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CORVALLIS - Karen Hooker, an associate professor of human development and family sciences at Oregon State University, has been named head of OSU's Program on Gerontology.

Hooker, who also is associate director of the Oregon Geriatric Education Center, has been on the OSU faculty since 1994. She specializes in the study of caregiving for persons with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Her research has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Alzheimer's Research Alliance.

As head of the Program on Gerontology, Hooker will direct a multi-disciplinary program that offers a certificate program to undergraduate students, and a minor to graduate students. There are about a hundred students enrolled in the program, taking classes that focus on issues ranging from public health to housing for the elderly.

Hooker is a scientific reviewer for the National Institute on Aging, and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Services, Psychology and Aging, and the International Journal of Behavior Development.

A 1978 graduate of Denison University, Hooker has a Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University.