The third annual Gertrude Weigum Hinsz Lecture will feature B. Jan McCulloch, professor and department head of family social science in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. The event, hosted by the NDSU Department of Human Development and Family Science, is scheduled for April 8 from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Sudro Hall, room 24.
McCulloch’s topic is “Older Rural Women's Health Decision Making: Do Concerns for Family Matter?” The presentation will focus on a qualitative study of older rural women’s health decision making in the context of relational influences. According to McCulloch’s description of her talk, “I will explore the process of older women’s caring for others by protecting them from worry, bother and burden, even when the older women’s health may suffer.”
McCulloch earned her doctorate from the University of North Carolina – Greensboro and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Duke University. Her research interests include examination of a variety of factors that affect the mental and physical well being of persons aging in rural areas. Most recently, she has concentrated her work on older rural women’s health decision making, examining rural women’s concerns for family as factors affecting their willingness to seek care. Her research has been published in the Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences and Psychological Sciences, Journal of Applied Gerontology, American Journal of Family Therapy, Journal of Nursing Research and Family Relations.
McCulloch is a Gerontological Society of America fellow and a founding Association of Gerontology for Higher Education fellow. She has held several leadership positions in the Southern Gerontological Society.
Beth Blodgett Salafia and Christi McGeorge, both assistant professors of human development and family science, are coordinating the event.
The lecture series is named for the late Gertrude "Gerty" Wigum Hinsz of Zap, N.D. A proud mother of five children, she had a longstanding commitment to child development and quality family life.