Janice I. Wassel, PhD

Janice I. Wassel is Director of the Gerontology Program and a member of the Department of Sociology faculty at The University of North Carolina - Greensboro. Dr. Wassel holds a dual degree from The Pennsylvania State University in Demography and Sociology. She was the recipient of both pre-doctoral and postdoctoral NIA training grants and completed an NIA internship.

Dr Wassel's gerontology research interests focus on: how couples make decisions about retirement timing, post-retirement employment after forced retirement, cohort studies, pension wealth, the relationship of family caregiving and depression, and family structures and decision-making in caregiving relationships. Dr. Wassel is widely known for her innovative curriculum development activities as a founding member of the North Carolina Gerontology Consortium, and in creating interdisciplinary courses with nursing, communication science, nutrition, and social work faculty. Of special relevance to Financial Gerontology, at UNC-Greensboro Dr. Wassel has been centrally involved in the creation of the Dual MS in Gerontology/MBA Degree program, one of the first such degree programs in the country.

Dr. Wassel's publications have appeared in Social Forces, Research on Aging, The Gerontologist, and Journals of Gerontology, as well as a number of book chapters and reports. Her work has been featured in newspapers and newsletters both locally and nationally. She frequently presents her research at state and national conferences.

Dr. Wassel is actively involved in several professional associations, including the Population Association of America, the Gerontological Society of America, the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education [AGHE], the Southern Gerontological Society, and the American Society on Aging. She serves on several committees of these organizations, including AGHE's Business and Aging Task Force. Dr. Wassel was the managing editor of Research on Aging and the current editor of the Sigma Phi Omega newsletter for AGHE. Active in her state and community, Dr. Wassel serves on the North Carolina Western Chapter's Alzheimer's Association Executive Board, Orange County Advisory Board on Aging, the Human Services Advisory Commission, and Senior Services of Guilford's Advisory Board.