Lenard W. Kaye, D.S.W.
M.S.W. New York University
D.S.W./Ph.D. Columbia University
Dr. Lenard W. Kaye is Professor of Social Work at the University of Maine School of Social Work and Director of the UMaine Center on Aging. Dr. Kaye teaches both sections of SWK 665: Advanced Generalist Social Work Practice with Organizations and Communities and on-line courses in the Graduate Interprofessional Certificate in Gerontology (Overview of the Opportunities and Challenges of Aging and Health Policy Issues of an Aging Population).
During the 2000-2001 academic year, he was the Visiting Libra Professor in UMaine’s College of Business, Public Policy & Health. Previously, he was Professor of Social Work and Social Research and Director of the Ph.D. Program at the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and Associate Director of the Brookdale Institute on Aging & Adult Human Development at Columbia University. Dr. Kaye joined the UMaine Social Work faculty in the fall of 2001.
A prolific writer in the field of health care and aging, he has published approximately 135 journal articles and book chapters and 12 books on specialized topics in aging including home health care, productive aging, rural practice, family caregiving, controversial issues in aging, support groups for older women, and congregate housing. His pioneering research and writing on older men’s caregiving experiences and help-seeking behaviors, is widely recognized and frequently cited. His current book projects include a self-help manual for mid-life and older men on healthy, active aging for Johns Hopkins University Press scheduled for publication in 2013 and an edited volume on innovative approaches to family support to be published by Haworth Press.
Dr. Kaye is the director of the Encore Leadership Corps (ENCorps), Maine’s statewide, older adult volunteer service and community revitalization program, conducted in partnership with the Maine Community Foundation and funded through Atlantic Philanthropies and the Evaluation Co-Director of the Penquis Regional Linking Project.
Dr. Kaye is also the principal investigator for the Safe Medicine Disposal for ME program, a lead organizer of the International Symposium on Safe Medicine, and a founding board member of the International Institute for Pharmaceutical Safety. He has managed a series of John Hartford Foundation-funded gerontological social work education programs at the University of Maine.
Dr. Kaye has served on the National Advisory Committee for Rural Health and Human Services of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service as well as the advisory boards of a wide range of national and local health and human service programs serving older adults. He is a National Research Mentor for the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Scholars Program, a Research Scientist at Eastern Maine Medical Center, and Past President of both the Maine and New York State Gerontological Societies. He is the Past Chair of the National Association of Social Worker’s Section on Aging, sits on the editorial boards of the Journal of Gerontological Social Work and Geriatric Care Management Journal, and is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America.
