The Jo Anne Leonard Petersen Chair in Gerontology and Family Studies
Jo Anne "Jody" Leonard attended OSU in the 1940s, graduating in 1947 with a degree in home economics. The former Silverton High School graduate met her husband-to-be, Donald Petersen, at an OSU student dance, and the two were married in 1948. Mr. Petersen went on to receive an engineering degree from the University of Washington and eventually became chairman of Ford Motor Co.
Mrs. Petersen has special interests in young children, literacy, and the elderly. She became especially concerned with gerontological issues while taking care of both her parents and her husband's parents. Research into all three areas has been significantly enhanced by her contributions to OSU.
In 1989, Mrs. Petersen made a generous contribution to the OSU gerontology program and the then-new Mercedes A. Bates Family Studies Center in the College of Home Economics and Education (now the College of Health and Human Sciences). A wing of the Family Studies Center was named in her honor.
In 1995, Mrs. Petersen and her husband deepened this commitment to family issues by establishing an endowment for the Jo Anne Leonard Petersen Chair in Gerontology and Family Studies. The chair allows OSU to expand its teaching, research, and scholarly activity in the fields of aging and family studies. The College of Health and Human Sciences now offers additional undergraduate and graduate instruction in gerontology and invites a visiting scholar for one term each year.
Alexis J. Walker
Alexis J. Walker is the first holder of the Jo Anne Leonard Petersen Chair in Gerontology and Family Studies. Dr. Walker has been on the OSU faculty since 1986, coming to Corvallis after serving on the faculty of the University of Oklahoma. She is widely known for her research on elderly Americans and their adult children. One of her particular areas of concern is the caregiving of frail elders, particularly adult daughters caring for their mothers. She has a Ph.D. in human development and family studies from Pennsylvania State University.
Dr. Walker has been the principal investigator on several OSU research projects funded by the National Institute on Aging, totaling more than $750,000 in grant awards. She also served on the Human Development and Aging Scientific Review Panel of the Division of Research Grants of the National Institutes of Health, and is Past-President of the National Council on Family Relations.
"The increase in the proportion of elderly persons in the United States, coupled with the heightened interest in contemporary family life, makes the establishment of this chair a particularly timely one," said Dr. Walker. "I hope to exercise a leadership role in the confluence of gerontology and family studies just as the prominence of their intersection increases."
