SOHP RA Katie Otis Wins Miller Center Fellowship (2006)

(2006) - Doctoral student and longtime SOHP research assistant Katie Otis has recently been named one of eight fellows in Contemporary History, Public Policy, and American Politics (2006/2007) at the University of Virginia's Miller Center on Public Affairs. Otis will use this prestigious fellowship, which offers year-long funding in residency at UVA, to complete her dissertation.

In her doctoral thesis, "Everything Old is New Again: Remaking the Meaning of Old Age in Post-War America, 1950-2000," Otis explores the history of aging in postwar America through the lens of retirement life in Florida, a state long synonymous with shuffleboard and park benches. "Such images present a stereotypical view of old age as boring and staid," explains Otis, "but nothing could be further from the truth. Postwar seniors were engaged in a social and cultural transformation of later life." Drawing on government documents, gerontological studies, popular retirement literature, and oral histories, Otis's work melds institutional and political history with the cultural and social experiences of aging in the post-war world to give voice to older Americans as they negotiated the mine-fields of retirement and long-term care. SOHP director Dr. Jacquelyn Hall serves as Otis's dissertation advisor.

As baby boomers approach their own retirement at the dawn of a new century, Otis's work has particular contemporary relevance. An understanding of the ways in which governmental initiatives, elder care policies, and social changes shaped older peoples' lives in the past provides critical insights for politicians, policymakers, gerontologists, and activists today. When Otis first headed to the archives, however, she was surprised to learn that historians are newcomers to the field of gerontology. Numerous sociological, anthropological, and economic works examine aging, but historical studies on the subject are few and far between. "It is time for historians to take a seat at the table with policymakers to explore the best ways to meet the needs of our aging society," says Otis. "I would like to be one of those historians. My goal is to bring historical thinking to bear on social policy. I am thrilled to have received a fellowship from the Miller Center, and I can think of no other situation in which I could better achieve those aims."