Aloen L. Townsend

Aloen L. Townsend is the Ralph S. and Dorothy P. Schmitt Professor of Social Work at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, where she has served on the faculty since 2001. She holds a joint appointment in the Department of Sociology and is a faculty associate in the University Center on Aging and Health.

Her research focuses on aging, caregiving, and health, with projects funded by the National Institute on Aging. Key areas include caregiving dynamics among middle-generation women, adult day services for dementia families, health disparities, and emotional distress in older couples. She developed a caregiver strain assessment tool in collaboration with Hospice of the Western Reserve.

• Teaches courses on adult development, family systems, health, and advanced quantitative methods.
• Methodological expertise: Survey research, dyadic/longitudinal analyses, structural equation modeling, multilevel modeling.

Scientific Awards:

• Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America
• John S. Diekhoff Award for Distinguished Graduate Teaching
• AGE-SW Leadership Award
• OAGE Researcher of the Year
• Inclusion in 100 Most Influential Contemporary Social Work Faculty

Education:

• PhD in Social Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• MA in Social Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• BA from Occidental College