like you, please give our program serious consideration. You can find application materials online at the Graduate School. If you have questions, please call me at (828)262-6146 or email me.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Ed Rosenberg
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