An expert on the aging experience

Laura Katz Olson, department chair and professor of political science at Lehigh University, was recently named to the editorial board of the Journal of Aging Studies, a publication that features scholarly papers offering new interpretations that challenge existing theory and empirical work on the topics of aging and the aging experience.
Olson, who is a frequently consulted expert on aging issues for mainstream media outlets, has published five books on the topic of aging: The Political Economy of Aging: The State, Private Power and Social Welfare; Aging and Public Policy: The Politics of Growing Old in America; The Graying of the World: Who Will Take Care of the Frail Elderly?; Age Through Ethnic Lenses: Caring for the Elderly in a Multicultural Society; and The Not So Golden Year: Caregiving, the Frail Elderly and the Long-Term Care Establishment.
She has published widely in the field of aging and women’s studies on such topics as pensions, Social Security, problems of older women, and long-term care. She has been a scholar at the Social Security Administration, a Gerontological Fellow and a Fulbright Scholar. Olson also lectures extensively through the Pennsylvania Humanities Council on Social Security, Medicare and long-term care eldercare policies.
--Linda Harbrecht