William H. Dailey Jr., MPA has been selected as a Nash Fellow of the Creative Longevity and Wisdom Initiative at the Fielding Graduate University. Throughout his life he has incorporated an advocacy role as a disabled individual. He has blended his professional career and educational endeavors to advocate for those in need of support to maintain a balanced quality of life.

According to Dailey, "My desire, passion, and commitment are to serve the changing demographics of the aging cohorts of our society, such as 'baby boomers,' the newly retired, and the 'oldest-old' frail elderly." These, he feels, provide a vast challenge for gerontologists, social workers, and health-care practitioners. There is a need to build collaborative community partnerships to meet the needs of our elders who are living and experiencing life to the fullest.

At Fielding Graduate University, where he is a doctoral student in the School of Educational Leadership and Change, he continues to use his advocacy role by providing input and recommendations for disability and diversity issues throughout the Fielding community.

His research focuses on the importance of quality of life issues facing elders who seek answers and community resources to address their individual needs. He will use participatory action and narrative inquiry methods of research working with a focus group of aging and disability practitioners. He plans to do post-doctoral research based on his findings and encourage practitioners to work in a more collaborative way.

Mr. Dailey was appointed a delegate-at-large to the White House Conference on Aging in Washington, D.C. in 2005. He is a Gerontology lecturer at California State University in Fresno, where he also initiates and assists in writing and implementing grants focusing on community education, aging issues, and practitioner education. He belongs to several professional organizations related to healthy aging, creative arts, and lifelong learning funding.

ARTICLE: Aging, Learning and Disability: Reflections and Dialogue from the WHCoA (PDF) by William H. Dailey Jr., MPA