Professor David Steitz named Lifespan’s recipient of the Carter Catlett Williams Award for Excellence in Aging or Long-term Care Services
For excellence and innovation in teaching gerontology, David W. Steitz, Ph.D., director of Nazareth University’s gerontology program, receives this year’s Lifespan Carter Catlett Williams Award for Excellence in Aging or Long-term Care Service. Williams attained national prominence in the 1980s and 1990s as a geriatric social worker and advocate of nursing home reform. Lifespan is honoring Steitz for exemplifying Williams’ commitment to improving the lives of older adults at its annual luncheon on March 27.
Steitz, a psychology professor, believes his gerontology and psychology students can best understand the aging process by sitting alongside elders in the classroom and learning directly from them. He pioneered an intergenerational partnership with St. John’s Living Communities beginning in 2009 to offer college courses for Nazareth students and elder residents together at St. John’s Meadows, where students can practice and apply what they learn from their studies. The St. John’s elders who have taken the classes over the past 16 years have shaped the direction of the course.
“Learning should not only take place within a traditional classroom. Students in these multigenerational courses learn from, and with, the elders to gain perspectives and knowledge that cannot be delivered simply by me or a book,” said Steitz.
Based on the success of the classes, Steitz led the way for the St. John’s partnership to add an immersive “student in residence” experience in 2023. Eligible Nazareth gerontology students can live at St. John’s Meadows alongside elders for three weeks.
AARP named Monroe County and the City of Rochester Age-Friendly Livable Communities in 2024, and Steitz’s classes of St. John’s and Nazareth students were key partners of the Monroe County Aging Alliance — working with cities, towns, or villages in and around Rochester to help them become more inclusive and accessible places for all ages.
Steitz and his students also co-host a legislative breakfast organized by the Greater Rochester Partnership for the Elderly or GRAPE, where many local, state, and federal officials can hear directly about the work being done in the Rochester community to help older adults.
Steitz received the Service Project Award for Undergraduate Education from the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education and the Association of Fundraising Professionals Outstanding Young People in Philanthropy Award for his work in the Rochester community. He is a member of the Monroe County Aging Alliance and served on the St. John’s Foundation Board. He earned his bachelor’s degrees in psychology and sociology from Drew University and his master’s and doctorate from Syracuse University (experimental psychology, cognitive aging).
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