Service

Editorial Leadership

I have served the International Journal of Aging and Human Development since 2018, first as Book Review Editor, then as Associate Editor beginning in 2022, and will assume the role of Editor-in-Chief by the end of 2026. As Associate Editor, I currently shepherd roughly six new manuscripts each week, on the order of 300 per year, from desk evaluation through peer review, revision, decision, and publication.

My vision for the journal is to position it as a leading outlet for theoretically grounded, methodologically sound aging research that addresses real gaps in the literature. Strong aging scholarship, in my reading, is one in which theory threads through the introduction, the research questions, the methods, and the discussion, rather than appearing as a paragraph at the start that the rest of the paper does not return to. Planned special issues include theory-guided qualitative aging research with an emphasis on caregiving, and translational research featuring theory-guided interventions.

Professional Society Service

I co-convene the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Interest Group of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), a role I have held since 2022. The group runs an annual symposium at the GSA scientific meeting, supports working groups on research and policy, hosts professional-development workshops for early-career members, and brings in invited speakers from organizations including Generations United. I was nominated for Fellow status of the society (FGSA), with a decision to be made by June 2026.

Community Engagement

I direct the Mississippi Blues: A Statewide Needs Assessment on Opioid Misuse and Recovery project, the state's first unified, evidence-based assessment of opioid prevention, treatment, and recovery needs, funded by the State of Mississippi Opioid Settlement Fund and conducted in partnership with the Wolfgang Frese Survey Research Laboratory and the Mississippi Department of Mental Health. From 2017 to 2021, I directed the Brookdale-funded Grandfamilies Support Group of Starkville, which, over 42 sessions, reached 26 unique grandparent caregivers in the area.

Since 2019, I have served as a Student Mentor for the NIH Bridges to the Baccalaureate (R25) program, which supports underrepresented community college students transferring into research-intensive baccalaureate degrees. I also chaired the MSU Women's Club Scholarship Committee from 2017 to 2022.