Hokenstad named to U.N. delegation on aging

By Jeff Bendix

M.C. "Terry" Hokenstad, professor of social work at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, has been named one of the 23 members of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Second World Assembly on Ageing. The Assembly takes place April 8-12 in Madrid.

"I'm very proud to be asked to help represent my country at this important conference," Hokenstad said. "In the coming years issues of aging will assume greater importance throughout the world. The gathering in Madrid will help point the way to some solutions to the issues raised by the aging of the world's population."

The Madrid conference is intended as a follow-up to the First World Assembly on Ageing, which took place in 1982. The earlier conference adopted an International Plan on Ageing, which has served as a framework for thinking and policies on aging in the past two decades. The Madrid conference will review and revise the International Plan in light of changes that have occurred since 1982.

Much of the work in reviewing the 1982 International Plan and preparing for the Madrid conference has been carried out by a Technical Committee, which has been holding meetings for the past two years. Hokenstad was the only American to serve on the committee.

In addition to his role in the U.S. delegation, Hokenstad will be in Madrid as a delegate of the International Association of Schools of Social Work. The association is one of many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) concerned with aging that will be meeting in Madrid at the same time as the U.N. conference. He will address an NGO forum on the topic of "Retirement Patterns and Public Policy."

One of the nation's leading experts on issues of aging and retirement, Hokenstad holds the Ralph S. and Dorothy P. Schmitt chair at the Mandel School, and is a former dean of the school. He has written extensively on international issues dealing with aging and has served as editor-in-chief of the International Social Work Journal and president of the Council on Social Work Education. Earlier this year he received the Council's Lifetime Achievement Award.

A native of Nebraska, Hokenstad received his B.A. from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D., a master's degree in social work from the Columbia University School of Social Work and a doctorate from the Florence Heller Graduate School for Advanced Studies in Social Welfare at Brandeis University.

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