Amanda Smith Barusch is an American–New Zealand academic, and is professor emerita at the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

, specialising in

social work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

and

gerontology Gerontology ( ) is the study of the social, culture, cultural, psychology, psychological, cognitive, and biology, biological aspects of aging. The word was coined by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov in 1903, from the Ancient Greek, Greek ('), meaning "o ...

. She is also an author and has authored or co-authored six books.

Academic career

Barusch is from

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. She completed a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in psychology at

Reed College Reed College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland, Portland, Oregon, E ...

and a Master and Doctorate of Social Welfare both at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. Her thesis was on the relationships between formal services and family caregivers for frail elderly people in different living arrangements. Barusch also has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, which she earned from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

in 2015. Barusch joined the faculty of the College of Social Work at the University of Utah, where she worked from 1985 to 2019. She was Director of the Social Research Institute and Associate Dean for Research and Doctoral Studies. Barusch was appointed to Otago as their first professor of social work in 2007, giving her inaugural professorial address in 2008. Barusch's research focuses on gerontology and social work, covering issues such as problems experienced by elderly caregivers, gender differences in caregiving, and experiences of

ageism Ageism, also called agism in American English, is a type of discrimination based on one's age, generally used to refer to age-based discrimination against Old age, elderly people. The term was coined in 1969 by Robert Neil Butler to describe this ...

. She has published six books as author or co-author, with her most recent being ''Aging Angry: Making Peace with Rage'', published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

in 2023. She has served on the editorial boards of the ''Journal of Poverty and Health'' and ''

Social Work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

,'' and as editor-in-chief of the ''Journal of Gerontological Social Work''.

Selected works

Books * * * Journal articles * * * * * *

References

External links

*
Perspectives on Narrative
', by Amanda Barusch, 14 January 2015, via YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Barusch, Amanda Smith New Zealand academics New Zealand women academics Academic staff of the University of Otago University of Utah faculty Reed College alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Utah alumni Social work education American gerontologists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Women gerontologists