MSU aging expert named delegate to White House conference

Contact: Maridith Geuder

STARKVILLE, Miss.--The emeritus head of Mississippi State's counselor education and educational psychology department is among nine Mississippi delegates to a Dec. 11-15 White House Conference on Aging.

Warren Housley, a recognized authority in the field of gerontological counseling, recently was appointed by Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss., to help represent the state at the national program held every decade.

Gov. Haley Barbour will lead the Mississippi delegation. Housley and Barbour will be among some 1,200 representatives from the 50 states voting on resolutions and strategies to help shape aging policies for the next decade.

Titled "The Booming Dynamics of Aging," the 2006 meeting will develop recommendations to prepare for the first generation of Baby Boomers entering retirement age. Specific topics will include, among others, financial planning along the lifespan, workplace of the future, community support for elders, and health and long-term living.

Housley, who joined the MSU faculty in 1971, currently serves as an adjunct professor in what now is the department of counseling, school psychology and special education. In addition to teaching courses on aging and gerontological counseling, he has conducted research in the role spirituality plays in the aging process.

He also has served as a faculty fellow at the Leonard Davis School of the Andrus Gerontology Center at the University of California.

NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For additional information, Dr. Housley can be reached via his Starkville residence at (662) 323-8492.