6th Matilda White Riley Honors: 2012

Linda Waite Linda J. Waite, Ph.D.

Distinguished Lecturer: Linda J. Waite, Ph.D.
Lucy Flower Professor in Urban Sociology
The University of Chicago
Presentation: Social Connections and Health

 

 

Biography

Linda J. Waite is the Lucy Flower Professor of Sociology and director of the Center on Aging at The University of Chicago. She is also principal investigator of The National Social Life, Health and Aging Study (NSHAP), a large-scale, nationally representative longitudinal survey of Americans, ages 57 to 85, which focuses on the relationship between social networks, intimacy, physical health, emotional well-being and cognitive function at older ages. She has been awarded a MERIT Award from the National Institute on Aging, NIH, given to outstanding NIH principal investigators. Dr. Waite is chair of the Committee on Population, National Research Council. She is co-author, with Frances Goldscheider, of New Families, No Families?: The Transformation of the American Home (University of California Press, 1991), winner of the Duncan Award from the American Sociological Association. She is also author, with Maggie Gallagher, of The Case for Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, Healthier and Better Off Financially (Doubleday, 2000). She is past president of the Population Association of America, a member of the Sociological Research Association, and is listed in Who’s Who in Economics, 4th Edition. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Michigan.