Carol Austin
Professor Emerita of Social Work
PhD
MSW
Contact information
Research and teaching
Research Projects:
- Austin. C. (PI)., Sieppert, J. (Co-PI)., & McClelland, R. (Inv). Elder Friendly Communities Program Demonstration. (City of Calgary, Family & Community Support Services; 2005-2005).
- Austin. C. (PI)., Sieppert, J. (Co-PI)., & McClelland, R. (Inv). Elder Friendly Communities Demonstration - Ethnic Diversity. (City of Calgary, Family & Community Support Services; 2005-2005).
- Austin. C. (PI)., Sieppert, J. (Co-PI)., & McClelland, R. (Inv). Elder Friendly Communities Demonstration - multi-cultural community development. (Wild Rose Foundation; 2004-2005).
- Austin. C. (PI)., Sieppert, J. (Co-PI)., & McClelland, R. (Inv). Elder Friendly Communities Demonstration. (The United Way of Calgary and Area; 2005-2005).
- Austin. C. (PI)., Sieppert, J. (Co-PI)., & McClelland, R. (Inv). Elder Friendly Communities Demonstration. (The Calgary Foundation; 2005-2006).
- Austin. C. (PI)., Sieppert, J. (Co-PI)., & McClelland, R. (Inv). Elder Friendly Communities Demonstration. (Calgary Health Region; 2005-2005).
- Austin, C. (PI)., Sieppert, J. (Co-PI)., & McClelland, R. (Inv). The Elder Friendly Communities Project: Understanding Community Development And Service Coordination To Enhance Seniors' Quality Of Life. (Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research; 2003-2006).
Biography
Dr. Carol D. Austin is a Professor of Social Work at the University of Calgary, and has held an adjunct appointment at the University of Alberta, Faculty of Nursing. She has also held faculty appointments at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Minnesota and Ohio State University.
At the University of Washington, she served as Deputy Director of the Pacific Northwest Long Term Care Gerontology center and was an adjunct faculty member at the School of Social Work. Dr. Austin has held a number of administrative positions in delivery systems serving older adults. She was Coordinator, Resource on Aging, as part of the Pacific Northwest Health Services Research and Development of the Veterans Administration. She was Deputy Director of the Senior Initiative at Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound. From 1988 t0 1990 Dr. Austin was Director of the Ohio Department of Aging.
Dr. Austin has written extensively on the role of case management in the delivery of community based long-term care for older adults. She has authored numerous articles and co-authored two books on this topic: Delivering Home Services to the Aged and Disabled (1983) and Long Term Care Case Management: Design and Evaluation (1990). An analysis of case management across human service settings is the topic of a co-edited volume Perspectives on Case Management Practice (1996). She also co-edited Case Studies for Macro Social Work Practice (1998) and co-authored Social Work Practice: A Generalist Approach Canadian Edition (2000). She edited a special issue of the journal Families in Society entitled "The Future of Social Work with Older Adults (2005).
Current research is focused on promoting civic engagement with older adults through community development at the neighborhood level. Dr. Austin was instrumental in starting the Elder Friendly Communities Program in Calgary, a collaborative demonstration in operation since 2001. This project is being replicated in Adelaide, South Australia. In addition, Dr. Austin and her colleagues at the University of Calgary launched the first graduate concentration in gerontological social work in Canada (2003).
Dr. Austin is a member of the Canadian Association on Gerontology, the Alberta Association on Gerontology and the Alberta College of Social Work. She is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, served as its Secretary (1996-1999) and chaired the Social Research Policy and Planning Section (1986-1988). She has been a Board Member of the American Society on Aging and was Chair of the Editorial Board of ASA's journal Generations (1988-1993). She has served as a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Case Management, the Australian Journal of Case Management, Generations and Families in Society.
Dr. Austin received her Ph.D. in Social Welfare from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1978), her M.S.W. from the University of Michigan (1970) and her B.A. from the City College of New York (1967).