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Marilyn R. Gugliucci, M.A., Ph.D., was recognized with the Association for Gerontology/Geriatrics in Higher Education’s (AGHE) highest honor, the Clark Tibbitts Award, at the organization's annual meeting in Atlanta on March 3. AGHE is the only nationally based global organization dedicated to advancing education on aging.

Gugliucci has been a member of AGHE since 1995. She has served on the AGHE executive board for 10 consecutive years as member-at-large (2003-05), treasurer (2005-07), president-elect (2007-08), president (2008-10), and past-president (2010-12). She was awarded the AGHE Hiram Friedsam Mentorship Award in 2012 for contributing to gerontology/geriatrics education through excellence in mentorship to students, faculty and administrators and for advancing the goals and mission of AGHE.

She has served consistently on a number of AGHE committees including Academic Program Development, Publication, Long Range Planning, Advancement, and Finance and is currently chairing the AGHE Program of Merit Board, which she helped to create in 1998. The Program of Merit is a review process similar to accreditation for higher education gerontology programs. Within the past two years, Gugliucci designed and implemented an AGHE Program of Merit for Health Professions Programs and has been awarded a grant from the Retirement Research Foundation to fund 10 health professions programs within the U.S. to apply for Program of Merit status. She will recruit, train and mentor faculty reviewers from across the globe to conduct the various Program of Merit health professions program reviews.

Gugliucci was the editor in chief for the AGHE Curriculum Standards and Guidelines book updates in 2005, 2010 and 2015 and is the lead author on two chapters within the latest publication focused on the minimum geriatrics curricular guidelines for Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (Chapter 11) and the minimum gerontology/geriatrics curricular guidelines for health professions programs (Chapter 12). She is on the editorial board for the AGHE Journal, Gerontology and Geriatrics Education.  

Gugliucci credits AGHE with providing her with a plethora of opportunities to grow and advance as a professional in the field of aging. “My leadership abilities and my passion were continually nurtured by AGHE and especially its members who truly embrace the heart and soul of the field of aging,” she said.    

Gugliucci was nominated for the Tibbitts Award by colleagues Betsy Sprouse, Ph.D., AARP (retired); Candace Brown, Ph.D., Duke University; Frank Whittington, Ph.D., Georgetown University; and Bradley Fisher, Ph.D., Missouri State University (retired). Sprouse, who introduced Gugliucci at the award ceremony, stated: “Marilyn Gugliucci is a person of pure, unbridled passion. And fortunately for AGHE and the rest of the world, her passion is gerontological and geriatric education. I have never known anyone who was so committed to teaching and mentoring students, and so committed every day to changing perceptions and attitudes about aging.”

To learn more about the 51Ʒ��’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, visit www.une.edu/com

To apply, visit www.une.edu/admissions