New UNI program focuses on older folks

The University of Northern Iowa will offer a new undergraduate major in the fall — gerontology, or the study of older people and how to best serve them. U-N-I Professor Howard Barnes says the new major will have two tracks.A social sciences track that is a general study of issues in the area and a long-term care administration track which will prepare students to take the state board exam to eventually become directors of care facilities. Barnes heads U-N-I’s Department of Design, Family and Consumer Sciences and says the new major should be popular. He says they expected to start modestly, but they already have 20 students who’ve indicated an interest in the courses. Barnes says this major is of particular importance to Iowa and its older population.U-N-I will be the only institution in Iowa to offer gerontology as an undergrad major.