SCR116.DOC

WHEREAS, in 1988 the University of Hawaii Board of Regents established the Center on Aging; and

WHEREAS, the Center on Aging was created to encourage interdisciplinary research, education, and service in the area of Gerontology; and

WHEREAS, for several years, the University of Hawaii administration provided adequate funding for the Center on Aging to fulfill the above stated goals; and

WHEREAS, the Center on Aging fulfilled its mission by facilitating a number of interdisciplinary research grant proposals such as:

(1) Establishing two certificate programs for undergraduate and graduate students and community professionals;

(2) Encouraging new gerontology courses to be offered in various departments at the University of Hawaii at Manoa;

(3) Offering gerontology training to faculty members throughout the University of Hawaii system;

(4) Producing a thirteen-hour public television series and college telecourse on aging which aired nationally on over one hundred Public Broadcasting Service stations; and

(5) Providing consultation, research assistance, training programs, and program development help to numerous state agencies and community organizations; and

WHEREAS, since 1993, the University of Hawaii reduced its funding to the Center on Aging to only support one secretarial position, and yet, despite this restricted funding, the Center was able to accomplish the many activities which have been briefly described above; and

WHEREAS, for many years, Dr. Kathryn Braun served as volunteer director of the Center on Aging, using part of her salary to employ staff and faculty, making it possible to continue the Center’s activities; and

WHEREAS, in the past twenty years, the Center on Aging has competed for and received many grants and contracts which enabled them to carry out the mission intended by the Board of Regents; and

WHEREAS, many of the graduates of the University of Hawaii Gerontology certificate programs have gone on to occupy positions of importance in aging programs in Hawaii and elsewhere; and

WHEREAS, these certificate programs are no longer in operation, due to lack of faculty to provide the needed course work; and

WHEREAS, University of Hawaii faculty interested in Gerontology have, at the request of the administration, produced business plans to show how the Center on Aging could be re‑invigorated in order to serve the needs of the State and the Asia-Pacific region; and

WHEREAS, despite its many positive accomplishments, the University of Hawaii administration has not provided adequate support for the Center on Aging; and

WHEREAS, the Barbara Cox Anthony estate recently provided a $2 million gift to the University of Hawaii to support Gerontology activities, however, this funding has not been received by the Center on Aging; and

WHEREAS, with its rapidly expanding older population, the State of Hawaii has a great need for a Center on Aging to help deal with the many, complex problems which this population expansion produces; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2009, the House of Representatives concurring, that the University of Hawaii administration is urged to immediately expand its support for the Center on Aging, and take such steps as are necessary to re-open the University’s gerontology certificate programs; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the President of the University is requested to provide a report to the Legislature on the progress of the Gerontology certificate programs no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2010; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the President of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the Director of the University of Hawaii Center on Aging, the Chair of the University of Hawaii Board of Regents, and the Director of the Executive Office on Aging.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

University of Hawaii; Center on Aging; Gerontology Program

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	116
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009
STATE OF HAWAII