Dawn Carr

Biography

Dawn Carr, Ph.D., earned her doctorate in Social Gerontology from Miami University, Oxford Ohio in 2009. As Professor of Sociology and Director of the Claude Pepper Center in the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy, Dr. Carr’s mission is to identify and leverage factors that bolster older adults’ ability to remain healthy and active as long as possible.

My work over the last decade has focused on understanding the complex pathways between health and active engagement during the second half of life. I have particularly focused on evaluating the health consequences of major stressors and life transitions such as those related to later life employment, retirement, engagement in new social roles (e.g., volunteering and caregiving), social networks and social relationships, and major health events such as onset of disabilities, critical health setbacks or diagnoses. My recent work pays increasing attention to the role of early life experiences and exposures over the life course, and the ways in which individual psychological resources facilitate resilient outcomes in later life. Before joining Florida State University in 2016, I was a researcher at the Stanford Center on Longevity, a postdoctoral fellow in the Carolina Program for Health and Aging Research at the Institute on Aging at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a researcher at the Scripps Gerontology Center. 

Education

• 2010-2012 – Postdoctoral Fellowship, Carolina Program for Health and Aging Research Program, Institute on Aging University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
• 2009 – Ph.D., Department of Sociology and Gerontology, Miami University, Oxford, OH
• 2005 – M.G.S., Department of Sociology and Gerontology, Miami University, Oxford, OH
• 2000 – B.A., Department of Fine Arts, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ

Professional Experience

Articles Written For Psychology Today can be found at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/experts/dawn-c-carr-mgs-phd